You're right that it's a productive pain... in the sense that you know why it's happening, but that doesn't stop it hurting, and it doesn't stop you thinking "WHY WON'T IT END NOW?!!"

The thing is, even if you have all your facts right, unfortunately people won't consider your opinion to be worth as much because you haven't been there. It is a kind of unique experience, but if you're educated about what happens I think you can still have a lot of good ideas about what to expect and what you want to do. Personally I was surprised in my first labour because it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Then I was surprised in my second labour because it was WORSE than I thought it would be LOL

Also, I agree with previous replies... both my babes were over 7 pounds - and I'm fairly small, but no issues there, and for me, a VB was way more ideal than a c/s.