Need midwife & doula in Sao Paulo city

[aramat]

Help, help, helpity help! I still don't know enough Portuguese to maneuver around this city or the internet, and I am trying to put together my team for the homebirth of my third child in Feb 2010. So far, I have only located two midwives. I know there must be more in this huge city! Please post or PM me if you have suggestions. Thanks!!

[mlsantarem]

I am might be able to help you I am an american (usa) nurse-midwife living in Rio de Janeiro and I have a lot of contacts. I you can PM we can continue from there
MLsantarem

[poakahi]

good midwife in sao paulo???

hey, i'm kinda in a similar situation...

this is my first child and i'm about 3 1/2 months along... my mom had all 8 of her kids at home with a midwife and i would like to as well, not because she did it, but because i believe the way she did it is the right way, without innecessary interventions, etc. anyways, our baby is due in the end of december/beginning of january this year (2010) and we're trying to get to the states so that my moms midwife can deliver the baby... however getting my husband a visa (i'm american, he's brazilian) is proving to be really hard, he's already been denied once, so we need to look for other options in the event we stay. we're in sao paulo, in guaruja to be exact. do you know of any midwives in the area??? any birthing centers nearby? we are living with his parents for now, and its not the ideal environment, so if you know of a birthing center too that would be amazing!

[aramat]

Hi, there! I do know some midwives in Sao Paulo, but not in Guaruja. Look for Marcia Koiffman or Ana Cristina Duarte in Sao Paulo; they are both Sao Paulo midwives who may be able to provide you with helpful information, and they also both speak English.
I had a beautiful birth with Marcia in a hospital (not at home b/c baby was premature) here in Sao Paulo. There are also some mothering Yahoo groups you could join if you understand Portuguese; PM me if you'd like to know about them. Good luck to you!

[physmom]

Thanks for posting this! We *may* be in a similar situation soon (although a lot is still very much up in the air!!!!).

Did you ever find a midwife/doula? I speak some Portuguese but mostly just stuff for around the house, certainly nothing technical... is it possible to find an English speaking midwife? Or at least one that is good at speaking very slowly/clearly?

[aramat]

Originally Posted by physmom

Thanks for posting this! We *may* be in a similar situation soon (although a lot is still very much up in the air!!!!).

Did you ever find a midwife/doula? I speak some Portuguese but mostly just stuff for around the house, certainly nothing technical... is it possible to find an English speaking midwife? Or at least one that is good at speaking very slowly/clearly?

Yes! There are at least two midwives here in SP that speak excellent English: Marcia Koiffman & Ana Cristina Duarte. Marcia was my midwife, and she was amazing!!

[physmom]

Originally Posted by aramat

Yes! There are at least two midwives here in SP that speak excellent English: Marcia Koiffman & Ana Cristina Duarte. Marcia was my midwife, and she was amazing!!

Thanks! I turns out that we will be moving now for sure so I'm definitely going to remember these names.

[Noah's mommy]

Marcia

She was wonderful! I cried when I had to leave after my six week appointment!!

[beck1m]

Hi all, does anyone know much about home births and Sao Paulo? Can this be done there? I know a friend had a home birth in Floriannopolis, but I haven't found much information on this in Sao Paulo.

Anyway just wanted to let you know about the Mothers groups in Sao Paulo too, the English speaking ones you can find the information on this website or contact me and I'll give you the email address of the person who organises them http://www.newcomers-sp.com.br/ Saved my sanity!!!

xx Rebecca

[physmom]

So not only are we in Brazil now but I'm pregnant too so we'll definitely have to contact Marcia. Could someone PM with her email address or phone number?  What kind of birth did you guys have?  Was at home birth or in hospital? Does something like a birthing center even exist in Brazil?  Also where did you guys buy your maternity clothes?  I don't really need them yet but since we just came from a winter climate and I recently lost a lot of weight I have basically no clothes for the summer and figure I might as well buy maternity clothes.. Oh, and when did you guys first check in with your midwives?  I don't think our insurance will kick in until I'm probably almost 10-14 weeks along...

beck1m- I haven't heard of those groups before, do they have an English speaking playgroup (preferably one that meets on the weekend), by any chance?

[Noah's mommy]

I will pm you.  I had a great homebirth with Marcia.  I started seeing her at 24 weeks, but saw an OB she practices with before that.  I wish I would have seen her sooner!  You could see her after your insurance kicks in...I didn't see the OB until 12 weeks.  Maternity clothes....someone else can maybe help.  I brought mine back from the States or had my mom send some I ordered.  I was also very sick and managed to stay in a lot of my summer dresses for a long time!

Good luck!

[physmom]

Thanks. :)  I actually ended up going shopping in Rio de Janeiro and found some.  Renner had some really cheap ones (one even had a hole in it already) but I did end up purchasing a dress and pants that were more or less ok (and still about $30 each that's US$ not reis...).  Then we went to Mom's Gestante where they had very NICE clothes.  I ended up buying a few pieces there even though they were way more than I wanted to spend because they were extremely comfortable and it was sort of a late Christmas/ph.d graduations present. Plus. I'm starting a new job soon and I want to look nice for it.  I still have some shirts from last time around so I think I'll be pretty much set for the rest of my pregnancy.  But I'm waiting to use most of them until I hit at least 12 weeks (I can still return them if God forbid something happens) but I am using one pair of shorts because it's sooooo hot here, they are insanely comfortable and I don't have any other shorts! Beyond that I don't really need anything else either because I've been just having bad morning sickness in this heat so I've just lost weight...
 

Originally Posted by Noah's mommy 

I will pm you.  I had a great homebirth with Marcia.  I started seeing her at 24 weeks, but saw an OB she practices with before that.  I wish I would have seen her sooner!  You could see her after your insurance kicks in...I didn't see the OB until 12 weeks.  Maternity clothes....someone else can maybe help.  I brought mine back from the States or had my mom send some I ordered.  I was also very sick and managed to stay in a lot of my summer dresses for a long time!

Good luck!

[Zangua]

Can someone PM me with the midwives contact info?

Thanks!

[aramat]

PM'd you, Zangua.

Rebecca, I only now saw your post! Did you find info on homebirths in Guaruja? Sao Paulo city has 3 or 4 homebirth midwives, two of whom speak excellent English. There are also some obgyns who attend homebirths, but most of them do not speak much English.  (Perhaps Dr Kuhn does?)  However, I don't know about Guaruja!

[Karpalo]

Hi,

We are moving after two days to Campinas and I'm 23 weeks pregnant.

It could helps me a lot if somebody knows and will send me a contact info

of midwife, who has help with home birth and lives Campinas or Sao Paolo.

Thanks:)