Technology and medications can reduce and even eliminate the pain associated with childbirth, but some mothers are still opting for a natural, drug free labor.
One method of birthing claims a woman can reduce pain all with the use of her mind.
Seven week old Harper is Anica and Abraham Miller Rushing's second little boy and Anica never relied on an epidural.
Instead, she and her husband used hypnosis.
"Everyone kept saying are you going to be hypnotized so you don't know what's going on, are you going to be aware," Anica said. "Everyone kept calling it the hippie, freak thing to do."
It is called HypnoBirthing and women across the country are signing up.
"Hypnobirthing teaches them how to use breath, visualization, and relaxation in order to come into their birthing environment," Certified HypnoBirthing Practitioner, Laura Brodrick said.
There are skeptics, but HypnoBirthing practitioners say there is proof that it works.
"We had 1,227 moms send in their reports and 72 percent used no pain medication at all."
Now they are backed by University Medical Center, which will offer hypnobirthing classes starting this month.
"We wouldn't be able to offer this to the community if we didn't have the support of both hospital administration as well as the physicians who work here," Laurie Stephen, Family Education Coordinator at UMC, said. "I wouldn't say that it's for every birthing mom, but I think that the people that it's appropriate for will find it and be very happy with it."
Kevin and Candice Rupprecht are expecting their first and while she always wanted a natural birth he needed some convincing.
"I'm very 'type A' and I think, we're going to the hospital, it's what we pay the doctors for, they're experts in it," Kevin said.
But six weeks until baby, the couple's perfecting the practice.
"The fact that we can do this together and feel that we're really committed together to bringing this baby into the world has been really exciting and empowering," Candice said.
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