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Natural and Active
Childbirth the Bradley Way
By Shel Franco
While the numbers vary from teacher to teacher, Bradley students have the highest rates of drug-free births in the world of childbirth education. "About 85 percent of my couples achieve a totally unmedicated birth," Madtson says. And for some teachers, that number stretches well into the 90th percentile.
Heather Doak of Marietta, Ohio believes strongly in her Bradley education. But she admits to feeling guilty after her first birth ended in a Cesarean section. "I felt like I had failed my teacher and myself," she says.
Does Doak blame Bradley for her Cesarean birth? Not at all. She says it wasn't the Bradley method that failed her; instead, Doak cites the other drawback to this type of childbirth education: doctors and medical personnel are often not Bradley-friendly.
"The Bradley method is not well-received with a majority of people," Madtson says. "We are sometimes viewed as radicals that just teach couples how to refuse everything. Bradley couples are often thought to be difficult patients because they question routine procedures and are often not as willing to just go along with something because that's how everyone else does it."
When natural birth is the goal, despite the drawbacks, Bradley childbirth classes are an empowering means to achieving a drug- and intervention-free birth.
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