Personally I would wait till baby arrives naturally if everything is normal (fluid, bp, heart rate etc). My gynae allowed me to wait till week 41 but I had to be induced at 40.3 weeks due to low fluid.
I didn’t lose my mucus plug, water bag didn’t break and I was only 1cm dilated. I didn’t know about having to go ecsect if inducing fails but yeah I went ahead with inducing. Entire process from insertation of pills till labour for mine was 6 hours (FTM).
Don’t overthink, as a FTM, I was very very afraid I cried so badly (I kept telling myself it’s gonna be very painful I cannot take it) but the nurses assured me it’s gonna be fine. I have very low pain tolerance too but my birth experience was painless (apart from the contractions at first, but I was alive again after laughing gas). Use all the pain reliefs provided (laughing gas, epidural) if you need to, you won’t be any lesser just because you use epidural.
Before you even realize it, baby is out already! For me, I was busy dealing with the crazy vomiting (side effects from epidural) and shiverings that I didn’t even want to see my own baby until I was feeling alive again after a few hours. I was afraid of her as I was feeling weak all over and I just want 0 disturbance.
But then again, everyone’s experience is different so find something to distract yourself from thinking. You’re gonna be fine 🫶🏻. Have a smooth delivery!