no mum to be has any idea what labor is like and just how traumatic and painful it is.

I remember my friend telling me..."its kind of like really bad period pain"

Yeah Right!. Don't think labor is going to be a walk in the park is all i can say. Its not. Its excrutiating!!! and IMO this is why many women seek intervention...they want it over and done with quickly.
You're right about not knowing what labour is like, but I don't think just because the pain is unexpectedly excrutiating means that intervention is the best option. So again, education is the key - especially coz epidurals can slow labour down - so if you want intervention to speed things up, you might be disapointed.

For what its worth, DD was posterior for the whole labour, she didnt turn at any point- which I may have mentioned earlier - anyway, apparently this makes for a more than normal painful birth - I was in excruciating pain but didn't know that it wasn;t the normal 'healthy pain' - it was my first time, I'd never done it before and they didn't tell me till afterwards. And if it hadn't been for my amazing DH and mw, I would not have got through it and still delivered naturally with no intervention and no pain meds.

So, I think both educating yourself and having fantastic support people around you will help your first birth be empowering, rather than traumatic. (I know I get weird looks when I say that my 24hour, with a 2.5hour pushing stage was empowering! but it could have been so much different!)