I've never given birth but I had my Mirena inserted in September. I took 3 ibuprofen about an hour before my appointment, but it was another 2 hours before I had the actual insertion done (waiting time, pregnancy test and doctor arrived late as always). Like I said, I've never given birth so my cervix had to be stretched. Some kind of tool was used to measure the depth of my uterus and stretch my cervix open (pain level: 7) it felt like a hard pinch and like a really bad period cramp except more like a rod going way deep into my cabbage patch. They measured twice and on the third go it was the IUD going in, by then I was prepared for the sensation so that felt more like a 5.

Factoring out the waiting time, the actual insertion took only about 5 minutes. I thought I would be fine after that, but they asked me to lay down for a little while because I might feel faint. All I could think about is how badly I had to piss after laying there for 2 hours, so I got dressed and met my fiance outside.

Aaaand then it hit me, pain level 10, I couldn't talk, I thought I might throw up and maybe pass out, but I really had to pee! So I climbed into the truck and went home. I went straight to my bed with more ibuprofen and when that kicked in I just napped. I woke up feeling alright, back to a normal cramping pain. For the following week I had some more cramping at night, and I bled (spotted mostly) for a few weeks after, not going to lie. I thought it would never end, but it did, and I don't think I've had a period for... can't even remember, and I love it.

And my fiance can't feel any strings. Mine were never trimmed though, and they've softened up and kinda tuck away and hide in there. I was totally freaked out by them at first, I thought I might accidentally pull them out or something but now I don't even notice.

Just remember it's going to be different for everyone though, don't base anything off of someone else's experience. I wanted answers on all of this too and had a totally different expectation in mind. It went smoothly and close to what I had imagined, right up until I got up to leave and it hit me all of a sudden, but it passed within the day.