Does anyone else feel like this?
I had a pretty short and frantic first labour. I have a high pain threshold and only felt mild cramps for about half an hour before my waters broke.
From then it basically accelerated to what I thought could have been contractions, very intense cramps and heightened sense of adrenaline-hyperactivity. I called my midwife (home birth) half an hour after my water broke and she told me to rest (was the evening) as it would take some time.
After having a shower and getting increasingly frequent although a bit inconsistent cramps that I thought might be contractions (I was doubting myself a lot and was a bit disoriented/confused). So about half an hour after the first call to the midwife i phoned her again in a confused state as I didn't know if what I was experiencing was contractions or not, at this stage the cramps feelings were every 1-3 mins lasting from 10 secs to a minute.
Midwife arrived 45 minutes after the second phone call and I was 8cms dilated, don't really recall what happened between the second phone call and her arrival, had some d&v, showers. Had a lot of energy and couldn't stay still, sitting, standing, lying in floor, dh wasn't the most helpful and I don't recall what e was doing either, probably watching tv (!) but I don't remember needing him for anything anyway as was too consumed in my own world.
Once midwife arrived I don't remember what happened either (which is partly why I was inspired to write as I just read that transition thread and I couldn't relate at all) it was just a big haze with me sucking frantically on g&a and to be honest the memories the next day were very comparable to a very boozy night out 
.
No idea when I got to pushing stage or how long it took but baby was born just over 3.5 hours after waters broke.
It was all so frantic and surreal I find myself reading about labour and other people's experience and cannot relate at all. It wasn't until I was confirmed by the midwife as being 8 cms that i believed i was in labour at all, I thought that i was just exaggerating and being some sort of hypochondriac.
Anyway this has me a little concerned about next time, what if it is faster and I can't control myself around ds?
I feel even less prepared and have no ideas how to prepare, last time I did hypnotherapy and want to actie birth class and stocked up on lavender oil and stress balls, none of which I even thought once about! I did try to put my tens on but it annoyed me so much I ripped it off.
(Also ironically I do have the chance to watch the whole thing as dh actually videoed it all (had a wide angle camera on the whole living area where I laboured and gave birth, and also had a hand held camera for the actual birth) but I am not brave enough to watch it yet 2 years on!)