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Introduction: Pain during labor is a well known cause of unsatisfaction amongst women in labor. The use of lumbar epidural analgesia (LEA) in labor is becoming widespread due to its benefit in terms of pain relief and shortening of time labor. Method: After approval of the local Ethics Committee on Research and obtaining informed consent, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) class I-II 50 consecutive primiparous women in labor at Asri Medical Centre requesting pain relief were enrolled in this prospective study. After providing description of the two options of pain relief available to them, they were allocated into two groups according to their request—to receive either parenteral opioid/sedative or lumbar epidural analgesia. Both groups received analgesia of choice at 4-cm cervical os dilatation. The epidural group received 0.125% plain bupivacaine, while the other group received pentazocine intravenously. The time taken to locate the epidural space, catheter-related complications encountered and the amount of intravenous fluid used were documented. Result: The two groups were comparable in terms of socio-demographic data. The mean duration of the first and second stages of labor, respectively, were significantly shorter in the lumbar epidural group when compared with those in the non-lumbar epidural group ([P=0.01] and [P=0.02]). There was no difference in the rate of cesarean delivery between them with epidural analgesia (32% [8/25]) versus parenteral opioid/sedative (44% [11/25]), (OR= 0.60; 95% CI= 0.19-1.90). The maternal blood loss from delivery was minimal, with no statistical difference between the two groups (P = 0.27). The neonatal outcome was the same in both groups. Closed questionnaire showed that the overall experience of labor was much better in the lumbar epidural group when compared with that in the non lumbar epidural group (80% versus 4%). Eighteen (72%) women had inadequate pain relief in the non-epidural group as compared to 2 (8%) women in the epidural group. Conclusion: The study shows that epidural analgesia is acceptable to women in our setting. More women in the epidural analgesia group were satisfied with the experience of labor than those who did not receive this form of lumbar epidural analgesia than among those who received parenteral opioid/sedative.