Bradley Birth Worth the money?

[mrscompgeek]

DH and i are officially planning a home birth if I ever get PG. (TTC for 7 months now) and i am a little worried about the pain level I can tolerate. While I have always had killer menstrual cramps for days, major headaches. .etc, I know i can probably handle it but you never know. I am hoping for a water birth but was wondering have any of you done bradley birth for a home water birth and do you feel it helped you? Would you do it over again if you had the chance or would you skip it? We have a instructor around here but its about 1-1/2 hours away so we would figure gas prices in the price too.

[Belle]

I used to have horrible menstrual cramps too. I would wake up crying because they were so bad.

We took Bradley classes for our first who was born in a hospital. We paid around $300. We drove in a hot car with no air conditioning during rush hour to a place that was an hour away (one way) It was totally worth it. You can check my siggy for the birth stories.

Our second child was born at home in water. We didn't retake any classes but I brushed up by reading the Bradley book (Natural childbirth the Bradley way)

[ryansma]

We took Bradley classes and I think it was well worth it. There were a few instructors in our area and I called one that was relatively close to us and didn't care for her at all. So we ended up driving over an hour away to take classes from the same instructor my sil and dh's cousin took with. It was awesome.
My first planned homebirth ended in hospital transfer but I still used so much of the knowledge I had learned in class - maybe even more so than had it gone more "according to plan"
My second son was born at home in the water - again, I relied a lot on info learned in Bradley classes. I think it's a great class.

[shanahan]

we took Bradley classes for our first (hospital birth). I think it was definitely worth the money (plus we got a discount because our doula was the teacher) - but less for how it helped me cope with the pain (because just 'deep abdominal breathing' just did not do it for me) - and more for just the general knowledge it taught me, and mainly my husband. I had read a TON and done a lot of research so knew a lot of it already, but my husband got a lot out of it.... I also appreciated the information on different positions, etc.

but, like I said, it wasn't the end all be all for "pain relief" techniques for me (and for some friends of mine). this time I am planning to do the homestudy of hynobabies or a hypnobirthing program - along w/re-reading my Bradley stuff...

I think the key to any natural birth is knowing as many "tricks" as you can, as you never know what will work for you or what kind of birth you will have...

[Right of Passage]

When we have our third I've already told DH we're taking bradley classes. I've heard so many good things about it, and well DH still is a little bit like a dear in headlights when it comes to labor. He's 100% why I want to do it. I also plan to do hypnobabies. It's always good to have more than one method in your tool box for labor day.

[moderngal]

we took Bradley classes before our home water birth. it was well worth it.

[fairygirl13]

i used Bradley for my DD. i LOVED it. i only got through 6 of the classes, due to ending up in the hosptial from 30w-35w when i had her, but the stuff we learned did help. with the next baby, we will do them again. i really think i clicked with my instructor to, that helped.

as far as the TTC stuff, i have PCOS to and endometriossis, it took about a year for me to finally get pregnant, only to have my 5th MC, then find out i have MTHFR also. i did get pregnant (had the WORST pregnancy ever), and now have learded a lot about what works and what doesnt. my best advice is to try Preseed dont know if you know about it or not, but its a lube, even if you dont need lube, use it. it mimics EWCM, and swimmers live longer and travel farther with it. both with my 5th MC, and with the pregnancy (which was 1 month after the MC) we used preseed. i would use it every time you BD just in case you happen to O, because with the PCOS, you never know when your gonna O, my last cycle was 52 days with no O, before that it was 63 days with O at CD 53.

[southflmama]

Bradley great for birth partner

We did Bradley for our first successful homebirth...it really taught my husband a lot. He agrees with this wholeheartedly! I also read lots of books on my own and did hypnobabies at home (going to a special place really helped with surges, my hubby and mom didn't even know when I was going through one, plus I was in the pool, bonus!). I flipped through the Bradley book during this pregnancy (due in 7 weeks) and had I just done that for my first birth it wouldn't have been enough preparation. Our Bradley instructor was fine, communicated the information well.

Good luck to you. Wishing you the birth you want!

[qwertyem]

I wanted to take Bradley birth classes, but there were none offered in my area. Instead, I took the traditional birthing classes and did a lot of reading on the Bradley method on my own. I ended up applying many techniques to my own births. I gave birth in a hospital, but used a midwife, and planned a water birth for both. With my first, I labored in the water, but got out and used a birthing stool when it came time for the actual birth (the jetted tub in my room at the hospital was just too small to actually give birth).

I was my prepared with my son and made sure we had the large 'tub room' at the hospital. With ds we ended up having a very success water birth.

I cannot sing the praises of laboring in water enough! The pain management is very helpful (especially if you use Bradley techniques.) I was the talk of the birthing floor the day I gave birth to a 9lbs. 10 oz. boy and I had NO episiotomy AND NO tearing! My midwife believes being in the tub really helps the pliability of the skin and allows it to stretch without tearing. No one could believe I was walking around with no pain right after giving birth to such a big baby (I'm very small...everyone assumed I was badly torn)

Good Luck

[mrscompgeek]

Thanks everyone! Thats what I wanted to hear