Wow, one month!

I saw today it's been one month since I posted.  Really, I am super busy thanks to the lovely health care system in Brazil.  Yeah, you see once you take an exam here later you must return to pick up the results.  My baby is just full of exams, they don't stop.  Plus, appointments, plus picking up exams and plus vaccinations.  Which after this month we won't need more vaccinations for a while.

However, it's mostly I don't have the heart to write.  My son has been displaying seizure like activities, I think five days after he came home he had a simple partial seizure.  Which means that it's not really much to worry about, however if the activity grows it can become a serious problem.  And on top of it everyone thinks I'm crazy and paranoid.  My mother, mother-in-law, my husband well accept the doctors.  So Luca was readmitted to the hospital for two days,  No more activity.  We were sent to the specialist who thought Luca looked perfect and watched some videos I recorded.  We asked to get an EEG done.

Well the EEG was done pretty quickly but it took seven days to get our results.  Which showed Luca was having some minor activity and during the part of the test where they try to give the person a seizure he kicked his left leg.  Three days ago when we were on the way to get his two month vaccines he had another simple partial.  I knew it right away.  I can say this past month has been spent watching Luca like a hawk.  I haven't seen anything, he does have spasm like movement from reflux but now I now the difference.  Everyone told me it was just reflux but in the back of my mind I didn't think so.

I called his specialist who sent me to one of the best doctors I have talked to.  I went through exactly what happened and his test results that the doctor was suppose to receive this upcoming week.  He said Luca needed to get on medication.  And I asked him about the vaccine we were on our way to, his said to wait on that.  Because vaccines can cause seizures.  I knew this, my husband had this huge blow out because I wanted to wait on the vaccine until after we saw the specialist again.  I honestly believe Luca having this seizure probably prevented a way worse situation.

Luca went through a long series of tests which he took last month to see if he was neurologically sound.  Everything was perfect, but the doctor said Luca would be on medication for the next two years to prevent seizure activity which could damage the brain if a tonic clonic were to happen.

I could go into the reflux and everything.  But it's too much.  Really that's why I am not in the mood to write.  I have too much on my plate mentally.  I get to enjoy a lot of things.  And Luca gets better everyday and his is ahead on milestones.  Two weeks ago he started smiling like crazy which is so much fun.

Only the situation I just went through on top of having your baby hospitalized for 22 days really doesn't make you want to blog.  Only maybe it's the best time to. I don't know.

Well, there is a great plus.  I did all this and all these medication issues AND had a meeting alone with doctors everyday for 22 days in Portuguese.  I'm not saying that I am fluent but I am proud of my language accomplishments.   

Ten Reasons to Move to Brazil!

1)  This is my personal fave, after a enlightening experience with a medial emergency and what would/could have been a huge bill for us in the US.

Good health insurance that you won't go broke over or in debt.  In fact ours is covered 100% and we are getting even better insurance next month!  

2)  Business, business!  I don't agree with everything that is said about the Brazil economy.  However, this is what I think is great about it!  Brazilians are people who have faced heavy downs in the last decades and do what humans do, ADAPT.  So now that things are on the up for them, they are used to working with hard situations.  Now with credit, the saying when there's a will there's a way-- stretches really far here.  As far as markets go, there are many untapped consumers and in almost every area of the purchasing market.  BUT I don't agree with where this takes us in capitalism, just for the record.  I just think for business owners you, have it good in this current market.  

3)  Always a party.  Everyday of the week you will find a party or something.  Not that it doesn't hurt your pocket book or stomach for that matter.  And sometimes the party that you want is FAR.  Given if your a simple person who likes going to the corner bar in a small town (women you can forget about this)-- your not going to commute then.  But unless you live in the downtown or say, a tourist or beach town-- your not going to find a place you would want to hang out (for the most part). Parties that you want to go to are in bigger cities, on vacation, at country homes and friend's places.  

4)  Alternative to gasoline.  This is one my other faves.  I can choose what I can put in my car.  While any form of energy to move a car these days in Brazil is no longer cheap, you at least have the choice.  And I really care about my buck or rather my heal.  I think as consumers we need to spend our money in a certain way to show demand.  I prefer not to buy gasoline to show the market it's time to offer more options.  

5)  Now if you can manage a job in Brazil you will be given tons of benefits, which is not so easy if your not in Sao Paulo or Rio as a foreigner.  First you get 30 days of vacation every year, then a bank account in which the company needs to deposit money into it every month for when you leave that job, transportation and lunch are paid for and all holidays (Brazil has a lot), bonuses, a 13th and sometimes 14th payment (12 months in the year but you get paid for 13) and insurance.  If you travel for work, they have to pay for you to see your family and all your meals and housing.  

6)  Free college at the public universities which are the best excluding Pucc, and often a studentship or scholarship that goes along with it-- for 12 months out of the year.  Foreigners will run into some red tape and other problems, but you can take courses for free without real problems.  Problems enter when you are searching for a degree in some colleges.  forget about the scholarship unless your from the congo or a couple other developing countries.  

7)  When you have kids or a baby you receive great treatment.  I don't really think it's like overboard with one person having a baby and gets special treatment, I think it's merely taking a personal situation as it is.  Like when I was at the bank with my son, the power was out and the workers got me a chair to sit in while I waited.  

8)  Get a Brazilian partner.  Yes, well with globalization it's better to be ahead of the curve.  Dual citizenship, bilingual babies, international relationships are the future-- I think borders and borders are going to crossed more and more (by certain people) and unfortunately crossed fewer and fewer by others.    

9)  Learn another language.  Brazilian Portuguese is great to learn and well come in handy both for the brain and employment.  Plus, it opens the door to Spanish if you don't already speak that and as an American I think every American should speak Spanish with all the neighboring countries who do.

10)  Expand your mind!  It's time to break all these cessions about preconceptions of others,  I am a firm believer this is done by personal experience.  Yeah not every Brazilian women is a 10 and they don't walk around in string bikinis everywhere.... I don't see monkeys and I don't see anyone dancing Samba in a regular day.  However, I would admit that a lot my ideas and thoughts were changed by living aboard.  

My health care experience in Brazil

This post is kinda of update but more sharing about my private health care experience in the final days of my pregnancy, birth and first days of my son.  I haven't written in so long, because my son went through something you that doesn't really cross your mind.  We all say that we want a healthy baby, which in reality my son was-- but I think most pregnant moms to be don't dive in all the emergency possibilities.  We can't think like that.  My son was born with Hypertension of the lungs, which for an newborn is something life threatening and very serious.  He spent 20 days in the NICU at a private hospital in Campinas.

During the final days of my pregnancy, my son decided to go into a breech position.  Which was strange because for the last three weeks before that he was in the head down position.  But by doing this, it probably saved his life.  I decided to schedule a c-section, I knew he was going to be about 7 pounds and I didn't want to risk my and his health.  Plus, we all know how pro c-section my doctor was, but in reality I agreed with him on the situation.  Hypertension of the lungs can be triggered just by a long vaginal birth, his birth was not.  But I personally think the vaginal birth would have caused stress on his lungs and other complications.  I stayed in a great hospital, very comfortable in my own room.  My husband got to sleep in the room in another hospital bed.  The food was great and every dime was paid for by my insurance. I only had to bring some hygiene products.

The flip side of my experience is that my son was transfered to the NICU in Campinas during our time in the recovery room.  He was just having typical stress a baby has when they good through a c-section.  The doctor thought it was just a little fluid in the lungs, that would probably be cleared in 24 hours and my baby would then come back.

However, the symptoms of wet lungs and hypertension of the lungs are over lapping.  And he did have wet lungs form the c-section, but that wasn't the problem.  About 12 hours after he was born his condition became very unstable and I was discharged from the hospital to be with him.  Both my family in Brazil and the US criticized this move by my doctor.  Most people say that I should have been transfered to that hospital too.  I think, the doctor was told by the doctor treating my son didn't have chances in his favor.  At that time my sons kidney's had stopped working.  Which is the the first sign a baby isn't going to respond to the hypertension treatment.  Usually other organs follow.  Transferring would have taken hours, so I think that's where my doctor was coming from.

However, he is a very strong baby and started responding to the treatment and his kidney function returned.  The doctor's never told me on the first day about his kidneys.  They told us first about the hypertension, a few days about the kidneys, following his congenital pneumonia then the infection from the breathing tube.  I think they break down the problems in a way that won't kill you.  .

Sometimes, I thought about trying to check into the hospital that Luca was in, but really I thought I was in better hands with Ricardo.  I wouldn't be able to see Luca anymore, the NICU has very strict visiting policy that only gets flexible when you breast feed.  I was very emotionally stressed and felt much stronger with my husband than apart.  In the Campinas hospital only a female could stay with you in the room.

Luca, had the best treatment and awesome doctors.  They saved his life.  He has come home with some minor issues.  From the breathing tube, he now sticks out his tongue and opens his mouth constantly.  It's from the position of the breathing tube, they open the mouth and pull out the tongue and put in the tube.  He was on a breathing tube for tens days, one because his treatment the second from the infection.  But the last days were hard, he tried to pull out that tube everyday and just screamed what felt like forever.  It came to the point the tube wasn't helping anymore because he was fighting it so much and they couldn't sedate him any longer.  It had to come out.  Anyway, he will end up getting getting a mouth guard or I can see his Nuk is even correcting that.

From there it a was ten day battle with milk.  Really it was breast milk that helped him, he couldn't down formula to save his life.  After about three days breast feeding he could take the formula.  The hospital has rules, the baby needs to drink both breast milk and formula and be able to drink from a bottle in order to leave.  We didn't pay for one cent of the 20 day stay.  The only thing we needed to provide was diapers. Which came down to a lot, they change the baby at least 16 times a day.

We lived so far a way--about an hour.  Plus it was by the airport and the traffic in that area is terrible.  So the biggest issue was driving and food/gas issues.  I couldn't drive from my c-section and we were lucky that Ricardo's work gave him 7 days off paid during this time.  The rule is in Brazil the father gets five straight days, so my c-section was on a Thursday--meaning Ricado was suppose to go back to work on Tuesday but his work gave him until the next Monday paid.  However, there is a new law that is about to come in or has already and Ricardo's work isn't using it, that father's get one month off.

My c-section was top notch, you can hardly see it and it's three weeks in, so I'm expecting it to get better and better.  I had the bikini cut and my doctor makes it as small as possible, he says that it helps out with pushing fluid out of the lungs. Ricardo came into the room to watch, he was very disturbed.  The whole team had super great bedside manners.  I never felt uncomfortable to tell them what was going on or anything.  I was in the US and sick, I took some medicine and felt like I was going to throw up.  I told the nurse and she screamed at me.  She actually complained that I needed that medicine in my system, I can't throw it up.  Yeah, well I was the sick one so I know that throwing up the medicine that is suppose to help me, sucks.  It wasn't the first time either, that I experience super rough bed side manners from the US hospitals.  When I told my doctor here, during my c-section that I felt like I was going to throw up he told me not to worry and gave me medicine to help.  He talked to me about something else to pass the time and rubbed my shoulders kindly.

I'm so happy my baby is with me and home.  I am glad that my experience was positive with my health care plan and hospital.  The NICU was amazing, the people there was super great and I don't think I can repay the people who work there starting from the doctors, to the nurses, techs and janitors.  Like good old Brazil Fashion I was handed a stack of paper work on the way out for my son.  Including a five page report about what happened in the 20 days he was there.  

Marrying right

Tonight Ricardo came home with equipment in tow.  He spent all lunch on the phone with both our administrators of the apartment and rental place.  Neither wanting to be held responsible for our situation.  So Ricardo talked to a friend who actually had the equipment we needed.

Luckily tonight went well with the right stuff.  And Ricardo was actually able to completely clear our plumbing.  But it turns out that the line in the street has a problem too.  So actually it was both the apartment complex and rental company who were suppose to take care of a part.  Lucky for the rental company we did their part.  But we will be filing a complaint.

I realize, that we have settled most of this issue ourselves.  Well, Ricardo did.  I knew marrying a man who knows his way around the house would pay off.  I consider this a great example of why I married right.  Another one is on his way tomorrow.

Now if there was some way to tackle my headache in the US.  

they are suppose to, not we're not, they are suppose to, ah no we're not

So living in a gated community of apartments and renting seems to have serious ups and downs.  I have spent the last hour or two crying my eyes out.  I have really tried to say, I'm not letting this bother me.  Oh, I'm just gonna let that one go.  Ok, I can breathe no biggie.

Honestly is a combination of a crappy American company that is trying to avoid paying me on several translations projects.  Where I am ready to get on a plane to New York 9 months pregnant.  And the stress of huge crappy bathroom.

I can't say enough good stuff about the people in our buildings and how much better the environment.  How much less work it is here and actually ironically cheaper.  Having a big house is expensive in Brazil.

But our bathroom is shit.  I not even going to sugar coat it.  And honestly if I KNEW how bad it really was, I probably would have passed the apartment over.

First problem--

I did not look inside the toilet nor flush it.  I mean, I just thought it was required to have a WORKING toilet.  So within the first 15 minutes of having the apartment I take my pregnant self to use the bathroom.

Huh, it doesn't flush.  weird.  I open the top and to look and water sprays me in the face, after wiping my face I look down and see what appears to be HELL.  Basically nothing is function inside of the toilet and unless the top is on, it just sprays water.  EVERYWHERE.

Well between everything we had to do, we couldn't call the rental place during the friday afternoon.  Ricardo replaces everything inside the toilet and including a serious leak.  He had his own plumbing business in the US for years and told if a Brazilian plumber came, it would take at least three visits to fix what was going on.  It took Ricardo 4 straight hours.

Ok. I was like whatever at least it works now.  I turned in the receipt for parts and the rental place was like "maybe" we will repay you.  Ok, we needed to do it and yeah not a lot be said.  Calma Nina.  Eu tou Calma.

Problem two--

So when I looked at the apartment before I rented it,  the ceiling of the bathroom was yellowish in one area.  I thought oh old leak.  I couldn't see any signs of current leaking.  Ok, no call for alarm.

The First hour we are in the apartment, a part of the ceiling freaking falls.  And the ceiling starts leaking constantly after that above the toilet.  So when your using the bathroom, your getting dripped on.  GREAT.

Well, Nina at least your not living with drug dealers in front of your house.  Remember, you were the one that couldn't handle it and wanted to move?  Yeah, I remember.

I report it to administrators of the building who inform me that it's the apartment above me, who is required to fix the leak and that a process will be filed for them.  So the guy above us comes down that night to look at the bathroom.  I was really excited because I thought that was sign things were going to happen.

Yeah well let's say it took him one month.  Yes, now it's finally fixed.  But I have to pee A LOT being almost 9 months pregnant.  It was the most annoying thing ever.

I talked to the rental place

Rental woman:  Oh hi Nina, how are things?
Nina:  I'm good, hanging in there for the final part and you?
Rental Woman: everything is great.
Nina:  I have another little problem with the bathroom.  Remember how I told about the leak and filing the complaint at the office for the apartment.  Well, it's been two weeks and nothing, we are dealing with something gross and annoying.  Plus, more the ceiling is falling and now the ceiling is covered in mold.
Rental Woman:  Wow, that's not good.  Well, you gotta stay on top of that office and not let them take their time.
Nina:  Well, I'm not going to fix the damages in that apartment.  But I really think you should know what's going on the apartment of your client.  And the condition as is.  I have done my part by notifying you and the office.  And talking with the apartment above.
Rental Woman:  Right well, it's not the first complaint over leaking.  We filed one a long time ago.  That apartment hasn't had someone living there for over six months.  We are aware of the leak and so is the owner.
Nina:  I guess I just wanted to let you know how it's progressing and I am taking photos of everything.  If you ever want me to email them, I can.
Rental Woman:  Photos?

So annoying.  The ceiling is crap.  and I am pretty pissed about the mold.  So we are probably going to have to fix it ourselves.

Problem three:

Clogged plumbing.  Well, from day one we could see drainage was bad.  Again, we really didn't realize how bad it was.  So about 10 days ago, water appeared on the floor in the laundry area.  I thought the washier was leaking.  It's a machine not super old, but about 5 years.  Well, we turned it over and nothing.  Strange.

About 7 days ago, water started to go down really slow in the shower and laundry area.

5 days ago, the sewer backed up into our shower.  My husband brushed it off.  I was all up in arms, being the one that cleaned it up and also the one who stays at home most of the time.  I said, hey something is happening with the water in the laundry room, the drainage issue and the bathroom.  He was worrying about the kitchen during this time, because we were waiting for a company to install our kitchen cabinets FOREVER.

After that it just went bad to ugly.  things started to back up once a day. I went to the office and no one else had complained of sewer issues.  So it's only our apartment.  Today it backed up whenever you used  water.  Flushed a toilet, ran the water in general.  something little.

Well, I knew just who to take it out on.  My husband.  I was pretty pissed after the second backup.  Hell, I'm almost nine months pregnant cleaning sewer out of our laundry space and shower, twice by ten in the morning.

So he calls the rental place who of course says, it's the apartment complex that needs to fix it.  Meaning, we now need to pay for this?  Because what is clogged is our pipe that goes the pipe in the street.  So how does the management have to take care of it?  It doesn't make sense to me.  I told my husband I was getting on the next plane home if he didn't do something.

Now, I feel bad because he worked all day and came back and snaked the drains for 3 hours.  He took out about a kilo long black hair.  So we are now at a spot where the backups will stop for a while, but the problem is BAD.  Ricardo said only serious sewer snake and brothers will be the end to this.

So now back to talking with the office and the rental place.  Who is going to fix this?

I am really pissed! I feel like we are getting taken advantage of a lot by rental places from the day we started renting.  They won't fix anything here!  Nothing!  And really they don't pay for it, their clients have to.

Not to mention the rental woman is trying to dump a electrical bill on me that is not ours.  I spent 20 minutes going back and forth about it.  The date of the billing cycle, nicely ended the day before we moved in.  The last house, we rented did the same thing and we were forced to pay it!  They said, oh well your power will get shut off.  Sorry, but we not touching that bill you can just deal with the natural reaction of the power company for not paying.


I feel like Brazilian renters, have no rights.  I have been pushed around in the US, by bad landlords.  But I always document everything with video and photos.  So having a lawyer on your hands and a camera, bad landlords almost never win.

I started telling my husband to threaten them with a lawyer.  Due to all these problems.  he laughed.  But really wouldn't a letter of warning be good?  Paulinia has free government lawyers to handle small stuff like this.

Or I told Ricardo that I was only going pay the rent, deducted from the costs of the toilet parts and hiring a company to snake the pipeline.  And that they could take me to court to get the rest.  Because I just won't pay them.

Both things, Ricardo laughed.  Like I'm crazy.  

b-a-b-y

So about two weeks ago, my mother-in-law was sitting with me and feeling my baby belly.  She wanted to know where the baby was.  I felt my belly and realized he had moved.  He was in the head down position for about 10 days.  I wasn't sure actually what position he was in at the time.

He has always loved a sitting position in my belly.  Every ultrasound accept for the last one, in which he was in the head down position already-- he has been sitting.  When he had the space, crossing his legs.  Really, Ricardo loves to cross his legs.  I don't.  So I wonder if weird stuff we are already passed down to him.

So now, being 38 week and with NOW high blood pressure and severe swelling I really need to be done with this pregnancy.  Although the heat isn't as BAD as it was.  It's still hot for me being so pregnant.  I went to the doctor about two weeks ago and he couldn't find the heart beat at first.  I started to panic because it was just after a conversation about me counting movements and their was a change of his behavior the night before.  I usually count movements at about 8pm and eat something, it's his most active period.  He didn't move at all.  And about two hours later he kicked a couple of times.  IN the morning nothing, but then he got really active before my appointment.  So I was nervous, I started to sweat from fear when he couldn't find the heart beat.  Yeah well checking my ribs isn't usually the place the doctors looks, but that's where he found it.  I really can't imagine was kind of position the baby could be in.  This week again, heart beat in ribs.  Most of the time, I can't breathe because his head is in my ribs.

The doctor has not said anything about trying to physical turn him, himself.  He said to wait it out, that the baby could turn anytime on his own.

I feel like I can't really walk anymore.  I am pretty trapped at home, the basic things that I have to do to live are hard.  Like finish the last few baby preparations, buying groceries, paying bills and doing errands-- and cleaning the house, OH let's not forget unpacking STILL.

I know things would be different if it wasn't hot.  My advice to women who are planning a baby, in Brazil the best time for the last part of your pregnancy is winter.  

one step closer

ricardo came home early today to work on the apartment.  We had lots of stuff to hang.  And our complex has tons of rules, one being no work can be performed after 6pm and on weekends.  Ricardo is home at 8pm night, even though really he is suppose to be done at 5pm every night, petrobras doesn't really work like that.  You have to take a bus out of your area.  Most buses get searched and stopped.  Plus, it's like a city in it's own, so the traffic is terrible.  Although he now lives ten minutes away, even by his own car it takes an hour to get home.  The buses out of your sector run every 30 minutes.  Why do they stop the buses?  To search for theft.  Security comes through and makes sure nothing was stolen.  When there is a problem, ALL the buses get stopped for a couple days straight.  Really, the item has already stolen.  It should be randomized when they stop everyone.  Maybe even the theft might get over confident and steal again shortly after.  Anyways, when this happens ricardo's life turns into hell.   Right now it's super hot (although rain is on the way and that might be changing).  the buses have certain agreements with petrobras.

one, they will use only alcohol as a fuel source
two, no one will use air conditioning
three, engines will be in the back of the bus

these rules are to ensure ecological buses.  Well, as much as possible.  But siting on a hot bus with 50 hot buses surrounding you and being stopped for an hour is horrible.  It takes Ricardo over 3 hours of driving to and from work.  gross.

We have tried to reason with our apartment.  Like, please please let us do it on friday and give us 30 minutes extra.  NO.  No and No.  Which is funny, because I will be honest we have A LOT of kids here.  Which is what I was looking for, but they scream and scream and find the weirdest crap that will make an insane amount of noise. Really, so why can't we drill?  I don't really care about the noise, I'm kinda loud.  I am a loudmouth baby.  But I also respect we live in an apartment and after 8pm I try to keep my noise down.  Monday was just crazy with the kids and noise, there were these four girls screaming until 930pm.  Just screaming to scream.  Really, I think I have been guilty of that in my tweens too.  I didn't complain.  But someone did or something happened.  After monday, you could here a pin drop for the rest of the week.  My experience here, is that they come talk to you personally.  So I imagine some kid's parents got a phone call.

Ricardo came home early from work, which isn't fair to him.  His boss wasn't happy.  His boss gets upset when Ricardo leaves when his real shift is up.  But all our stuff is up.  We had so much to hang.  Everything is so much more organized.  Now it's just the kitchen.  So we have been waiting about three weeks on a company.  They told us we had to wait up to 20 days to have them put our cabinets together.  We are at our breaking point.  And I'm 37 weeks pregnant so it NEEDS to get done.  We are going to say "f" the warrant and do it ourself.  I have had to stay home everyday this week waiting for them to come JUST any time they get around to it.  I could possible be doing this for 13 more days.  I'm done.  Really I'm sure the warrant is full of crap.  But I hope we don't screw ourselves.