south american mamas???

[Reha]

I'm in the states (oregon), but I noticed that there was no tribal area for South America. Is it because there are no MDC mamas down south??

My husband and I are considering a move to Peru in the coming years, so I have been eager to talk to other mamas in S. America).

:thumb

[mlsantarem]

ReHa
There are a couple of threads started about this lacking of a South American tribe. But has moved much further.
I live in Brazil with my family and are actually planning a family vacation this year in Peru.
MLsantarem

[Reha]

Thanks for replying!! :)

Enjoy your vacation to Peru! :thumb

[sarahdavida]

I am new to MDC and have been living in Lima, Peru for almost 3 years with my husband and our 1 year old son, though we are moving back to the states soon. (My mom lives in Oregon, incidentally)

I'm open to any questions about life here...although I'm more knowledgeable about Lima than the rest of the country.

Sarah

[Reha]

Hi Sarah!

I would love to pick your brain about life there! I visited there about 8 years ago for 6 weeks, but that was before we had a child, so that changes things in some ways.

My main question, which you may not know much about, is birth in Peru. I am a homebirth midwife, just finishing up my apprenticeship. I would love to be able to practice midwifery in Peru, but I have heard such scary things politically for midwives there. If you know anything about this, I would love to hear. There isn't much out there on the internet about it.

[sarahdavida]

Oh boy...I just wrote an e-mail, but then something happened to my computer and I do not know if it went through...just let me know if you didn't receive it...

thanks,
Sarah

[Reha]

No, I didn't get anything. :shy

[sarahdavida]

whew...ok - I'll just post here, again, just in case (and try to remember everything I said)...

you are right about Peru - although I don't know the specifics politically speaking, there is only ONE natural birth center in Lima. Angela Brocker, who is also a licensed medical doctor, started Pakarii Casa de Nacimiento about 12 years ago. She does water birth and home birth and has also started a Doula training program. Sadly, we did not choose to go with her for the birth of our son and it was a disaster (I ended up having a C-section under general anesthesia). Luckily, he and I came out alright in the end, but that is all another story...

The phone number for Pakarii is 011-511-422-6764 and the e-mail address is pakarii@terramail.com.pe (internet info. here is not always up to date, so let me know if these are not correct). I think Angela would be happy to have someone else doing this work here, though I am not sure you are thinking of Lima - and I don't know what the difference would be for someone who is not a medical doctor...as you mentioned, it might be extremely difficult - but she is definitely the absolute authority on the subject and I'm sure she would be happy to talk to you.

She would not know me as a reference, but I am a member of La Leche League's Lima chapter and a friend of Alison Velasco, an American woman living in Lima who started La Leche here and had her third child at home with Angela after 2 C-sections (I believe).

Peru (Lima) definitely needs more natural birth options. The C-section rate here is still over 80% and, frighteningly, many of those are planned. After having an unplanned C-section myself, I have absolutely no idea why anyone in their right mind would opt for that.

I hope this is helpful to you and please let me know if I can be of more help.

[Reha]

Thank you so, so much for that information!!!

I had never heard of that doctor or birth center, so that is wonderful!!

I just recently found out about this birth center in Huancayo:
http://www.wawafeliz.org/IndexContent.htm
and as far as I can tell, it isn't run by doctors, so that gives me hope that I can find a way to practice there without being an MD.

I am also a LLL leader, so the info you wrote about the LLL in Lima is also very valuable.

THANK YOU!!!:Thanks

[sarahdavida]

that birth center looks wonderful...too bad they don't have more info. about themselves on the website - I guess they just want to save it for people who take the trouble to contact them...

Since she's a LLL Leader, Alison's contact info. is listed on the LLLI website at the bottom of the Peru chapter page. She has been an invaluable source of support for me - as a new breastfeeding mother (who had lots of problems) - and as an ex-pat mom...and I'm sure she'd be thrilled to hear your potential plans.

[Reha]

Thanks, I will definitely contact her as well. :thumb

[la mamita]

just a thought- you might want to think about practicing midwifery, helping train midwife assistants as part of non-profit social development work.

i don't know much about lima but i did research homebirth options in peru and basically only found angela through the LLL leader in lima. however, in rural and more impoverished areas, there are still many homebirths. now, you are not going to be able to make a living charging these women for your services, but i would say that there is a much greater need for these kind of services, as poor women often face racism and discrimination when accessing health services and the availability of these services in rural areas is so sparse and often of really poor quality. so, if you are interested in promoting midwifery among impoverished populations, there's a definite need for trained professionals.

sorry, there's my .02 advocating for the women that i used to work with, when i did NGO work.

i lived in piura, peru for about 2 years and have a peruvian-american son. we are in the US now after having just come back from a long visit. i'd be happy to talk about life in peru. piura is a large city on the northern coast and it's quite modern. not as large as lima and much nicer weather!

[Reha]

Thanks so much for your information. The non-profit idea is a good one. I'm going to keep that in mind.....