With my first I thought I was going to be a textbook mother with no pain relief and producing breastmilk like ermintrude!!

I had gas & air, pethidine and epidural (if there was anything else I would have had that too), a little help from forceps and a fab doctor.
The gas and air didn't do much, the pethidine made me feel loopy and it took 2 epidurals but when it worked it was heaven.
Oh and I couldn't breastfeed either.

Baby 2, induced and didn't bother with gas & air and Pethidine but still went for the epidural which again didn't work. I thought stuff it, I'll get through it and managed quite well. I think once you know the contractions aren't going "to kill you" then you can handle them a bit better.

If/when no 3 comes along I'll see how I go with pain relief but hope to manage as well as last time. Open mind is best