I'm trying to arrange a homebirth in France.....anybody ?

[mozhe]

This is my 5th pregnancy....the previous 4 were all hospital births in UK. The last was a prem c-section at 32 weeks, otherwise all normal and pretty speedy....

My ( private ) obsterician has agreed to attend.....and I have a maternity nurse booked to come from UK,( who has come for all the previous babies ), who is also a midwife.

I have a ' back up ' bed booked in a local maternity hospital..

Are there such things as doulas in France ? ( have asked colleagues at work about this but they all seem to think I am barmy to be contemplating HB, and quickly run away...! )..would one be a useful addition ? And would one be willing to come from UK ? I am think ing she may be a good set of extra hands....

I'm due in first week of october....

Any other thoughts/ comments welcome.

DH is A&E consultant...he will be there too, so feel ' safety ' issues are all covered

Doulas in France

Well you've got your Mat nurse and your Obstetrician, whom hopefully will be redundant!

If you have space to accomodate a Doula for a free holiday you might like to offer that as part payment!

Nothing else sensible comes to mind as it's past my bed time. HTHs

Thanks for the link will contact them and see what they think...

You could ask Bernardette de Gasquet (look her up in Pages Jaunes, she's in Paris), she's a bit of a natural childbirth pioneer. Or Marie Thirion, she's a breastfeeding guru here (you'll have to google her).

I've never heard of a doctor attending a home birth - even though we also have private health care in Belgium - it's only midwives who offer a home birth service here. I'm interested in hearing how it goes!

www.messageparis.org is a mother's support group in France.

There's definitely a section on home births in the Laurence Pernout book on pregnancy and childbirth - you could take a look at it in your local FNAC and see whether there's any info.

belgo - LOL . IME Message types give birth at the American Hospital in Neuilly (highest c-section rate in France, epidural/episiotomy are standard)...

oh. Not much help then

I thought it was quite hard to get a home birth in France? Something to do with the midwives not being insured?

Belgo - no, you are absolutely right to suggest Message - you never know

Homebirths are very rare here. I read somewhere that it was under 1% of births. Not that I'd want one personally (though my MW said I should try one next time when my daughter was born), so I've never researched the option deeply. But I'm quite interested in all the movements here in France away from the highly clinical woman-trussed-up-in-stirrups, baby-dragged-out-by-force traditions

Yes there are doulas in France have a look at www.doulas.info/faq_en.php . If you let me know where you are I might know of one near you.

Your situation sounds very similar to the one in Singpaore where I lived for 8 years - I had a homebieth there and attended several others as a doula. Homebirths are not officially supported there, there are no midwives, and only one OB in the whole country who will attend. But many women do have homebirths, so it is possible! Yes many of them do hire doulas (which is how I came to be attending) for extra support especially in early labour when it is too early to call the Dr.

Will you have a birth kit at home (sutures etc)? My OB provided me with one but perhaps your midwife will bring her own. Can you hire an oxygen tank? I got a small portable one delivered a few weeks before the birth and made sure it came with a pediatric mask. Didn't have to use it but it was nice to know it was there. I also went to a local pharmacy and bought a big pack of the blue inco pads - very cheap and great for sitting on just after the birth and for mopping up any drips. I also bought a huge paddling pool from Toys R Us and used it as a birth pool, it was fab.

Otherwise it sounds like you have all your plans in place! Good luck and keep us posted!

It is quite possible to have a homebirth in France but it varies considerably from region to region how many midwives there are that do them. I had planned a homebirth for DD2 but she came early at just before 36 weeks so I ended up in the hospital as my midwife wasn't insured for births before 36 weeks. Only missed it by a few days!

Could so have had the baby at home as everything was very straightforward and DD2 was fine, just a bit small and sleepy. My experience of the hospital was very good though.

Most people (doctors included) think you are bonkers for contemplating homebirth. I hadn't planned to have a doula but my midwife asked if I wanted one so they must exist.

Good Luck mozhe, have a wonderful birth.

Thanks for all the info.....lots to think about.
I'm not 100% yet.....and DH isn't either.
Doulas....can you answer me honestly and say whether you can see a role for one here ? DH thinks we are in danger of ' over maning ' ....but I always think there's room for one more helper....So far we have Nanny,( for DCs ), mat nurse/also a midwife but not actually coming to us to do the delivery, my obstetrician, DH, and lovely PILs.....plus 5 LOs...and baby !! The house is not huge.....

The danger I see is not so much in over-manning as in the delivery team being composed not by the midwife-in-charge (or obstetrician-in-charge) but by you. I think that you are completely right to make provision for care of your other children, and to have your new baby's maternity nurse to hand to look after him. But apart from that, decisions on who should be present at the birth ought to be made by the MW-in-charge and they all ought to speak the same language, sing to the same hymnsheet etc. It's teamwork. So - you pick the MW-in-charge, she picks the team.

Does that make sense?

A friend told me that when she requested a home birth, the hospital told her that she was legally required to dial 15 and have the SAMU on standby, in case of emergency. Whether that was true, or just an obs trying to convince her to have the baby in his plush private clinique, I know not.

What is it with this French fascination for a) internals and b) bloody stirrups?

Mozhe - I had quite a few people present at my homebirth - dh, two midwives and a student midwife - I didn't mind because I needed the midwives and I felt it was a valuable learning experience for the student (don't get to see many homebirths in Belgium), but my main midwife felt that my labour actually slowed down because there were too many people in the room. Even though there were so many people, they still didn't massage my back enough!

It was a scarey birth, the baby was OP and had the cord twice around the neck.

ggg - internals, stirrups, hitting women on the thigh when they become "hysterical" during labour... they learn it all in medical school. But there is a definite movement to make birthing practices more woman-friendly, you just need to find those MWs and obstetricians (less common) who have bought into the idea and had some training.

My partner's ex was told by her grand professor obstetrician "I don't care about the mother, my interest lies with the baby"...

Mozhe - I say I needed the two midwives because if it all goes wrong after the birth, you need someone for the mother, and someone for the baby. I assume the second 'medical' person would be your dh?

It sounds to me if you have your OB and a midwife/nurse the medical side is pretty well taken care of. The only question would be a "what if" you call your OB and for some reason he can't make it - that happened to me at my homebirth and I was cool with it, just carried on and he popped in about 45 mins after the birth! A doula can be helpful in cases where you want support in the early stages of labour/postpartum but when there is no medical person present. But they are not medically trained so cannot be used as quasi-midwives. Agree with Anna, your midwife or whoever is in "charge" needs to be happy with everyone's roles, and so do you. If the additional support is not something you feel you need, then perhaps it would be too many people. I had two doulas and my DH there for mine, but the doulas were also my two best friends in the whole world and were very much wanted by me which made it is a bit different I guess.

My obstetrician is in charge,( she is also a friend...I feel very comfortable with her...it was she that put the idea in my mind..), she doesn't see the need to have an additional midwife there as the mat nurse can assist,( + DH in an emergency....though his primary role is DH ! )....I thought doula could 'fill in' and do all the practical-ish stuff..leaving mat nurse to concentrate on baby....never heard about the SAMU having to be on standby !!! My obs clinic is literally over the road....
My obstetrician is very cool/laidback lady,( though like all the french obsessed with weight...in my case not gaining enough...but this is normal for me as am very slim and could eat for england and not put on much..), and she thinks I should have whoever I feel comfortable with....don't want to leave anyone out !!!!

Mozhe - it sounds like you've got it all sorted - you should go for it!

I wasn't entirely convinced about having a home birth, but I'm glad I did in the end. There is something very special about having all these people concentrating on you and not having to run off to answer emergency bells or other such things that happen in hospital.

As for not putting on much weight - you are still bfing twins, it's hardly surprising you can eat for England and not put on weight.

There is a yahoo group for home VBACs, and there are a couple of mumsnet posters who have had home VBACs.

Only one twin now Belgo...the other one has self-weaned !
Am not worried about VBACing...