My baby had stopped moving 2 days beforehand, and although ultrasound scan result noted that the foetus wasn't moving as normal, they could not establish a reason for it. I had been dilated for a few weeks but only by 2-3cm, and didn't even need paracetamol.
The maternity unit was quiet on day 2 so, because the movements did not pick up, my waters were broken. There was a lot of meconium which showed the baby in some distress, but they opted to strap me to a monitor and see how I progress on my own.
I was told to expect to progress by 1cm dilation every 2 hours. This was true until 7cm, when I finally asked for paracetamol. Four hours later I was still only at 7cm so I was then induced with a drip.
The contractions doubled in ther intensity so I started using gas and air. The drip worked though - every 2 hours i progressed by 1cm.
The thing that was the most helpful was to do deep slow breaths and count how many breaths until the contraction wore off. It was always 12 deep breaths and then suddenly NO PAIN again - until the next contraction started to build and then off I would go deep breathing and counting up to 12. There is something really powerful about getting to number 8 or 10 and knowing that in just a few more counts the pain will be gone in a flash.
It was very do-able, and I was quite afraid of the pain beforehand, so not necessarily the most brave person in labour! And although being induced made the contractions more intense, it was definitely still manageable.
I wasn't expecting to have NO pain relief for the 3 hours pushing though! given my time again I'd ask for pethadine at about 8-9cm so I can still be covered by that for the pushing. 
It was sweet relief for a spinal when the forceps and episiotomy were on the cards!