I'm gonna be honest. It really hurt me. I had two drug free labours too. The pain is nothing like that, nothing could be, but it took my breath away a little bit. I had mine put in about 6 weeks post birth too. The most uncomfortable thing is having the speculum in for long enough for them to put it in. I'd recommend the anaesthetic just cos why put up with the pain? You've been there and done that! hahaha. Also, a little bit of just in case info, I'd recommend asking them to cut the string short. When I had mine put in, DH and I were DTD and he could feel the string! Sorry TMI but I had to go back so that they could shorten it. I bled for about 12 weeks after (rare but it does happen) but it was only very light, more like discharge. Since that's stopped, I get a pretty regular period but it lasts for half a day and it's like darker discharge and that's it. It's fantastic. Other than that, I don't even know it's in there. So it was worth the pain :-)