How painful is it to really give birth?

I endured until my water bag broke and contractions were about 2 minutes apart before I gave in to epidural. After epidural was administered I slept for a good 4 hours before preparing for delivery. If you decide early then you will not have to endure the pain like I did, so whether painful and how painful you want it to be can be a choice. If you choose to go for a c-section then during childbirth there is practically no pain at all. The incision wound will hurt for up to a week or two. And everyone's threshold for pain is different. No one can describe to you how painful it really is. All I can say is the pain resembles menstrual cramps and food poisoning but 10 times worse. Haha!