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what is the Bradley method?

Natural birth... It teaches you how to give birth without medication. You can look it up on www.bradleybirth.com

i'm not even attempting natural childbirth. it's epidural for me. i don't deal with pain, so bring on the drugs. more power to women who can do it without the medication.

I had no meds for my first and i was induced, i had a little laughing gas at the last half hour for my second... i m doin it again no drugs its natural... epidurals frighten me i would rather have the pain of labour i am sooooo afraid of them LOL

I've been reading a lot about the Bradley method, and it makes a lot of sense. All I had the first time was the hospital lamaze cla__s, and things definitely didn't go as I planned, I felt like I lost control of the situation and the dr and nurses took over as soon as I gave in and agreed to an epidural. I am definitely going to try it the Bradley way this time, it seems so much more successful than lamaze, and makes so much sense.

I am doing the Bradley Method-this is my first so I can't tell you anything about actual Bradley Labor & delivery but I have friends that have done it Bradley and some did Lamaze, some just got the epi & 1 friend did it completely unmedicated with no cla__ses nothing. I researched & researched & researched everything from birth methods to long term effects of the drugs given in birth to anything else you could possibly think of and decided that Bradley was the best for me & for baby. We are on week 4 of cla__ses & the more I learn the happier I am that I chose to do Bradley cla__ses.

Lynn, I know what you mean. It just makes so much sense! The thing I'm worried about is getting to the hospital where no one knows much about Bradley and the drs and nurses not co-operating. Did you find a dr that was open to Bradley ideas?

Yes, my doctor is pretty much open to anything. Also, he tries his hardest to avoid c-sec if at all possible which is something that I was worried about too. I know too many docs are c-sec happy these days. I have heard that the hospital I have been delivering at used to not be too open to Bradley/unmedicated births but are becoming better.. I have an L&D nurse in my cla__s! The thing I like about Bradley is that they help teach your coach to be your "spokesperson" and stand up for you at the times when you may find it hard. They also teach you anough about all of the procedures that are routine and non routine so that you know enough to know the right questions to ask if the doc or nurse recommends something. Another thing you will find is that less than 3% of unmedicated births end with c-sections.. compared to the 25% national average of unplanned c-sections which made me feel really good. Most of that is due to the effects that the drugs have on you, your baby & your labor.

Yes, I've heard those statistics too. The problem is getting through all the "routine" interventions to get that unmedicated birth. My dr is very open to doing things my way too, but when the time came last time she managed to talk me into inducement (high blood pressure, don't know if I could have done anything else) and also an epidural when I stalled at 7 cm for a few hours. I'm just nervous about being talked into things again, because I'm not a very confrontational person, but I really want to go natural this time! Hopefully my husband will be my go-between. I've already told him to ask anyone who suggests doing intervention if me or the baby is in danger, and if we aren't than to say we are going to wait awhile and see what happens. I remember last time as soon as they got the okay from me for the epidural I completely lost control of everything, and nothing was up to me anymore. They also took my daughter away to the nursery for 5 hours, which really bothered me. I'm hoping for a much different experience this time.

Actually, Bradley teaches you that its absolutely normal to stall for a few hours & to hang in there-its called the natural plateau. I can't believe you made it to 7 being induced!!!! I have high blood pressure that I am being treated for so inducement is always in the back of my mind. Once your blood pressure reaches a certain point then the best thing is to be induced, but there are things you can do before it reaches that point to try to keep it at bay (which I am hoping to do). Go ahead and take the bradley cla__ses, they aren't going to hurt in any way & they teach a lot about what happens with your body during labor & delivery, its very interesting.

There's actually no cla__ses in my area, and I'm already 34 weeks so it's a bit late. But I'm reading everything I can about it, and trying to practice it and teach my husband the right things to say. And as for the inducing, my sister's water broke and she had to have pitocin and she went completely natural, only felt uncomfortable for about 45 minutes before she started pushing. I guess everybody's different. For me, it wasn't too bad until I reached that plateau, which I hadn't read about before then and no one had told me about. I thought the dr was right in saying I would have to have a section if I didn't have the epidural. I'm more prepared to argue this time. (at least my husband will argue!) : )

Hi miriam! I am also researching the Bradley method--bought a book that is good so far, and my best friend did the Bradley method and she loved it. It's sounding like the way to go for me, especially since this is my first and I want to be in control. I am searching for women that have done both labor WITH and WITHOUT drugs, and which one they prefer and why. So if anyone reads this, please post your experiences and compare. Thanks!

I've had 3 children without pain relief - I have been induced - with the gel - to start me of, high bps, then pre-e, then going over my date...But the gel just helps you to open up and get your contractions to kick in..I've always said they can have a jab sitting handy but I've never felt the need to shout for it - well when you're pushing the head out but they're hardly going to drop everything to give it then eh?? lol! I think you have to learn to listen to what your body is telling you and go with the flow..Don't try to force the pain away..feel it and breath through it ...don't stiffen up every time a contraction comes but learn to relax through it..most of all don't go into labour dreading it and expecting the worst go in with an open mind and it will help you...

Bradley cla__ses were the best thing we did to prepare for our daughter's birth! We actually ended up having an "emergency birth" at home because we waited a little too long before deciding to go to the hospital, but the Bradley cla__ses had us completely prepared for any possibility. The natural methods of pain relief taught in the cla__ses helped immensely, and we were both so calm, knowing that this was a natural process that we didn't need to fear. Our daughter was delivered by water birth with my husband there to catch and a paramedic standing by. There was no need for the paramedic to intervene because Bradley had my husband so well prepared for the event! It was beautiful. Next time I'll plan on a home birth with a Midwife, because I now can't imagine pulling myself out of that wonderful "labor fog" in order to get to the hospital!

This is so funny! I can't believe that this post, which is from summer 2005)resurfaced. I was the one who posted this originally when I was pregnant with my son. Well I can answer my own question now. I LOOOOVED it. I will definetly do it again next time. I was in labor for 8.5 hours (and I was counting on the regular 14 for first timers). It was very bareable until the very end. I was truly uncomfortable for the last 20 minutes b/c it was time to push and I didn't know it. I thought the doctors would let me know when its time. I asked the nurse if pressure down there is normal and she said yes. Anyway, once I finally decided that I really need to push the nurse strolled in to check and her eyes got all wide and she said "The baby is right here! Don't push!" They were tripping over themselves to get everything ready quickly. So I pushed for 3 contractions (7 minutes total). The doctor was very good with not doing an episiotomy like I asked him. He just asked me to take it easy and ma__saged the perenium. I had three very minor tears. But since this wasn't my regular doctor he wasn't prepared for my decision to not get an epi so he tried to have a discussion with me about it. So I just told him that its a personal decision and left it at that. The nurses kept bugging me about it though. I felt really great after the delivery. One of our friends was really shocked when he came to the hospital. He said that I just looked like I partied a little too hard the night before. gro1974, I can relate to the staying home a little too long. The doctor said to call him when the contractions were 5 minutes apart. Well I wasn't sure that I was in labor because it was all in my back. When I started truly suspecting it I took a shower. By the time I woke up my husband, my contractions were already 3.5 minutes apart. Then we were getting ready for like an hour. Basically I was at the hospital for only about 3 hours. I think for the next one (which is usually faster) I have to go in a little earlier or I'll end up giving birth at home like you. That will be a story to tell my friends who already think that I'm strange for not wanting an epi. Anyway, now my story is some sort of a legend in our circle, although people are still afraid to try it. Wow I just wrote a book, but I want everyone to know how absolutely wonderful this method its. I believe that a huge part of it is that it makes birth into a natural process and takes the fear out of it. Oh and I used red raspberry leaf tea to tone my uterus so that could have contributed to the great experience as well.

Thanks for the update, Miriam! I also drank a lot of Rasberry Leaf tea towards the end of my pregnancy, and also had a very short pushing stage (thus the emergency birth!). I pushed a total of four times over a period of about 10 minutes, and I later found out that Rasberry Leaf tea can speed up your pushing stage. Seems like it works! : )