Just nod and smile when others tell you that you *won't* be able to do it. Every woman and every birth is different. Believing in yourself and your body is the first step to getting your dream birth.
:yeahthat:

I love your original post - by the sounds of it, you'll have the birth you want. Your confidence in your ability to birth naturally and without drugs is the key - you sound like you're well on the way to birthing your baby the way YOU want. Don't let anyone - other mothers, the medical profession, friends and family - undermine your confidence in yourself.

I had two incredible births, both spontaneous, drug free and they were the most empowering experiences of my life. I desperately wanted births free of intervention and without drugs. To this end I educated myself as best I could about the birthing process, found out what my rights and options were and then I enrolled DH and I in a hypnobirthing course. I could wax lyrical about hypnobirthing, but suffice to say if I felt confident before the course, I felt like I had a super power afterwards, such was the faith I had in myself. And the course also helped DH understand totally where I was coming from and be the best support for me that he could. In addition I had weekly acupuncture which I'm certain helped me have easy, relatively quick labours. With DS1 my waters broke at 7.30pm and he was born at 4.25am. Of that, I was only in "hard labour" for the three odd hours I was in the hospital - I pushed for 30 minutes. With DS2 I knew I was in labour around 7.30am, arrived at hospital around 11.30am was in "hard labour" not long afterwards and he was born at 2.14pm - pushing again less than 30 minutes.

With both births I stayed at home as long as I could, I stayed relaxed and I kept the faith. With bub 1 you're not sure what to expect, and I was really keen to experience it for myself. It's fair to say that birthing isn't exactly a picnic, but it is definitely not something to be feared. Hypnobirthing taught us to embrace any "turn" our birthing may take, so we were prepared if we needed assistance, but fortunately I had straightforward births. I found birthing to be hard work at times, but ultimately just so rewarding. And I'll be honest, there is pride in yourself when you can birth the way you want. And then to be able to get up and walk around an hour or so after the birth is also a good feeling.

Good on you Babyluv - I wish you all the best in your birthing journey. Just keep the faith