The God-Sent Doctor

I am seriously completely overwhelmed and awestruck!!

As you all know, the natural birth situation here is not a good one. What I mean by that is that it's just not common at all. In fact, we've visited 3 doctors here. The 2nd one was here in Anapolis and at a hospital that is strictly a maternity hospital. They are pro-natural births, but the truth is that most people just want C-sections...forget the option of pushing a baby out at all, even if you do have an epidural and all the drugs you want. I think that the trend here is that pushing a baby out under any circumstances is a little degrading...not nearly as sophisticated as just going in for a little surgery. So, the 2nd doctor we went to, she was recommended as our best option for a natural birth, along with the hospital where she works. She told us that the C-section rate there is 95%. GASP!! It's not her doing...that's just mostly people who want them.

There is another place here that sounds basically kind of like a birthing center. They are all about natural births in that they have great equipment...special birthing chairs, birthing balls, etc. They are really free about what they let their patients do...walk the halls, assume any positions wanted, etc. BUT, we've heard the lady in charge there is a bit of a nazi. The husbands ARE NOT allowed to be present at the birth. HELLO!! I don't think so.

Well, I think I've mentioned that a while back (right before this 2nd doctor visit), I was just feeling GREAT un-peace about the whole thing. So, what did I do? Google of course. :-) Google is seriously my friend.

I typed in "midwives in Brazil." Up pops several Brazilian website, but first I saw an American article about midwives in Brazil. Long story short, it linked me up to another couple of websites where I was able to get an email address of a midwife here in Brazil. She lives in another state, but she and another lady whose email address I got helped me find a couple of contact people in my area.

One lady is an American. Her name is Traci and she is a doula and yoga instructor. Now, I'm not into yoga, but the doula part interested me and the fact that I could speak to her in English. So, I got her email, she sent me her number, and we talked.

She told me about a couple of doctors in Goiania. She now lives in Brasilia, but used to live in Goiania and had one of her children there. I told her my experience and she told me about a doctor that is all for natural births, even homebirths...AND he encourages water births. That is completely unheard of here. In fact, when we asked the 2nd doctor about the possibility of a water birth, she just laughed at us.

So, the American doula gave us his name and number. Joel called last week and we set up a time to go see him...he met us after hours.

We had asked that if this was our man, that God would make it completely clear. Well, he walked in and had 2 books under his arm. One was a book by Larry Crabb (an American Christian author if you don't know) and the other book was entitled, "Missions: What is your part?" Now, that didn't mean he was our man, but it sure was a good sign.

We talked in his office for at least an hour. We got to ask all our questions. We knew at the end of the meeting that he was indeed our guy to deliver this baby.

Luiz Carlos Pinheiro is his name. He is so humble and really into just the natural birth process. His mentality is basically the same exact mentality as the midwives back home. It's pretty awesome. We asked him how he arrived at that mentality since it is SO opposite of the mentality here in Brazil overall. He said that the doctor that runs the clinic has that mentality...he kind of came under her and learned that. But, he took it even further...he's willing to do home births and studied water births and even bought his own tub to take to births. He will not even consider doing elective C-sections. He could make alot more money I'm sure if he agreed to do that. But, his wording to us was that "it's not considerate to the baby." Yeah, I like this guy.

His daughter lives in Atlanta, Georgia. She just had a baby 9 months ago. He was there to observe...she was attended by a midwife. So, it's nice...he's completely familiar with all the things that we are familiar with giving birth in the states using a midwife since his daughter just went through the whole thing. Plus, he's just so humble and loves to learn about it all. We asked him if he knew about the Bradley Method and he didn't know the name, but when Joel explained it to him, he was excited about researching it. He does follow the basic concept of Bradley already though...and knew the book "Childbirth Without Fear" by the guy who basically inspired Bradley in the beginning.

After talking to this doctor, there was only one piece left in the puzzle...we had to get permission from these house owners to actually birth here. Well, they were more than happy for us to, so it's a done deal. We are now planning a home water birth and I'm so stinking excited and can't believe God's provision...if you knew just how unheard of that is here, you would know just how much of a miracle it is. It's a miracle in that we even found someone who was willing...and he's not just willing, he's equipped and excited about the opportunity.

He always brings along a doula (Traci, the American, was one of his doulas until she moved) and a pediatrician to his births. He's never actually been able to do a home birth. Traci was supposed to have a home birth (she had a home birth with her first child...in Spain), but her water broke and she never went into labor on her own, so they had to go to the hospital and induce. But nobody have been interested in a home birth...it's just not done here. It's radical for people to deliver vaginally...and even more radical to deliver without drugs. So, to announce that you are having a home birth...now that's just a little on the "weirdo" side. :-) It's like that in some circles in the states, but even moreso here. Out of the 7 years that our doctor has been delivering babies (he had another profession before that), he's only had 7 people who wanted the water birth experience (in the hospital). So, he's really excited about us. :-)

Also, when he found out that we work with Asas de Socorro, I thought he was going to do a cartwheel. :-) He said that he gets their newletters and is really excited about working with them in the near future.

The whole thing is just so God-ordained, every little part. I don't know why I am always so aghast when that happens...things like that have happened plenty of times before in my life. It's common. But, every time, it still blows me away. Pretty cool, God.