who actually delivers the baby (when having a baby in France)

[tigerbump]

just curious as to who is present when you deliver your baby in France?

[pebblebeach]

everyone - or at least that is what it felt like to me .
I had DD in a clinique, so maybe a bit different, but the on-call gyney delivered DD and there must have been 4-6 others.... midwives/nurses I presume, in attendance too.

[ib]

I had ds at home, dh, me and the midwife present.

I gather in hospitals it's somewhat different.

[pebblebeach]

ib - after the circus of round 1, that is precisely what I am planning for round 2 with DC2 in Sept

[Weta]

I had DS2 in a private clinic - there was me, DH, the clinic midwife (well mid-husband actually!) and the obstetrician standing in for mine as she was away.

I had previously arranged with my obstetrician that my private midwife could attend too, but the clinic midwife refused (even though the actual obstetrician would have been fine with it) - they said I had to choose between her and DH so I alternated and then wandered up and down the public corridor with both (!), but just had DH for actual delivery.

[tigerbump]

weta how did you find the private clinic?

[BriocheDoree]

I had DS in public hospital with 2 or 3 midwifes (midwives?) present. Very good experience actually, better than my first birth in UK!
If you need a list of clinics in your area your obs/gyn should be able to give you one (or your GP or whoever you are seeing for your pg). I was given a leaflet when I first registered my pg with the SECU, as I recall.

[HaventSleptForAYear]

Started with just the midwives with DS1 but after an hour of pushing they called in the ob/gyn to pull him out (ventouse!)

DS2 - a couple? of midwives including one who popped in to tell me to stop making so much noise and scaring the other "ladies"

It was all a bit of a blur...

[Weta]

Tigerbump - not sure if you mean how did I identify it, or what I thought of it?!
I knew about it just from asking around and the internet. I did all my preparation with a homebirth midwife (but decided fairly early on that I couldn't cope with a homebirth as DS1 had had respiratory distress at birth) and this was the clinic she recommended as being the most open to natural birth. I live in Montpellier and there are basically 2 private clinics or the public hospital for higher risk births.

What I thought of it: I was dreading the whole experience as the French system is so different from NZ, where I had DS1. I really struggled with not being able to have my own midwife properly with me, and with being left alone for a considerable time with DH once they'd hooked me up to the monitor - problem for me is that I didn't want an epidural, but they're not used to dealing with women in pain and providing the support you need.

Apart from that, the obstetrician was absolutely amazing, the clinic midwife less so but ok (but obstetrician wasn't very happy with him as thought he was too bossy!), and the after care was absolutely fantastic - private room with tv, phone, bathroom, mattress for DH, decent food with choice of menus...

Some of it depends where you fit on the natural birth etc spectrum - the other thing I didn't like was that they tried to make me give DS2 formula supplements on the 2nd night and I had to argue hard to get out of it (mainly by pushing the fact his older brother had a serious dairy allergy) - despite supposedly being a clinic that promotes breastfeeding.

Where in France are you? I think the clinics vary greatly in their approach, so it's a question of finding the one that most closely meets your needs I arranged for an appointment to talk about my concerns and find out what their approach/protocols would be in certain situations. Is this your first baby?

[Weta]

PS meant to add - it was private, but still funded by the social security system unless the doctors went over the fee threshold (dépassement d'honoraires), which these ones didn't unless you had an epidural, in which case it was an extra 100 euros.

[AuldAlliance]

I've given birth twice here, in 2 very different hospitals, both public.
Both times there was just one midwife present, although the first time there was another one doing things nearby who popped in sometimes.
The second time, there was also a paediatric nurse but I think that's because everything was so advanced when I arrived that they got her in straight away to look after teh imminent baby.

Gynae/obstetrician was called the first time around, as MW was worried about falling heartbeat. He was in a hurry and said all was well, which wasn't quite true.
No time/need for gynae this time around.

[tigerbump]

WETA, i'm in burgundy, i am at the big (spanking new) hospital with the high tech neonatal unit and over 32 beds. the nearest clinic was over 1 hour 20 away so it was not given to me as an option (although the hospital i go to is just under an hour!).

my gyne speaks a little english and is the head gyne/obste at the hospital. he assures me he will be around if there are problems but mainly its the midwife (who still has not arranged an appointment with me and I am stressing as now over 7 months).

am just stressing as my french is still really patchy so worried I won't understand what they want me to do (first baby!). have tried to find a french list of pregnancy terms (know the basics but understand the birth may differ).

just stressing as they seem to be paying little attention to me (like forgetting to invite me to classes despite asking). still havnt seen the ward or understand how I get my own private room and bathroom!

[AuldAlliance]

sounds as if you need to phone till you get hold of the people you need
don't think you get invited to classes, you just roll up
ditto MW appt
know phoning is v scary in foreign language, thuogh
(sorry, 1-handed bf typing!)

[tigerbump]

auidalliance, im so trying, its annoying for 2 weeks I must have called 5 times and they keep telling she will call me. we are popping by the Hospital in 2 weeks (4 weeks till next Gyne appointment) so will try and arrange one in person (AGAIN!)

will get there i am sure, as hubby says i need to stay calm

[AuldAlliance]

How annoying. Hope you get it all sorted out soon.

[Othersideofthechannel]

I gave birth in a hospital rather than a clinic and private rooms were given in preference to the BF mothers (apparently so that they wouldn't be bothered by other people's visitors at visiting time)

First time I went publicly in a public hospital, second time I went privately at the same hospital. (Simply because I had a 1 yr old with me at all the pre-natal appointments and they never ran very late for the private appointments and sometimes ran 3 hours late on the 'public' days).

Both times midwives delivered the baby. When I went private my gynae/obs specifically popped round to see us about an hour afterwards. When I went public I didn't see him until it was his day to do the rounds.

I didn't get to meet a midwife before either birth. There were too shortstaffed to run birth preparation classes so I did these with a "kiné" who ran groups. He was excellent on the breathing/relaxation stuff. But definitely first time round it would have been more reassuring to have actually have met a midwife!