Definitely like period pain for me, that came in waves and got more intense as I went along. A heat pack helped so, so much! Until just before my waters broke, I wasn't getting much of a break in between and wanted something more. From there I went into shock and don't really remember much about the contractions until I was pushing.

The pushing part was fantastic. It started involuntarily, my body just did it. Contractions that came with pushing weren't painful, they just made me cramp up and push lol.