St. Luke’s–Roosevelt Hospital Birthing Center

After the 2002 birth of her first son, Gavin, turned into a 24-hour ordeal, freelance graphic designer Lana Lê, 36, decided to try hypnobirthing, a drug-free relaxation method, for her second. After a rocky cab ride to the hospital, the expectant mother hopped into a warm bath (ker-splash), while her husband of five years, Peter Hall, cued up some soothing ocean sounds. “It was painful in my back, but the technique really worked for me,” Ms. Lê said. And her pug-nosed, wispy-haired new arrival, named for the poet Dylan Thomas, seems pretty content as well, even though his big brother likes to bounce him on his knee “violently, like a catapult,” said Mr. Hall, 40, a design writer for Metropolis magazine. The family lives in a two-bedroom in Park Slope, where they’re routinely chastised by neighborhood biddies for taking Dylan on walks in the chilly fall air. “People seem to think newborns are public property,” Mr. Hall said.