I wasn't sure. I suspected I would have a short labor(my momhas short labors) but my sister's last labor was 36 hours(induced) so I left the option open. The doctor insisted I call them an hour after contractions blah blah blah. Well, I woke up a few minites before 2am had my girl like before 7am. Called an hour after contractions started, waited a half hour to get a call back, half hour to the hospital, half hour to get checked in. And my clinic didn't even have a doctor there...I was sharing with another lady who had been laboring all day and thought she was getting "close" finally when the doctor gets to me she was able to do an episiodomy...after pushing for like half my labor....I couldn't have gotten an epidural and I would have been bed bound all the next day if somehow they had managed to. The nurses freaked out so badly when they realized I was pretty well fully dilated that they blew 5 veins and had to call a phlebotomist.....so not sure how an epidural would go....