How bad was the pain of labour/giving birth?

[HE96x]

Ftm due in just under 3 weeks so please give it to me as it is lol as I need to be prepared. How bad is the pain really? I do think I have a good pain threshold but by no means am I a superhuman when it comes to pain. I am aiming to go as natural as possible and just get through it on gas and air as i don't want stronger drugs if I can avoid it. I am so far quite complacent about the whole thing, I'm not particularly worried and keep telling myself yes it will be extremely painful but bearable, but.. is the pain bearable? Is it totally doable on just gas and air or am I being unrealistic? And also which was the worst part of the whole process for you, contractions or pushing/ring of fire?

Thanks in advance!

Baby 1: Torture, I felt like my spine was being ripped out of my body- I would have gladly accepted death. I had an epidural.

Baby no.2: Not too bad but I freaked out and opted for an epidural at 8cm.

Baby 3: Homebirth. No pain relief- really nice and easy birth. Pain manageable, kept control the whole time. Pleasant.

Baby 4: Torture. I was in active labour for only an hour and contractions were back to back. Again I would have taken death at that point. When I felt him descending down the birth canal I welcomed the pain from the ring of fire.

Baby 5 (pregnant): I feel like I have PTSD from baby 4’s birth (he’s only 10 months so it is still fresh in my mind). I try not to think about it.