Our Upcoming Events!

I got a nice big list of awesome upcoming events!

I hope to see some of you ladies getting involved!

If you would like to get involved, host a special ICAN event, or attend any of the below, please contact myself, Danielle Elwood for more details!

August 29th - Noon - Lowering your risk for a cesarean class - $20/per support team - 88 Noble Ave Suite 101, Milford, CT. Preferred Pediatrics. Please RSVP to ICANConnecticut@aol.com or 203-615-3790

September 1st - 7pm- The Webster Technique & Chiropractic Care during Pregnancy with Dr. Jason Jenkins - 97 Gulf Street, Milford, CT. 06484

September 2nd - 6pm - Lowering your risk for a cesarean class - $20/per support team - 88 Noble Ave Suite 101, Milford, CT. Preferred Pediatrics. Please RSVP to ICANConnecticut@aol.com or 203-615-3790

September 9th - 6pm - The Business of Being Born viewing - FREE!!! - 88 Noble Ave Suite 101 Milford, CT. Preferred Pediatrics - Please RSVP, space is limited. ICANConnecticut@aol.com or 203-615-3790

September 16th - 7pm - Monthly Meeting - Body Image after Pregnancy and Birth - Jenkin's Chiropractic 97 Gulf Street Milford, CT.

September 26th - noon - Lowering your risk for a cesarean class - $20/per support team - 88 Noble Ave Suite 101, Milford, CT. Preferred Pediatrics. Please RSVP to ICANConnecticut@aol.com or 203-615-3790

October 10th - noon - Lowering your risk for a cesarean class - $20/per support team - 88 Noble Ave Suite 101, Milford, CT. Preferred Pediatrics. Please RSVP to ICANConnecticut@aol.com or 203-615-3790

October 13th - 7pm - Monthly Meeting - ANGER : How to deal with an unexpected birth outcome (Guest speaker TBA!) - Jenkins Chiropractic 97 Gulf Street, Milford, CT.

October 28th - 6pm - Lowering your risk for a cesarean class - $20/per support team - 88 Noble Ave Suite 101, Milford, CT. Preferred Pediatrics. Please RSVP to ICANConnecticut@aol.com or 203-615-3790

Come join us tomorrow night!

Dar a Luz Fairfield County

Date:	Thursday, August 6, 2009
Time:	7:30pm - 9:30pm
Location:	Jewish Community Center of Eastern Fairfield County
Street:	4200 Park Avenue
City/Town:	Bridgeport, CT

Currently the national C-Section rate is 1 in 3. Find out how Connecticut fares, which hospitals have lower rates, and how you can reduce your risk.

Danielle Elwood, the Northeast Regoinal Coordinator from ICAN (International Cesarean Awareness Network) and ICAN of Connecticut chapter leader will joins us to answer your questions and help dispel some myths.

All are welcome so please spread the word.
Free (as always)
Refreshments served

Dar a Luz Network is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing every woman opportunities for knowledge, power, and support in her pregnancy and birthing process.

Contact Jodi Green for more details or membership information.

fairfieldcounty@daraluznetwork.com

Meeting Topic Schedule for 2010

I know it seems a little early, but when I have sometime I am trying to get all my ducks in a row as far as ICAN meetings so I can find special Guest speakers.

For 2010, these are the monthly meeting topics.

January : When VBAC turns into CBAC - Dealing with an unexpected birth outcome.
February : Nutrition During Pregnancy - Special Guest Pending
March : Fear in Childbirth
April : Cesarean Awareness Month
May : Childbirth Activism - How can you get involved?
June : Pediatrics - Special care for the cesarean newborn
July : Educating our Children about childbirth
August : Birth Story Night - Meeting topic subject to change
September : What are your rights in the hospital?
October : Having a family centered cesarean - When a cesarean section becomes necessary.
November : Homebirth
December : What is informed consent?

Cesarean Prevention Class!

ICAN of Connecticut is happy and excited to announce the first couple dates in our first class we will be offering.
"Learning How to Lower your Risk for a Cesarean" will cover ways that women can help to lower their risk for a c-section birth through simple steps and education.
The hour and a half long class will be offered free for the first couple classes as a "pilot program" to see how it works.

The current dates are :
July 8th - 6-7:30pm
July 25th - 11- 12:30pm
August 29th - 12noon
September 2nd - 6-7:30
September 26th - 12noon

To sign up for these classes, please contact ICANConnecticut@aol.com or stop by Preferred Pediatrics at 88 Noble Ave Suite 101 Milford, CT. 06460

Classes will be taking place at Preferred Pediatrics at the above address.

Great Quote

An amazing quote from Gretchen Humphries, the ICAN Advocacy Director.

"Lying at the start of a fundamentally business relationship is never ok, it's fraud. Manipulating a woman to agree to something she's already said she doesn't want by making unsupportable and vague accusations of danger to her unborn child is inexcusable."

A little about Gretchen : Gretchen Humphries is the Advocacy Director for ICAN, the ICAN email list administrator, and co-leader of the ICAN of Ann Arbor Chapter. She is also a Veterinarian, working in emergency and critical care at the Animal ER Center in Southeastern Michigan. She has written extensively on birth topics and many of her essays can be found at Birth Matters. She’s the mother of 4 wonderful children and the wife of a man who realized how much they’d both lost with the cesarean, after his third child was born at home.She’s had one cesarean for breech twins and then 2 wonderful HBACs.
http://ican-online.org/community/users/advocacy

ICAN of Connecticut News!

As everyone knows, Chapter leader Danielle Elwood is very close to welcoming her second child, so we are on baby watch 2009! She is anxiously awaiting her opportunity to have a beautiful and empowering VBAC. Wish her luck and keep her in your thoughts.

News News News!

We are scheduled for the Griffin Hospital Baby Fair on Saturday May 16th. I am very excited about it, last year over 500 mothers were in attendance and we got to reach out to a lot of moms in the area. This year we are taking a different approach to the baby fair, and will also have more than one person manning the booth, so it will give us a greater opportunity to speak with more moms!

We have a couple meetings set up for the next couple months. I know summer time is VERY busy for a lot of moms, and families, so I am not really banking on anyone coming, but we will have some neat topics.

May : Birth Story Night - We will be meeting Next Tuesday the 17th at 7pm like normal at Dr. Jenkin's office in Milford.

June : Changing Provider Mid Pregnancy - We will be meeting on Tuesday June 16th, at 7:00pm again at Dr. Jenkin's office in Milford. This will be a lesson on changing health care providers mid pregnancy, how to, why would you, and what should prompt you to change.

July : Breastfeeding after a Cesarean - The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, August 22nd at 7pm. We will be having a special guest speaker (Local Lactation Consultant who is TBA) speak about breast feeding after a c-section, tips, help, and problems cesarean section mother may face. It should be a great evening! Please invite all Moms you know who could benefit!

August : Fathers Night! - August 12th, 7pm at Dr. Jenkins office in Milford. We will be opening the night up to fathers! Sharing their experiences and stories of birth experiences. We will be welcome a special guest speaker, Dr. Jason Jenkins, and of course my husband Will to speak of our birth experiences from Dads point of view. All dads, and dads to be are welcome and encouraged to come!!!

I hope to see a lot of you ladies over the summer! Remember, we have our great ICAN e-mail group you can join at http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/ICANofConnecticut/

And we also have our online forum, http://icanofconnecticut.yuku.com/

Upcoming Events for ICAN of CT!

For everyone here in Connecticut, and the surrounding areas, I wanted to send out a quick update of events for things we are doing in the area over the next couple weeks.

March 31st - 6pm - Preventing Breech Presentation with Dr. Jason Jenkins. For registration please call Fitness and Yoga for Women at 203-878-9642. Registration IS required!

April 1st, 2009 - 11am - Kicking off Cesarean Awareness Month. Join the ladies from ICAN of CT at Panera Bread in Shelton, CT for a social hour centering around the start of CAM!

April 22nd - 7pm - Monthly meeting focusing around Cesarean Awareness month, cesarean birth stories, preventing unnecessary cesarean sections and what we can do to lower our cesarean birth rate. We will also be showcasing our Cesarean Awareness Month proclamation from Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell.

April 28th - 7pm - We will be having a small home viewing of the birth film What Babies Want. For more information email me or Karen Kilson (Birthways@earthlink.net) for directions.

All are welcome!

Unfortunately we had to cancel our full Cesarean Awareness Program we had scheduled for April 4th at the Plumb Memorial Library. We did not have enough interest and response, as well as RSVP's to the event. Hopefully next April we will be able to have a larger successful event like we were trying to plan.

For all of the women going to the ICAN Conference in Atlanta, we wish you safe travels, and I can personally say, I am jealous! I hope you all have a wonderful time and enjoy the list of amazing speakers!

Count me in for 2011 when I am not going to be a few weeks from my due date!

Last but not least, please join ICAN of CT online on Facebook.com. You can find our group at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=25831007877

Also, help fight the good fight by joining The Movement to help lower Cesarean Rates!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=70207150395