I attended the ICAN meeting today and am so excited about their presence here in Charlotte where it is so desperately needed. So many c-sections and so many women who aren't happy with their experiences. Women who feel traumatized by the surgical removal of their baby are not given permission to feel angry, cheated or even to grieve. Well meaning people say, "At least you have a healthy baby" and you feel even worse for being ungrateful on top of everything else.

Their(my) feelings are valid and important. I deserve to be heard and to be allowed to have whatever emotions spring up my from my experience. My failure to progress(common reason for c-section) made me feel like a failure as a mother. Not everyone can understand that. I am not crazy or oversensitive. I am not anti-doctor or anti-establishment. C-sections have saved the lives of mothers and babies and thank God for them. But lives are not always at stake.

I AM PRO WOMAN. Women have a right to accrurate information about C-sections and VBAC and yes, inductions. They have a right to make an informed choice. No one should look back and say, "I wish I would have known......" or "I didn't realize the statistics were in my favor"

VBAC in Charlotte is a challenge, but it shouldn't be. This needs to change.

I have a website

I have a website, I'm on myspace and I'm on facebook. I am now what I consider to be "up to speed." I have had two births. They were incredible. It's amazing what you learn about yourself during someone else's birth. You learn to be patient. You cannot rush nature, no matter how hard you try. Even Pitocin(the synthetic drug used to start labor) cannot always do what mother nature demands. But the beauty is waiting and watching a baby and a mother be born. And for me, a doula is being born.

Here I am at: http://www.artfullyborn.com/

But I'll still be here, chatting and rambling......