By Nerea Pla Domench, volunteer midwife. May 2016

The screams of a newly born baby shake the walls of this old and neglected hospital. The little girl puts her hands in her mouth, kicking out in the coldness of the incubator. Meanwhile, in the room next door, the young mother is recovering from the operation she has just had: a cesarean.
Around 11am, M calls me, his wife has broken waters. The contractions are more painful now and she has just gone to the medical post to be taken to hospital. It´s her first baby, she´s frightened and he´s nervous.
I go into the room, the mother to be and I breathe through each contraction. Applying pressure on her sacrum, which we have practised before, seems to ease the pain.
She goes off in the ambulance, along with her husband. We follow in the car.
We´re not welcome at the hospital. We wait with M in the corridor whilst staff come and go.