Does anything...and I mean anything at all hurt more than child birth?

[Smoke Jaguar]

Yes, actually, I have been misunderstood! By saying that preparing makes birth less fearful and possibly less painful, I am NOT then saying that a birth that was painful or that went in a different direction happened because there was no preparation. It's false logic to draw that conclusion from what I'm saying.
I am saying that you are far more likely to have a better birth if you DO prepare in this way when in a medicalised environment. In no way is this insurance against things going against the plan. I DO think preparation helps you deal with unplanned events far better, as well. I've not ever heard one person say that HypnoBirthing made their birth experience worse, for example. In cases where things had to become medicalised, I've only ever read and heard people say that without the HB or Calmbirthing course, it would have been a lot worse. So, by extension, I'm saying that general preparation can only make a bad situation better for you.
Yes, I still wish more women had the birthing experience I had. It was ace and I'm not afraid to say so. My birth experience has given a lot of women hope for first or subsequent births.
Preparation is still the key, in today's medicalised and scare-mongering birth world, to having a better birth experience, even if that birth still involves a measure of pain or medical intervention.
For me, it meant not having 'pain' - and I wasn't banking on not having pain, so that was a bonus for me.
ETA: Marydean - exactly! We do what we do based on the best information we have at the time - the information you had going in would have 'insulated' you from a worse outcome than if you had done no preparation at all and had to educate yourself from scratch in order to heal, would that be representative of where you're at?

[Willow]

Haven't read all the responses but I can tell you a 9cm cyst on your ovary is right up there, 10 outta 10 kinda pain. And it went on for 6 months because I was prg and couldn't have it removed. Can't tell you how many times I went to A&E. The pain following that surgery was also baaaaad.

I'd have a baby over those two experiences in a heartbeat.

[Lolli]

I just wanted to throw in here- there is no shame in pain. Experiencing pain during birth is seen as the norm across many cultures, ages and demographics, and some see it as a rite of passage.

For Ali, and all the other girls who will soon give birth, even if you have done all the prep in the world, you may still feel pain and you may still need intervention. Doesn't mean you've failed, or you didn't try hard enough or breath deep enough.

For many many women, birth is just painful. That is a very common thing and not neccessarily something that will make you feel disappointed, incomplete, sad or traumitised. Pain- or lack of it- doesn't neccessarily mean your birth experience is any worse or better than anyone else's. Just different, in the same way all our birth experiences are different.

[Smoke Jaguar]

For many many women, birth is just painful. That is a very common thing and not neccessarily something that will make you feel disappointed, incomplete, sad or traumitised. Pain- or lack of it- doesn't neccessarily mean your birth experience is any worse or better than anyone else's.

Exactly, that's why I thought I'd mention that I wasn't going into birth thinking I'd insured against pain. It just happened that way. My GF's home waterbirth was painful, in her own words, and she loved it and still wants more women to have a wonderful experience like her own. That's how I feel about mine - empowered (pain or no pain, it was extremely empowering), not that it gets a better mark for pain free-ness. I want women to have empowered births, not a blueprint version of my own physical experience.
It's like vocalising during birth. I didn't really do any and some women do heaps - and it tends not to do with the pain, it's just a 'thing', another 'thing' that makes a birth individual and reflective of the woman doing it