This website is sponsored by ICAN, the International Cesarean Awareness Network, Inc.
The International Cesarean Awareness Network is a nonprofit organization that was founded by Esther Booth Zorn and many other motivated women in 1982. ICAN has now grown to over 170 chapters throughout the United States and worldwide.
ICAN’s Mission is to improve maternal-child health by reducing preventable cesareans through education, supporting cesarean recovery, and advocating for vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC).
For many years, ICAN has recognized that not all women who want VBACs are able to have them. This can be devastating. CBAC moms have unique emotional needs that may benefit from special attention.
To address these needs, ICAN has created special support groups for CBAC moms on Yahoogroups, Facebook, and chapters may have meetings tailored with only CBAC moms in mind. It now offers safe space at ICAN conferences for CBAC moms, as well as webinars on how to improve support for CBAC mothers.
This website is another venue for ICAN to reach out to CBAC moms and offer them the support they need, as well as to educate healthcare providers and birth workers about the special needs of the CBAC mother.
The authors of this website are CBAC mothers themselves. Most of the content was originally created by Pamela Vireday as part of her workshop, “When VBAC Doesn’t Happen: Supporting the CBAC Mother,” presented at the 2011 ICAN conference in St. Louis, Missouri. Mothers from the Yahoo CBAC Support Group helped brainstorm and contribute to that workshop, and have graciously consented to share many of their quotes and ideas on this website as well. Our thanks to them for their feedback and help.
Melek Speros and Catherine Kowalik Harper are now co-editors and contributors to the site as well.
This content of this website is copyrighted. Small quotes from this site (with proper attribution) may be used elsewhere, and the pages may be linked to from outside sites. However, if you want to reproduce an article elsewhere, please write to publications@ican-online.org and ask permission first. Thank you.