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Summary: This REALLY Works!
Review: This book is excellent preparation for Natural Childbirth (if you also take the Bradley Method Classes). This book has wonderful exercises and practice situations to involve you and your husband in planning for delivery. It really educates you on what to expect! My husband and I read this book and Husband-Coached Childbirth by Robert Bradley. Both are essential if you want to have a wonderful pregnancy and childbirth experience. We planned on a hospital birth with an OB/GYN, but eventually switched to a birthing center and a midwife. It was the best decision! We had a perfectly healthy delivery & little girl... or should I say big girl at 8 pounds 12 ounces! We had NO interventions at all! My husband was an excellent coach, and I don't think I could have done it without his help. The Bradley Method really gets the husbands involved. This book should be read before you even get pregnant or soon thereafter!
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Summary: Give Birth Naturally with This Bible of Labor & Delivery
Review: This book gives complete information on Natural childbirth, consumerism(choices for parents to make about the prenatal care and birth of their baby and beyond), and includes pictures of real women in real labor (graphic but educationally oriented and [beware of retro-1970's hair-dos]). It includes a section on nutrition with an extensive protein count list, and various relaxation poems, techniques and ideas for the laboring woman and her coach. A wonderful book backed by sound research and the founders of the Bradley method of natural childbirth....Dr. Robert Bradley (1917-1998) and the Executive Directors of the American Academy of Husband- Coached Childbirth-Jay & Marjie Hathaway.
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Summary: Helped us have a successful drug & intervention-free birth!
Review: This book helped me to understand what the physiology is behind labor -- what your body is actually doing, and how to get out of the way of your uterus in order to let it do its job.I made copies of the most important chapters and put them in my husband's lunch box to read when he had time during the day. We practiced relaxation techniques to prepare us for the birth of our first child. We had a drug-free, intervention-free birth with 30 minutes of pushing and 5 hours of labor. The Bradley method worked wonders for us! My husband says he "swears by it." :)
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Summary: Bradley Worked For My Three Births
Review: If you are commited to natural childbirth, or even if you are only considering it, this book is a MUST read. The text presents a very detailed and easy to understand description of labor and birth - including many accurate illustrations and photographs. In addition, it provides a wealth of information for the husband (or birth "coach") - in far greater detail than I have found in any other resource. Many husbands today, are nothing more than "observers" in the delivery room. But with the Bradley Method, your husband will learn to be your advocate, your encouragement, and will have an active role in the birth of your child. All three of my children were delivered (using the Bradley Method) without any medication or intervention, and I can ASSURE you that the techniques in this book are practical, logical and very effective. And my husband cherishes his important role in all of the births (as do I!).
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Summary: Excellent Method of Chilbirth and Great Book!
Review: My first child was born after we attended Lamaze classes. Nothing in that birth was as I 'planned' and everything I did not want to happen...happened. I was an observer of a process that did not feel related to me. During my second pregnancy we bought this book and attended the Bradley classes. This birth was excellent and wonderful!! I delivered a 10lb 3oz. baby boy with absolutely NO interventions (IV, drugs, epesiotomy etc.) and LOVED every minute of it. It was MY birth! This book and the associated classes made all the difference in the world!! This book is not meant for those looking for the 'middle ground'. Bradley childbirth is NOT the 'middle ground'. If you are looking for reassurrance, practical relaxation techniques and guidance for your coach AND you are planning for a natural, personal childbirth THEN this is the book for you!!
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Summary: Buy this book, not Bradley's
Review: If you really want a "How To" style book, then go for McCutcheon's "Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way". I liked the structure and the illustrations and found it much more practical, to the point, and helpful than Bradley's "Husband-Coached Childbirth". Yes, it has lots of photos of completely nude women being coached by male partners clad only in short shorts. And you may ask, "Was it necessary to show the women nude?" And then you may ask, "Hey, why aren't the men completely nude, too? How sexist!" But let's be realistic about the time frame that McCutcheon's book was originally published and what might have been allowable from a legal standpoint. (Just kidding, folks, I don't really want the men to be depicted in the buff, too.) Maybe the photos in McCutcheon's book need updating, but I found their outdatedness amusing, not offensive. And it's not like the female anatomy has changed since it was published. I personally don't want a childbirth book devoid of realistic photos. I found it useful to see photos and diagrams of what to do and what really happens. In any case, birthing a baby involves a lot of nudity, blood, and guts. If you're too squeamish to look at fairly clean pictures of nude women in the various stages of giving birth, maybe you should reconsider having children. Parenthood is not for prudes. "Husband-Coached Childbirth", on the other hand, has absolutely no diagrams, no photos, no outline, no charts, no helpful visual aids, and nothing to give structure to all the endless prose. My husband and I found it boring and hard to follow. Go ahead and buy it if you want a rather smarmy history lesson, but you don't need it. Don't reject McCutcheon's book just because of photos that show it like it is (and all those great '80s hairstyles!). If you really intend to use the Bradley method, buy this book and sign up for some classes.
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Summary: A must-read for natural childbirth preparation
Review: Yes, parts of this book and pictures seem outdated, but much of the advice is sound and helpful in preparing a woman and her partner for natural childbirth. While Dr. Bradley began this many years ago, he was well ahead of his time in development of a positive approach for the pregnant and laboring woman. I took a Bradley class and this was the obvious companion to it. The book is easy to follow with sound health advice, a thorough description of the anatomy of the pregnant and laboring woman, and an invaluable discussion of the signposts of labor that many women may experience. While no woman's birth experience is truly "textbook," this book offers many of the varieties that may occur and how to handle various situations that may arise while staying in control of your labor. The imagery and relaxation exercises are helpful as well. The emphasis behind this book is that the most important thing for a laboring woman is to be well educated on what her body will do for her and feel prepared to handle it. Everyone experiences pain and discomfort differently and labor IS hard work and not easy. But, this book and the Bradley class prepared me to have a natural unmedicated birth for my first two children despite painful, long labors and an uncooperative medical staff at the hospital. I am now reviewing The Bradley Method in preparation for my 3rd child and a birth-center experience and have also ordered two other books that come recommended, "Active Birth: The New Approach to Giving Birth Naturally" and "Birthing from Within: An Extra-Ordinary Guide to Childbirth Preparation."
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Summary: Great Guide to the Bradley Method!
Review: In many respects, the Bradley Method is much more "natural" method of childbirth than the better-known Lamaze. The method teaches a woman to "go with" her body instead of resisting the natural process with artifical breathing. This is a beautiful guid book - a must have for anyone planning or interested a natural childbirth!
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Summary: Amazing
Review: I took a Bradley Class found it very informative and enlighting. At this time I also ordered the Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way, book (by Susan McCutcheon), my husband and I read it and reread it several times, during our classes as well as after they had been completed. In regards to the book, AMAZING is the only word that comes to mind. We were able to learn the physical process of labor. We were able see the body cues to what stage we were in and how to handle them. I was amazed at how accuarate the process was, and how both our knowledge worked together to ease each stage, he was able to see where I was by my actions and was being confirmed that we were on track. First birth was perfect (7 hours total). Second, she was posterior so we had to work harder, in fact, after she was born, we both felt we knew at what point we didn't read my cues right and could have eased it earlier, but reading the book had prepared us for this situation. And having a great Doctor, low key and supportive, he was fabulous. 2 Successful Drug Free births and 1 more on the way. We will definitley review the book! It just seems like there is no other way to birth babys. THANK YOU!
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Summary: Could have been better
Review: I agree with other reviewers that you need other material to read also. One idea that comes across in this book is that noone needs medication from a Dr and of course that may not be the case. There are so many more things to think about than suggested by the author.
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