I am delighted with the response we have received to the article I wrote on Maddy Oden, our Conscious Woman of the Month.  Commentaries and references to this article have been appearing on numerous blogs, including Laureen Hudson’s ElementalMom, Heather Crawford’s Birthing Spirit (Australia), I Am A Monkey’s Mamma, and in online discussion forums - including ICAN’s main (international) list.  I hope that everyone on the Conscious Woman listserve (soon to exceed 600!) takes the time to read about Maddy and the Tatia Oden French Memorial Foundation.  Maddy - with the assistance of our own James S. Turner  - will be going back to the FDA this June in an effort to put an end to the off-label use of Cytotec for labor inductions.  Perhaps some of the other dangerous labor-inducing drugs will follow Cytotec into oblivion in years to come. 

The women of ICAN understand this all too well.   Many of the ICAN women - myself included - began with an unecessary labor induction and ended up in the OR - what I recall as an unnecessarian preceded by a little bit of hell.  We can count our blessings that we did not meet Tatia’s fate - but blessings are still few after a birth experience like that, especially when the experience is followed by some real education and raised consciousness about what could have been.  For a terrific dose of quality childbirth education,  check out Sarah Buckley’s Gentle Birth: The Science and the Wisdom (Part II:  The Impact of Interventions, focuses on induction of birth).  Gloria Lemay just completed her workshops on Induction of Birth, but they are still available as unedited recordings for those who sign up for the Advanced Doula Training series; also, keep an eye out for a repeat of this series and edited recorded archives this Fall. 

April is Cesarean Awareness Month - consider joining ICAN for $8 off any of Dr. Buckley’s lectures or $50 off her entire series (that more than pays for your membership fees!).  To get the member discount code, contact ICAN’s Education Director, Lisa Houchins at education@ican-online.org.   Also, check out ICAN’s gorgeous new website at www.ican-online.org - beautifully done by Melissa Collins and Laureen Hudson.