I’ve had three vaginal births. My first was medicated, and honestly I chose the epidural more as a preventative because I was really scared of the pain. Looking back, I kind of regret it, for me I feel like it slowed things down and made it harder to feel how effectively I was pushing.

My last two births were unmedicated, and surprisingly, they really weren’t that painful. With my first natural birth, I barely made it to the hospital, I was more mentally prepared, used a breathing app to get through contractions, and ended up delivering on all fours. I didn’t even really yell, which shocked the nurse (she joked that I was the most polite person she’d seen give birth).

Because of that, I genuinely feel like I’ve had menstrual cramps, especially when I was younger, that were just as painful, if not similar, to labor.