The Bradley Method:

Respecting The Birth Process

By Kaaren Valenta

When Ellen Key Harris-Braun became pregnant with her first child, she knew she was interested in natural childbirth.

“I had met someone who had a baby with no drugs or episiotomy and had a great experience. So I investigated it,” she said. “I decided that childbirth was like running a marathon. You wouldn’t run it without preparation.”

Ms Harris-Braun and her husband, Eric, studied the Bradley Method, a husband-coached method of natural childbirth that has been taught for nearly five decades through the American Academy of Husband-Coached Childbirth. Founded by the late obstetrician Robert A. Bradley, MD, the Bradley Method is based on the principle that with the proper education and preparation, many women neither need nor want medical interference while giving birth.

In 1947 Dr Bradley was the first doctor to publicly advocate the continual presence of the father during the labor and birth process, but it would take more than 20 years before the practice gained widespread acceptance in the medical community.

In 1966, just days before Marjieto attempt the kind of delivery he described: a spontaneous, unmedicated birth with husband coaching during labor and delivery and the mother breast-feeding the child on the delivery table

They couldn’t find a doctor in their area to agree to those conditions, so they flew to Denver. After a relatively easy labor and delivery, the Hathaways were holding their newborn, their fourth child, within 36 hours of landing on Dr Bradley’s doorstep. So that others wouldn’t have to travel so far for this kind of birth, the Hathaways and Dr Bradley founded the American Academy of Husband-Coached Childbirth to teach the Bradley method.

By the time that Mrs Harris-Braun and her husband decided to study the Bradley Method, there were instructors and classes in every state and many foreign countries.  They took the classes from Karen Prado, a certified Bradley instructor, at the Connecticut Childbirth and Women’s Center in Danbury. The experience was every bit as good as they could have hoped for.

“I was pregnant at the same time as many of my friends, and I watched many of them having problems in childbirth,” Ms Harris-Braun said. “They did not have as good an experience as I had. It was very clear that what I learned had a definite impact on my labor. I was actively using what I learned.”

After Will was born nearly a year ago, Ms Harris-Braun decided that she wanted to share her good experience with other women. She studied to become a Bradley instructor and plans to teach classes at Edmond Town Hall beginning in January.

In an interview at her home in Newtown, Mrs Harris-Braun said the underlying philosophy of the Bradley Method is respect for the integrity of the natural birth process.

“Labor and birth is not a medical procedure – it’s a normal process,” she said. “People have been doing it for thousands of years. But childbirth became over-medicalized. Unless there is a medical problem, it should be a normal process.”

The Bradley Method is a 12-     week series of classes with instruction and discussion about the issues of pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period. The classes include prenatal exercises that help condition and tone the body in preparation for birth, and instruction about nutrition and its effect on the growing fetus. The participants learn about the stages of labor and how to work during each to produce the most efficient labor; how to avoid medical interventions if they are not needed; how to avoid unnecessary caesarian sections and options should one become necessary; how to successfully breastfeed; and how to deal with the needs of a newborn.

Time is spent in each class learning and practicing coaching techniques, Mrs Harris-Braun said, because the presence of an effective labor coach not only reduces the need for medical interference, it also increases the couple’s enjoyment of the birth experience.

The Bradley Method and the Lamaze Method are both taught in the greater Danbury area and both methods have their proponents. Mrs Harris-Braun said she opted for the Bradley Method.

“The two methods overlap about 60 to 70 percent,” she said. “But in Lamaze, patterned breathing is used to distract you from what is going on in your body. You learn to pant and puff. The Bradley method teaches relaxation, especially during contractions. Slow diaphragmatic breathing keeps you from hyperventilating.”

“A lot of what happens during childbirth is attitude,” she said. “If you are scared, concerned that it will hurt, afraid of the process, you will get tense and it hurts more. The cycle gets so bad that you need pain killers.”

“If you can relax and accept what is happening to you, you can experience childbirth without the need for drugs. If you prepare properly, then you won’t need drugs. If you want them, fine, but you should know the side effects and the risks.”

The Bradley classes are taught to couples, Mrs Harris-Braun said, but if a woman is single, or if the husband is unable or unwilling to attend, someone else can be the coach.

“The classes are held weekly for 12 weeks because it takes about that much practice to learn the relaxation techniques and to practice relaxation and the exercises,” she said. “There’s also a lot of sitting on the floor. Sitting on the floor with your legs crossed is one of the best positions in pregnancy.”

The classes focus on physical preparation for childbirth through exercises and abdominal breathing techniques, and mental preparation through knowing what will happen, knowing how to relax, and coaching. The ideal time for a couple to begin the Bradley instruction is the fifth month, Mrs Harris-Braun said, “but exact timing doesn’t matter as long as it starts before the seventh month.”

“The ideal time is sometime in the second trimester,” she said.

The Harris-Brauns have lived in Newtown since 1995, a year after they were married.

“Eric has an older brother who lived in Danbury so we were familiar with the area,” Mrs Harris-Braun explained. “We had been living in New York City and spent the weekends up here.”

The move meant a 21/2 -hour commute back to her job at a publishing company in Manhattan but she was able to work at home a few days a week. Eric, a computer software writer, worked at home.

“We’re both working halftime now and share taking care of our son,” she explained.

Becoming a Bradley instructor required Mrs Harris-Braun to do coursework and take a four-day workshop. She conducted hospital and birthplace surveys, interviewing personnel to learn about their attitudes on natural childbirth and determining the rates of caesarian sections that are performed. She created a parent resource survey that includes useful information for new parents in the Danbury area.

Ellen Harris-Braun is planning classes in the Bradley Method at Edmond Town Hall on Thursday evenings from 7 to 9 beginning in February. The 12-week class is $250.  Classes are limited to a maximum size of eight couples.

“The classes will be very participatory and informal,” she said. “I plan on doing little games and other activities to make the class lively.”

For more information, call 426-8662.