My first birth was 11 hours. What took my by surprise is that I thought I would be resisting the temptation for drugs - but it never occurred to me to want them. I was so amazed at how my body knew what to do, how all the hormones helped me focus and birth my baby.

I learned beforehand that contractions felt like waves, and that knowledge helped me feel that I knew what was happening.
Knowing that the pain of transition means I'm almost there is a great encouragement.
So is reaching up and feeling the head. It's exciting.

As others have said, labour is productive pain, it is achieving a result, and every contraction brings you closer to your baby. And your body eases you into it.

Before my first, I tried not to overthink. I was going to birth a baby, I couldn't avoid it, so I would learn to make it a good experience. My body would deal with it when it happened. If something did go wrong (nothing did), there was no point worrying about possibilities beforehand.

After my first, do you know what I said? 'I could do that again'. It was the best feeling afterward, to have had a baby, to gently hold this amazing miracle on my chest and touch his little fingers and nose. I'm smiling just remembering. It is all worth it.