The day I gave birth to my daughter I will never forget. I went in labour at about 5 in the evening and only went into the hospital at 9 that night. I had to have an emergency C-section done as I only dilated 3 cm and the contractions were about a minute apart. They gave me an epidural but it didn't seem to take effect They started cutting and I felt everything so I asked them to knock me out completely. Is it unusal for an epidural not to take effect?