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Here you'll find a summary of some of our past meetings to help you get to know us better. Check back monthly!

August 20th  Open Forum

           This August's meeting was quite a hit!  We had a great turn out and saw plenty of new faces, as well as many comforting familiar ones.

           Much of our meeting was comprised of parents searching for care providers who will allow Vaginal Birth After 2 Cesareans (VBA2C).  One couple has made an amazing journey to their current state of mind and shared whole heartedly with us their trials.

          We at ICAN of Greater Cleveland wish them, and all parents that they get the births they want and need.

May 21st Open Forum

           At our May meeting we welcomed several new faces and, as usual, we didn't have any difficulties find subjects to talk about.  Three brave newcomers shared thier birth stories with us. 

           The first mother told of mounting health concerns and her baby was born via emergency c-section.  So very often we here of mothers who deliver their babies due to emergency cesarean only to find out later it was hardly an emergency, this was not her case.  And to tell you the truth it was refreshing to know that.  She was attending ICAN after returning to the Cleveland are and is pregnant with a second child, hoping for a VBAC.

           Another mother had her first child via cesarean, and planned a VBAC with her second pregnancy.  Toward the end of her pregnancy she received a phone call from her OB stating she should report to the Labor and Delivery floor the following morning for a cesarean.  This mom fought with her doctor, husband and self for the right thing to do.  She asked many questions and ultimately went in for repeat a cesarean.  She is in the process of obtaining her medical records to see if it really was necessary.  And also wondering if there are providers who will accept a VBAC after 2 cesareans.

      The final story was hard for me personally.  I labored and delivered my second child via extemely interventous VBAC at the very same hospital this mother did.  I couldn't help but visualize her inside it's rooms, stuck on the bed.  This woman was pregnant with her second child, planning a VBAC.  She arrived in labor and her midwife wasn't in town, the midwife seeing her made it in too late, and the resident on call wouldn't allow her to move around or change positions.  She and her husband begged and no one responded to their pleas.  Ultiamtely she consented to repeat cesarean.  As the other mothers, she and her husband are heart broken.

       So with all this heaviness what are we to do?  
Step #1 Trust yourself!!!!
Step #2 Find a truly supportive care provider, wether at the hospital, home or bith center.  Know what to ask and watch out for red flags.
Step #3 Attend ICAN of Greater Cleveland, and find a supportive network.
 

Forced Cesarean; The True Reality and The Real Truth
This program was special and deserved special notes, here's our tutorial.

April 16th 2006
The night we listened
 
       This night we listened. We listened as a brave, educated, and beautiful woman spoke of her birth tragedy. We listened in awe, in bewilderment, in silence as she shared the story of her forced cesarean. The details we will leave to her to tell if desired, but we felt the need to get some information to the public.
 
       We listened as she told of coercion, threats of her children being taken away, and scare tactics such as being told her baby will die. She was told her body and child were being seized by the hospital and she must consent to repeat cesarean or face charges and her children would no longer be in her care. 
 
       We listened as she described how the post traumatic stress disorder unfolded once she returned home. The unyielding panic when someone knocked on the door and nightmares of someone breaking into her home to take her babies.
 
       We listened as she half considered herself weak for giving in and signing the consent form. She spoke how the strength she was utilizing for her VBAC switched into strength to maintain her family. We cried as she cried and felt, if only for a moment, what she felt.
 
       Then, we listened some more. Attorney Jaime Bouvier spoke of Roe vs. Wade and how it affected our legal precedents. We sighed with relief as we heard of a court in Illinois overturned a hospital’s desire for a court order to force a cesarean on a pregnant mother. We cringed as we heard a tale of another mother, in a state that fails my memory, who went to the hospital only to hear they MUST perform a cesarean. She returned home against medical advice (AMA) to have the police show up and handcuff her, return her to the hospital and handcuffed to their hospital bed, where they performed a forced cesarean. We listened as she described a mother’s twin birth in Utah, where they wanted to perform a cesarean, she declined and returned home. Roughly 2 weeks later she went into labor and delivered her twins. One was healthy and the other stillborn. The state of Utah proceeded to charge her with homicide, she later pled to a lesser charge of criminal endangerment. We heard that the state’s interest was in a viable baby or family unit, we tried to listen but found it hard to believe.
 
       We listened in disgust as our options seemed painfully bleak. And then we questioned. What can we do? Can they do that? Do we need attorneys on our birthing teams? Did they really get a court order? Why did they do that? It left a lot of doubt in out minds about our maternity systems. We don’t have all the answers, but we do have some. 
 
       What we can do is raise awareness. Petitions, posed to the right people, can inform probate courts as to what is going on. Most of them have very little knowledge on the birthing subject. We can seek out hospitals’ and practitioners’ VBAC rates and policies. We can also keep the thought of having an attorney on our minds, even though it is a sad thought it may be beneficial to our births. Lastly, we can support these amazing women whose births don’t follow their ideals. While we are not joyous of their tribulations we do thank them for sharing their story and getting the truth out about each experience.
 
 
       Lastly, we shared. We each shared an affirmation for this inspiring woman. Thank you for your story, healing wishes to you, well wishes, awesome bravery, thank you for letting us know we’re not the only ones, strong faith be your guide, and love to you.
 
 
 

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Here's an article from ICAN of GC's chapter leader Pam Kolanz:

ICAN Knows… BELIEVES… Acts To Change Our Birth Culture!

By Pam Kolanz

 With the continued escalation of cesarean surgery rates, the work of ICAN is more important than ever before.  A 31.1%  c/s rate, with projections to climb even higher, is just not acceptable.    The risk of having such a high surgical delivery rate is reflected in the now-increasing maternal death rate and the World Health Organization statistics show that women die at a greater rate here in the US than 40 other countries. 

The past is helpful to predict the future.  If 90% of women continue to birth under the care of high-risk surgeons (Obstetricians), we can expect more and more surgical extractions of babies and less normal birth.   The guardians of normal birth have always been the midwives.  Encouragement of the Midwives Model of Care© is needed to help alter this surgical birth trend.  A shift in thinking, power and money must occur.

Beliefs of a culture are always stronger than truth.  In order for positive trends in birth to occur, the current general belief about birth must shift to be more in alignment with  biological truth:  birth is a normal life-event… birth is not a medical event… women are perfectly designed to grow, birth and nourish their babies.  Our culture has adopted a different belief about birth which is abnormal.  Acting on that belief will continue to put women and babies at high risk with a far-reaching impact to our families and greater society.

ICAN of Greater Cleveland has been in service to birthing women in our area for the past 25 years.  We will continue to echo the truth about women/birth and support a change in the belief about birth.  Please join us with every large and small action needed to accomplish such a shift in our birth culture!