Pregnancy Issues

hmolinero

New member
Feb 15, 2003
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Hello there.

I have recently discovered that I am pregnant and going to have a baby here this fall.

I'm wondering if anyone knows of Lamaa's (did I spell that right??) or other birthing classes in English available here in Santo Domingo?

Gracias!!

Heather
 

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
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Lamaze

Atabey women's health centre offers pre-natal classes. The phone no is 412 8177 and they are on Calle Socorro Sanchez in Gazcue. Don't know if it's the Lamaze method though. They would know where to find such a class if there is one. PM me if you need any further details.

Chiri
 

hmolinero

New member
Feb 15, 2003
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Gracias!! I'll give them a call and let you know if I have any preguntas after that.

Smiles,

Heather
 

broekhuijsen

New member
Apr 29, 2003
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Breastfeeding Classes?

Dear Heather,

Congratulations with your pregnancy! Hope everything's fine.
I know that Gold-Gym and Body-Shop are offering Prenatal Preparation Classes, but I don't think it is in English.

I'm offering Breastfeeding Classes for couples (in English if you wish). My name is Mary and I am a Breastfeeding Counselor. If your interested, you can send me an e-mail or read the Thread on another page in 'living' forum (title: Prenatal Breastfeeding Classes).


Hope to see you, enjoy your pregnancy.

Mary Broekhuijsen
Grupo Apoyo a la Lactancia Materna, Santo Domingo
info@breastfeeding-support.com
 

mkohn

Bronze
Jan 1, 2002
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After 50,000 years, you can't have children any more.
There is definately an art to breastfeeding. There is pain until you get used to it. You can get infections. There is leaking involved. And then there's the schedule. There isn't one. And if there is greater demand than supply... you have to build up the supply. And then once you're feeding your child a couple of quarts a day, well, then, there's stopping.
Suffice it to say, there's a lot more to it.
mk
 

Carla

New member
Jan 24, 2003
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congratulations

hi, Heather,
remember your friendly physiotherapist from gazcue....I am so happy for you. I have held ante-natal-classes in the Solomon Islands in english-please, ask me amything anytime.as you know, i am back in europe at the moment, but have access to books and material, if needed.you got my e-mail adress, right?!
carla
 

hmolinero

New member
Feb 15, 2003
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Gracias!

Dear Carla and Mary:

Many thanks for your kind offers. Mary, I have taken note of your contact information and will get back to you closer to the time breastfeeding begins. I do understand the complexities and know that having someone to help can take away a lot of the frustrations.

Carla, I hope all is well with your family and thanks for your reply too. Please contact me when you get home and we'll get together for a long chat. I need all the guidance I can get!!

In case anyone is wondering, Dr. Jose Montero's wife, Cuchita, is a Lamaze (I'm still not sure I'm spelling that right!) consultant and speaks excellent English. I will start with her in the next week or two.

Saludos,

Heather
 

broekhuijsen

New member
Apr 29, 2003
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Take your time!

Dear Heather,

Unlike the impression (?breastfeeding is so natural you don't need to learn it?) breastfeeding is a 'social skill'. It means that we need to learn how to breastfeed. I agree with everyone, saying that 'breastfeeding classes' are ridiculous, but the sad fact is that hospital policies, the lack of knowledge amongst medical trained people about how to breastfeed and how to really support and coach a mother, and social (un) acceptance are due to the fact that breastfeeding attempts are failing.
If mothers would stick to nature, not interfering (like they like to do in hospitals with bottles, pacifiers, separating mother and child, destroying the natural reflexes of the baby, lowering milk-production through the use of schedules) and we do what our instincts tell us, we indeed do not need any breastfeeding classes. (for me, working in countries with high breastfeeding rates, where women have nothing else to offer than their own milk, where women live in close communities were every child is being raised with the site of breastfeeding women around them, wouldn?t be a challenging environment for me ? These people don?t need any classes or breastfeeding counselors!).
Fact is, we don?t live in natural environment anymore and we have to deal with pediatrics, gynecologists, mothers (in law), husbands, neighbors and everyone who seems to think to know more about breastfeeding than you.
Using the last trimester to prepare yourself to breastfeed, gaining knowledge, making yourself less vulnerable in a time when you?re so vulnerable, your chances to success will exceed.
So Heather, take your time, and prepare yourself to breastfeeding during your last trimester. You?ll be up to hearing all about it, you?ll be interested during this time of your pregnancy.
Enjoy your pregnancy; hopefully I?ll meet you later whenever you wish to prepare yourself for the most special episode of motherhood!

Sincerely,
Mary Broekhuijsen
Breastfeeding Consultant
 

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
17,850
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Dominican pregnancy

Being pregnant in the DR was a very positive experience for me. I took the regal treatment I got for granted, until I left for Europe and noticed how indifferent people were. In Madrid airport at just short of 8 months pregnant I was not offered a seat in a crowded and smoky waiting room: after being the centre of attention for at least 4 months it was a rude awakening.

In the DR when visibly pregnant you are ushered to the front of the queue at the bank, the supermarket, and - although this can be a bit invasive at times - treated like public property by people in the street asking you all sorts of questions and guessing the baby's gender based on the shape of my 'bump'.

The only negative bits for me were the long waiting times at the gynaecologist's and the fact that I was told what gender the baby was before I could say that I wanted it to be a surprise. In the end I didn't give birth in the DR because I didn't have the insurance cover so the good old NHS took care of me at the final stage.

This was also a good experience because of the midwife system and the support and encouragement for breastfeeding. When my sisters in law had their babies in the DR there was nothing of the sort. The British hospital treated the time you spend there after giving birth as a mini-course in caring for a newborn. Here new mothers are left to their own devices, I suppose because the extended family is stronger here and it is expected that you will have the support and advice of your mother, sisters, etc. But my sisters in law here knew nothing about breastfeeding, they had equipped themselves with bottles and powdered milk even before the babies were born and assumed that because on the first couple of days you don't produce milk but a colourless liquid (colostrum, extremely nutritious) they weren't going to be able to breastfeed. Nurses present were there to change the baby for you, it seems. That is why people like Mary are so crucial to the process.

The long and short of this, Heather and others in your situation, is to make sure you find a doctor who doesn't fit the usual mould: automatic c-section, etc., and a clinic that works in a more supportive way. I hope you already have and that the pregnancy and birth go well for you. Being a parent in the DR is pretty good as well!

Chiri
 
Dec 9, 2002
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OK, we obviously don't have the same sense of humour. I had never had kids so have never had to breastfeed, but I know a few years ago my sister went through terrible pain (not to mention heartache) because it caused her many problems.

Maybe he wouldn't have such a glib attitude to stuff like that if his wife had problems.
 
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nidioswife

New member
Mar 3, 2002
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Breastfeeding Humor...

I found humor in it, because it says a LOT about how boys feel about breastfeeding.. Not hard.. hrmm.. Well, I guess it doesn't have to be.. but only a guy wouldn't understand all the emotions a woman feels after giving birth, all the hormones that are in an uproar after birth, and the post partum depression.. That's just a tad bit that we have to deal with while trying how to teach our babies to latch on, and Learn ourselves on how to hold them correctly, how to do it with less pain.. etc.. Not to mention here we are responsible for this new life, and we are freaking that the baby isn't getting enough..

Unfortunately it's so easy for those around us who WANT to support us in breastfeeding also start to "worry" that the baby isn't getting enough, and reinforce the fear.. and easily offer a bottle of formula.. A bottle of formula is soooo much easier to give a baby, then the breast, and so much easier for a baby to take.. therefore the luxary spoils us.. We just need to keep sight, on breastfeeding.. cause after the first 6 weeks, it really makes it so worth the initial "hard start"...

Heather, I wish you the best of luck with your pregnancy, and birth in the Dominican Republic.. I also hope that if you do consider breastfeeding, you will take up the breastfeeding courses.. Start reading about it now, and put your mind to it.. It only gets better.. AND.. you won't believe the bond you will have with your baby!! Breastfeeding is one thing I miss as my daughter will be 2 in August.. I can't wait to have another, to share the first year with another baby..

Ok.. off my soap box for now..

JenNY
 

Timex

Bronze
May 9, 2002
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OK!!!!!!

This is the 2nd time I have had to clean up on this topic!!!

Keep it, real and realated to living in the DR!!!

After getting the wet noodle on the noggin from my wife, on this topic, all I can say is...

I've seen the light, I've seen the light, O Lord, Yes, I've seen the light!!!!!!!!!!

The reality of it all, education is important- no mater how you recive it!!!:cool:

And in my book, thats cool!!!!!:cool:

EVILUTION! B.S./Why do we still have, Wars-Famine-Illiteracy, Racism!!!!
Definitely NOT COOL!!!:confused: :confused:

Thanks
Tim H.