My contractions went from 3cm to 10in a few hours I wasn't ready for the steady pain. I had an epidural ready & waiting but paging the guy to put the medication in took 15 min and then he says it'll take another 10-15 min to feel the relief. I just about cried. It took 2 top ups before the pain was controlled. I had twins and while the first was cephalic, head down the second went transverse as soon as the first came out and gave her extra room to swim. Twin 2's cord then prolapsed so the OB shoved it back in, shoved his hand up there, grabbed her hips turning her breach, grabbed her legs and pulled her out. The second top up had only just kicked in and I was so thankful. I was quite aware that if twin B went swimming they have no choice but to fix baby manually and was terrified of that sort of pain. He looked like he was in there to his elbow. I had to look away.
If you get an epidural plan for it an hour ahead, contractions sometimes speed up too fast for the anasthesiologist to appear & pain relief to kick in.