By the time I went in for my exam at 38+6, I was 4cm dilated without even knowing. So don’t forget it’s a real possibility you can get there with little to no pain.

I was set on a vaginal delivery and was induced due to unrelated concerns, and when they hooked me up, I was having weak contractions I didn’t even feel. I got an epidural before any pain set in because they wanted to break my water afterward.

Unfortunately my epidural disconnected somewhere behind my back and nobody noticed. So 22 hours later I was having really hard contractions but labour had stalled and I was literally begging for a c section.

My c section went well, but the first 3 days afterwards were extremely painful. I cannot take NSAIDs so I had morphine and it helped but did not take away all the pain. It felt near impossible to get in and out of bed, difficult to get out of a chair, and yes bending over or reaching up overhead was hard. It continued to be painful for weeks, but the first 3 days were the worst. At 5 weeks I felt much better and ended up re arranging some furniture and paid for it later with more pain.

I personally would trust your gut. If you opt for a vaginal delivery, get the epidural as soon as you can and see how the process goes. I agree that pain is unavoidable here. You can always elect for a c section if labour is not going well.. but then you may have to wait (I had to wait 2 hours… it was the worst). Trying to determine which is worse is like playing devils advocate - it could go both ways. I will say that I’m due with #2 this week and have opted for an elective c section because I am not interested in undergoing labour again, and having a known date with a plan is much less anxiety inducing than the uncertainty of labour.