Irish abroad: What are maternity services like where you live?

In Health+Family today, June Shannon takes a look at the best places in the world to give birth. According to Save the Children's most recent State of the World's Mothers report, which assesses the wellbeing of mothers and children in 179 countries worldwide, Ireland ranks 22nd. Norway was the top country followed by Finland (2), Iceland (3), Denmark (4) and Sweden (5), the Netherlands (6), Spain (7), Germany (8), Australia (9) and Belgium (10).

Ireland’s recently published National Maternity Strategy commits to providing more choice to women as to where they would like to give birth and the level of support they would like to receive.

Irish Times Abroad would like to hear from Irish parents who have had their babies overseas about the facilities and care available to mothers where they live, and their personal experiences. What options were available to you? Did you have to pay, or was it free? What could Ireland learn from the maternity services where you live? If you have given birth in Ireland and abroad, how did the experiences compare?

Please email your stories to abroad@irishtimes.com (max 300 words), with a few lines about you and your family, and a photograph. A selection will be published online. Thank you.