My wife gave birth to 3 children, all natural births, no c-section, no epidural, but all happened in hospitals. All she used was the laughing gas during labor. She told me later that the gas didn't really do anything to help the pain, but breathing the gas helped her focus on her breathing between contractions. She took the pain like a champion through all 3 births.

Yes, there are stories of women having a very short labor and giving birth very smoothly / quickly, but I think those are the exceptions, not the norm. Labor is typically long, especially the first child. Our first child took about 10-11 hours, from the moment she noticed frequent contractions to the time of birth. That is not to say you can't be the exception, but just be prepared and manage your expectations. Being in good physical shape helps a lot, as it does take a lot of effort and energy; it is called labor for a reason.

I'm not sure how it is in US hospitals, but here in BC, Canada, the hospitals encourage and promote natural birth. I think they will give mothers epidural if requested, but mothers have to request it.

Personally, I think the benefit of giving birth in a hospital is that there are medical professionals in case of any "oh shit" moments, such as baby's position not coming out right, umbilical cord catching baby's neck, mother having excessive bleeding, or whatever reason that require immediate medical attention. Child birth sometimes do have complications and there are definitely risks. That said, life is about trade-offs, and each person make their own trade-offs according to their own preferences. I can totally see the advantage of giving birth in the comfort of one's own home; the feeling of familiarity and support probably can never be matched by hospital births. In our case, my wife and I took the trade-off of giving birth in a hospital, because we wanted immediate access to medical professionals in case if something went wrong. Luckily, all 3 births went smoothly, and all kids came into this world healthy and loud.