I had an epi after two hours of pushing, because my baby was malpositioned, and it was only way my Ob could manouevere him.

From memory, it took about 15 mins to kick in, but I could still feel quite a bit of pain on my left side, so still used gas during my contractions. It wasn't topped up though as it had acheived it's purpose (Ob managed to manouevere bub without me climbing off the bed LOL) and I was obviously fairly close to delivering bub.

I pushed for four hours, two hours before, and two after having the epi. The before part was certainly more painful, but it was no less exhausting pushing after the epi. In fact it was more difficult in some ways because I had alot less control.

TBH, I will do everything I can NOT to have one next time. I enjoyed my labour far more before I had the epi, and I only had it out of necessity, I didn't request it for pain relief as such. I also hated having to wait for it to wear off afterwards. But each to their own, I know some people love the epi, and want one for all of their labours. I just wanted to put it out there that not everyone loves it.