Having a baby in Spain..want to hear your experiences

[Figfingers]

Ok.. I will admit it´s early days as I have just come off the pill so realistically we will start TTC in April next year.

Been living in Southern Spain for almost a year and don´t know any expats so wondering what the experience is like (never been to doctor here).

I´m booked for a routine check up in acouple of weeks but v, curious about giving birth (choices, CS,etc), ante natal, care, etc.

Thanks

My sil had two babies in Barcelona. From what she says, it is a very medicalized procedure - she had c sections largely becasue she is quite small and the assumption from early on is that she wouldn't be able to give birth vaginally -so she thought that she couldn't and understandably didn't want to try. She was completely horrified that I had a 10.6 baby vaginally - she and db still think that I was the victim of medical negligence because I was allowed to labour naturally. There also seems to be an emphasis on care from a paediatrician in the early years - my neice and nephew were perfectly healthy, but were seen regularly by a paediatrician.

seeker, that is because the care is paediatrician based, there is no babyclinic and you don't have a health visitor, what you have instead is niño sano, you see the paediatrician every month or so. it's just a different system. I quite like it actually.

My DIL had a baby (her first) 8 weeks ago in the UK. Since then she has had THREE visits from her midwife and ONE from a health visitor. She was sent home after 2 and a half days following a very traumatic emergency c section. Her aftercare has been horrendous. I think she would have preferred to have baby anywhere else in the world!!!

Good luck and take care.

macoco - I think the trouble is that it seems to be a system that encourages parents to think of medical explanations for any situation first. My niece was perceived to be a late talker, for example (I don't think she was, actually) and she had a whole series of ENT investigations to rule out physical problems that there were no other symptoms for than slightly delayed speech. Nobody considered that being brought up in a bilingual home might make a difference to a child's speech...

good point. hadn't thought of it like that.

Hello Macaco/Luchinka thanks for the links, I shall definitely look into those how are you doing?

Good, DS now 4 months old, although he arrived at 36 weeks, gave me quite a shock! Had him here in Sevilla and was on the whole very happy with the care. The first couple of months were really really hard with him being early and then terrible colic but he's a great little man now and I'm really enjoying him. Are you down Malaga way?

Ah bless I hope things are getting easier. Yes, I'm in La Cala de Mijas on Mijas Costa in Malaga province it is so full of Brits here and they all see to have private health insurance and end up with every medical procedure you can think of at their births (cynical I know but could it be more expenses to claim?) it scares me to death!

Hi

I had a home birth in Spain (Cantabria) DS now 5 months. Was a wonderful experience, but have to say had a great SS midwife who is very pro home birth. The whole thing here is private, I paid 1200 for a midwife to attend, but was worth every penny (or cent). Have to say midwife who attended birth is actually German!. A great organisation to get in touch with is el parto es nuestro, they have meetings all over spain. They put us in contact with birthing midwife, also a great place to meet others mums. web:www.elpartoesnuestro.es/