BW recently had her bub - 8 hours from when it started to when it was all over - she did it naturally (used gas that's it) - i don't think it's about how long you labour, it's about how strong you feel during the process

from what i'm reading in your OP, your biggest issue was that you gave into fear of pain and had the epi - if that's the case, then you need to work your way through your fears, find ways to manage your pain and your anxieties - and at the end of your labour, no matter how long it is, if you haven't given into them, you've had a more empowered birth. you've done it on your terms, you've managed your fears etc

i'll be 10000% honest - i'm shiat scared of labor - i have serious anxiety issues - panic attacks etc - my focus over the next 20 weeks is to work out how to manage them in labor. i have no issue with intervention (i'm likely to need induction due to BP and potential GD issues) - i'm more concerned with letting fear overwhelm me and taint whatever birthing experience i have. if i can manage to not allow fear to overcome me, everything else i will be able to accept. if i manage to labour naturally, it will be awesome - and again, i need to be able to overcome fear of pain, fear of failure, and allow my labour to progress as it should.

again - hope that makes sense - it's something on my mind a lot at the moment too