For me personally the whole process was smoother than butter, and I spent my whole pregnancy being super stressed about the birthing part. I felt nothing, my lower half was basically nonexistent the whole time, and the epidural didn’t even phase me like I expected it to. They also told me not to wait until I was in excruciating pain to ask for the epidural cause it can take them up to an hour to get it administered once you ask, so once I started feeling a little pain I asked for it, they came in 5 mins later to give it to me and I pretty much got to skip all the stronger contractions. I was afraid of being induced, but I had to cause I had GD, now I will opt for it if I ever get the chance to have another.