Miveganloca.: The Bradley Method

I knew that long before I ever became pregnant that I would want a natural birth. I also knew that in order to accomplish this I would need to be prepared. A coworker told me about the Bradley Method which is described as husband/partner coached childbirth. After doing some research online, I decided that this would be a good fit for me and GK and located an instructor in Oakland. There were 12 total sessions once a week that we attended along with five other couples. The class proved to be probably one of our best investments in regards to T. We were successful in achieveing our goal of a mostly non-invasive birth with no pain medication whatsoever. More importantly, GK did not faint or throw up and the overall experience was just amazingly incredible. Ten weeks later-I still swell with pride and love to tell T's birth story.

One of the benefits of participating in this class is that you become connected to other couples who live nearby who will have their babies roughly around the same time as yours so of course we agreed to stay in touch. We typically meet on a Sunday, have a potluck brunch, oooh and ahhh over all the cute babies and exchange war stories. It's great to have a cohesive group like this as a new parent so I don't bore all my other friends with stories rearding T's exciting day-to-day activities like pooping, napping, and spitting up.

Our initial reunion in December of '13 hosted by Benji & Alicia in Oakland. T was only 9 days old! From left to right-Marcelo Luis (born in October '13), Percy to the left of T and Emilio to the right of T-these two little guys were born on the same day in November at the same hospital.

Our second reunion at Holly & Fernando's in Oakland in January (from left to right): Carolina with Marcelo Luis, Jamie with Lola; Alicia with Percy, Holly with Emilio, and me with T. Don't we all look lovely and confident as new mothers?

And then there are the dads..... (from left to right): David with Marcelo Luis, Jordan with Lola, Benji with Percy, Fernando with Emilio, and GK with T.

Baby line up! Marcelo Luis, Emilio, Percy, Lola, and T. T spent the entire time sleeping and making everyone way jealous of the giant white flower on her head.

Our most recent get together on February 9th back at Benji & Alicia's home. (L-R): Emilio, Marcelo Luis, Percy, Lola, & T. This time T was much more social during the get together but fell asleep towards the end when the pictures were taken.