Calderon (left) places her hands on the belly of Ana Lopez, who is 38 weeks pregnant. Some women in Mexico City are turning to midwives. Photo: Greta Rico/The New York Times
ON a recent quiet morning, Regina Llanes Granillo placed her hands on a new mother’s body.
She and another midwife began a sobada, a Maya abdominal massage meant to help the intestines settle back into place. With warm lavender and lemon balm oil, she traced slow circles across the stomach, the ladder of the intestines, the ovaries.
