# how do you say "stripping/sweeping membranes" in Spanish?



## mamade2 (May 8, 2005)

I'm fluent in Spanish but these medical terms are so specific that a literal translation often doesn't work. I'm giving birth in Spain and I want to know how to discuss this with my doctor, but I don't know the official term. Mostly I want to avoid having it done, though if it turns out that there is some particular reason for it in my case (not likely, but just in case) I want to know what it's called to be able to ask about it.

If anyone knows, I'd appreciate it!


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## Ironica (Sep 11, 2005)

Can you get a Spanish translation of something like What to Expect? I know it's not the book most people around here want to use as an actual *guide*, but it should have all those interventions and procedures mentioned in it.

However, you'd probably want to get a European version, since the translation may be different in Mexican Spanish than in Spain Spanish. Less likely for technical terms, but ya never know. I just remember at the clinic in the UK, "yeast infection" was like Greek to them (I think they just called it all thrush, which was a term I was unfamiliar with at the time).


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## mamade2 (May 8, 2005)

Hmm, I think I've seen that in a bookstore here, though I don't know when I'd be able to get back there again. If I don't get any answers I could always describe the procedure in a sort of paraphrase, though actually I'm not 100% sure what it actually involves, so maybe I'd better go clear that up first!

Yeah, it's funny how even English terms vary by country. With my first I used to get this British pregnancy magazine and there were a lot of different terms. Plus different stuff that I'd never heard of, like a TENS machine for (nonmedical) pain relief during labor...


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## delfin (Jul 11, 2007)

im fluent in spanish.
sweeping/stripping is the same as breaking waters?
then it would be *romper la fuente/ la fuente de aguas*


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## sofysmommy (Feb 15, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *delfin* 
im fluent in spanish.
sweeping/stripping is the same as breaking waters?
then it would be *romper la fuente/ la fuente de aguas*

geez I have forgotten my Spanish but I think you are right


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## angie3096 (Apr 4, 2007)

Stripping is not the same as breaking waters. Romper la fuente does mean break the water but that's not what you mean! Sorry I do know a lot of Spanish but I don't know how to say membrane strip.


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## Turquesa (May 30, 2007)

Despegar las membranas.

There's a reference to it here: http://espanol.babycenter.com/pregna...ico/induccion/

(_Desprender_ refers to _sweeping_ the membranes.


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## sofysmommy (Feb 15, 2005)

oh my gosh! I am a bit embarrassed







I can not speak English and I have forgotten my Spanish


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## mamade2 (May 8, 2005)

Thanks Turquesa! It didn't even occur to me to search babycenter español. I was thinking it was going to be either despegar or desprender, but now it occurs to me that I still don't know the difference between sweeping and stripping, so I'm off to check it out!


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## Turquesa (May 30, 2007)

Now that we can all say "sweep the membranes" in Spanish, I think our fluency is official! That should become the essential Spanish competency test.









And now for the ignorant question: Isn't sweeping and stripping basically the same thing?







:


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## Ironica (Sep 11, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Turquesa* 
Now that we can all say "sweep the membranes" in Spanish, I think our fluency is official! That should become the essential Spanish competency test.









Not until you can communicate the concept of a "Nurse Practitioner" in three words or less. ;-) There's huge long discussions on translator forums about that one... I ended up using "Enfermera Especializada" for our brochures.

And I've never been able to figure out the difference (if there is one) between "partera" and "comodrona." I hope I do before I do the Modern Midwifery brochure (though we have someone else translate... I'm really not fluent, just conversational... but I tend to pick up on when things just don't quite translate correctly, which is good).


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## almadianna (Jul 22, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Ironica* 
Not until you can communicate the concept of a "Nurse Practitioner" in three words or less. ;-) There's huge long discussions on translator forums about that one... I ended up using "Enfermera Especializada" for our brochures.

And I've never been able to figure out the difference (if there is one) between "partera" and "comodrona." I hope I do before I do the Modern Midwifery brochure (though we have someone else translate... I'm really not fluent, just conversational... but I tend to pick up on when things just don't quite translate correctly, which is good).

i thought (though i may be wrong) that partera was more medical, maybe trained medically... and comadrona was just a laywoman who had helped birth a bunch of babies.


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## Ironica (Sep 11, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *almadianna* 
i thought (though i may be wrong) that partera was more medical, maybe trained medically... and comadrona was just a laywoman who had helped birth a bunch of babies.

You might be right. Though for some reason, I had thought the opposite. ;-) Not that I get to see the terms used in context much.


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## almadianna (Jul 22, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Ironica* 
You might be right. Though for some reason, I had thought the opposite. ;-) Not that I get to see the terms used in context much.

it could be the opposite... i just remember one being one... and another being the other and somehow i thought partera sounded more.. "formal".. lol.


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## mamade2 (May 8, 2005)

Well, here in Spain, as far as I know they don't use "partera" (though to me that sounds more informal.) I think here "comadrona" would be more similar to "midwife" in the US, while "matrona" is the person who generally delivers the babies in public hospitals, if there are no complications-- if there are, they call the "tocólogo" or "obstetra." I delivered my first two in a private clinic, and the matrona was in charge (not a full medical doctor, but fully integrated into the highly medicalized model of L+D) until my actual doctor showed up at the key moment to catch the baby and charge for the privilege!

A few months ago the government announced a shift away from the intervention-happy medical model toward a more natural approach to childbirth, but I'll believe that when I see it...

Oh, and it seems from what I've read that stripping and sweeping are pretty much interchangeable terms for the same thing, so I guess I was just confused.


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