Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way: Revised Edition Kindle Edition

I bought this book earlier this year on my Kindle. It's a great read. If you use this book and actually get down faithfully with it, I don't think you would need to do classes. My husband and I were working and oh so busy that we barely had time to do this book. A word of advice though - you can never plan and know what labor will be like. The book was clear about that. I think the book can set you up for failure if you think your labor will be textbook, especially if you've never done it before and dont do natural. You just have to have a realistic expectation for your labor.We were due May 23 and my water broke the evening of April 19, our son was born the next morning at 35 weeks, a late preterm baby. He was in the NICU and came home a week later. He's a healthy wonderful boy but we didn't expect any of that!I wanted a natural childbirth and used the methods in this book. The hospital staff respected our wishes. But because our son was premature we had to take extra precautions since the water broke first. the doctor kept pushing pitocin on me, which I didn't get because I knew I was dilating quick enough. I guess he didn't think I was but when he returned an hour later I had gone from 3-10 centimeters and took about 15 minutes to push.Overall, this book helped us understand labor, medical practices and gave my husband the support and knowledge he needed as well, especially if you want no meds in a hospital setting. My husband enjoyed reading this out loud to me! Looking back, this book was spot on with how the female body works in labor so I do highly recommend it. I just want families out there to be realistic and do what's best for them. The most important thing is safety for them and for baby. I just hope that the book doesn't make them feel completely wary of hospitals. We were pretty insecure about having a hospital birth but since he was premature we actually had an amazing experience with the hospital staff and our son's health was taken care for. When it comes down to it, you can take the knowledge from this book, use it and improvise and just get your baby home! Good luck!

I appreciated the beginning info about the Bradley method but then the author starts giving her very strong anti-hospital opinions which can give the layperson the idea that Drs, nurses, and hospitals are evil and against you. I'm sorry but as a Doula and a nurse i know both sides and hospitals are not the enemy. I encourage all pregnant women and their partners to read multiple books on natural Birth and natural Hospital birth. It is possible and not all hospital and Drs are anti-natural birth which is what this author portrays. Homebirth has risks too so I didn't appreciate her biased opinions that homebirth is the only way to have a natural birth. Educate yourself and advocate for yourself!

Okay. So I'm reviewing this before actually having given birth. As far as the content goes . . . it's just like all the other birthing books--horribly biased and convinced they're the only ones doing it "right," but with the same basic natural birthing principle of working with your body instead of against it. Useful exercises/positions, and I really like the concept of emotional signposts. Only about half of this book is useful and readable, though. The other half of it is either introductory or tearing down some other birth method or other. An entire chapter just to preach the evils of Lamaze? Give me a break. Anyway, it's pretty easy to tell which chapters can be skipped and which deserve to be read. The ones that deserve to be read had the stuff about postures, relaxing, exercises, and emotional signposts. Sounds like useful stuff. Still would recommend, provided you focus more on the method and less on their criticisms of other methods.

I loved this book. I read a review during my pregnancy that recommended this along with Husband-Coached Childbirth by Robert A. Bradley. It was a great idea to get both books. The Bradley book was great for my husband and I to read, but I felt like it was mainly there to convince people to have a non-medical birth (which I already wanted). This book offers actual examples and exercises for birth. My favorite part was the various ways that natural birth can start. In the end, I had my natural waterbirth with husband and midwife helping. Reading this book was one of the most important ways I prepared for birth and I highly recommend it to all women :)Update: I also reviewed this book during my second pregnancy and it helped me rest assured that I could have another natural birth like I wanted. My second baby was born at home in just 3 hours! (I had a waterbirth planned but there was no time for it) I was a little stressed when contractions first started, but with my husband's help, I was able to stay calm. The midwife arrived with one hour left to go, but I could recall helpful illustrations from this book and I was empowered to know exactly what to do for a successful birth!

I bought this book because I was dead set on giving birth naturally but kept hearing negative comments from more experienced mothers. I was a first time mom, so what did I know about birth and not knowing scared me. I bought this book to inform myself of what to expect when dealing with pain, how my body works with me to give birth and what the baby is actively doing to come into this world. With having a supportive husband, doula and reading his book, I was able to step into the Labor & Delivery department confident with all the information I now know. The book is a bit outdated and bias towards natural birth but i got what I needed from it and was able to give birth naturally. PS. I have a new found respect for my mother who gave birth 3 times drug free!

Pros: Very comprehensive, informative (for a second time mother no less), and empowering for women aiming for a natural birth. I found this to be my favourite preparation tool leading up to a homebirth. Cons: I didn't have the benefit of taking an in person or online class (wish it were a possibility) to complete the programme and I found the extraordinarily high level of involvement from the husband to be unrealistic in my experience. I also think the wording could be more sensitive to non traditional couples who have same sex partners or perhaps single mothers with designated "coaches". However all things considered I found this to be an excellent resource for women taking control of their bodies and birth experiences.

Not fully done with the book yet, but very easy to ready, well explained and lots of practical exercises. Love it!

Useful

very interesting book, however has some bad pictures and some information relates to US only

Español- EnglishUn acercamiento natural al parto, diferente de lo que nos han contado hasta ahora con todo tan medicalizado. Me ha ayudado a quitarme miedos y a ir preparada y tranquila.A really natural way to describe birth, more natural and not so focused in the medical interventions... it helped me getting ready and more calmed. A must read!