About to have first baby in Madrid - anyone else in the same position?

[Inmadrid]

I'm due in mid Feb - would love to get in contact with any other MN's living in Madrid. My spanish is pretty poor so worried about a birth in Spanish and post natal care....any advice thoughts VERY much appreciated.

Hi, I´m in Mallorca so can´t really advise on Madrid, have a look at www.mumsinspain.com there might be people that can help. I was very appprehensive about giving birth here aswell but the care, while slightly different, is excellent.

FWIW in my experience there was no basis to the common fear that enemas and shaving is rife.. what does seem to be univerally true in spain is that the midwife will almost certainly not stay with you the whole time. You and your partner will be left to it a lot of the time so I cannot urge you strongly enough to stay at home until you feel you cannot cope anymore. You will be more comfortable and relaxed and all you will gain by being in hospital is more examinations/ monitoring. I knew all this and still panicked and went in. On the other hand, your partner should be able to stay with you for your whole stay which is a wonderful thing that you can´t do in the uk as a rule and which I would really miss if I gave birth back over there.

The postnatal care was fine. Do you have a health centre near you?

The other thing you can ask about on that forum I linked to or on this one is english speaking midwives who you might be able to get in touch with for support.

HTH

Hi

I'm in Andaluica (not costa del sol) and due end of April with my first. I'm using seguridad social, not private and I've found it absolutely fine so far.

Don't worry and don't believe the horror stories. The care is very good on the whole, just different. I agree with maveta that from what I've heard you're better to stay at home as long as you can to avoid excess monitoring and like in Britain the possibility of them wanting to speed things up.

On the whole there is no gas and air, although again, that's not completely true as I've heard that down in almeria they do have it and there is Acuario near Barcelona which has birth pools. Have also heard that water births are possible now in galicia.

I've posted on mums in Spain (Nickname:sevilla) and I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have on that site or you can contact me through MN.

HTH

Thank you both. That's really helpful. I'll have a look and get back to you if I have any more questions. Thanks for taking the time, very much appreciated.

Have a look for bebespain, she lives in Madrid and has a young child.

Hi there Inmadrid

I live about 20 mins out of the city and have a little boy who´s almost 13 months old. I can´t help you regards giving birth in Madrid as I had him in the South but if you´d like general info or just a chit chat or a good ole moan whatever - please feel me to email me [email protected] (I don´t bite - honest)

I know from personal experience that just chatting about things can be a huge help. I had sooo many questions when I was pregnant I drove everyone mad

Hi, I'm in Madrid and I had a baby here last May in the fairly new Maternidad de Gregorio Maranon. Please let me know what you want to know and I'll be very willing to help. I was really nervous too!

Hello

I didn't have my sons here but do know quite a few women who had their children here in Madrid(so sorry this is second hand info) but the general consensus seems to be that ante-natal care was v good but there is less follow up after the birth than you'd get in the UK. Apparently you don't get all the health visitor and follow up midwife visits and are left a bit to your own devices. Given it's your first I guess you won't know what to expect so do you have other mothers around to give you advice and support after the birth? Always helpful to know that the overwhelming urge to sob on about day 5 after the birth is entirely normal when your milk kicks in and does pass etc!!

x