Pregnant bellies are squishy

I am sitting at the kitchen table right now while Lorena and Daniel do their homework. Hanna Montana is playing also, so they are both having a hard time concentrating (although, because Daniel keeps leaving the table, he gets most of the attention for this... "Tu tareeeea, Danieeel!"). I am snacking on a bowl of popped trigo... it has another name, but it's difficult for me to remember. Like a lot of things I taste here, it is made palatable... delicious by the addition of a lot of sugar. Yay!

This morning I went to Servicio de Adolescentes. It's further up the hill than Hospital del Niño, so it's a bit colder there and we had to take a minibus to get there. Since it's somewhat out of the way for most La Paz residents, it's also a slower pace than Hospital del Niño - we only saw three patients today! Two were pregnant (both around 15-16 weeks), and we got to feel the fundus and listen to the baby's heart beat using a Doppler fetal monitor. So cool! Dra. Santivañez counseled the first girl on her nutrition (leche, yogurt, green vegetables, fruit...) and the necessity of not wearing tight clothes anymore. And then we got to explain to the second patient about the same things. These are the moments that I feel I am learning the most.

In Bolivia, there are many different types of government and private health insurances. One of them is called SUMI (Seguro Universal Materno Infantil), and it covers (mostly) all medical treatment of pregnant women from the first day of pregancy to 6 months after giving birth, as well as of the children from under the age of 5 years. There is some criticism of the program, but I think the ultimate goal is met - it reduces infant and maternal mortality rates. In any case, it doesn't cover multivitamins... which means that the nutritional advice for these new mothers is really important!

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Update: I just got back from a Hatha yoga class. I went with two other girls from the program, and it was a lot of fun. Very relaxing, lots of stretching and breathing, and only 10 Bs. Liz and I are planning on trying a hot yoga class later this week... I'm so excited!