You are doing well to start looking into pain control before going to the hospital. I am a labor and delivery nurse and I'm not going to lie...birthing babies is a painful experience. Where I work, the majority of women have epidurals and love them, some opt for iv pain medication such as stadol, demerol, or morphine, and a few others go all natural. But most women at the end want something for the pain, however when you get nearly all the way dilated pain medication cannot be administered because there is not enough time for it to wear off of the baby. If pain medication is given to close to delivery the baby usually recieves a Narcan shot to reverse the effects of the medication received during labor.
cari28 I do not mean to offend you in any way, but this is a very obstetric view point, and not one at all that I think is helpful in childbirth

as a labor and delivery nurse you would mostly see obstetric birth, and I am not sure what type of training you would have had but this is certainly not a midwifery viewpoint

what type of antenatal education do the women you care for receive?and what type of support are they offered in labor?

if all they are taught is that labor will be horrendous and painful and we can help with an epidural, then of course this is all they will know and all they will seek

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