Preparing For Birth

Joy Szabo has been in the news lately for desiring a second VBAC for her fourth baby (vaginal birth, emergency cesarean, and vaginal birth).  She has been denied locally in her area of Page, AZ to have a vaginal birth. Due to this situation, the International Cesarean Awareness Network has been assisting her in fighting [...]

Below is a compilation of common terms and acronyms that women often will come across during pregnancy, labor, and delivery.  Check back as more will be added from time to time. AROM – Artificial Rupture of Membranes – using a finger or tool to open the amniotic sac to to allow the fluid to release. [...]

Choosing the place of birth for your baby – It is incredibly important that you understand where you fit best prior to choosing where to birth your baby. Take hospital and/or birth center tour, call and talk to L&D floor, get facts on home birth by talking to home birth midwives, other moms who have [...]

Here is the radio interview I did with Debbie Hull of the Whole Mother Radio show.  We talked about the current percentage of cesareans, VBAC availability, where to obtain support, ways to prevent an unnecessary cesarean and much more! http://archive.kpft.org/mp3/090803_063001wholemother.MP3

I have been invited to share with you an intimate and challenging (and graphic) journey of a mother from an unexpected primary cesarean, physician decided repeat cesarean and a home water birth after those two cesareans. Before you watch it, take a deep breath and have an open mind. A box of tissues may be [...]

Redondo Beach, CA, February 7, 2008: The International Cesarean Awareness Network (www.ican-online.org) would like to publicly condemn both the AABC (American Association of Birth Centers) and the ACOG (The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) for their statements* this week that limit not only women’s choices in birth but imply that birth is a fashion [...]

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) released a statement yesterday reiterating its stance that women should not deliver their babies at home among other chafing comments. The statement is linked here: http://www.acog.org/from_home/publications/press_releases/nr02-06-08-2.cfm. So ACOG with an Executive Board of 24 with various districts and committees underneath, believes it is allowed to dictate for [...]

This is taken from http://yourbirthmatters.blogspot.com/ written by a fellow ICAN Board member and all around amazing woman, Gretchen H. Please read, think and get involved. The VBAC ban project is finally up and running! What is this you ask? Well, simply put, we are going to call every hospital in the U.S. and find out [...]

CHOOSING YOUR MIDWIFE: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS · What is your birth philosophy? · What is your training? Are you certified? If yes, with whom and why? If no, why not?· Are you licensed in the state of _____?· What is your scope of practice? · When would you find it necessary to go outside your scope [...]

Below is the current ICAN press release (http://www.ican-online.org/) in response to the CDC report released today regarding 2006 childbirth data (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr56/nvsr56_07.pdf ). The latest Colorado numbers (2006) are showing a 25.3% cesarean rate an increase of 2.8% since 2005. Though this is clearly lower than the national average, Colorado is still nearly double the reasonable [...]