Here's my experience with my daughter (my first). At 5 in the morning I started getting regular contractions. I was so thankful because I'm a person who REALLY needs her sleep. After 5 hours of pain, I asked for an epidural. It helped ease the pain until I was at 8 centimeters. Then all hell broke loose. I laugh when I read magazines that tell us to read a book or knit or whatever to help pass the time. I was shaking from the pain. Screaming worked wonderfully for me (the hospital staff wasn't too thrilled, but forget them--they're not the ones delivering).

My doctor had broke my water, trying to speed things up, but it looked like I was going to take a while. So she leaves for her office a few miles away. As soon as she leaves, that's when my incredible need to push came. The nurses try to delay the pushing, but the kid is coming--with or without my doctor. I start pushing, the doctor arrives a few minutes later, and my daughter is born 12 hours later. Pushing only lasted about 15 minutes for me. I don't know how other women can keep pushing longer. My doctor and the nurses wouldn't let me stop to breathe while pushing--no one ever told me that in lamaze class.