About five hours into labor, I went for the epidural. It really helped me, up until I was 8 centimeters dilated. Then it stopped working. They even upped the dose a bit, but there was no relief. Just something to think about. If this is scaring any pregnant ladies out there, I do have positive news along with this. I think since the epidural stopped working, I actually worked harder when it came time to push. Took me about 15 minutes (and she was at 8lbs, 15oz).