My second birth was very nearly painless. My first labor was short (6 hours) but very intense - I never had any build up phase, and knew I was in labor instantly from the first contraction.
At the end of my pregnancy with my second, I had days of painless, mild contractions. I also was seeing a group of CNMs at a hospital, and I was pretty nervous about getting whoever was on call, so I think I had a fair amount of anxiety about going to the hospital. The day dd was born, I had some more mild, irregular contractions, and a little bit of bloody show in the morning. I stayed home for an hour or so later in the morning, but then was so comfortable I decided to go to school (I was in med school at the time) I started to notice mild contractions again around 3 in the afternoon, but they were barely noticeable, so I stayed in class. I even walked the 1 mile home! At home, I cooked supper, ate with my family. I read to ds at bedtime - and just noticed that I would need to breathe a little deeper with contractions - but still no pain. After his bedtime, dh started to wonder if I was in labor, but I told him I didn't think so, but that my low back was a little achy. He offered to rub my back in the shower, so I climbed in and let the hot water hit my back while he rubbed my lower back for a while. I was in heaven. I didn't feel a single contraction in the shower, and just figured they had petered out again as they had many days before. I decided to wash my hair, and dh went out of the bathroom. While I was rinsing out the conditioner, my water broke with a huge splat (dh could hear it from the living room.) I figured real labor would start, then, as it had with my first. While I was climbing out of the shower, I had a contraction - and the urge to push! I yelled for dh, and then things got a little crazy. He dragged ds out of bed, I called my friend who was planning to come with us and support ds. I also called the CNMs' answering service - I never did speak to a MW when they hadn't answered in 2-3 minutes, I called the service back and said to have the MW on call meet me at the hospital. Dh dressed me, and left me with the friend who had arrived in a big hurry, and ran out to pull our car up. We all started down the stairs to the car. 2 steps from the bottom, I could feel baby crowning. It took some effort to make myself understood at that point, but I finally convinced dh to carry me back upstairs. Dd was born on the next contraction, in my living room, with one leg still in my pants! The only discomfort I felt the whole time was in trying not to push while we were rushing around. My friend caught her in one of my bath towels (which little ds had run to get while we were coming up the stairs) and scooped her up to me immediately (I was sitting on the edge of our couch's hide-a-bed)
My other births weren't painfree, but weren't difficult really either. I love to tell my own clients my birth stories, in an effort to combat the horrible stories they often hear from their families and friends!