I had a fairly good experience as far as the epidural goes - no pain while it was going in, it gave me relief after about 10 mins and when I got a "window" of pain the booster helped alot, no side affects etc... however, I do believe in my case that all the events before and after the epi are important too. I'm a classic case of cascade of intervention. Induced before my body was ready, synto drip causing hard and fast contractions, posterior baby, midwife not really offering any support through back pain, in the end I asked for an epidural. Ended up on my back, catheter in, and in the end - failure to progress and a C/S. Definately not the outcome I was after- drug free calm active birth.

This time around I have read New Active Birth, have a doula, and have fully educated myself about pain relief options so if I had my time over things would be very different. I will not be having an epidural this time around- in my case I really think it was the deciding factor for me ending up having a c/s. If I had been able to stay upright and active I have no doubt that I would have been able to birth my baby. Just my story hun but I agree with MR - check out other pain relief options, and there is a book called Easing Labour Pain that is fantastic. Good luck.