My husband and I were recently blessed with a beautiful baby boy who has brought nothing but joy and fulfilment to our lives. But getting to this point was not easy in any way.

My pregnancy was complicated and the loss of my mother three months into my pregnancy just made it even harder than expected.

Then we came to the point where you start thinking about labour and how on earth you are going to handle it.

With both of us being doctors, we'd seen enough of the dramas in the labour room to keep us traumatised about what we were going to face soon. All we needed was someone to tell us that labour was a beautiful process and that we could handle it, but apparently in our current society no one seems to think so anymore.

Right from our obstetrician who thought I was crazy to say “No” to an epidural, to our anaesthetist who pulled out all the journals and studies showing that a caesarean section was the preferred choice of delivery for anyone and everyone (and especially since we were doctors!), there was not a single person who could sit us down and say, “You will survive it, it can be done”, which was all I wanted.

My husband and I had discussed our options and we knew from the start that we wanted a natural delivery and without the epidural. No one was supportive of the idea but I knew I wanted it and I just needed the strength.

That was when I came across hypnobirthing. Contrary to what it sounds like, there's no big hypnosis involved nor does it promise you anything that you can't possibly do. We went for four classes weekly and it taught us to trust our bodies and the baby to go through labour.

It made us stop listening to all those people who kept giving us negative thoughts and we told ourselves that all those labour scenes in the movies were far from the truth.

On Sept 3, 2009, my contractions started at home. We did not run helter-skelter like they do in the movies to get to the hospital. We were calm and got ourselves to the hospital in good time. My labour lasted five hours. With no complications or any pain control whatsoever I delivered my son.

I think what every pregnant couple needs is just positive thoughts and confidence. What makes you think you can't do it? Just because your neighbour says so? Why do you think labour has to be the most traumatising thing to ever happen to you? Just because the movies say so?

Women have been doing it for hundreds of years so why is it that modern women think caesarean sections and epidural are an absolute must?

I was scared and I had doubts in myself as well, but all I needed was one nice lady to tell me that her delivery was the most beautiful thing that happened to her, and I believed and trusted and my body overcame. The sad part is I had to pay someone to tell me nice stuff about labour.

So now I just hope that after reading this story all you beautiful pregnant women out there will forget all the nonsense that you've heard and learn to trust your body and that wonderful little baby inside you to know that bringing him or her into this world WILL be the best thing your body will ever do.

Dr Umayaal Vanthini
She wins our RM50 discount voucher from Kidz Spot this week.