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.

At exactly 36 weeks gestation just before I went to bed I felt slight period pain cramps but as I wasn't full term I assumed he was engaging or moving about so I went to bed. I woke at 3am with what I thought were braxton hicks and my bump felt all pointy. I dozed on and off but by 4am I was really really uncomfortable. The "braxton hicks" were really taking my breath away so I tried timing them but they were completely irregular. My husband got up to go to work at 5am and I told him to keep his mobile handy, but I didn't really think I was in labour, and even if I was, that it would be a false alarm and contractions would stop.

By about 6am I was really suspicious so I read my birth book and to my horror I was clearly in early labour! I phoned my husband to tell him to come home and just at that moment my waters broke spectacularly, so then there was no doubt.

By the time he got home and we got organised (getting dressed was not easy!) my contractions were 5 mins apart. The hospital is 30 mins drive on a good day and by this time it was the morning rush hour so I wasn't happy about the contractions being as close as 5 mins. Sure enough, we got stuck in traffic and to my horror the contractions got closer and closer together. By the time we arrived they were 2 mins apart.

On arrival I was examined and was 5cm dilated. From arriving at hospital I'd been unable to understand anything anyone said to me, although I speak very good Spanish, it all sounded like gobbledegook. I couldn't string a sentence together either, it all sounded like gibberish. When they said I was 5cm I calmed down a lot as I felt I had plenty of time. I told them I wanted an epidural and we went to dilatación. Husband went to park the car as he'd just left it at the doors on a double yellow. The midwives assured him that at 5cm we had loads of time.

The moment he left it all went a bit mad. I had the monitor across my bump and during a contraction the heartbeat dropped massively. They examined me again and said I was 7cm (this was only about 20 mins after being 5cm). I could hear them saying something about no epidural, but as I say, couldn't understand anything. Other doctors came in, I was examined again, told i was 8 cms and then told to push. It was all a bit manic and confusing, I couldn't make head or tail of what anyone said to me and couldn't speak coherently. Husband was still, unawares, parking the car.

He arrived back just as they were rushing me off to paritorio. I was examined again and they decided we needed a ventouse so I was taken into another room which was set up for that. Husband wasn't allowed in for this stage, although I didn't even notice immeadiately and when I did, I didn't care, to be honest. They said then I was going to need "anatesia" but I didn't really understand why, a midwife said the baby wasn't tolerating the contractions well. I heard them talking about ventouse and panicked a bit that something was really wrong but they said it was that he was having trouble coming out. It wasn't that they didn't explain things to me, more that it was clearly an emergency situation, I heard them at one point wondering whether the cord was round his neck. To be honest my body was so busy concentrating on birth I couldn't understand anything anyway, it was like I could hear the words but all in the wrong order or something, I couldn't make sense of anything. It turned out later that he had been posterior presentation, so was always going to need some help coming out. It was all very very fast, he was born 1 hour and 40 mins after arriving at hospital.

There were a LOT of people present in the delivery suite, but again, this was due to the situation, there were 2 nurses and 2 paediatricians, 2 anaethsiatists, 2 midwives and a whole paediatric resuscitation team.

The epidural was brilliant, I didn't feel it go in at all and it gave me instant relief, although I could still feel the pressure of contractions so I knew when to push. I think it was probably the minimum dosage as it was really just that they can't use a ventouse without some pain relief, but it was good for me as it meant I could feel when to push.

Once he was born, he was briefly checked to be breathing, but on a table next to me, so I could see him, then given to me while I was having stitches. I had a second degree tear and a cut, so the stitches took a long time to do, but they were done very well and I had no problems with recovery. Husband was allowed in once the baby was born.

We were taken to recovery for a couple of hours and the baby was checked over generally and had his blood sugar done as this can be low in pre term babies. It was low so we were kept there for about 2 hours until they felt he was stable enough to go onto the ward. In recovery he was encouraged to be skin to skin with me to help with breastfeeding. The midwife helped me 2 or 3 times to try and latch him on but he was too sleepy and having none of it!

Once on the ward I was in a shared room with one other person and we shared a bathroom. I was given a meal (very tasty) straight away and told to call for help the first time I went to the loo. We were given fresh maternity towels every few hours, soaked in something cool and soothing...they were bliss! The baby was checked in the "nido" every few hours and all nappies, wipes, clothes were provided.

The midwives showed me how to latch him on, but he was so sleepy he never really did it. I was helped a number of times and everytime they came in, even if it was to see the other woman they would ask me if he'd been on the breast and if necessary help me to put him on. They were very pro breast. As it happened he never even really opened his mouth and so the paediatrician decided because of that plus the low weight plus bad jaundice plus blood sugar issues that we didn't have time for him to wake up and bf so we were given some premmie formula. I was told that I must put him to the boob, each side, first and only then offer formula. I totally agreed with her, and as it happened he didn't even manage to latch on for a week and even then tired so easily that he didn't get much milk for a few weeks. I wasn't prepared for a 2 kg baby to lose weight and I did manage to mix feed once he got the hang of (and the energy to) latch on.

We were discharged after 48 hours, as normal. It was a very dramatic birth but I felt well cared for at all times. Nurses, doctors and midwives were all kind and helpful and I felt they had my best interests and those of the baby at heart. They were happy to stop and help me with breastfeeding. The food was good and there was lots of it and the hospital was clean. I would not hesitate to have another baby at Virgen del rocio and I would feel in good hands.