I'm cutting and pasting my birth story below with two warnings.  It is the general birth story that I wrote up for friends/family where I didn't use hypnobabies lingo so there are certain terms that I know we avoid in our hypnosis preparation.  The other thing is that my birth didn't go as planned.  We had to move from a birth center (freestanding, ran by a nurse midwife) to a hospital because of failure to progress.  My baby was posterior and her head got caught sort of sideways in my pelvis.  As a first-time mom I was able to birth her posterior (attempts to turn her didn't work) and they used a vacuum at the end (her heart rate went scary low) and only had minimal tearing.  Hypnosis really helped me stay calm especially during the change to the hospital when docs were running around telling me I would have to have a c-section.  Hypnosis also helped birthing feel great until she got fairly stuck with her head sideways and body posterior and at that point I WAS in pain, but I think it was my body's way of saying, "There's something wrong here."  We tried EVERYTHING to turn her-belly lifting, all sorts of positions (I was only on my back the last few minutes of delivery), squatting, tub, etc. with no luck.  I was so disapointed we couldn't have our beautiful, peaceful birth center birth with our wonderful midwife.  BUT...all things considered I had a vaginal delivery, I labored at the birth center, and have a BEAUTIFUL healthy baby girl.
Lindsey
Birth story below:
I began having contractions at around 11 pm on 4/13.  We went to bed but I woke up at 4 am unable to sleep through them anymore.  We had contractions at home until about 8:30 am and we went to the birth center at 9 am.  They checked me and I was already at 5-6 centimeters.  I labored in the pool, walking around, squatting.  At one point Ruth (my midwife) told me the baby was likely posterior so the more I moved the more it would encourage her to rotate into the more favorable anterior position.  At 11 am I was 7 centimeters but feeling the unbearable urge to push.  I breathed through that urge and continued to work through midafternoon.  At that point, Ruth broke my bag of waters in an attempt to move things along as I hadn't dilated any further probably due to the posterior position.  Ruth also reached in and rotated the baby inside of me but unfortunately Chloe rotated back to the more difficult and painful to labor posterior position.  By 4 pm I was a bit out of my mind.  I had been laboring since at least 4 that morning, since around 11 am I had been having contractions that were 2-3 minutes apart with the urge to push that I had to ignore, and at 4 pm I still had not dilated any further than 7 cm.  The baby was not only posterior, but Ruth said it felt like her head was lodged somewhat sideways and that was likely why I wasn't progressing.  Ruth told me that she would be ok with me trying for another hour but if I hadn't progressed we would need to go to the hospital-in rush hour traffic.
       The last thing I wanted to do was leave the birth center but I knew something had to change because I was exhausted and feeling overwhelmed.  Not only did I want Ruth to catch the baby but a car ride sounded like torture.  We chose to go to UC Davis medical center right then.  We followed Ruth and she thankfully stayed with us for the next three hours at the hospital.  They checked us in and started talking c-section and the OB's crutch "inadequate pelvis."  When the docs left the room Ruth assured us that it was very likely that due to the stress of the car ride my contractions had weakened and baby had weakened a bit but once we got settled things would likely pick up.  She was absolutely right.  I still labored without pain meds (they tried fentanyl but it didn't do a damn thing) until the epidural was placed and "took" at about 7:30 pm.  I hate to say it but I was so relieved to get it.  They gave me some pitocin and things started to move along.
       By 9:45 pm I was fully dilated and ready to push.  I was grateful the nurse asked if I was willing to try positions other than laying down and with hers and Jon's help I tried hands and knees, modified squatting (stupid, wonderful epidural!) and some side lying positions.  I was assured that baby was moving down with each push and I was doing well, but baby wasn't doing so well.  Her heart kept slowing down at an alarming level and they asked me to sit out every other contraction.  We were getting really close to her entrance and her heartrate kept dropping alarmingly.  All of a sudden there was a ton of activity and I heard them mention vacuum.  That made me doubly resolved to get her out NOW.  A NICU team was standing by because she passed meconium.  They put the vacuum on and I pushed her out, the vacuum helped the last little bit but the OB told me that overall it was me that pushed her out.  In fact, they documented the vacuum was only on 20 seconds total.  She was born posterior, ie "sunny side up" or facing the wrong way.  She was born at 11 pm on the dot on 4/14. I was later told that any woman who can deliver that way has a hell of a pelvis that is in no way inadequate.
       They immediately took her to the NICU table and suctioned out great quantities of meconium.  Jon looked so worried but kept going back and forth between her and I.  Cheryl reassured me they couldn't let her cry because she could inhale meconium.  I heard somebody say, "She's fighting the tube" and Jon say, "She gets that from her mom."  Eventually I heard a strong cry.  They brought her two me for only a moment before taking her to the NICU for more treatment and observation.  Jon went with her.  I had a small 2nd degree tear which I understand is nothing for a posterior baby born with a vacuum extraction.
       It was the worst feeling in the world being away from her for the next FOUR HOURS while she was in the NICU after having her safe within me for 42 weeks.  But Jon was with her the whole time and refused to allow her to be observed in a bassinette and instead held her for the two hours they insisted she stay.  Jon also insisted they wake up the attending doctor because he wanted her released to be with me ASAP.  Jon brought her in to me at around 3:30 am and we all hugged and cried and tried to get her to breastfeed right then, which she did.  It was a rough start and we didn't get to have the gentle birth center birth we had hoped for but thankfully Ruth was so knowledgable and wise and got us to the hospital, helped us labor at her center as long as possible avoiding a c-section, and our beautiful baby girl is here.
       Afterwards, I felt utterly transformed.  I had never felt so powerful and powerless at the same time.  I had never been so scared and so brave at the same time.  I loved my husband more than I thought I could love any other person and the love I feel for my baby girl I have no words to express.  It was an amazing, wonderful, awful, beautiful, transformative experience.  I am so glad I had that journey to experience and also glad it's over and we're starting the next part of the journey together.