The Bradley method... - Page 2

[homewithtwinsmama]

Originally Posted by MegBoz

Ah! I stand corrected then. Out of curiosity, how long is each class? Is that a standard thing too (total duration of each of the 12 classes?)

I'll have to flip through my workbook out of curiosity to see the post partum & BFing info. It does seem that what we had may been more different than real Bradley then I would have guessed!

My 12 weeks are designed to be two hours, so the minimum of instruction for group classes should be 24 hours. Occasionally we go over in a given week if the couples have a rocking discussion going on. I always am available after class for consult if there is something private and immediate a couple wants to discuss ( for instance last week a mama shared she was seeming to be heading pre-eclamptic - very early - and was scared. I was able to offer her an option to consider that her OB would not have known or suggested. Mama ended up opting to try it and reversed all her symptoms by the next appt.) My tenth class is designed to be over two hours because I do a full 40 minute mock labor rehearsal, with simulated contractions every two minutes, where the couples have run of my whole house and all my labor aides and tools (births stool, hot packs, birth ball, etc). Did your class include a full "dress rehearsal"? In my postpartum and bfing class I cover different carriers, breastfeeding, show breastfeeding pillows and pumps, nipple creams, etc. I talk through basic typical problems and tell all my mamas that if by day five they don't feel like they are heading in a positive direction to call me immediately even if its 3am and they are crying (cause that was me with my first set of twins and an angel of a LLL leader let me call her nightly for nearly a month no matter how late/early the call). Most of the Bradley teachers I know and refer to (and I don't refer to all of them) are equally committed to their students.

[homewithtwinsmama]

Originally Posted by Terpsfan

All this Bradley talk has me thinking about my classes..I had 4 total classes, 2-3 hours each. My teacher did not offer the 12 week series, just the condensed 4 week option of private lessons (she came to our house). I didn't feel slighted at all and I think this way worked best for me and DH with our work schedules (he travels during the week). I liked having the private teacher and to really be able to dive into the counterpressure and massage techniques in the privacy of my own home.

Yes, I believe the $ spent on the classes was worth every penny. I just wish my insurance could understand that! My insurance didn't cover any childbirth classes. I was able to pay out of pocket easily but you'd think they would realize that in doing what I was doing I was in the end saving THEM money (no interventions, shorter hospital stay, etc).

On the rare occasions I have taught a shorter private class (I think the group dynamic adds so much to it) I still teach it every other week to stretch it out with more time for reading, reflecting and practicing the techniques. Bradley teaches that relaxation for pain relief is a conditioned learned response. I don't think that comes very quickly for many women if they have never used it in other ways. And I want to see them over at least two months time to make sure they seem to be mastering the ability to call on that skill when the real test comes in labor.

Once I taught a true weekend crash class and it was a total disaster of a interventive hospital birth and swore never to do so again (and it was my own young cousin which broke my heart, but this time she is having a home vbac with ME! YAY!)

[homewithtwinsmama]

Originally Posted by MegBoz

Hmm… at first, I can see the point there. But then when I think about it, a lady who spent time laboring, but legitimately needed a CS at the end has experienced labor. She has needed to use the relaxation techniques to manage labor pains, etc. So a lady in that situation DOES have much relevant experience.

Pushing the baby out is a fairly relevant experience that a teacher needs to be either personally or professionally experienced with.

We’ve never had the experience of having to FIGHT for a natural birth. We’ve never had the experience of nurses & health care providers who are HOSTILE to natural birth – wanting us to stay in bed & be quiet, trying to do things like AROM without even TELLING us – let alone obtaining consent first, pushing epidurals, etc.

Unfortunately, THAT is the type of negative birthing environment the average American woman is faced with. So for those of us that have never had to deal with that environment, aren’t we less than qualified to teach?

I would frankly say, yes. That is one reason why Bradley encourages their teachers to attend more than their own births. I had a teacher friend once who had only had home births. Then she assisted a student at a hospital birth where the OB was and S(OB) and she called me later and said she had no idea how truly awful a high pressure hospital scenario could be and that it made her change how she taught her advocacy/informed consent topics.

It may sound far-fetched at first, but I think it’s a valid point. The point is that you must have experienced something personally, first-hand, in order to teach others how to deal with it. Based on that condition, I think the experience of a hostile hospital is one of those conditions that a mother who HAS “BTDT” is better equipped to teach others.

I have BTDT and that is why 80% of my OB using students switch to midwives I have referred them to before the end of the series (and why I like having 3 months to work with them so I gain their trust and can encourage them that its never too late to get a caregiver who encourages rather than humors you)

So – I'm still unsure if the Bradley requirement is reasonable & fair.

Its hard enough to make sure you have high quality teachers when people will change and alter it at will after they have received training and signed a contract they are not honoring. So if AAHCC wants to make the training requirements intensely challenging and requiring of a real committment then more power to them, imho.


In any event, attending TEN births in the absence of having birthed med-free is a high number.

But wouldn't you feel more confident with a teacher who has attended/assisted with ten women's natural births in addition to her own one baby using pain meds or by cesarean (with or without labor)? If you had spoken to two teachers and one said "I had a 35 hour labor and had to get an epidural" and has no other births or doula experiences and the other said, "I have attended fifteen natural births, but my own baby was born by emergency cesarean". Do you really think they have equivalent experience as a teacher from just having attended the same training? My own Bradley teacher (lo so many years ago...) had her first with pit/epidural and her second and third at home and her fourth as an emergency homebirth transport/nearly cesarean, but she pushed the baby out as she was being prepped for cesarean. As well as nearly 50 births as doula. All those varied experiences were incredibly comforting and education for me.

Bradley is not trying to say that there is anything wrong with a mother who could not have a natural birth, they are saying we want you to be as familiar as you can be with it and this is the bar we have set in assuring you are. My first birth was 32 hours natural and then 10 hours with an epidural, ending with vaginal twins. I had to jump through extra hoops to get certified and it did help me to be a better teacher and go on to have the next four naturally in both home (2-- 1 by land and 2 by "sea"LOL!) and hospital (emergency preterm and under very hostile situation) births. And once I was asked to accompany a client into the OR for her cesarean and that taught me a HUGE amount of information about the process of high tech, coercive medicine.

[BirthWithFaith]

www.BrioBirth.com - It's a natural birth org that doesn't require you have given birth or have a vaginal birth to be a good educator.  The requirements are still strong to make sure you can educate about natural, vaginal birth but not limiting as to who can educate.  :)

Edited by BirthWithFaith - 4/12/11 at 9:00am

[BirthWithFaith]

Terpfan - some couples have the crazy work/school schedules and can only fit in any childbirth education using private classes. I don't recommend it but if it is all you can do, then that's what you have to do!

Check out www.BrioBirth.com too.

Edited by BirthWithFaith - 4/12/11 at 8:56am

[mojumi]

Originally Posted by JeskaMW2B

Do know that some men especially benefit from seeing other men in class.

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