We are excited to share with you a blog written by a current homestay student in Guatemala! Caitlin Heermans shares her adventures in midwifery, stories of birth, photos and thoughts in her blog; ‘Living with Midwives’, written from the aldea of San Jose Calderas, Guatemala and updated each week.
Below an excerpt and short teaser;
“On Tuesday we had a birth in Chimazanga, a neighboring aldea. Our mom Marta Lidia, is wonderful and amazing–I am in awe of, and just love her. This was the most ‘ecstatic’ birth I have ever witnessed. I shouldn’t put words in her mouth, but I haven’t ever seen anything quite like it, and this doesn’t seem a poor word choice.
Marta Lidia smiled, joked and laughed through her contractions. The room was filled with kind and strong women, the mood was beautiful and it was a lot of fun being there. Looking at these photos of her almost brings me to tears, wow…just wow.
After the baby was born the room filled with sisters, cousins, sisters, aunts, grandmothers and a slew of babies and kids. Marta Lidia snuggled up under the covers with all of her babies and we chatted and giggled before heading home. The man who drives the ‘busito’ to Antigua came and picked us up in his truck, he’s a sweet guy and always keeps an eye on me and calls if I don’t make the right bus home. As we drove home to Calderas the road was swallowed up in a secretive fog that was nothing short of magical.”
