I thought I could do it without. I have a high tolerance of pain. It was quite painful and by my doctor’s advice I took the epidural. On the other side the baby’s heart rate immediately went into distress. They upped my IV and every thing returned to normal, but it did stress the baby for a minute. After the delivery one of my legs was swollen also. But I still think it was well worth it cause I felt the pain before the epidural and trust me it hurts a lot.