A few nights ago, I came home to a voicemail message saying "Hi! This is Laura and we're at the hospital to stay this time! I was at 5-6 cm at my appt. today and now my surges are 2 min apart and I'm at 7 cm and feeling no pain and just wanted to say thank you!"

Laura was in labor with her second baby.  She had the first baby with no drugs (except pitocin) and said that she just "wanted to be more graceful about it" this time.  

She was very skeptical about the idea that she didn't have to feel pain, because her first birth was very painful and the only reason she didn't have the epidural was that it moved so fast.  I was so excited to hear that she was birthing comfortably, like we all know she could!

I talked to Laura the day after her HypnoBirthing® baby was born.  She was absolutely ecstatic.  She said that she went to her dr. appt. having surges but expecting nothing, only to find that she was open 5-6 cm.  

Her dr. sent her to the hospital and told her to have her husband bring her some food so she wasn't going in undernourished (yay!).  After she ate, her and her husband walked around the unit until her surges were 2 minutes apart.  

At that point, she was checked and still only at 6 cm.  With Laura's first birth, her membrane released prior to labor so we did a lot of visualizations on a strong bag of waters.  

She kept saying in class "I just want to make it to 5 cm before my membrane releases."  When she found that she was still only open to 6, she asked her doctor to rupture her membranes.  She said she felt really good about this decision, because she had gotten where she wanted to be.  

After this point, things began moving more quickly, and her and her husband continued walking the halls until she was open to 8 cm.  

She said that she was so calm, a mother of the woman laboring in the next room came out and said "you're not in labor are you?" to which Laura cheerily replied "yep! i'm at 7 cm!" and the woman said, "but you're not even upset" and Laura said "that's because I'm using HypnoBirthing®!".  (woo hoo!)  

Laura said that her pastor and his wife came down to sit with them for a while, and they could not believe how calm and in control she was.  They would be talking and she would say "hang on a sec" and go into her relaxation and then come right back out and finish her sentence.  

When she was open to 9 cm, she asked everyone to leave so she could get down to business, at which point her husband rubbed her back while she leaned against him.  

When it was time to breathe the baby down, she said she had a moment of flashing back to her previous, painful birth which scared her, but it was her doctor who actually reminded her to stay in THIS birth and let her body work. (yay!)

After the head was out, the shoulders were stuck and the doc apparently became concerned and said "Laura, I need you to use all your energy to help get his shoulders out" and both the doc and the nurses were amazed at how she was so able to focus herself and connect with her body to let her baby be born.

Justin David weighed in at a healthy 9 lbs 14 ozs. With Laura's first baby (7 lbs. 14 ozs.) she tore all the way to her rectum, but this time she had "a tiny tear, barely noticeable."  

When I talked to Laura, nurses had been stopping by all day to talk to her about what a great birth she had.  It was the first HypnoBirthing® that her doctor had ever attended and she said "that's it! I'm recommending this to ALL my patients!!"  

Laura said that there is a "world of difference" between this birth and the first, adding that she was able to move around and do things, and felt wonderful!