Midwifery Lessons

Today, Katrina and I were lucky enough to accompany Brenda while she visited Otelia. Otelia is a 77-year-old traditional Purepecha midwife who has assisted in 1,000s of births at her home. She has never lost a mother and only one baby died under her care- a pretty good track record if you ask me. She is hard of hearing and prefers Purepecha to Spanish, so her daughter helped translate. She taught us how to make a herb "cocktail" that helps with birthing pains and taught us how to "massage" the mother so that she releases the placenta after birth. Most of what she does is so amazing and logical it often puts Western medicine to shame.

For example, she has exercises that a woman can do with her rebozo(scarf/shall) if her baby is breech to turn the baby around... and if the baby doesn't turn she delivers it feet first! (Delivering vaginally a Breech baby can be done it just takes a skilled practitioner- something that most OBs aren't taught how to do, they just do a C-section). She also told us how she never does a vaginal examine during pregnancy because they don't have gloves or the proper sanitation equipment- WOW! She can tell by how the woman is breathing and acting how far along in pregnancy she is.
Overall, it was an amazing experience learning from such a knowledgeable source. It was definitely a highlight of my summer so far!

Also, when we left Otelia's daughter gave us hummingbirds made out of the reeds the grow in Lake Patzcuaro. Puacuaro (Otelia's home town) is famous for this handicraft so it was a beautiful gift to remember such a unique experience.