well, now that Ive experienced it, Ill throw my 2 cents in. I went with no drugs till 7 cm, then had an epi. the last hour or so pre-epi was pretty bad...a notch above the skin burn i had mentioned early in the post. the epi was wonderful..until it wore off. twice. turns out I have some kind of issue with anesthesia..the block was great, the epi medicine that followed was useless. so I ended up having to push her out with less than 10% medication..i was pretty scared/pissed! so I pushed for over an hour and a half, had 2nd degree tear and lots of stitches. the worst part was the monumental effort of pushing, not the pain.
i feel like i can handle the pain again but not the push. maybe b/c i have cfids and am weaker/tire easily, i dunno but it sucked and if not for my husband's helpp i prob would have made them do a section. Madeleine was 8.13 and a week early, 27 hour labor btw.

the post partum was utter hell....2 months in i still have some pain. it was FAR worse than i imagined. the tips you guys gave were so great though! the numbing spray stuff rocked, as did diapers filled with ice. for those going top give birth might i recommend a few things:
be prepared to sweat. a lot. have a hairclip or elastic ready.
bring those cleansing wipes for your face/body. i used them to clean my face and upper body after delivery, going top shower wasn't happenin..was too exhausted and it was 1 am, didnt wanna wake my roommate.
(nyc sucks- because of space private rooms are rare)
mouthwash- can use with a cup if you cant get to bathroom right away.
stayfree makes these uber-pads for women who are incontinent and having periods, or pos-p/ they are very absorbent and more comfortable than hosp. ones!
oh one more thing..bring some old panties to wear over the hospital mesh ones. i didnt. and wel..thr sticky side of pads is still sticky through the mesh. i had to pull my robe/johnny off my ass in a very obvious way after it stuck. embarassing!!!

hope that helps someone!!!