Dr. Robert Bradley grew up on a farm in the state of Kansas, where he spent a great deal of his youth observing the animals as they labored and gave birth instinctively. Years later after attending medical school at Baylor University, he set up his practice of obstetrics in Denver, Colorado. It was at this time that he began to apply the same principles to pregnant women that he had observed in the animals on the farm.Unlike farm animals, human women lack the instinct to labor and give birth naturally. Instead, they were subjected to what he often refered to as the “knock’em out, drag’em out” ways of childbirth.
Applying the same principles as he had seen in Mother Nature, Dr. Bradley began training expectant women and their coaches. He began teaching a series of prenatal classes that included not only the moms, but the dads as well. These classes included not only the importance of a healthy lifestyle during pregnancy and lactation, but relaxation techniques and exercises in preparation for natural, unmedicated births of children that became fondly refered to as “Bradley Brats.” With dads as coaches, childbirth became something to be anticipated with love and excitement as opposed to a dreaded, painful experience.
We have Dr. Bradley to thank for having brought fathers into the previously off-limits confines of a hospital delivery room. No more dads pacing the floors of a waiting room, concerned about the health and well-being of both mother and child. Instead they were given their rightful places, taking an active role in the birth of their families.
Through 40 years of practice Dr. Bradley “caught” - not delivered - 1000’s of healthy babies. These natural techniques will continue to be taught, and Dr. Bradley’s legacy lives on!
