Lora Schwacke is a Certified Childbirth Educator living in Wyckoff, New
Jersey. She wanted to teach the Bradley Method of
natural childbirth because she believes that it is the safest and most
effective strategy to give healthy birth to healthy children.
The Bradley Method was first developed by Robert A. Bradley in
1947. At the time, general anesthesia was a common method of reducing
childbirth pain for women. After witnessing complications resulting from this
practice, Dr. Bradley decided to create his own method for natural childbirth
that avoided the common side effects of anesthesia and other pain management
methods of the day. Dr. Bradley grew up on a farm and witnessed many animals
giving natural birth to young.
He reasoned that humans could do the same thing
without danger. He studied what many mammals do naturally during childbirth and
applied the same principles to human births. He derived six basic natural birth
principles that he applied to his childbirth method: complete relaxation,
abdominal breathing, a quiet setting, a dark setting, physical comfort, and
closed eyes.
Today, Bradley Method instructors teach expecting women how to
perform these six principles with practice every day in natural pain management
techniques. For the Bradley Method to effective, expecting mothers have to
practice breathing exercises daily and mind their diet and exercise. The idea
is to reduce any possible need for medical intervention because the mother is
unhealthy before she starts to give birth.
Lora Schwacke has been a Bradley Method instructor since 1990,
shortly following the birth of her first daughter.
