I’ve had a few people ask about our Bradley Method classes, and I consider taking those to be one of the best decisions we made during pregnancy! I definitely think that the 12-week sessions were a huge reason why we were able to follow our birth plan (along with some luck and my 'birthing hips,' which is a blog post for another time).
According to their website, the Bradley Method of Husband-Coached Childbirth, “ teaches natural childbirth and views birth as a natural process. It is our belief that most women with proper education, preparation, and the help of a loving and supportive coach can… give birth naturally. The Bradley Method is a system of natural labor techniques in which a woman and her coach play an active part. It is a simple method of increasing self-awareness, teaching a woman how to deal with the stress of labor by tuning in to her own body. The Bradley Method encourages mothers to trust their bodies using natural breathing, relaxation, nutrition, exercise, and education.”
The biggest takeaways for us were:
Don’t go to the hospital too early. You’ll be excited to be in labor, but once you get to the hospital, you are on their timeframe (which can, unfortunately, result in unwanted medical interventions). Obviously, every woman is different and you have to decide on your own when it’s time to go – but we were given a “3-2-1” guideline for heading to the hospital when contractions are three minutes apart (or less) for two hours and lasting at least a minute each.
Follow and know your emotional signposts. The Bradley Method teaches that your emotional signposts are much more important than measuring contractions or dilation to determine progress in labor. The first signpost is excitement (“This could be the day our baby is born!”), and it’s important to stay calm and continue on with your normal routine at this point. That means eating, drinking, moving about your day – or sleeping, if you’re tired. The second sign post is acceptance (“I am in labor/ this is the real deal”). Then comes seriousness, which is when they advise you to head to your hospital or birth center. At this point, you won’t be eating, joking, talking through contractions – but instead find that you need to start using relaxation techniques and concentrate on labor. The final signpost is self-doubt (“I can’t do this, I want to go home”), which means that transition is underway! This is the most difficult part of labor, so they stress the importance of the husband/coach recognizing this stage and really doing his part to help you get through it.
Focus on relaxation. There are no breathing techniques, no focal points, no calming cd to listen to with Bradley Method (which I know leaves most people wondering what in the world they teach you!) Instead, Bradley focuses on relaxation. We had relaxation techniques to practice each week for ‘homework’ – like tensing and releasing all the muscles in your body from head to toe. It’s the mother’s job to relax through contractions, which is difficult since your automatic reaction is to tense up through the pain, making it even more painful and difficult for your body to dilate. It’s the husband/coach’s job to help the mother relax by recognizing when/where she is tensing up, reminding her to release at the end of a contraction and offering whatever support she needs – whether that’s encouraging words, massage, or reminding her try the different laboring positions we learned. It also offers suggestions like keeping the room dimly lit, keeping it as quiet and with as few people present as possible, or playing soft, low music. Basically, it’s whatever keeps you relaxed.
As an interesting side note, we also practiced visualizing what each contraction was actually doing and focusing on each one's purpose (to bring our baby closer to delivery). And I just recently read a study that found that women who said they used visualization during labor reported less pain than those who did not.
Labor and delivery is an athletic event. You have to prepare for it mentally and physically. I think the classes helped a lot with the mental preparation and knowing what to expect in each stage of labor. For physical preparation, they encourage you to stay active during pregnancy, eat 80+ grams of protein daily, and do certain exercises every day (like squats and tailor sitting). Part of your weekly homework is to track everything you eat, calculating the amount of protein for each day. I personally liked the accountability of having to turn my weekly eats into our teacher, and it helped to share ideas for protein-packed meals and snacks with classmates.
Overall, I'm so glad that we took the Bradley Method classes. It was a big time commitment, with two-hours every week for 12 weeks – plus homework and reading Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way. But I don’t think that another course could have given us the same feelings of confidence, excitement and (relative) preparedness. I think it also really helped Jeff learn what to expect and what he could do to be actively part of labor and delivery. And he definitely took his coaching role seriously, frequently reminding me to do my daily exercises and eat more protein!
Our goal was to labor without medical intervention... No drugs, no IV, no episiotomy while free to move, try different laboring positions, and eat/drink. As another funny side story, one 'homework' assignment was to write down our birth plan and discuss it with our doctor or midwife. I felt uncomfortable calling it a 'plan' since labor and delivery really cannot be planned in advance! So ours was titled 'Birth Requests.' (Feel free to email me if you're interested in seeing ours. I took another blogger up on her offer to share via email, and it was incredibly helpful!)
While there is no class that can give you a guarantee for labor and delivery to go the way you want, the Bradley course showed me what my options were and how to best prepare. It also spurred a greater resolve in me to go natural. Jeff and I read additional books, articles, blog posts, and watched The Business of Being Born (which I highly highly recommend -- although it does not discuss the Bradley Method specifically, it certainly advocates for natural childbirth)
If you’re interested in learning more, I’d also recommend reading Caitlin’s birth story (Part 1 and Part 2) and her own review of the Bradley Method (pre-birth and post-birth)! She is a local blogger who took Bradley Method classes and delivered at the same hospital with the same midwife group as us. (I also found it was helpful to read Melissa's birth stories for her daughter and son with the Hypo-Babies techniques)
Lastly, I'll say that while the Bradley Method classes were incredibly helpful to us, and we were thankfully able to deliver a 'Bradley baby,' who knows what the future will hold. Sometimes medical intervention is necessary, and any way that you bring a healthy baby into this world is beautiful and perfect. And that is the most important thing to know about any childbirth class or story!
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