H1B, H4 Visa

Hi,

I did my Masters from University of Colorado Boulder on 12th May 2017. I received the 1-year OPT from 19th June 2017 to 18th June 2018. I joined County of Monterey on 21st June 2017 as Network Systems Engineer II. The County applied for my H1B visa as cap-exempt on 13th June 2017, received specialty occupation RFE on 25th June.
Since County was not e-verified, I was not able to apply for STEM Extension. My SEVP portal extended my OPT from 18th June 2018 to 30th Sept 2018 (Cap-gap, but apparently since it was cap-exempt, I was not supposed to get it). I worked till 30th Sept 2018 on the belief that I had cap-gap.
On Oct 2nd, my H1B got rejected. I talked to my ISSS advsior who informed me that I had 60-day grace period to leave US. The County told me to resign and they reapplied for the H1B on 16th Nov 2018, got same RFE on 23rd Nov. Finally, the petition has been approved on 6th Feb, 2019.

I had few questions with DS-160 and other interview related questions:

1. In the DS-160, under primary occupation, should I put "Unemployed" as I am unemployed right now and reason being that "I was waiting for the USCIS decision on my petiton"?

2. The County's immigration firm is strictly against me giving visa interview in India. They want me to give it in Trindad/Barabados. I am against it as it is my first stamping plus expenses plus don't want to get stuck in another country. Please advice what should I do.

3. Should I take previous rejected H1B petition along with me to the consulate?

Please advise.

Thanks