When my daughter was born two years ago in Texas I had not prepared for the birth. I had a hospital birth with an OB, and didn’t research any other options.

I did the hospital childbirth course, which mainly focused on the interventions that could occur and not how to cope with the discomforts. But I believed in my bodies ability to give birth and thought I would cope fine.

While labor went fast and uncomplicated, the hospital interventions made the process more difficult. I was made to lay on my back with legs in stirrups and given local anesthetic resulting in and episiotomy after 3 pushes. It left me feeling tramautized and abused.

When my son was born 5 weeks ago, in California now. I was much more prepared, I studied hypnobirthing (the hypnobubs online course), listened to positive birth stories and planned a home birth. William was born peacefully at home in the water 4 hours after I got into the tub. I only found the last hour challenging but worked through it using the hypnobirthing techniques. It was a truly amazing experience!