Bradley Class the 2Nd Time Around?

Hi J.,
We did Bradley the first time around, and I was so thankful we did. I felt like we learned a lot about the different choices we had, and what the possibilities were. Our teacher had each of us do a research topic and present to the class. I can say that my husband chose circumcision as his topic, and doing the research had him choose not to circumcise our son. We both felt very empowered and actually switched from an OB to a midwife at about 30 weeks into our pregnancy, and I am sooo thankful we felt empowered enough to do that. I know I would not have had a natural birth if not for the Bradley class we took.
Were you able to have a natural, drug-free birth with your first child? If not, I would suggest taking a Bradley class, it might help you learn a few more "tools" to help you get there this time, if that is your intention. Also, if you plan on having a hospital birth, I think you will be given many tools that can educate you on how to handle possible interventions.

We are planning on having a home birth this time, and I feel we have the knowledge to make that happen this time! :)

Good luck to you!
T.

www.ReadandGrow.com

Hi J..
I had a drug free birth at Prentice, which is practically unheard of! We did not take any classes because of scheduling conflicts. I read the dr. Sears Birth book and we watched the DVD, Laugh and Learn about child birth. It gave us some really great ideas.

Good luck with your birth.

I haven't taken a Bradley class, but did have an unmedicated, intervention-free hospital birth with my second child (first was a scheduled c-section for breech presentation, so I didn't even go into labor :( ). I did some of the hypnobabies self-study course and read through "The Birth Partner" by Penny Simkin. I also browsed through the Bradley book. My mom acted as my doula and I thought everything went fabulously - I felt confident in my body and got to catch my own baby. I think a Bradley class would probably give you a little more information, but not a ton beyond what you already know. Maybe there's a way you can borrow the book from someone and take a look? Another option would be to contact one of the Bradley instructors and arrange for 1-2 hours of private session with her to just fill in the gaps that you and your husband are missing. You can find the contact info for them at the Bradley website. Best of luck!

I agree with Karen's post. Bradley is a good class although to me it seems geared toward first time parents. It touches on a little bit of everything but seem to go very deep into comfort measures although it can also depend on the teacher. There are so many methods out there to choose from. There's Birthworks, Birthing from Within, Hypnobabies, Hypnobirth...there are others that do not follow any one methd but are rather a combination of all. Really depends on what specifically you want to get out of it. Message me and I can help you find a class that suites your needs. I'm a birth doula so I know of alot of different classes, methods available to you.

Good luck!