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Written by anonymous
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 I just thought I would write about the birth of my first child as I am thinking getting pregnant again! A little background info – I am 27 living in Madrid with my partner. My baby is 18 months now, and here's his birth story.
It started on a Saturday night about 12 o'clock. I knew I was having contractions but didn't say anything. I wanted to just be with my bump for a little longer! So I slept until 6 o'clock, waking each hour with a mild contraction. At 6 a.m. I woke my partner and said this was it! We didn't go to the hospital until 12 o'clock (I didn't want to go at all!) and they said I wasn't in labour at all – normal for first-time mums to not know when they are in labour. Another thing for all the first-time mums reading this: Listen to your body!
So we left the hospital, drove to a cafe to kill time really and lo and behold within an hour I had really started with the contractions. So we went back to the hospital and I was 4 centimeters dilated! So they let me in this time! From then on it was only three hours until Baby was born. I had no pain relief, not even gas and air. And I don't care what anyone says. It does hurt. Wonderful afterwards looking back with a healthy baby and no drugs in your body. But all I can say is practice your breathing and meditation if you are considering a natural birth. Alex was born with one midwife pushing down on my stomach (at the last minute his body flipped up into my tummy instead of following his head!) and me screaming/swearing in English! All in all I wouldn't change things, but be warned – for a natural birth be more prepared than I was. Let's see if I can get pregnant and post my second birth story!
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Birth Stories
Thanks to the contributions of our members you will find lots of first-hand experiences of giving birth all over Spain in the Birth Experiences section of our Forum community including Amelie's account of her experience at the Acuario in Beniarbeig as well extra comments from other mums who have also given birth there. 
I had my 1st baby in the UK with NCT antenatal classes and it went really well with no intervention and just gas and air. I was very nervous about having a baby here as the norm here is generally to have an epidural, drip and often an assisted delivery with, in some hospitals, an 80% episiotomy rate! Yikes!
My son was born in march this year at Virgen Del Rocio hospital in Sevilla. He was 36 weeks gestation and weighed 2160g. It was an unusual and somewhat dramatic birth but the care was good.
I gave birth to my first child on 20th January 2007 at the Costa Del Sol Hospital. It was a fantastic experience and the care could not have been better. I had debated returning to England for the birth, (we are not on the social security system nor do we have private medical insurance) and had also heard horror stories about episiotomies and stirrups!
I am Australian but have lived in Spain for the last 16 years. I had my 2 daughters here in hospital and the emotional trauma has stayed with me since. They are now 12 and 14 years old.