Well, to explain a little further about the groups we have...
It's About Birth Choices is a pretty darn alternative group. It's made up mostly of the midwife who facilitate's it's clients and then some doulas and other birth-advocates. It's a pretty large group, actually. We have a different topic each month and we talk about things like "Birth Myth & Facts", "Epidurals: the Other Side of the Story", "Why Choose Natural Birth?", etc. It's mostly preaching to the choir, but it's a good opportunity to get to talk about something so important to all of us and to share our stories and our fears, etc. At the last meeting, one sort of outspoken lady was really nervous about her upcoming hospital birth, so we all talked about that quite a bit and I think helped her to sort out some of her fears and make necessary preparations.
Choosing Positive Birth - this one is very similar to About Birth Choices. In fact, it's nearly identical. Sometimes there are guest speakers, so a few meetings ago there was a chiropractor and a naturopath talking about pregnancy and childbirth.
birthNETWORK - This one I've only been to once and the topic was "choosing your birth team". Unlike the other two meetings, the focus wasn't so radical and was still very much on hospital birth, which felt odd to me, but I birth at home and was birthed at home, so my perspective may be a bit skewed. There wasn't the midwifery model of care focus, either, which may have been it more than anything. In the other meetings, achieving natural birth in today's obstetric climate is seen as rare and that to do it, one must prepare A LOT and preferrably have a midwife and a doula and stay away from the hospital as much as possible. This meeting was run by two L & D nurses, whose intentions were great, but were not the skeptics of the hospital environment like myself and everyone I know are.
Home Birth Options - Haven't actually been to this meeting, but I'm assuming it's a lot like the first two, with topics focused on pregnancy and labor, but in the home.
International Cesarean Awareness Network - Went to my first ICAN meeting on Wednesday. It was indeed as I suspected mostly a group of women who'd had cesareans talking about their experiences and coping and planning for future (or in some cases, having had) VBACs. There were a few of us who had never had a cesarean, which I think benefitted the group in a big way because the women with previous cesareans were simply not as confident or knowledgeable in their body's ability to birth, which was disheartening. That was far more of a support group than the other meetings, and it was fascinating and emotional. I think it's a great group and hopefully a huge benefit to the mothers who attend.
)
about it. Like, what if nobody came? :LOL And, how would it be structured? And how to advertise it?
