Long c/s story: Problem with epidural

Near the end of my pregnancy, my BP started to go up. Ob had me go to the drugstore in the morning and at night to check my blood pressure. I had also gotten extreme swelling and water weight. After two weeks with my bp going up and up, she decided to induce me. This was xmas eve. We decided to do it on the day after xmas. (First mistake) So we had the holidays as normal as possible and then we went into the hospital at 8 AM on the 26th. They checked me and they said I was 1 cm and 0%. The put in the pill to soften my cervix and that started the contractions almost instantaneously. : ) After 6 hours of that, I was still only 1 cm and now 60% effaced. They were going to start me on pitocin but the ob ordered dinner for me first. I was so hungry! Since it was the day after xmas, there were tons of shift changes. I'd already had six nurses and it wasn't even 7pm. That was so hard. The night nurse came in and I asked if I could get out of bed before they started the pitocin, she said fine but only for fifteen minutes. She left and didn't return for 3 hours. We kept calling and calling for her but nothing. My ob came to check on me and see how I was responding to the pitocin. I had to tell that I hadn't been put on it yet. She was PISSED. So she went and gave the nurse a talking to. She came in and started pitocin and literally within one minute, my water ruptured. There was so much fluid I couldn't believe it. It was around midnight when we had gotten all the water cleaned up and settled and the contraction were major. I had tremendous back labor. My little boy was head down but facing sideways. I kept telling hubby to push on my back. It was the only way to get relief. When I was out of bed, the pain was way better! I could control my contractions and talk myself into relaxing. My OB had told me that I could have an epi whenever I wanted it. I started talking about it at 2 or3 am on the 27th. The night nurse said I couldn't have one until I was 4 cm. I explained what my ob had said and she refused to call the ob to get the orders since it was in the middle of the night. So I had to suffer through extreme back labor until 10 am the next morning when my ob came in and was furious again that I had been denied an epi. The night nurse had left at this point of course. So I got the epi, yeah, and I was 4 cm and 90%. After 3 contractions, all the belly pain was gone but I still had back labor on my left side. Since a lot of the rest of the pain was gone, I was happy for a little bit. Over the next few hours, the epi started to break down in different parts of my body. Meds doc came back in and tried to fix the epi. I didn't notice any changes and it kept getting worse. They had him come back in three more times but he could never fix it all together. By 5 that night I could feel everything!!!!! Since I had an epi, I had to stay in bed lying on my back. Let me tell you, that's the most painful place and way to labor. The ob came in and took one look at me and said I needed to get this baby out soon. I had basically been in labor for 39 hours and I was EXHAUSTED. They checked me and I was 100% and 9.5 cm dilated. The OB reached in and stretched that little bit over the babies head. IT HURT! Then it was time to push. The pushing really does feel better than the contractions. I really couldn't have stopped myself from pushing. After 10 minutes, the ob said that she was afraid I was going to end up with a c/s. I freaked but she said the baby's head still hadn't dropped and that it wasn't moving with the pushing. I said I really wanted to try for a vag delivery. She let me try for two hours. The baby's heartrate was still going strong but he wasn't budging. He was starting to get a squishy spot on the top of his head and they said that it could be dangerous for him. After two hours of pushing I was pretty done and the ob came in and called it. I needed a c/s. I was bummed! More than that, I was completely freaked out that the epi wouldn't work on the operating table. Everyone kept telling me that it would be fine but no one would really take the time to talk to me about what was happening with the epi. They wheeled me in and gave me the epi meds to make me not feel the c/s. I was shaking and so tired I could barely keep my eyes open. I was so scared that during surgery I would feel everything. No one would answer my questions. They kept patting me and telling me it would be fine. They started the procedure and I felt a sharp pain inside near my vagina. I screamed for them to stop and that's the last thing I remember. They put me under general anasthesia. They rushed my poor husband out of the room. He was so upset and scared! At 9:52 PM on December 27th, my son was born. He weighed 8 lbs even and he was 21 1/2 inches long. Even though he was born without a major hitch, no one was there to hear him cry and see him squirm. Ten minutes later they took him out of the or and my husband saw him. Before the c/s everyone had told me it wouldn't hurt when I woke up. NOT TRUE! I think because of the epi problems, I felt great pain when I woke up. They put me on blessed morphine and I woke up the next morning to meet my son. Don't take my story as the norm. It is not usual for there to be pain during c/s. But the epi not working correctly during labor is actually more common then it seems. I wish I had known that before I went in.