ICAN of Fort Wayne

ICAN of Fort Wayne October Meeting

2011-10-17T03:36:00.000-07:00

We will have our regularly scheduled meeting on

October 24th from 7-9pm

at the home of Kristen Gregory.

We do not have a guest speaker scheduled for this month, but we'll still have fun! We would also like to spend some time planning for the new year. If there are any topics you would like to specifically dicuss, please let us know!

See you there!

ICAN of Fort Wayne August Meeting

2011-08-14T20:05:00.000-07:00

We will be having a guest speaker - Candice Campbell, RN, MS, WHNP, TD (DONA) will be speaking about post-partum depression (PPD). She will share her own personal story, as well as provide information on local resources, treatment options, and warning signs. We look forward to seeing you there!

August 22, 2011 7-9pm

located at the home of Kristen Gregory

please call or email for directions

Our next meeting will be September 26th.

ICAN of Fort Wayne July Meeting - Guest Speaker Heather P.

2011-07-21T07:35:00.000-07:00

We are excited to welcome Heather P. as she speaks to us about her recent birth experience, during which she experienced a rupture. We are grateful that she is willing to open up about her experience, and respect that this is often a sensitive subject.

Our meeting will begin at 7:00pm at the home of Kristen Gregory. We look forward to seeing you there. Please feel free to contact us at icanoffortwayne@gmail.com for questions or further information.

Our next meeting is scheduled for August 22nd.

ICAN of Fort Wayne May Meeting

2011-05-04T05:37:00.000-07:00

We will be having a special guest speaker! Marilyn M. Shannon, author of Fertility, Cycles, and Nutrition will be speaking with us about nutrition as it relates to fertility and pregnancy.

Our meeting will be May 23, 2011 from 7-9pm. We will meet at the home of Rhoda Baughman, 4126 N County Line Rd E, Huntertown, IN 46748. We look forward to seeing you there! For questions or directions, contact us at icanoffortwayne@gmail.com .

Monthly Meetings for 2011

2011-02-03T19:01:00.000-08:00

All of the following dates are Mondays...

February 28, 2011

March 28, 2011

April 25, 2011

May 23, 2011 - There has been a location change for our May meeting! We will be meeting at the home of Rhoda Baughman, 4126 N County Line Rd E, Huntertown, IN

June 27, 2011

July 25, 2011

August 22, 2011

September 26, 2011

October 24, 2011

November 14, 2011

December 12, 2011

Time: 7-9 pm
Our meetings are held at the home of Kristen Gregory. Address: 1520 Kensington Blvd, Fort Wayne 46805. Light refreshments are served.

At the meetings, we occasionally have special topics or guest speakers. Our monthly meetings are a time for moms to come and ask questions, share their stories, and find the support they needs to heal from their cesareans or plan a VBAC.
If you need directions call 423.4510 or email us at icanoffortwayne@gmail.com

November and December ICAN Meetings

2010-11-09T12:53:00.000-08:00

Monday November 15th and

Monday, December 13th

Time: 7-9 pm

We normally meet monthly on the 4th Monday of each month. Due to the holidays, our November and December meetings are not on the 4th Monday.

Our meetings are held at the home of Kristen Gregory. Address: 1520 Kensington Blvd, Fort Wayne 46805. Light refreshments are served.

If you need directions call 423.4510 or email us at icanoffortwayne@gmail.com

WeCAN Night

2010-11-04T18:45:00.000-07:00

ICAN of Fort Wayne is planning a “WeCAN” night for the whole family. This will be a relaxed time of food and conversation. It would be a great opportunity for dads to connect with other dads and talk about VBAC/cesarean issues – ask questions.

Please pass this on to anyone you think might be interested. I just need a pretty firm head count, so I know how to plan with the food. We will be having a casual dinner and dessert. We have a room full of toys for the kids to turn upside down. I hope you can come! Details:

What: WeCAN Night

Who: ICAN moms and their families

When: Saturday, November 13, 2010 5:00pm

Where: Erin Drayer’s Home

9334 Woodchime Court

Fort Wayne, IN 46804

RSVP: bryceanderin@gmail.com

260.436.8183

Chiropractic Care for Pregnant and Postpartum Women

2010-10-15T20:09:00.000-07:00

Monday, October 25, 2010

7-9 pm

at the home of Kristen Gregory

1520 Kensington Blvd., Fort Wayne

Special guest this month:

Dr. Monique Levesque-Hartle, DC, DACBN, CCSP

from Allen County Family & Sports Chiropractic

Dr. Monique will be sharing about the benefits of chiropractic care for pregnant and postpartum women. We will learn about the Webster technique which is a special chiropractic technique for pregnant moms. The International Chiropractic Pediatric Association defines the Webster technique as "a specific chiropractic analysis and adjustment that reduces interference to the nerve system and balances maternal pelvic muscles and ligaments. This in turn reduces torsion in the uterus, a cause of intra-uterine constraint of the baby and allows for optimal fetal positioning in preparation for birth."

Dr. Hartle will also share about chiropractic care for newborn infants and teach us some helpful postpartum exercises for mothers recovering from a cesarean.

Join ICAN of Fort Wayne for this educational evening! Light refreshments are provided, and as always there will be time for moms to share, ask questions and have their specific needs met.

All are welcome!!

______________________________________________

More about Dr. Monique:

Dr. Monique Levesque-Hartle has been in practice since 1993. In addition to being a doctor of Chiropractic, she is also a Board Certified Clinical Nutritionist and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. She is a graduate of the Master’s Program for Whiplash Injuries as well. One of the things that makes our practice very different from many other chiropractic clinics in that Dr. Hartle is one of only 800 doctors in the country that are certified to perform Active Release Technique(ART). This technique is a merging of neuromuscular reeducation and myofascial release which removes scar tissue, adhesions and muscle spasms from the body without surgery or drugs. Dr. Hartle also uses cranio-sacral technique which helps with a variety of different conditions such as ear infections and migraine headaches.

Dr. Hartle competed in powerlifting at the international level for 13 years. She took the bronze medal in her weight class at the World Bench Press Championships and placed 5^thoverall in her weight class at the World Powerlifting Championships. She played women’s tackle football for the Fort Wayne Flash for fours years. She has retired from competitive sports and now enjoys recreational cycling and mudathlons.

Allen County Family & Sports Chiropractic was established in 1996. The practice focuses on family practice, sports injuries, rehabilitation as well as nutrition and wellness counseling. Patients range in age from newborn to 95 years of age and come from many diverse backgrounds.

At Allen County Family & Sports Chiropractic, the primary goal is to provide exceptional natural health care that touches the mind, body and spirit of individuals in a welcoming environment. The secondary goal is to educate individuals about how chiropractic care will improve their health by addressing current health concerns and motivating the pursuit of a healthy lifestyle. The most important aspect of chiropractic practice is preventive or wellness care. In order to keep patients healthy and avoid future problems nutrition, rest, and exercise, stress management as well as regular chiropractic care are strongly emphasized.

Allen County Family & Sports Chiropractic

3835 WEST JEFFERSON BLVD.

FORT WAYNE, IN 46804

PHONE: 260-432-7339

your best birth

2010-07-25T11:20:00.000-07:00

CLICK ON THE POSTER FOR A LARGER VIEW

The rate of births by cesarean is over 30% nationwide. Our local chapter is seeking to do our part in helping parents to make good birthing decisions so they can avoid surgical birth and becoming part of the statistic. Please email us at icanoffortwayne@gmail.com or call Erin Drayer at 436.8183 if you have questions. As printed on the poster - this is FREE for all. Please spread the word.

two beautiful baby girls

2010-04-29T20:51:00.000-07:00

My C-section and my VBAC
by Kristen Gregory

Vivian's birth--Jan 31, 2008

My first daughter, Vivian Anastasia, was a planned home water birth attended by a certified nurse-midwife. We were thrilled with our prenatal care, were excited about birth, and everything was going according to plan. That is until, at my 33 week appointment, my midwife discovered that I was measuring small, so she suggested an ultrasound to check on the baby. To make a very long story very short, the ultrasound showed Vivian (we didn't even know her gender at that point) had extreme IUGR (intrauterine growth restriction) and the back-up doctor ordered a cesarean immediately. The doctor made the right decision, as Vivian was very sick. Yet, we had no time to prepare, physically or emotionally, and there was no guarantee that Vivian would live. Plus, I would have a scar on my uterus that would put future pregnancies at risk for complications. The whole experience was very traumatic, not to mention the postpartum depression that followed.

Vivian lived in the NICU at the hospital for 24 weeks before she finally died of complications due to heart and lung failure. While we were there with her (we spent our days with her and our nights on the couch next to her isolette), I not only mourned the fact that she was soon going to die, but I also mourned over the birth that I had had. What hurt even more was that when I would mention how sorrowful that surgical birth had been, I would be told by some doctors and nurses, "Just be glad that you have a healthy baby; it doesn't matter how she was born." But it did matter to me (and I didn't have a healthy baby!) that I never got to hold her for 12 days, that she was taken away before I could even see her, and that I felt like a passive agent in my daughter's birth. That was no one's fault--it needed to be done for her safety, yet it still hurt me deeply and went against all of my maternal instincts. We don't regret a day of our time spent with Vivian; we got to know her well before she died. But we wanted so much more for our future children, and we wanted to parent them without having to get doctors orders to hold the baby, sleep with the baby in our bed, nurse the baby, etc.

Mary's birth--Dec 20, 2009

It took a while to conceive Mary; the stress of Vivian's life and death had taken a toll on my body and my fertility. When we finally conceived her, we were unsure of how we would proceed with her birth. Should we try a VBAC in a hospital? At home? Just plan a repeat c-section? My doctor had told me she didn't support our plan of a homebirth VBAC, though she would be there for us if we needed her services. Most people who shared their opinions with me warned me that VBACs can rupture and babies can die that way. I knew that; but I also knew that babies born by c-section can die, too--I'd experienced that personally. In the end, we can only make the best decision possible, and put the outcome into the hands of our Lord. So, we proceeded with our original birth plan: a home water birth attended by a certified nurse-midwife. I reread Ina May Gaskin's Guide to Childbirth and put all thoughts of complications out of my mind. I knew I need to trust my midwife to recognize pathology in labor or pregnancy, and my job was to take care of my body and prepare for birth. If she believed there was a problem, she would let me know and we would alter our plans. So I ate as well as I could (though I did crave Taco Bell the first trimester) took excellent supplements, and exercised daily. Never during my prenatals did the midwife make me feel like I was a risky patient--I was treated like a normal mom, not like a VBAC.

I loved Mary's birth and am so proud of how she was born. I labored irregularly for a day while the baby moved from a posterior to an anterior position, but once she was in place, the labor came on strong. It was late on the evening of Dec 19 when the contractions grew strong enough to warrant calling the midwife and her assistant. I labored in all different positions and all places of the house and I bellowed through each contraction. While it hurt more than I expected, I enjoyed the whole process because I knew it wasn't going to be a c-section. By phone, the assistant suggested I drink some wine and try to sleep; I followed her suggestion, but the contractions came on strong at that point. I knew if I let the contractions work, instead of fighting them, it would happen more quickly. I yelled, "Open!" with each contraction. My husband (he was very sore the next day) physically held me up with each labor pain. He loves numbers, and at one point was trying to time each contraction with his cell phone stop-watch, but I needed both his hands and his full attention, and I threatened to throw his cell in the toilet if he didn't stop. (I was sort of joking; we laugh about it now.) When the midwife and her assistant arrived, it was somewhere around 3 a.m. and I was 8 cm dilated. I asked to get in the tub and they supported that. As soon as I stepped into the tub, the contractions stopped for a few minutes, because I had transitioned immediately into pushing.

The pushing contractions were incredibly intense. It felt, as my midwives described it, like a "reverse vomit." The baby was coming, my body was pushing it out, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I remember bellowing so loudly with each one and imagining that if I had been in the hospital I would have been asked to be quiet. I'm a verbal person and needed to let it out. (My throat did hurt for three days.) My husband kneeled behind me in the water and held me up while I held my legs up and pushed against the side of the tub. The pushing lasted about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Throughout the pushing she quietly checked the baby's heart rate with the doppler, but I barely noticed. As soon as the baby was born, Laura placed her on my chest and said, "Here's your baby." It was 5:26 a.m., only 7 or so hours after active labor started. We didn't know her gender, so we peeked between her legs--a girl! I tore, and so we transferred to the bed so I could nurse and then be stitched up. Mary nursed right away and then my husband held her and cut her umbilical cord. It had gone picture perfectly; and I had been able to begin mothering in a gentle, peaceful way. Most importantly, I felt respected as a mother, an active participant in my own birth. That gave me the confidence to mother Mary from the very beginning. I haven't had any postpartum depression, either.

I know things could have turned out differently and I could have needed a repeat c-section; I would have dealt with that if they had. But everything was beautiful and as it should have been and I am so thankful I was given the chance to try. We wanted our baby born at home because we believed in my body's ability to birth and we also didn't want to be on a hospital's time table, in the event that I had a long labor. I didn't want to be offered pain relievers that would compromise my ability to feel the birth or my ability to interact with the baby immediately after birth.

We are thankful daily to God for Mary's birth; my husband often tells me how proud he was of me. We hope to have many more in the future. Our biggest regret is that our two lovely daughters will not know each other on this side of heaven; but we look expectantly toward the resurrection when our bodies will healed of all weakness.

a little publicity for ICAN of Fort Wayne

2010-04-29T20:46:00.000-07:00

Kristen, our lovely meeting hostess and faithful ICAN of Fort Wayne supporter, recently wrote a letter to the editor. See below. There is a link to the article she is referencing in our articles section of the blog.
____________________________

Prevent unnecessary C-sections

Thank you for running the Associated Press article “Repeat C-section not always best: Panel advocates giving mothers choice to decide” (March 11).

As the article noted, “too many pregnant women who want to avoid a repeat cesarean delivery are being denied the chance,” and it can be confusing for women in Fort Wayne to sort through the hospital and individual practitioners’ policies on vaginal birth after cesarean, or VBAC.

For this reason, several women in the community have founded a local International Cesarean Awareness Network chapter. Our mission is to prevent unnecessary cesareans through education, provide support for cesarean recovery and promote VBAC for women who would like that option.

VBAC may not be for everyone, but it should at least be an option for most. Readers can visit our Web site at icanoffortwayne.blogspot.com for meeting times and other local resources.

KRISTEN GREGORY Fort Wayne

4th annual birth to baby family fair

2010-03-19T08:41:00.000-07:00

“Helping Women Get Into Hot Water”
4th Annual Birth to Baby Family Fair, sponsored by the Doula Network of Fort Wayne.

Birth to Baby 2010 will be a bit different than in past years. Barbara Harper, RN, CD, CCE and the Founder of Waterbirth International, will be hosting a waterbirth credentialing and certification workshop all day Friday, April 16th. With the safe alternative of waterbirth becoming more and more requested by birthing families we are thrilled to have the opportunity to learn from the best.

WORKSHOP TOPICS
Controversial and absolute contraindications to birthing in water.
Guidelines for water temperature.
Assessing maternal and fetal well-being throughout water labour and birth.
Using water as an intervention in labour.
Resolving shoulder dystocia and other complications in the water.
Characteristics of the water-born infant.
Starting hospital waterbirth programs.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
This workshop provides opportunity for midwives, naturopaths, nurses, doctors, childbirth educators, doulas, and all those who care for women choosing waterbirth to recieve 7 CEU’s towards their certification/licensing programs.
Birthing families are also welcome and can benefit from this tremendous opportunity to learn from the best.

WORKSHOP PRICE LIST:
$250 for professionals to receive CEUs $125 for professionals to attend (no CEUs) $95 for students $50 for birthing families / parents

Online registration and payment is available through IPFW.

Saturday, April 17th will offer a chance for the public to meet and listen to Barbara speak on Gentle Birth Choices. Any registrant of the workshop will receive a VIP ticket for a BOLD performance of Karen Brody’s widely-acclaimed play: “Birth.”

traumatic birth healing

2010-01-24T14:13:00.000-08:00

Mondays, January 25th & February 1st
6-9 pm
Cost: $10 for both nights per couple
Light refreshments will be provided

Classes held at Birth Matters
Parkwood Office Plaza
2809 E Dupont Road
Fort Wayne, IN 46825

Classes will be instructed by
Jordan Saalfrank, MSW, CD(DONA), CE

Partner, Birth Matters http://www.birthmatters.com/

Founder, DNFW http://www.fortwaynedoula.com/

Details about the class
Trauma experienced during the birth process is defined as "experiencing intense fear, helplessness and/or horror in reaction to a perceived or actual threat to her or her baby's life, serious injury to her or her baby, threat to her or her baby's physical integrity, or her baby's death during birth." Whether it was experienced due to a pelvic exam, an episiotomy, internal monitoring, vacuum extraction or cesarean section, an early delivery, a long complicated labor, an unsupportive birth team, negative birth outcome; if a family feels they've experienced birth trauma, then they have.

This class is formulated to help mothers, fathers and family, that have experienced a traumatic birth, move through the process of reconciling the events and emotions surrounding their birth stories and begin to achieve closure. Through group learning dynamics, writing assignments and art therapy students will learn to:
(1) develop the necessary tools to cope with trauma
(2) identify and process feelings surrounding their birth
(3) identify the feelings toward participants and/or care providers that were present at the traumatic birth
(4) begin to let go of the sources of negative emotions experienced and re-experienced as a result of the traumatic birth
(5) develop a plan to effectively deal with moments of uprising fear due to the past trauma

Additional Info
(1) The classes are for couples OR singles. It is $10 whether one or both are coming.
(2) You can bring payment to the first class on the 25th or Jordan might have prepayment available on her website soon. I’ll let you know if that becomes available.
(3) If you can only make it to one of the classes, Jordan recommends that you wait until another class becomes available. It will be most beneficial to you if you can make it both nights.
(4) NOTE: We extended the class one hour each night from what was originally planned – it is now 6-9 pm