Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way: Revised Edition by Susan McCutcheon-Rosegg Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way: Revised Edition
Book Review: Great Practice Exercises!
Summary: 4 Stars
My husband and I read through this book, over and over! It's full of great exercises and relaxation techniques to help you have a natural child birth. Good pictures, and great ideas, beyond the typical birthing books and breathing exercises.
My husband used to read this on the commuter train. There are a lot of nude photos though, so he used to put sticky notes over them. But of all the books we read while pregnant, we found this one to be a great reference, and it was his favorite, as well as the most informative.
Book Review: Bradley instead of Lamaze?
Summary: 4 Stars
For women interested in birthing without medication and with minimal hospital intervention, this book is a keystone. Even if you decide to have an epidural or need other medical interventions, it holds super important information about breathing and about how truly valuable a husband/partner/coach is to having a positive birthing experience. We just had our third child. For the first, I had a c-section; for the second, I had a vaginal delivery along with an epidural; and for this new baby, I did it naturally without any meds or anything. It wasn't easy, but we felt prepared. The book is a little dated, but that wasn't a distraction from the truly valuable information. We actually combined reading this book on our own with a refresher birthing class that was more Lamaze-centered.Book Review: Bradley Schmadley
Summary: 2 Stars
This book is incredibly out of date and negative. It spends a lot of time telling you to put your foot down about how you don't want all these interventions that nobody does anymore anyway (i.e. enemas, pubic shaves, routine IVs) unless you have a 60 year old male OB in a rural hospital. The obstetric information is behind the times. The book is also ridiculously anti-physician. This book would have you believe that obstetricians want nothing more than to prescribe drugs that are harmful to your fetus, over-medicate you during labor and cut episiotomies willy-nilly. Additionally, I found a lot of the advice the book gives coaches incredibly insulting; it states over and over again that the laboring woman will ask for pain medicine but she doesn't really know what she needs and the coach should make sure she doesn't get any pain medicine under any circumstances. How is this any better than 1950's obstetrics that knocked all women out regardless of their wishes? The old black and white "earth mother" photographs of nude laboring women and their half naked, side burn sporting coaches had some comedic value (After reading this book my husband quipped, "You'll let me know when it's time to don my speedo, right?"). Having said all that, the actual information about the relaxation techniques and positioning of the Bradley method are quite good. Check the book out from the library, make photocopies of the exercises or take some notes. Then take the rest of the book with a grain of salt.Book Review: Information all pregnant women should know
Summary: 5 Stars
Whether you want a natural birth or not, you need to know what to expect when things go wrong. This book will help explain what happens and what you can do to prepare for all situations (like if the epideral doesn't kick in). The author seems anti-medical, but you can have a wonderful birth experience with the Bradley method and the information that Susan provides. I had two wonderful birth experiences, both times I got to the hospital at 9 centimeters dialated and gave birth within an hour. Good luck!Book Review: Great Resource for Unmedicated Births!
Summary: 5 Stars
I highly reccomend this book if you are planning a natural / unmedicated childbirth. We read this book and also the book by Dr. Bradley "Husband Coached Childbirth". The McCutcheon book is definitely the better of the two in my opinion. It is much more practical with actual step by step exercises to practice, notes for the mom-to-be, notes for the coach, etc. Very helpful. I think it is a bit lacking in guidance for Stage 2 (pushing), but otherwise is very good. (Note: I skipped the earlier chapters and jumped right into the labor/delivery chapters).