Pregnancy in Buenos Aires

[RNazz]

BittyStar,

Don't worry! The medical system here is great, Aleman is wonderful and having your baby here doesn't automatically mean you're getting a C-section. I am a maternity nurse from the US and I have a business here helping English-speaking expats through the labor & delivery process here. http://www.buenosairesbabies.com You can email me at [email protected] so we can talk more.

I did have another client to was going to pay cash to Aleman and get reimbursed by their insurance company. It was in the range of $30,000 pesos. It would be much more wise to sign up for a health insurance here ahead of time. Aleman has a wonderful health insurance plan or you can go with one of the health insurance companies (the top ones are listed in the resource section of my website).

There are also home and water birth options if that appeals to you... here is a link to some more specific info. http://mybababy.com/2011/08/15/water-birth-in-argentina/Click here for more info Home and Water Births in Argentina

Also, as far a setting up a plan of care ahead of time I think that is totally possible. Most of the doctors here communicate directly by email and phone with their patients so this would be not too out of the norm. However, its not that uncommon as you would think that someone would switch docs at 34 weeks so I am not even sure you would need to set up a whole plan ahead of time - just get an appointment with the doctor for as soon as you arrive.

Anything I can help you with please let me know. Good luck

P.S. Please don't lie about your LMP to your healthcare provider as recommended above. I know they are a little uptight about due dates here but there are legitimate medical reasons for them to know this important piece of information and it should not be withheld.

 

[thuy.ashtango]

I just had my baby 3 weeks ago. He came at 33 weeks during an emergency c-section. I'll spare you the details, but it was a situation in which we were both in danger. My OB was super attentive, coming from home when he heard I was admitted to the ER. Then he had the presence of mind to check on me between his office appts to make sure I was ok. Unfortunately, my condition worsened. But he was there, and made the quick and difficult decision to deliver the baby. He and I had talked at length about avoiding C-sections, but it was ultimately the only safe choice for us.

I'm with Swiss Medical. The care I received at the Clinica y Maternidad Suiso Argentina was impeccable. Everyone was kind, calm, and helpful. They taught how to care for my baby and myself before releasing either of us from the hospital. Never was there an issue about insurance or payment. My health and my baby's health were top priority and still is.

Also, my understanding is that Swiss Medical (perhaps all insurance) covers EVERYTHING medical related for baby for the first year.

 

[CarverFan]

MizzMarr, my doctor was Guillermo Lodeiro, a wonderful person, I would highly recommend him. Unfortunately for a VBAC they do not allow any induction (in UK the NHS would allow me light induction eg pessary) and no foley catheter for failure to dilate. Only raspberry leaf tea!!! And I have a long cycle so it was a waste of time thinking I could deliver naturally one week earlier than full term. In these cases, lying is telling the truth cos the truth is skewed.

 

[CarverFan]

thuy.ashtango, forgot to add Congratulations!!! on the birth of your baby. I'm so glad everything turned out ok, despite the shock of what you went through.

 

[syngirl]

Someone who is NOT a doctor should NOT be advising anyone to lie about their LMP.

I'm also not a doctor but my sister is a high-risk MFM (maternal fetal medicine) obstetrician and I'm 35 and just went through my own pregnancy here in Buenos Aires so I can tell you a few reasons why not to lie about your date:

1) If you're over 35 you're already high risk anyway -- not just for genetic issues but for a myriad of health issues during your pregnancy, why put your baby at even higher risk lying about your dates?

2) If you want to get any genetic testing you only have certain limited windows of opportunity to do so, lie about your dates and chau you've missed those

3) 41 weeks is perfectly acceptable gestation and the date that most developed countries will allow you to go to. There are some countries where you can argue to go to 42 weeks but the evidence so far is that while most babies benefit from 1 more week (ie 41 weeks) in utero, by the second week the statistics say otherwise -- there's higher risk of the fetus going into stress, there's more meconium present in deliveries at dates beyond 41 weeks and more risk that the fetus will swallow said meconium. There's also reduced amniotic fluid and risk for your baby having kidney failure etc. There's a bunch of other stuff but as I say I'm not a doctor and haven't done my research, I've just talked extensively to my sister and my own OBGYN about it.

What I do like about having a baby in BA is that deliveries are attended primarily by a midwife, the OBGYN is only present at the last, so if you've chosen wisely and have a midwife and OBGYN that you like, you will have a very nice experience (we loved both our midwife and our OBGYN)

While caesarian section rates are very high, if you interview and choose your doctors wisely you will not have to have one.

However what I can guarantee you will have if you have a vaginal birth is an episiotomy -- while rates in Canada are around 20% depending on province, here they are over 90%. This is a different philosophy, and here is indeed behind the times. With your first pregnancy especially, let's face it, you ARE going to tear. In other countries they just let you tear, here they think of the episiotomy as a way to control the tear. They say that they do just small ones here, I wouldn't know, I did end up with a c-section (more in a minute).

The other you will almost certainly have to have is an epidural -- most OBGYNs here refuse to work with women who won't have them -- this is because there really aren't that many women in the world who can both tolerate the pain of delivery AND be cooperative patient. One of my friends the dr's begged her husband to convince hr to take the epidural because she was just being so bloody rude and difficult to work with (calling your dr the C word doesn't exactly put you in the Favorite Patients book).

I made it to 5 cm before they gave it to me, the pain was tolerable but getting worse and you have to take it before it's unsupportable or it won't kick in. From my friend that did without -- she says you think that really it can't get worse but after 7 cm you wouldn't believe how it goes, and ithe Ring of Fire is AWFUL -- she said she would not do it again.

Now to my birth story -- I had a fantastically healthy pregnancy -- 11kgs gained, no blood pressure problems, no glucose problems, everything perfect, ran / biked / walked etc throughout the pregnancy so I was in really good shape when I got to the hospital. Problem is my baby just didn't want to come out. So at 41weeks I was induced. Went to sanatorio, midwife broke my waters. Didn't start dilating. So they hooked me up to the meds, dilated fine, but every time I got contractions baby's heart beat reduced. 5 cm gave me epidural still thinking we'd go for natural. 6 cm it becomes evident that with every contraction baby is going into stress, so we have to change to c-section.

Resulted that the cord was wrapped around his neck (very much more common than you realise) and that it was also very short -- so he couldn't descend into the canal. And every time he tried he cut off own circulation.

At the end of the day, even though I had thought I was going to have a natural delivery, I really truly don't care that I had a c-section -- after all, what's more important, the way that I delivered my baby, or the fact that he was delivered safely and healthily into my arms?

And BTW, my OBGYN will do VBAC, so if we decide we want another I'd definitely go back to her.

Also, is you have insurance doesn't matter with what company, everything is covered for the first year, and you also get all of the optional vaccines covered (ie you get the full schedule of vaccines according to the US CDC list versus the abbreviated Argentine schedule -- so you get rotavirus and pneumococco included and a few others -- I have a word doc somewhere that compares the schedules).

 

[bittystarr]

Thank you all so much for taking the time to respond to my post....I really do appreciate it. I feel that I have much information to glean from your responses, but ultimately, my outlook is much improved by your messages.

Our situation seems not only feasible, but with strong likelihood of a positive experience. Luckily, as my husband and I live in Colombia about 1/2 the year, my spanish is decent....I will be following up on your recommendations and suggestions.

I'm sure that I will be checking back in as more questions arise.

thanks!
brittany

 

[CarverFan]

Contact Dr. Lodeiro if you don't want episioyomy....he's on santa fe and pueyrredon http://www.gemaconsultorios.com.ar/

 

[MizzMarr]

Thanks for sharing your birthday story syngirl. I agree with your reasons about why not to exaggerate the LMP much--in certain cases when you KNOW as in mine I think it's ok, but I do think that women who have very long cycles (such as CarverFan it seems) do get the short end of the stick.

However what I can guarantee you will have if you have a vaginal birth is an episiotomy -- while rates in Canada are around 20% depending on province, here they are over 90%. This is a different philosophy, and here is indeed behind the times. With your first pregnancy especially, let's face it, you ARE going to tear. In other countries they just let you tear, here they think of the episiotomy as a way to control the tear. They say that they do just small ones here, I wouldn't know, I did end up with a c-section (more in a minute).

The other you will almost certainly have to have is an epidural -- most OBGYNs here refuse to work with women who won't have them -- this is because there really aren't that many women in the world who can both tolerate the pain of delivery AND be cooperative patient. One of my friends the dr's begged her husband to convince hr to take the epidural because she was just being so bloody rude and difficult to work with (calling your dr the C word doesn't exactly put you in the Favorite Patients book).

I just wanted to say in response to your comment on episitomies, this is not categorically true! My Docs (Los Katz, mentioned in a previous post) do NOT perform routine episiotomy by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, Dr. Gustavo Katz in one of the birthing classes said that his percentage is well under 1% and the last one that he performed was well over 10 years ago. They are in agreement that a tear is better than a cut, and that's how they do it.

They also allow election of epidural. Personally for me I'm on the fence about the epidural and am going to see how it goes and play it by ear, but they are in no way forcing me to have one. He calls himself a "vaginalista" (he's a funny guy) and old fashioned, but he likes to allow his patients to have the most natural birth possible, if that's what they want. I'm very happy with them!

ETA: Thuy, congrats on the birth of your child and glad you're both okay in spite of a bad birthing experience. CarverFan, thanks for the info on your doc. It is difficult to find someone to embrace the VBAC, hopefully if you do have another you can pursue that route. Best to all you Mommas out there!

 

[syngirl]

I just wanted to say in response to your comment on episitomies, this is not categorically true! My Docs (Los Katz, mentioned in a previous post) do NOT perform routine episiotomy by any stretch of the imagination. I

Hey mizzMarr -- unfortunately for most women here it is true -- I was shocked to find out that in Argentina (and most of Latin America) episiotomy rates are upwards of 90%!!! Isn't that insane?

 

[fifs2]

Someone who is NOT a doctor should NOT be advising anyone to lie about their LMP.

Syngirl as ever your posts are informative and funny. Birth stories crack me up..I once saw a couple of those birthing shows in the US where the couple were all for the water and home birth with candles and music and by the time the woman hit 5cms she was screaming and begging for drugs, cursing the husband, eating the candles etc..anyhow your point re insistence on an epidural is weird to me. I had my second baby here 2 years ago which was so quick that I was at 7cms by the time I arrived at the hospital. An hour earlier I was baking a cake for my mother who was to arrive the next day. I had to go to the hospital with my first son as my husband was on the way from work (god help the 1st child traumatised by mummy screaming every 2 minutes)...by the time they got me in a gown and on the bed I was really in agony and begging for an epidural but when the anaethetist arrived and asked "has she been contracting long", the midwife said "No shes foreign and they give epidurals all the time there"..I felt like a foreign flake for even considering the need for one.

Anyhow long and short of it is my birth experience in Bsas was maravellous even if my husband didnt make it in time to see it. I felt real girlie camaraderie with the all women team of mid-wife and Ob. and so enjoyed la Suiza and the apple pie dessert I did not want to leave. I'm a results focused person. As long as the baby is healthy as the final result then I wouldnt stress about the process even if C section was the process.