Most of labour is dilation and i can't see how the size of the baby makes much difference unless their head is way bigger (because we always talk about 2cm or 6cm or 10cm dilated but in fact it's more of a measure of how open the cervix is in relation to the head - like a baby with a 33cm head will begin to descend when the cervix is open enough to get through, a baby with a 39cm head will need a wider opening to get through which might take another hour or so?). I think the 2nd stage could be longer with a big baby, but that would depend on position too - a little posterior baby might take a lot longer to descend than a big anterior baby.

I think with labours you can only compare them to yourself and other kids. Like you could say if your #1 was more difficult than #2, but you'll never know how someone else's #1 felt, so you can't really know which was harder.

Baby socks i think that some of the pain might have been from the epidural wearing off - labour builds up gradually and when you suddenly get end of 1st stage/descent of head sensations without the build up before of both sensations and endorphins, well, that must have been excrutiating! My SIL had an epidural with her #1, induction, which they turned off when she was fully dilated and got her pushing an hour later, by the time her DD was crowning she could feel again and she was almost fainting with the pain. With #2 she just had a bit of peth and a shower and was much happier with the experience. She said afterwards that she felt the fact that people think epidurals will take the pain away is awful as when it comes back (which is often does, since they like to you feel at least a little to push) it is such a shock. FWIW at the point i was fully dilated i was still drug-free and when her head began to descend (i pooped a bit, without pushing, so i assume that's why) i had the urge to push and couldn't stop it. The midwives weren't there (i was a homebirth and my midwife had popped back to hospital as i was only 3cm when she checked me - DD's head began to come down an hour later!), and i pushed a tiny bit (because i couldn't help it) and the AGONY was so breath-taking - i was on my hands and knees and i LEAPT up because i felt like she was coming too fast and sat in a chair instead. Because i'd been 3cm only an hour before i thought i'd torn my cervix or something - very scary. When the midwives came back my contractions were too hard for me to tell them about it, and DD was born 2 hours later, without any pushing from me until she was fully crowned.

Bx