I have been sick all week! I’m trying to feel better before we leave tomorrow for our babymoon so I’ve been doing a lot of couch laying combined with tv watching. On Tuesday I was watching A Baby Story and this lady had the most awesome delivery (well 2nd to water birth of course). She was so calm, didn’t use drugs, and had a husband who seemed to know exactly what to do and say. During the episode she mentioned something called The Bradley Method.
You know me…a lot of googling took place after! It’s frustrating because I’ve never even heard of this!!! Basically it sounds PERFECT for what Zach and I have been wanting this entire pregnancy. From Day One Zach said he was worried about feeling helpless and having to watch me go through pain. I, from Day One, planned on an epidural (b/c what idiot doesn’t get one???) but as pregnancy has progressed I’ve changed my mind. We both loved the concept of water birth and even discussed having the baby at home! This Bradley thing really could be a perfect fit for us as it focuses on the husband as a labor coach, techniques to work through the pain (unlike Lamaze which focuses on trying to ignore the pain), and its followers have an 87% success rate of having drug-free natural deliveries!
This Bradley guy was raised on a farm and saw growing up lots of different animals give birth. Once he went to med school he didn’t understand why humans turned something so natural into something so complicated. He saw how peacefully other mammals give birth and didn’t see why, as a superior “animal,” humans couldn’t do the same thing!
The method is typically taught in a 12 week course. I’m 32 weeks. So not likely that I can take a class huh? Even if I could…I live in VALDOSTA. I researched and found the closest intructor is in Lake City, Fl (about 30 min from here). Her and I talked for about 30 minutes last night and she said we could do their class with them starting Monday. It’s $200 so we don’t really want to spend the money…so my plan was go to the library today, check out the three recommended books on the topic, read them over the weekend (the 7 hour drive to Gatlinburg is perfect), then decide if we need the class or not.
Stupid stupid stupid small town!!! The library didn’t have ANY of the books. Neither did VSU’s. I ordered one of them (Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way) but it won’t be here until the 26th! Thankfully Crissy and Autumn volunteered what materials they have so Crissy is bringing them by later! Hopefully it will at least give us some idea.
I asked Stacy about it and she said she tried it but didn’t put in enough of the practice that is needed to be successful. I’m so thankful she’s supportive of all my crazy stuff! Hopefully after we get back this weekend I’ll have lots more info on it!
If we love it then I also looked into how to become an instructor. Valdosta really needs one and the classes meet in our home! Plus with our connections through church and the obgyn I’ll bet we can reach a lot of people like us who just want other options than what Valdosta sticks us with. Wouldn’t it be such a blessing to help others, make some money, and maybe make some friends too?
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It sounds great to me! Gah I am just praying you will have a delivery like you are dreaming of! If it works out like you hope it will be the best thing ever!Rach