Hospitals - Having a baby in Spain

Last night my daughter gave birth to her second child in the hospital in Denia. On the 45 minute drive to the hospital which is our nearest, I wondered how on earth emergencies make it on time. I was later reminded of a recent case where a British guy living in the Jalon Valley had phoned for an ambulance and was told there was a delay and he would have to drive himself. He got ten minutes down the road to Alcalali and had a massive heart attack at the wheel of his car.

On arrival at the hospital, an hour later than my daughter Coral and her boyfriend Ylli, we were told in A&E that we couldn’t go through to the maternity unit. Whilst loitering about wondering what to do, we happened to spot Ylli further up the corridor who told us how to get round to the unit. However, he too had been denied access and had no idea what was happening inside. The unit itself is behind a locked door, meaning you have to wait until someone comes out to be able to make an enquiry about anyone inside.

Coral does not speak much Spanish, so I knew how anxious she would be feeling on her own in there, especially as her labour was quite advanced when she arrived. An hour or so later, a midwife informed us that one of us could go in and see her. She was sitting upright on a chair at a desk, still in t-shirt and trainers with a sheet wrapped round her waist, whilst the doctor informed us that they didn’t have her notes and would have to repeat urine and blood tests that had been taken only three days before. They then gave her a scan, all the while telling her ‘tranquila’ (calm down). Once the tests were complete, we were told to walk down the corridor to a spare room where she could lie down. In this advanced stage, and still with no pain relief, I requested a wheelchair as Coral was convinced she couldn’t walk, but our request was greeted with a withering look that said ‘what a fuss you are making’ – we had to walk.

Once Coral was settled on the bed, I was told I had to leave, as only the father could be present from then on. Although we understood that only one person could be in the room at any given time, we had intended to take turns as both her brother and sister were also there to support her. Very different from the birth of her son in the UK, where there were five of us in the room during labour, and my own births – none of which had less than three present.

Whilst waiting in the most boring corridor on earth, we saw other couples arrive, but only the women were admitted to the unit whilst the men waited outside. I suppose it was like this in Britain many years ago, but we have been brought up in a time and a country where families, and even friends, are involved in the birth of a child.

During the next five hours, no-one came out to let us know what was happening. We tried knocking on the door a couple of times but were either ignored, or told to go away. We were unable to leave the ‘waiting corridor’ to go to the drinks machine or to have a cigarette, as there were so many people lying on gurneys on the way to the exit, that we were told we would disturb them and would be unable to get back in.

Then we heard the screams and knew that a baby was being born. Two Spanish women waiting near us complained about the noise, we told them to shut up. An hour later the baby was bought to the door of the unit but was quickly taken away again. We were told that if we waited another hour, Coral and the baby would be taken to a room on the ward and we could see them. An hour and half later we were informed that it was too late and that we should come back at 9am. When we left the hospital after 3am, we had no idea how Coral was, how much the baby weighed or where they had been taken. I have photos taken at, and directly after the births of all of mine, and my first grandson, but not this one.

This morning Coral phoned and although all is well, informs me that she will never have another baby in Spain. Despite requesting and being denied pain relief, she was told shut up, stop crying and calm down during labour and birth, was made to walk from the labour room to the delivery room 10 minutes before giving birth, and felt that she was treated very badly by unsympathetic midwives and doctors.

Had we been born in a different country, we may well have found the treatment of both Coral and ourselves acceptable. Spain is supposedly a family orientated country, but in this instance the family were treated like bothersome nuisances. Maybe we have been spoilt in Britain, but having had three births of my own, and attended two of others, I am used to a very different attitude. I know there are reports of NHS hospitals leaving people in corridors on gurneys, but I have never seen it for myself. Some of these poor souls were hooked up to monitors and ventilators, and had just been left haphazardly in passageways all over the hospital.

This has been one of the most frustrating and infuriating episodes of my life, and for the first time in four years I wonder what the hell I’m doing here. Despite being the only hospital in the area, it is in need of modernisation, more beds, more human resources - and the staff should be injected with a dose of ‘bedside manner’ - even the ambulances parked outside seem to have only the most basic necessities inside. I now dread the thought of myself or my children becoming ill and needing a hospital. NI, or ‘Autonomo’ contributions are compulsory for self employed workers at 226 Euros per month, which covers health care and hospital treatment, private medical is approximately 550 per year. In order to avoid the likes of Denia hospital, I know which way I’ll be going in future.

missent

to jakarta. it got so lost. haha! so here's my loooonngg-awaited package from amy in malaysia! hee.. just kiddin' amy

i absolutely adored everything, one of the biggest reasons being, they're all green in color! my favorite color! green! woopppee! which apparently is her fav too! ^_~ great taste in color you have.. heee.. thanksss amy! super adorable chut chut is amy's original creation (for her new label ubermojo which is still in the works, you've to watch out for it!) which she crocheted, and her little pouch has a very nifty thread design! and she was so kind and sweet to have bought me a handmade necklace earring set from her holiday trip to bali... come to think of it, maybe "it" was trying to make its way back to indonesia huh.. lol

hope my chut chut loves her? his? (haven't decided yet) new home... ^o^ kisses

time to breathe and be merry

i'm TRYING my best to take it easy this entire week, doing nothing, gaining nutrition, and catching up with some very neglected pals. So if you're getting delayed replies, well, you know why... :p and if you're still waiting for your treelings or brooches etc.. well... yeah, wait abit more... *evil!* muahahhaha! hey, waiting abit more is better than if i won't be able to ever sew again yah?? :ppp


and here's my cute gingerbread man, gift from denise! she's so sweet! just one of the many cute little things she prepared for me in her surprise care package! ^.^ i hope you're able to get warm-n-fuzzy up soon!


and the most fantastically designed items from my swap with oneye from netherlands, in exchange for this! i love them so much! she was so generous and her plush is bigger than i thought they were - i got piet, who likes english culture, loves historic buildings, high tea, harry potter movies, fashion and of course britpop. haha! and fabulous gift tags, stickers, a keychain and postcard, all nicely designed and of great quality! piet is now one of my many sleeping buds, we're sort of alike, other than the english culture and britpop thing... hee...

and sat was great! even though our plans to mos (ministry of sound) didn't work out. shit. you should've seen those crazy people queueing up, it was soooooo fucking long! 1km snake long queue... one of my friends queued of 3 hrs before nearing the entrance... that's crazzzyy... plus we were mostly put off by the large bunch of first-timers and "kids" queueing and crowding around there... it was so unglamourous, like m.sultan all over again ppffttt

luckily our plan b to attica went great! dj danny rampling was awesome as usual. b and i went with a new bunch of people (from my side), because we were sick and tired of the we-love-drinking-too-much-and-puking-lots merry bunch of dudes we used to hang-out with (mostly from his side haha)... this time, it's with a bunch of super fun and spontaneous we-love-to-dance-til-we-drop bunch, which was definitely so much better, and healthy for the sick-and-still-recovering me ^.^

it's funny that i got the most presents this year, because this year's holiday is quite a sad one without all my best pals who're no longer staying in singapore...

we don't celebrate x'mas like it should be celebrated (other than treating it as a holiday off work! lol), except for my dad who's christian and goes to church and whatever else he does. but i did prepare a full 3 course meal for him and b, shrimp salad, black pepper steak, spicy tomato pasta, and portobello soup, and apple crumble pie (which i bought, cos... that's just wayy out of my league), and i managed to keep my dad smiling the whole evening, til today! phew. and there's usually very little gift-exchanging unless imposed upon by the company you work at or if you're a christian or something (i'm agnostic, and most of my friends are free-thinkers) or just for the fun of it! which brings me to the next point - i've always loved the warm x'mas feeling i get in and everything superficial associated with x'mas (i'm sorry to admit) - you know, with the lights and decorated streets in town, x'mas trees, x'mas songs, white color, snow, santa claus, rudolph, gifts...

thanks mao! for the huggee stash of vintage fabrics!! you know me best girl *wink* got other cool presents from mel, michelle, lana, jb, shan, meredith and tash *hugsss!* the coolest triple 5 soul purse, a cute little diesel pouch, a vintage necklace, some kinky stuff (??), a luxurious bubble bath set, and a ton of the cutest little items! and my b got me too many things (so did i! hee), but my fav is obviously my new tommy big-ass shades!! hee! smuacks! hope all of ya loved yours too... ^_^

that's too much for now i think... we're off to the pool at my mum's place! hope you're all having a wonderful time too!!

bye!

*sniff sniff*

my holiday sampler

i was a good girl! woohoo!

i love 'em all! but it's sooo obvious which is my favorite! now, to save up for my japan / chicago / new york / europe holiday so that i can use my fabulous pretty new hat by the very talented pimientanegra! hee! how can you ever want to put on one of those boring ugly mass-produced winter hats when you can get yourself one of these!

happy holidays!

HAPPY HOLIDAYSS!

and i got packagesss! yippeee! will share pics soon!

thanks so much for all your concern and well wishes! i'm much better now than a few days ago, after 2 days of 8 hour sleep, some tonic soup, and not being near the computer or sewing machine for much

haha, the joke is, I do have extra help - sewing help - 2 in fact, but i shan't comment too much about the situation, except to say... such help in singapore, good ones, are very very very hard to find. no one skilled would want to work like that, unless they were in some kind of financial difficulty or some older retired homemaker or blah... of course, unless you pay a million dollars per hour or something... no one is willing to sew, or even then, sew for 8 hours straight a day, or at least complete 3 bags a day, or do part-time administrative work (unless again, you're paying a million dollars per hour) blah blah blah.... if not, they would have their own sewing method and would not be willing to learn anything new, saying that it's too difficult etc. (unless you pay... you get the picture...)

so! i'll be making a few calls here and there after the new year, and hopefully am able to get NEW and BETTER extra helpers... we'll see... (fingers crossed) b's mum has actually volunteered to help, but seriously, how can i make her help me sew when she's not in the best of health and she's also helping his sister to do some work (she's also doing something similar, but not quite, long story) and of course, i'm not her daughter but she is, so... no, i can't... unless again, i pay her a million dollars... hahahaha... ok i'll stop

so! i was thinking, some fairies and elves would be good... friends... nay... none of my friends can sew! i think i may have mentioned this before... but yeah, they can help me do post office stuff, but no sewing... plus, all of them have full-time 9-hour-work-days busy jobs with the more than occasional overtime etc. and would rather party and have some drinks or etc. after a hard days' of work than anything else... NOT even if i pay them a million dollars... seriously.. not everyone's like b or mao, who's not here in singapore anymore... sobs

anyways.... hope you're all having the most wonderful holiday time! time-off work! quality rest! parties! drinks! presents! woohoo! and cheers to a fantastic new year ahead! for the world, and us! ^o^

delays

i just got back from the hospital - i've been "out-of-service" for the past 2 days with arrhythmia, dizziness, and sudden lose of breath and strength in my limbs, and have not been able to reply all work emails, if not for my super helpful b, who has been replying many of them for me...

orders from monday and tuesday were just mailed out this afternoon, so that's like a minor 1-2 days delay, sorry ya all... and orders made today will be mailed out only on friday, after which there will be no shipping until x'mas is over!

i've to learn to slow down and watch my temper, you won't ever get to see me fuming about stuff, but yeah, i'm one of those who boil internally and have problems expressing unhappiness etc. so for now i guess, it's just heart palpitations induced by

too little rest
+
too much caffeine and stress

i've to learn to not want to please everyone, i've to first please my own body! wise advice by mao.... i somehow feel that i need to run extra fast to catch up for lost time, for whatever reason, like i'm gonna die anytime soon.. hmm.. i'm still thinking of partying hard this weekend... and there's the new mos too! i must go see! and then there're those wholesale orders still waiting... you see... that's why... i just wanna do it all... so slap me, i'm greedy this way... i'm sorry to have worried you mummee...

i've lost weight again, so gotta fatten myself up this few holiday weeks.. we're planning yet another short getaway.. when? i donno!! arrgghh.. soon, a very soon one i hope... oh! chinese new year is coming early next year too! so another chance to do some fattening, the healthy way of course... i've been losing my appetite these few weeks, so hope a good quality rest will do the trick

i'm happy that i've 9 presents to open under my x'mas tree now ^_^ still more to come i hope!!! mao - i know what you sent, cos the paper is kinda translucent silly girl :p hahaha