Who can benefit from ICAN?

After a recent discussion with a group of women, I had two of them tell me that they didn’t think they would benefit from anything that had to do with ICAN. One believed ICAN was only for those who had a cesarean due to crazy circumstances and were upset about it and the other thought it was only for women who wanted a VBAC. Although ICAN is the only organization in the world that is dedicated to working towards lowering the cesarean rate and advocating for the increase of VBACs, I don’t want anyone thinking that if they don’t fit into these two categories that ICAN has nothing to offer them.

In fact, ICAN provides Mother-to-Mother support –through our website, blog, Facebook group, web seminars, speaker series, and local chapter meetings—for a variety of circumstances including:

• The woman who is thinking about becoming pregnant or who is pregnant and wanting to know how to decrease her chances of having a cesarean section.

• The family who knows they need a cesarean and want their birth experience to be as special and personal as possible.

• Any woman who has had a cesarean and wants to learn about things she and her partner/support system can do to help her physical and emotional recovery.

• The family who had a difficult birth experience and needs the support of others who have also been through it and understands their feelings.

• The family who is looking into their birth options and wanting to know the risks and benefits associated with cesareans, trails of labor, and vaginal births after cesarean.

ICAN also strives to reach out to those in the community:

• The medical professionals who want to gain deeper insights into how birth shapes families and what they can do to make sure every experience is a positive one.

• Those who care about public health and want to reduce the number of unnecessary medical procedures, lower the maternal and infant mortality rate, and help bring health care costs down.

As one of the new blog writers for ICAN, I look forward to writing about a broad range of issues and circumstances that have brought you all here. We will be posting breaking research news, informational articles, opinion pieces, and birth stories of all kinds. If you have any topics you would like to see discussed, please post them in the comments below. I would also like to thank Melek Speros for doing a wonderful job over the past few years as blog writer; you have left big shoes to fill! I am very excited to do my part to spread ICAN’s mission and sincerely hope I can help you by posting the information you need to help you in your birthing decisions, let you know you are supported in your feelings, and make you realize you have an advocate in your corner.

-Tara Gilmore

ICAN blog writer