Donna - mine felt that way too with my first baby. I would have thanked them for shooting me. But the second and third have been easier, probably partly because I know what to expect and am better prepared mentally, and partly because second and third babies just are a little easier, usually. Hopefully your upcoming birth will be much more manageable for you.

Early labour though, is milder, like heavy period pain, and I think that's what the OP was wondering about - how to recognize labour when it starts. You might have missed out on that early stage, being induced, and gone straight to the hard stuff.

As far as women not feeling pain during labour, I think that's wonderful for them, and I imagine that through hypnobirthing classes more of us could learn to "escape" the pain naturally. But I think it's a little misleading to say that if we don't feel other muscles contracting with pain, then labour really shouldn't be painful. Contractions have woken many of us up out of our sleep because they hurt. We weren't tensed up, or afraid - we were asleep. And it hurt. Labour does hurt for most women, and I think that is quite normal. I don't think that we need to be afraid of it, or tell the scariest stories we can to new mothers, or anything like that, but I wonder if we give new mothers-to-be false expectations when we suggest that labour contractions should be like any other muscle contracting. Just a thought. Don't want to start a big debate or anything.