A recent study of the causes and outcomes of fear of birth published in the Australian College of Midwives' Women & Birth, concluded that:-

"Stress, anxiety, depression and lack of social support are associated with fear during pregnancy. Need for psychiatric care and presence of traumatic stress symptoms are reported outcomes together with prolonged labour, longer labours, use of epidural and obstetric complications.

Nulliparous and parous women have similar levels of fear but for different reasons. Since the strongest predictor for fear in parous women is a previous negative birth experience or operative birth, we suggest it is important to distinguish between fear of childbirth and fear after birth.

Findings demonstrate the need for creating woman-centred birthing environments where women can feel free and secure with low risk of negative or traumatic birth experiences and consequent fear."

This review is really interesting, because hypnobirthing is all about reducing fear during birth... It's so important during pregnancy to foster confidence, relaxation, mental well-being and good support.

Ref: https://www.womenandbirth.org/article/S1871-5192(17)30706-0/fulltext