International Cesarean Awareness Network

Wow! The new website is finally here!

I’m Shannon, the ICAN Information Services Director. I’m a mom to four babes, well, actually I’m a mom to three babes and a boy. :) I’m looking forward to being able to post thoughts and new information upcoming from ICAN.  read more »

It’s certainly been a busy week in the birth world. There have been different releases from organizations, blog posts abound, etc. Dare I say it’s a groundswell? One can hope!

There is a propensity in the world of mainstream men and women to not take "birth nuts" seriously. Somehow, by being on the cutting edge of helping to defend mothers and babies, we get a reputation of being the radicals.  read more »

Orlando in March and the temperature dips into the 50’s? Wow! What a welcome to all the folks of CIMS!

CIMS is the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services and I just returned home from a great weekend of building bridges with other women and other organizations. It’s always fantastic to see so many prominent names from the birth world, but it’s even better to see so many new faces who are "out there" trying to figure out how to reach out to new organizations and build a sea of voices rather than raindrops!  read more »

I wanted to toss out there that anyone from Florida should really check out the ICAN of Florida yahoogroup at http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/ICANofFlorida/ for more info! We have a wonderful support group spanning the entire state and branching out into some smaller groups for individual chapters.  read more »

I’m never sure how people will take it when I mention Cesarean Awareness Month. It’s a toss up between ‘Huh’ and ‘Are you for cesareans’ or "I’m done having babies" or "well, I had to have an emergency cesarean. I was induced and my babies heartrate…" most of the time. Almost always some sort of a reason why they aren’t really aware of the risks of cesarean or an explanation of why their cesarean was necessary or a reason why this next time, they will have to have another one.  I always reach deep and try to find the appropriate response for my audience but it always comes so close to me saying  read more »

So. What is a Cesarean Awareness Ribbon?

If you look at ICAN’s new logo or over on the right at the "Find a Local Support Group" you will see a suspiciously upside down awareness ribbon.  read more »

Today’s most popular email is the passing around of TIME Magazine’s impossibly huge snafu article, " Choosy Mothers Choose Caesareans". Always floored by lack of reporting credibility, this article stunned me with it’s ignorance of both the NIH Conference it quoted (where the doctors on the panel were lambasted and blasted for their ignorance of the issues at hand by numerous OB’s, Grassroots Advocates and Mothers) and the evidence they presented there. In fact, there is little to no credible evidence of a rise in pelvic floor issues for mothers unless they are exposed to the use of forceps, episiotomy (An UNNECESSARY surgical procedure) or vacuum extraction. A cesarean is not preventative in urinary nor fecal incontinence and it doesn’t protect the vaginal canal from getting all "stretched out". But we appreciate ACOG trying to sell us on the beauty of Cesareans without pointing out the risks of  read more »