Tumbit : Jo Green - Having a Baby in Spain

I was back at work 6 days after giving birth. My Partner had a legal contract with his employer and so as a new father he had a compulsory number of days to take , so he had Paternity leave while I wasn't eligible for Maternity leave ! I was also very fortunate because my boss did not want me take any ( Unpaid ) Leave and did everything he could to help me to keep working for him. My office was essentially a room in his house and so for the 3 Mornings a week that I worked , I took my daughter with me for the first 6 Months - she either slept in one of the bedroom close to my office , or was looked after by my Boss's wife ( who was a qualified childcare assistant anyway ! ).

As she approached 6 Months we knew that her demands were changing and she needed more attention and interaction with babies of her own age, and so we looked into the local Nurseries. There were 2 to choose from in our Town , and fortunately they both had a place for a 6 Month old Baby ( they usually limit the places available for younger children so they can manage their resources - get your name down early if you know you might want to send your baby to a nursery ! ) so we had the luxury of choice in this. The 2 nurseries both charged the same but were totally different. One was a self detached Building set just out of the Town , bright modern premises with good Facilities , a big Car Park and a good outside Play area. The other one was much smaller and took in fewer children , and was set in the heart of the Town in the back rooms of a Family Town House. We decided on the second Nursery – the feel that we got was that it was run and managed by people who genuinely loved children and that it wasn't being run exclusively as a business. The only real drawback ( apart from Parking ! ) was that there was very little outside space , but we decided that because we had such a large garden at Home , that for just 3 Mornings a week it wouldn't be too much of an issue.

You will find English run Nurseries in most ex-pat areas of Spain , but the costs were way beyond compare to the Spanish ones – and we had already decided that we wanted our daughter to be brought up learning Spanish to a good standard from an early age and to be an active part of the Community – so it seemed logical for us to consider a Spanish Nursery. For 3 mornings a week we Paid 80 Euros Per Month , whereas we have friends who send their child to an English Nursery over here for closer to 500 Euros per Month ( 5 Full days ) - even so , I know this is still much cheaper than in the UK.

Because our Town is in a Rural area , traditionally the majority of Spanish mothers do not work so some children just go to the Nursery for 1 or 2 Mornings per week to give the Mum a bit of time to catch up with her housework , or whatever. If I was ever working late , or unable to collect my daughter at the agreed time I would call and it was never a problem to them , nor did they charge us any extra for the additional time or Inconvenience to them. Because no English is spoken - or even understood - at the Nursery , it has helped my Spanish considerably .My Daughter has recently started to speak a few words in a jumble of 3 Languages (English , Spanish and Valenciano) and I can see that it won't be too long until I am learning my Spanish from her !

Before we could all leave the Hospital I had to be given a check by the midwife, and my new baby daughter had to be given a hearing test. The tests came back indicating very poor hearing in her right ear , but the Doctor said that this was quite normal and to come back in a week’s time – when in most cases they found that the issue had resolved itself on it’s own ( Which it did ! )

Before we left the ward we were visited by the Hospital’s Registrar who issued her with her own SIPS Card (National Health Number). As we only had provisional ones ourselves, that had long since expired, she very kindly printed my partner and I off our own cards as well , which was great because we had been trying to get this done (Unsuccessfully!) For months. We were also issued with a document that we needed to present to the Town Hall in order to get the birth certificate. We still had the same Health Book that I had during pregnancy which recorded all my details, and now it was being used to record my Daughters health details instead. It listed all the important dates for appointments that I needed to make for her vaccinations and other tests and they had already made the first appointment at my local health clinic for me. Every time we had a check up or Vaccination they wrote the details in the book and automatically made the appointment for the next check up for us.

It got a little more complicated at the Town Hall because my Partner and I were not married and they were not sure of the procedure – but after a little head scratching and consulting with the mayor they managed to sort something out - and our daughter took my Partner’s surname , which we had agreed beforehand anyway. The Birth Certificate was issued and we also asked for a “Libretto de Familia “, which is basically an official record book that contains details of Birth, education and Marriage, family history etc... In many cases this is requested when you first register your child in school. We were told that we could not have this because we were not married! - I suppose we will just have to wait and see if this is a problem when we try to register her at school! It seems a little crazy in this day and age that the Spanish system just isn’t flexible enough to allow for any movement if 2 parents are unmarried.

Getting a British Passport was quite straightforward - all we needed to do was download the required form and procedure on the Embassy’s website and return the Form with 4 Passport Photo’s , Her Birth Certificate , My Partner’s Birth Certificate ( because she took his surname , he was registered as the next of kin ) , and the fee. The Passport was issued and couriered out in less than 2 weeks.

One big difference between the Spanish and English aftercare systems was the fact that no Health Visitor or Social Worker came to visit our family home to assess us and our home, and that all the health checks and so on, were done at the clinic.

My Partner had been living and working legally in Spain for about 2 Years at that time, and we thought that we may be entitled to claim some kind of Family Allowance – either from Spain or the UK, but it seemed not. Again, because we were unmarried, had lived away from the UK for so long, etc... etc... We were entitled to nothing! All we received was a change to my Partners Tax code, which was increasing his Yearly earnings before Tax by roughly 2.5k.

The following 9 months were filled with many ups and downs. The first 3 months were a blur - although I didn’t suffer with sickness I felt exhausted almost all the time (And working 3 Mornings a week right up to the day before I gave birth didn’t help!) I had not been to the doctor for years, but as soon as I was confirmed pregnant all that changed with visits to the midwife every 3 weeks. She checked my weight gain, blood pressure, took a urine sample and took care of mine and my unborn babies’ general health. At 13 weeks I had my first scan at the main Hospital, I was nervous as you would expect, but it all went well. The Doctors & Nurses were great and very patient with my Spanglish, and it was a relief to know that everything was ok. We came away very elated with 2 wonderful scan pictures, it was at this point that it started to finally sink in that we were having a baby!

By this stage we had read about 5 or 6 baby books each and felt like experts (Well,on paper anyway) We were ready for my next scan at 20 weeks - you could see the baby very clearly and again the Doctors and Nurses were great. It is generally taken for granted that parents in Spain wish to know the sex of their baby - to the surprise of our nurse we decided not to, and she made sure that this fact was recorded on my Health report book (Which Oddly,is kept in the Patient’s possession as opposed to at the Hospital) so that any future Doctors, Midwives and Nurses would not let slip any news that we didn’t wish to hear. Calling the unborn baby “He “, we were told, was standard practice regardless of the actual sex of the Baby and that we shouldn’t read too much into this phraseology.

At 30 weeks I began weekly ante-natal classes where I received help and advice on the birth and caring for the baby for the first hour, the second hour was for stretching, exercise and relaxation. This was great fun and gave me a chance to talk to the mother mums - although the classes were in Spanish, I learnt a lot and would recommend them to any Mum-to-be - even if you have problems with the language. Just for peace of mind I also attended a few English speaking anti natal classes at our local Private clinic, and this put my mind at rest and ensured that I was ready for the birth. These classes were invaluable and I made a good friend, (who sadly has now moved back to the UK) and I started to feel prepared and ready for the big event.

During the final 5 weeks I started to experience very high blood pressure, which my midwife was concerned about. I was told to go to my local Pharmacy every day to have my Blood Pressure checked and if and when it exceeded a certain reading I had to go to the Accident & Emergency Department at the main Hospital. I needed to do this 5 or 6 times in total , and when I was seen at the A&E I was just put on a heart rate & Blood Pressure monitor for an hour to see if my pressure came back down to an acceptable level. Fortunately it always did – although I never did find out what would have happened if it did not. Both the Doctor at the main Hospital and the Midwife at the local clinic told me to rest and put my feet up. For me this was impossible - I was having a baby and I naturally wanted everything to be perfect, I was shopping for everything baby related, decorating the nursery, cleaning like I had never cleaned before and still working part-time. Even though my Doctor was concerned for my Blood Pressure I had never felt better, so it felt unnatural to slow down.

A week before the baby was due, I made another trip to the main Hospital due to my Blood Pressure being found to be high, and the Doctor decided this was it - One way or another the baby would be with us in a matter of hours ! My Boyfriend was quickly despatched to collect the Emergency Hospital bag from Home and told to come back prepared for a lengthy stay.

I was taken straight to the maternity ward and put in a quiet room with just one other Mum to be, where I spent a restless night. By Partner was also made (Literally!) To stay with me in the room, and kindly provided with a Plastic Patio chair to “Sleep“ on. The next morning after breakfast I was taken straight down to have my Pressure monitored again and we were told that the labour would be “brought along “.

6 Hours later we were in the Birthing room (If that is the word) preparing for the final few minutes labour and the actual delivery. I was in quite a bit of discomfort and sent my partner off to ask for an epidural for me. I expected one to be offered to me, but they are very strongly discouraged in Spain for some reason and he had to endure a lecture of the pro’s and con’s and sign a disclaimer before they would let me have one (All the time I was shouting at him to get a move on !) It would be wise for anyone in the early stage of pregnancy to discus this with their Doctor early on and ensure that notes are made on your Health book to speed things along incase you are unable to communicate your wishes during labour.

Because of my Blood Pressure problems I was kept wired to a machine for the last few hours of labour and couldn’t move about as I wanted to, and this together with the discomfort made the hours drag. I eventually gave birth to a beautiful baby girl of 6lb’s

After the birth we were returned to the room in the Maternity wing and My Partner was shown the basics of caring for our daughter whilst I rested. After spending a sleepless night on an uncomfortable chair he was looking forward to going home to a comfy bed and coming back first thing in the morning to take us all home. However, the Doctor said that “We“ - Meaning all 3 of us – would not be discharged for another 3 Days and Nights! At the end of my 4 Days in bed resting, I obviously still felt very tired and sore, and needed his help and support when I got back home - but after 4 Nights without any sleep at all It seemed that he needed me to look after him ! (I still believe that it would have been much better if the Doctors had asked him to stay on the first night before the birth, and then the night after the birth and then sent him home to have a good couple of nights sleep so he was in good shape to look after us both when we came away from Hospital )

Overall the Doctors & Nurses at the hospital were fantastic and I have the highest respect and praise for them - they have a difficult and responsible job to do, dealing with first time mums and newborn babies. The Hospital itself was quite old and in need of a lick of paint, but a new Hospital was in the process of being built further up the road and I suppose it wouldn’t have made much sense for them to keep throwing money at a building that would shortly be closing. In any case, the facilities themselves were good, the Building was kept spotlessly clean and the standard of care was very good – what’s a few cracked tiles and worn carpet here and there? – As my Partner said: I was there for the standard of care and not Inspecting a Hotel !

The moment that I had never really given much thought or preparation to had arrived - I had that "feeling" that I might be pregnant. My boyfriend was at work and the following day we were having guests to stay, so I thought it best to do the test straight away rather than wait another week.

My first thought was how to ask for a pregnancy testing kit in Spanish as our local pharmacy did not speak any English. Unfortunately the dictionary was not quite as detailed as I required and I found myself simply asking "Embarazada – Si or No?"

I am glad to say that my Spanish improved considerably throughout my pregnancy, but without the patience and understanding of my local pharmacy the whole experience could have been much more difficult (I can recall feeling as nervous as a teenage boy queuing for a packet of condoms as I stood in line to wait my turn!)

My next panic was how to read the instructions, but fortunately they were in English and very easy to follow, and one minute later it was confirmed - I was pregnant! I remember feeling ecstatic, nervous, scared and excited all in the same second. Lots of questions kept popping into my head, what do I do next? How will we cope? But ultimately will we have to move back to the UK?

After we both got back down to earth we decided the next logical step was to get it confirmed by our local "Family" Doctor in the Village. This in its self was daunting as I had never been before, so the next morning around 10.00am I called in to make an appointment, it was a scary building and looked more like a Spanish social centre for the elderly. I was told you have to turn up before 9.00am and put your name down on the list, the list is then collected at 9am and only the people with their name on the list can be seen by the doctor! I came back the next day 8.30am to put my name on the list, along with 12 other names and asked what time my appointment would be, only to be told the doctor normally arrives at 11ish, your name is 12th on the list so should be about 12ish.

Ok, I thought, I was warned that the doctor leaves at 1pm (or earlier if he has no patients) so I turned up at 12pm sharp to find that the doctor had still not arrived. The waiting room was full! - With no chance of me being seen that day and being told to try again tomorrow (Do they forget that some people actually have work to go to?) I put my name down at 8am and returned at 11am, after waiting for over an hour it was finally my turn, only to be told I need to see the midwife in the next Town up the road! (I was with the doctor for less than 10 seconds – and the receptionist could probably have told me the information that I needed – I can remember thinking that it could be possible that I would have had the Baby by the time I got as far as my first scan at this rate!

Fortunately from the moment I made my first appointment at the Clinic in the Town things flowed very smoothly. The Midwife was a very friendly, and understood my bad Spanish and helped me as much as she could (she did not speak any English, but why should she?), it was after my appointment with her when I felt a little more at ease with the Spanish medical system. We decided that I should continue with State Healthcare as long as I was happy, healthy and had no problems, and I am glad to say that although at times I felt very alone and craved an English speaking doctor, more than 2 years down the line I am glad I chose the Spanish system. I feel it has given me more confidence and after all Spain is our home now. We did consider private medical care (and since the Baby was born we have had Private Healthcare cover, but fortunately have had no need to use it) and I have friends who have recently had babies both privately and through the Spanish system, all have been happy with their decision. At the end of the day each person has to decide what is best for them and their unborn baby.

It seems that the quality of care varies greatly in Spain throughout the whole of the Healthcare industry depending upon where you live and which Hospital you choose (even which Doctors or Midwives you see) and this seems to be the case in both the State and Private systems. Find out which suits your and your Baby’s needs the best – ask around and even take time to visit the Health Centres and Hospitals in your area before you make a decision on how to proceed in having your baby in Spain.