Hi, and congratulations on being pregnant! I have a 7 yr old and a 6 month old. With my 1st, i did want to go all natural but changed my mind when all "the magic" started happening, so at the end i didn't feel a thing. And with my 6 month old, i also saw a mid wife at lone star and also delivered at st. Lukes. I went in thinking i had a plan to not have it natural and everything was going to be the same a my first child. But everything happened so fast, none of the medicine worked for me at all. So i felt it all! I am glad i did have that experience. The nurses didn't really do anything but tell me that the contractions will pass that just to keep breathing.. Im just telling you from how they treated me.. They were very nice and sweet but they didn't really do anything out of the ordinary to ease the pain.. You should talk to your doctor about different ways to help you thru it all.. I was on my side when all the contractions started happening and ended up delivering on my side. That was the honestly the only thing that slightly helped with the pain, being on my side grabbing the bed...lol. I hope i helped out alittle by sharing my experience there. Good luck. And it will be an awesome experience you'll never forget! And breastfeed! You'll feel so close and bonded with your little one its the best feeling! Okay I'm done now..lol.

I delivered all of my kids at St. Luke's, and had the last two with the Lonestar Midwives (Jan for one, Lauren for the other). I had a great experience every time. The nurses were very helpful and respectful, no one pushed any meds on me. I was set up to receive an IV, but didn't have it attached until after I delivered, for fluids. I was able to walk around, get in the shower, use a birthing ball (they have those there for you, no need to bring one). I was able to labor and deliver in any position that I wanted (felt better to deliver on my back for some reason, though I labored on my side).

If you choose to breastfeed, they have lactation consultants on site to help you, and the nurses can help, too. I will say that with my second baby, I only saw the consultant once, and it was when the baby wasn't even in the room. By the time I called her again, the nurse told me she was too busy. Didn't matter, I knew I didn't produce any milk, I was just hoping magic would strike and I could actually breastfeed a kid (I have insufficient glandular tissue, can't produce milk). If you don't choose to breastfeed, bottles are available to use.

I generally found that the staff is as helpful as you need them to be. Very helpful the first time, a little helpful the second, by the third I was like, "I'm good, no help needed!" :)

I've delivered twice at St. Luke's. The first time I spent about 15 hours there due to my water breaking before I had any contractions. I was overall happy with my experience. I came in with a doula and they pretty much left me alone. I had intermittent monitoring, was walking the hallways, used the showers and drank Gatorade. I used the squatting bar at the beginning of pushing but felt more comfortable delivering on my back. Overall it was mostly what I wanted and I had no issues.

My second was born 30 minutes after arriving and was not a good experience. The nurses were pretty witchy and made several inappropriate comments. They really treated me a an object to perform procedures on instead of as a person. They disregarded several requests I made for water, started an IV instead of just a hep lock and blew out the veins in both my hands during the process. My DH isn't the best advocate and due to my labor being so quick my doula missed my birth. It was a pretty negative experience. I do believe that a lot of the bad things I experienced wouldn't have happened if I hadn't come in ready to push. If they could have found my chart and looked over my birth plan I do believe that I would have been paired with a more natural birth friendly nurse and could have advocated for myself better. I do understand that my 2nd birth they considered it to be an "emergency" situation.

Both my post partum stays were wonderful and their lactation consultants were great. One of them truly saved my breastfeeding relationship with my first. After all of my experiences there I would choose to deliver there again if we lived closer and we weren't done having children. Good luck

ETA I didn't have pain meds for either labor. I did have Pitocin with my first since my water had been broken for 17 hours. If you're looking for someone to support you through your labor you might want to hire a doula, because some nurses are great at helping out but they won't be with you the whole time. I delivered with Lonestar OB/Gyn so I'm not sure how much time the midwives spend with you. I know the OBs really just come in to catch the baby.