One Long Contraction

I have a question for those of you who have had natural births and had the same contraction situation that I experienced with my first child. I had an epidural with my first, but here is what happened... Basically between the time my water broke (at 2 cm dilated) and being ready to push was 4 hours. At the time my water broke, my contractions no longer had any kind of a break between them. They literally would peak, then pretend they were going back down, only to peak over and over again. What I would imagine usually takes place during transition. I don't think it is typical for this to happen the entire time one is laboring. So here is my concern; my labor was pretty short for a ftm and from what I've been told labors usually get quicker (in my mom's experience that was the case. Her 4th child was a 2 hr labor from first pain to being born). I am wondering if I will have time for an epidural next time, which I probably wouldnt mind except that, because of the experience I had with my contractions, I'm afraid that I won't be able to handle a natural birth. I feel like if I had more 'normal' contractions, I'd be more likely that I could. Either way, I'm not going to lie, I'm a huge baby and have a very low pain and discomfort tolerance. My question is... Have any of you had one non stop 4 hr plus contraction and did it naturally?