Buy DIRECT From Owners

May 20, 2009

Complications

When I was around 28 weeks pregnant I started looking into antenatal classes (roughly translated as – ¨I started to c**p myself) I couldn´t wait to meet my little boy but I still had to get him out – ouch!!.

My Spanish wasn´t really good enough to get me through antenatal classes, I really wanted to make sure I really knew the score, not really the time for guessing!. So I did a bit of research and found an Irish midwife based on the Costa del Sol.

I had a choice of two dates for the classes, the first would be in December and the second towards the end of January. I decided that I didn´t want to risk waiting until January in case he decided to come early so opted for the December classes.

Around this time I had one of my routine check up with the doctor where he informed me that I needed to have an anti-D Jab because my blood group is rhesus negative (it stops your body producing anti-bodies if your baby has rhesus positive blood group and your blood mixes).

I had been feeling a little unwell that week and hadn´t felt ¨Disco Charlie¨move around as much as normal so whilst I was at the clinic I popped in to see the midwife and she checked his heartbeat. Everything seemed fine and his little heart was beating away as normal.

A few days later I met up with the Irish midwife to have a chat before the antenatal classes and I mentioned to her that I didn´t feel too well and described my symptoms. She advised me that if things were the same the next day I should visit the hospital to get checked out.

May 18, 2009

The ¨Bump¨ gets named

Filed under: Having a baby in Spain — Tags: , , , , — admin @ 2:51 pm

I have to say that up until week 30 of my pregnancy I was having an easy time of it. I didn´t actually suffer from any morning sickness, just felt a little queasy and tired until around 12 weeks. After that I felt fantastic, I loved having a bump and feeling my baby kicking around was amazing.

Once my bump was visible I really started to feel pregnant and we started thinking about names. In some ways this was a bit of a nightmare, especially as my husband and I just couldn´t seem to agree on anything. Added to this we had to seriously consider the fact that our child would be growing up in Spain and therefore his/her name would need to be easy for the Spanish to pronounce.

One sunny afternoon in September we sat in our local square and made a shortlist of our favourite names, 5 for a girl and 5 for a boy. We took the list to our Spanish friend and asked her to pronounce them all and give us an opinion. She chose our two favourite names – Charlie for a boy and Ruby for a Girl so that decided it for us.

At the second scan we found out that we were going to have a little boy which wasn´t a suprise to me. It´s funny really how many women say they ¨knew¨the sex of their baby before the scan. I too was convinced I knew my bump was a boy. I really can´t say whether this was all down to a mothers instinct or the fact that I convinced myself that all the old wives tales were true, but either way I was right. So from this point onwards my bump was known as ¨Disco Charlie¨

May 8, 2009

Being Pregnant in Spain

Filed under: Having a baby in Spain — Tags: , , , , — admin @ 10:28 am

After the nightmare at our local health centre I registered at the Centro de Salud in Coin which is the nearest town to our village. What a diffe12 Week Scanrence, they have everything you need there including 24 hr emergencies.

Once registered I had my booking in appointment with the midwife where she confirmed my due date for 20th February 2008 and she gave me my pregnancy book.

The system out here is pretty similar to that of the UK with regular check-ups with the doctor & midwife, numerous blood tests and 3 scans.

Waiting 8 weeks for the first scan was excrutiatingly slow but when it finally arrived it was amazing seeing our tiny little baby moving around inside me.20 Week Scan

One thing I noticed about being pregnant in Spain was how different Spanish men are compared to the Brits. They make such a fuss over you for a start , they offer advice about eating healthily and show no embarrassment talking about the pregnancy, in fact they generally start the conversation.

Its amazing really as British men tend to just offer a quick congratulations and then get all macho with the other half with comments like ¨Well done mate, I´m suprised your guys made it¨

May 7, 2009

New Holiday season at the hotel

Filed under: Living in Spain — Tags: , , , — admin @ 2:50 pm

Ok well when I say hotel I actually mean our house. For anyone who lives in Spain I´m sure you will relate to this. As soon as the weather starts picking up family and friends start booking flights.

Don´t get me wrong I love spending time with everyone but it is always nice when you get your house back. And why is it that we can have weeks or even months with no visitors and then we have two lots of visits one after the other?.

Anyway my Mom came to visit on Wednesday and has just gone home today. ¨Nene¨ loved seeing his Nanna and was a little angel smiling and cooing all the time and the best thing was we got to have a night out on our own for the first time. Not only that but we didn´t even have to get up in the morning as Nanna was more than happy to get a few extra cuddles.

So other than having a good night out we had a lovely day out at Plaza Mayor, near Malaga airport. I can´t believe how much it has changed down there. They have extended it all and there are now loads of new clothes shops.

We had a lovely lunch in a place called Gambinos who do a great ¨menu del dia¨for 8.90€ and a good wander round the shops and to top it all off the weather was fantastic and as its all open it made a nice change to the big indoor shopping centres.

Tonight I am going to have a relaxing evening before our next visitor arrives tomorrow evening!.

May 6, 2009

The Local Health Centre

Filed under: Having a baby in Spain — Tags: , , — admin @ 8:26 am

So after my positive pregnancy test the only thing to do now was get myself booked in a the doctors, sounds simple enough? well this is Spain!. What a nightmare.

We live in a small village about 25 minutes inland from Marbella, not that far really but when it comes to some things here it feels like we are 20 years behind everywhere else.

Unfortunately our local health centre does not have a system where you can make an appointment. You have to get down there as early as possible, preferably by 8am, and ask ¨quienes el ultimo?¨once you know who the last person is you watch them like a hawk.

When the doctor and nurse arrive you stand in line behind your new best friend and take your ticket. Once you have your ticket you can wander off and go for a coffee and keep checking back in to find out what number is up. This system is great….if you don´t have to go to work and like the social life.

Anyway two days after the positive test I take a stroll down to the health centre around 7.45am. I figure I don´t have to leave for work until 12pm so I have plenty of time..or maybe not!.

Things started off well, I found out who was the last in line and was very lucky as, knowing I was new to all this, he took me under his wing. The doctor arrived at 8am and, even though there were only around 10 people in front of me, I ended up with ticket number 23 and the waiting began.

3 Hours and numerous de-caff coffees later I return back to the waiting room to find only 3 people in front of me so I joined the crowd and took a seat and waited my turn. I was just about to go in when, some guy who had only just turned up, jumped in front of me. I was not impressed but still had just about enough time if he was quick.

So out he comes and I´m ready to go in….great it will finally be official that I´m up the duff! hold on a minute where´s the doctor going now? well breakfast of course!.

After a few tears of frustration I gave up and went home. What a waste of a morning, the thought of doing that everytime I had to see the doctor or nurse just didn´t bear thinking about so I decided to register at the nearest town where you can make appointments and everything!.

May 5, 2009

The Beginning

Filed under: Having a baby in Spain — Tags: , — admin @ 7:40 am

I can´t  believe that I have been a ¨Mummy¨now for over 4 months and I am only just getting round to writing about my beautiful little miracle.

I had always planned to start writing a blog about being pregnant and having a baby in Spain but as I was still working full time I never seemed to have the energy to do anything when I got home, other than put my feet up with a cup of tea. I kept putting it off, saying to myself, I would start it when I was on Maternity leave but someone had other ideas…

My husband and I decided that we would start trying for a baby in January 2008, well not exactly actively trying but we thought we would just let nature run its course. Nothing happened for a few months but one day on the way home from work I just ¨had a feeling¨. I didn´t say anything to my husband before doing a test, as I didn´t want to get his hopes up, but I just ¨knew¨anyway I did the test and lo and behold it was positive.

That moment when I showed him the pregnancy test, and our realisation that our lives had just changed, was so surreal and up to then probably the happiest time of our lives.

We were both so excited and you just couldn´t keep the smiles off our faces, we wanted to tell the world, but not wanting to jinx things had to keep our mouths shut. Although we were dying to let the cat out of the bag it was also really nice having our little secret.

May 3, 2009

« Newer Posts

Powered by WordPress