The man that changed natural childbirth for woman and men

Dr. Robert A. Bradley was born in Atchison, Kansas, December 11, 1917 and he passed away right here in Pensacola, Florida, December 25th, 1998 at the age of 81.  He was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, and doctor.  "Natural-Childbirth training displaces ignorance, superstition, fear, anxiety, and the resultant bodily tensions that are such obstacles in labor"  this is what Dr. Bradley thought.  In 1947, Dr. Bradley entered into obstetrics this is the time when mothers were restrained in large cribs and wore football helmets to protect their heads from banging against the bars because of the drugs they were forced to take during labor, "twilight sleep" and general anesthesia were common in hospital births. This is why Dr. Bradley wanted to change the way woman had babies.   Having been raised on a farm and having witnessed many animal births as a part of farm life, Dr. Bradley believed that women, like the animals, could give birth without drugs or medication. Dr. Bradley developed a childbirth method to teach women to do the things that animal mothers do instinctively. Soon after starting to implement his new childbirth method with pregnant nurses as a trial, Dr. Bradley began to believe that the presence and support of the father during labor and birth was important to the mother's success in achieving a natural birth.   The mothers were falling in love with their doctors at the time of delivery and so he thought why shouldn't they be falling in love with their husbands and not the doctor.  He became a pioneer in including fathers in the birth process and eventually expanded his childbirth method to include extensive instruction of the father as labor coach. HIs numbers were amazing when he taught his first class.  Dr. Bradley has helped bring in 22,000 healthy babies in the world and over 90% of them were non medicated births.  With his method he has helped almost a million couples have a safe and natural birth that they wanted.  The current success rate for mothers who complete the classes to have a spontaneous, natural birth is 89%.

For a fun fact numerous celebrities such as Donald Sutherland, David Hasselhoff,  and Sissy Spacek used the Bradley Method®.

CONTACT
ERIN HINZE AAHCC, CCE, CLD, CLEC
erinhinze@birthingyourwaytoday.com