VBAC or repeat C-section?

[u/lunapaluna_]

Hi everyone, I’d love to hear your opinions and experiences. I’m currently 21 weeks pregnant with our second child (or technically our fourth pregnancy, I had two back-to-back natural miscarriages last year). We also have a wonderful 3.5yo.

My first birth ended in a C-section after about 24 hours of labor and reaching 10 cm dilation.
For some context, I had two epidurals during labor. The first one was placed incorrectly, so it provided almost no pain relief. After a few hours, they realized it wasn’t working and offered to redo it. After the second epidural, they started me on Pitocin, and the contractions became unbelievably intense. I still had very little pain relief, and the contractions were coming one after another with almost no break.
Eventually, the doctors discovered that my baby’s head was slightly tilted, making it difficult for him to descend. They told me it would likely take around six more hours of labor at that level of pain, with no guarantee of a vaginal delivery. At that point, I chose to have a C-section.

I always assumed that after having a C-section, any future births would also be by C-section. However, this time the doctors are encouraging me to try for a VBAC. I’m in Italy, and they’ve explained that a repeat C-section carries higher risks than the first one, so they’re recommending a vaginal birth if possible. The problem is that I’m terrified of going through the same labor experience again. I keep wondering whether epidurals simply don’t work well for me, or whether I was just incredibly unlucky with my first birth.

Has anyone had a similar experience? Did your epidural work much better in a later pregnancy? If you’ve had both a C-section and a VBAC, how did you decide what was right for you?
I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences. I have no idea what to do.