Spain Dad, a baby blog

Sometimes I forget how little I know about this country.

Scene 1: The Phonebook
We visited the hospital yesterday. Well, actually, first we had to find it. Our doctor had told us we would be having the baby at the private hospital since we had private health insurance. What she didn’t tell us was where it was, and we never thought to ask. I guess it never occurred to us that we didn’t even know where the hospital was until we decided to go there.

Thankfully there were only two hospitals in the phonebook, and one of them was called “The General Hospital.” We decided to go to the other one.

Scene 2: The Tour
At the front desk I told the secretary we would be having our baby at this hospital and asked if we could have a look around.

“You mean a tour?” she asked. “We’re not a travel agency.”

“Um…okay” I said. “So I guess taking a tour of a hospital is NOT something people normally do in Spain?”

“No,” she said, “that is not something people normally do in Spain.”

I thought for a second.

“Well, we’re not from Spain,” I told her (in case she had somehow missed our blonde hair and blue eyes). “We’re not familiar with how hospitals work here. Do you think you can ask someone if we can take a tour, or even if we can just see one of the hospital rooms where new mothers would stay?”

She bit her lip trying not to smirk. “I’ll see what I can do.”

She picked up the phone. “Yeah. I have some people here who want to see a hospital room.” She listened, then looked at me. “Alright. I’ll send them up.”

She put down the phone.

“Second floor.”

Scene 3: Q & A
We stepped off the elevator and walked to the nurse’s station. One of the nurses met us at the counter with a smile and asked, “Are you the ones who would like to see the maternity suite?”

“Yes,” we said.

“Alright. Follow me.”

She unlocked a door at the end of the hall, and we followed her into the suite. There was a small living room and a door that led into a bedroom. The couch along the wall converted into a bed. There was plenty of room.

“Anything else?” the nurse asked after we had taken a few moments to look around.

“Yes, actually,” I said, “would you mind if we asked you a few questions about the procedures of this hospital?”

“Not at all,” the nurse replied.

“Great,” I said. I pulled a small notebook from my back pocket and flipped to the page where I had written down our questions.

I was a bit nervous. We knew so little about having a baby in Spain, and yet, somehow it felt easier not to know.

April says she wants to be able to move around while she’s in labor. She says that when she’s in pain, she feels better if she can change positions or even walk around. Our midwife told us not to count on it, but, she didn’t know for sure. We told us to ask the hospital.

We hadn’t asked…until now.

“Do you normally monitor women the entire time they are in labor?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“So you hook them up to an IV right at the beginning as well?”

“Yes”

“So they have to stay in their beds the whole time?”

“Yes”

“And they’re not allowed to change positions or get up and move around?”

“That is correct.”