I should start by saying I didn’t necessarily Want a pain free birth but I got it so if you are hoping for it- you can absolutely have it and don’t need to worry about pain. My epidural was from the middle belly down but it was so strong I couldn’t move my legs or feel them at all, or contractions. I got it pretty early, at like a 3 around 3 hours in after my water broke, I was just shocked at how painful contractions were. Then I regretted it because I didn’t feel like I got the whole “process”. But ultimately I dilated from a 4-10 in like 4.5 hours so even though my contractions went from every 3 minutes to every 6-8 it didn’t slow me down which made me feel so happy as I was really feeling nervous I had messed things up.

Pushing was insanely hard, such a bizarre thing to have something not hurt but still take every ounce of you. I almost passed out three times and had to get oxygen. Also pushing with a mask wasn’t hard at all. As I was pushing that’s when I was glad I had the epidural, just wished I had asked for a low dose initially and upped it as needed. I asked for them to lower it but even two hours later when I pushed it was still 100% effective. I think I pushed maybe 30-45 minutes (but only during contractions.)

Good luck and don’t worry about birth- you can absolutely have the experience you want. :)