This might be just me, but the title makes me cringe and the bit about "before the pain becomes unbearable" is just plain old scaremongering. Pain during labour is not unbearable - even without drugs. It might be uncomfortable, but it is bearable. Otherwise how would all us women who have labours that are too quick for pain relief survive? It is our fear that the pain will be unbearable that leads us to look at pain relief options. And who says you can't enjoy a drug free labour - I did. Far more than my epidural labour TBH.