Hi jenz, I am a complementary therpist so I am a bit biased, and I have only given birth once so I can't really say whether it made the pain worse or not.
However, I was only in labour for 4 hours which was good as I hadn't slept much for three weeks before because of a chest infection. The pain was horrendous though.
I woke up in constant excruciating pain at 1 in the morning, the day after I was due. I had wanted a home birth but wasn't allowed as it was my first pregnancy, but I nearly ended up having one in the end because the midwives said I couldn't be in labour!
I knew it was the real thing even though I hadn't been through it before and it wasn't how I expected it to be. When I rang the hospital and said I was in constant pain, they said labour pain wasn't contstant. They said it must be constipation and I should take a warm bath or paracetamol; if it was labour there would be several minutes in between!
As there were no gaps between the pain, it was really hard to cope with but I am sure the speed at which it happened, although most of those four hours were pushing, was down to the raspberry leaf tea.
I did also take the homeopathic remedy caullophyllum for the last three weeks as well though.