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Bradish, area’s first nurse-midwife, dead at 100 · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Bradish, area's first nurse midwife, dead at one hundred. Written by Tom
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  Collins. This article is being read by an automated voice, brought to
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  you by Everlet. If you walked into her office the first thing
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  you'd notice is a cork board overflowing with snapshots of babies. Try
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  to hand count how many children Mary Braddish helped deliver and you'd
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  still be at it a week from now. Families across the Illinois
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  Valley are mourning Bradish, who died Saturday in Iowa at age one
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  hundred. Even more remarkable than her long life, however, was her trailblazing
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  career as a nurse midwifery She and doctor William Farley were the
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  first nurse midwife and OBN team outside of Chicago. She was a
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  pioneer and she had to really fight for the right to perform
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  midwife in the Illinois Valley, said Deb Poetz of Peru, a retired
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  nurse. The bigger cities were doing midwifery, but in our area it
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  was unheard of. Liz Porter of La Salle, a retired midwife who
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  called Bradish a mentor, confirmed there was a lot of pushback against
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  midwifery when Bradish started. There was a cease and desist order put
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  down at the time, Porter recalled. She and doctor Farley had to
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  go to Springfield and speak before the state legislature to allow her
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  to continue delivering babies. At that time there was no legal definition
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  of midwifery in Illinois. But if Bradish was tenacious in getting the
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  local medical community to embrace the role of midwives, she was gentle
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  and caring to her many patients. I remember her as being unfailingly
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  kind and thoughtful, as was Doctor Farley, recalled Barbara Brooke of Granville,
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  a former patient of both. Ottawa-born Braddish graduated from Ryburn Memorial Hospital
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  in 1947, where she worked as an obstetrical nurse for one year,
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  then transferred to Marquette University School of Nursing, graduating in 1949. She
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  served as an obstetric supervisor at Rockford Memorial Hospital before working in
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  the OB Department of St. Margaret's Hospital in Spring Valley for twenty
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  five years. She then became a nurse midwife in Kentucky before returning
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  to the Illinois Valley and joining Farley's practice in 1976. That partnership
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  lasted twenty-nine years. One former patient said Bradish was so popular among
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  mothers that she drew business away from other obstetrical practices even from
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  the Chicago suburbs. She was wonderful, said Judy Andersensen of Peru, who
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  sought out Bradish for the births of her three children. She taught
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  me more about being a woman and the function of my body
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  even before I had children. And the when I got pregnant she
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  was kind and attentive and she listened. I can think of a
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  time when she came home early from vacation, because I was about
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  to have a baby. Trying to tabulate how many berths Bradish assisted
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  is a dizzying task. At the time of his passing, Farley.
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  Was estimated to have delivered more than fifteen thousand babies over fifty
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  seven years practice in the Illinois Valley. He delivered half the people
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  in the area. Doctor Edward Fesco quipped at the time. And Bradish
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  would have assisted at many of those across her three decades working
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  with Farley. Later, Bradish published a memoir called Breathe, Breathe, Push. It's
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  a really great book, Poet said. It was very widely read in
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  this area. And while Bradish was long retired, she was toasted earlier
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  this year when the American College of Nurse Midwives honored her on
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  her one hundredth birthday. Mary is a true midwifery pioneer whose dedication
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  helped bring natural birthing options to women and families throughout north central
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  Illinois, the college said in a statement. Twenty-five years into her nursing
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  career, Mary’s discovered her true calling, supporting women and families in achieving
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  the birth experiences they desired. Local services are pending, and Poetz noted
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  a wonderful irony in why the Bradish family has not yet scheduled
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  a memorial. A member of Braedish's family is expecting a baby, the
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  forthcoming child is said to be Mary's great granddaughter, and services are
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  on hold, pending the new arrival. We all thought that was kind
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  of fitting, Plet said. That Mary is waiting on a baby.