No epidural

For my 1st pregnancy, I had to induce at 41wks. At first it was bearable but as it gets more intense and my dilation was still stuck at 3cm plus after about 17hours, I gave up and took epidural. This is also after I took the injection which only works for 1.5hours and the gas which barely worked for me. So yeah, I decided to take the epidural because I really needed to rest as I still need to dilate. But during the pushing itself, I can feel the pain and all. I'm not sure why as other mummies told me they can't feel but i felt the contraction pain and all. I suggest to keep an open mind for it and keep epidural as your last resort if you really cannot take it.