The Bradley Method…

Well, this post has been four months in the making for several reasons: 1.) I just haven’t made it a priority to post and 2.) I wanted to let some time pass and write about it after the newness and excitement had worn down.

Sarah and I began taking the Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth classes at Sarah’s request. At first, I was skeptical and not really enthusiastic about going to the classes because I thought, “Well, we’ve already had 2 kids. Why start something new on #3?” I’m so thankful that we ended up going.

We took our class from a local certified Bradley Method instructor in Monroe, Louisiana with two other couples who were both having their first child. The classes were a great time of encouragement and group awareness of things that we could do to prepare ourselves for the birth. The classes provided a venue to purposefully set aside a time each week to talk about the expectations of the birth and the things that we needed to decide. It brought Sarah and I together and allowed us to really feel like a team.

The class was a great encourager to me as a third time father-to-be. On the previous two births I felt that I was at the mercy of the nurses and doctors to tell me what was happening at the births of our sons. I didn’t know what stage we were at or what to expect. I often thought when things happened during the lengthy delivery, “Is this good, bad, or expected?”. The Bradley Method trained and educated both of us to know when and how things would happen, so that I could be more than a confused bystander during the birth, but an educated coach and advocate for my wife.

The actual birthing method put forth by Dr. Robert Bradley in the 1960′s was to view the birthing process in a natural way that focused on healthy moms and babies coming into the world in due timing without the use of medicines and imposed timing.

This is exactly what happened for us. We were able to have a healthy baby boy despite going in to the hospital with our son in a breach position. Our wonderful OB was able to turn the baby by procedure of “external cephalic version.” That’s just a fancy way of saying she  moved the baby with her hands  similar to kneading bread.

Elias Warren Richey was born almost 24 hours later without the use of any pain medication or epidural. It was due to the preparation and the thinking behind the Bradley Method. I’m so glad we took the class and I highly recommend the class to first, second, third, or 5th time moms AND dads.