You've had a lot of very different advice on this thread, OP. I hope some of it has been useful.
I would recommend reading about the physiological process of giving birth, i.e. what actually needs to happen to get the baby out, the different methods of pain relief, the different methods of induction, and what happens during a C-section. That way you will be well prepared for all eventualities and have at least some idea of what to expect regardless of how things pan out.
One thing I think it is quite difficult to grasp is that although you are giving birth, you aren't actually doing a great deal in many ways. Yes, it's generally good to try and remain a bit mobile to help your cervix dilate and your baby move down. But apart from that, in terms of hypnobirthing and all the rest of it, literally all you are doing is managing your own fear and your own pain.
Your uterus will contract all by itself. Sometimes there will be complications, sometimes things can stall and you may be given drugs to strengthen your contractions. Sometimes nothing works and you'll end up having a C-section. But whatever happens, you can just sit or stand or lie there and do absolutely nothing at all, that baby is still coming out one way or another.
There are ways of minimising pain in childbirth. What you can't do is opt out of any pain whatsoever.
I have had an emergency C-section following a failed induction, and a quick and easy VBAC under epidural.
With the C-section, the pain came after the birth. I was in a lot of discomfort having a fresh wound in my abdomen and really didn't like how difficult it was to sit or stand up in the early days. In retrospect I wish I had done more reading about C-sections before giving birth because I was completely unprepared for this. I was also exhausted because by the time I gave birth I had already spent quite a long time in labour, albeit much of it under epidural so not in any pain.
If you had a planned C-section you could avoid any labour pain at all, not feel a single contraction or any real discomfort whilst giving birth, but you would have a certain amount of pain and discomfort in the following days and weeks.
If you decided to try for a vaginal birth but take all the pain relief available, you could write I WANT AN EPIDURAL in capital letters at the top of your birth plan but you would still feel some contraction pain whilst in early labour and whilst waiting for the epidural, and there is of course a small chance that it might not work. But in my experience the contractions during early labour are pretty manageable, just like intense period pains which come and go every few minutes. You might also have to be quite insistent if you want an epidural, because the UK has a bit of a cult of natural childbirth going on, and women having straightforward labours are often encouraged to just manage with gas and air even if they would prefer something stronger. You will also hear an awful lot of crap about epidurals leading to worse outcomes which isn't backed up by reliable data or by birth outcomes in countries such as France where epidurals are used as standard. So if you decide that's the option you want to take, you might need to be willing to stand your ground and not be fobbed off with gas and air.
I am generally not a fan of inductions because I personally had a bad time being induced, I wasn't in pain, but it ended up as an EMCS which wasn't what I wanted. However, one advantage of being induced is that if you need the syntocinon drip you can ask to have an epidural before they start it, meaning you won't really feel any pain at all.
Some women prefer the full natural experience, no drugs, being in the pool, all that stuff, and that's fine if that's what you want. But it's also fine if that's not what you want. I think we need to move away from this narrative that a positive birth experience is only one where you breathe your baby out into the birthing pool with just a bit of gas and air. I also know women who have had an epidural and then had a nice long sleep or watched their favourite series on Netflix or done their hair and nails and makeup to while away the time away until they were fully dilated and ready to push. And surely that is a very positive birth experience too? Ditto for women who have had elective C-sections and are happy with their choice.
My personal preference was to stay in the bath until things really started to kick off, then have a lightly dosed epidural, just enough to take the edge off but not so much that I couldn't feel my legs or move around, and that worked brilliantly for me.
In summary, read as much as you can about the different things that might happen so nothing takes you by surprise. Accept that a certain amount of this is out of your control, but regardless of what you do or don't do, your baby will come out. And if it is pain you are afraid of, ask for proper pain relief and don't take no for an answer.