I had an epidural with my first. I had a funny reaction to it. I had a button on my IV line that the nurse said I should push to give myself another dose when I felt the first one wearing off. She said if I was still in pain after 15 minutes, to push the button again. I felt pain, so I did. But really it was more like pressure to push rather than pain, so I kinda overdosed myself.

The result of this was that I couldn't walk by myself until the next day (baby was born at 5:37 pm) and I had trouble moving my right leg for a week afterward.

My hospital also has a policy that no one is in the room when the epidural is being administered. This is to prevent infection. No big deal, I'm sure my dh didn't want to see them sticking a foot long needle in my back either. It was pretty horrible when they put the needle in, because I was having a contraction at the same time and it was very difficult to keep still. But after it was over, I was so relieved at not hurting. I really enjoyed the labor after that and the anticipation of the coming birth. It was a lot better than being so much pain.