Her father was an author and playwright as well as being a notable sportsman who represented Portugal in shooting at the Summer Olympics and was a financial supporter and president of S.L.
Bermudes inherited her father’s athleticism and was a swimming champion, also taking part in skating, gymnastics and in bicycle and car races, being one of the first women in Portugal to obtain a driving licence.
[2][3][4][5] After initially receiving a private education at home Cesina Mercedes attended the elite Camões Secondary School.
On 14 October 1949 she was arrested by the Portuguese Secret Police (PIDE) for being a member of the Central Commission of the Women's Democratic National Movement, and held in prison at Caxias, near Lisbon, for three months.
The technique aims to build a mother's confidence in her ability to give birth, through classes that help pregnant women understand how to cope with pain in ways that facilitate labour.
[6] In Paris she met three other Portuguese doctors, Joaquim Seabra-Dinis, Pedro Monjardino and João dos Santos, who she subsequently worked with to develop new techniques that would have a great impact in the way labour could be approached, including the use of medicines to stimulate birth.
Following the 1958 elections, when the Estado Novo was again returned to office, she disappeared from political matters to enable her to provide medical assistance to pregnant women of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), who were forced to live clandestinely.