Holiday to France at 37 weeks pregnant . . .

[catherinemm]

So, we haven't had a holiday in a while and couldn't plan one for earlier on in the pregancy as though we'd be moving. Move now off and am desperate to get away before the baby comes and before my husband's work will make holidays almost impossible, which is likely from October onwards. We are also a bit on the skint side and have possibility of pretty much free holiday a gorgeous town in Brittany in early august. Only thing is I will be 37 weeks pregnant (I'm 28 weeks now) and in to the 38th week on way home. We'd get there via eurostar and train which has no restrictions on pregnant travel (we'd go that way whatever as live in central london). I wasn't that concerned about how late it was in the pregnancy until I did some googling - most messages on forums seem very against it! I guess I'm looking for sine reassurance that I'm not mad though will take heed if I don't find any. The reasons I think it's ok is: I'm having a very easy pregnancy (still cycling to work etc) it's my 2nd and my son was 17 days late and there's a lot of overdue babies in my family. I also felt very good til about 41 weeks last time and I think it was being overdue rather than heavily pregnant.

I've just looked into travel insurance, and policies don't cover you for events arising from normal pregnancy I.e. Childbirth, so you would have a few thousand pounds bill if you did go into labour there.

It looks like you've decided not to but in case you are still waivering here's another piece of info for you.

In my experience (2 births) the only pain relief option in a French hospital is an epidural....gas and air is not available, no injections and birth pools v rare.....there is also generally only one position "allowed" for give birth- flat on back with stirrups.

Good luck with whatever you decide

There's a parallel thread to this in AIBU.

EHIC will cover maternity services, provided that the purpose of travel is not to deliver abroad. So OP is probably OK that far.

But that's on same terms as a French national - so you'd need to find out in advance is it is a pay/refund system, if so how much, and make sure you have that level of funds available. Repatriation is never covered. I doubt you'd get insurance for birth related matters once at term, but worth trying. You also need an underwriter who will cover the baby as a separate person from birth.

You need to sort out the baby's documents (birth certificate, registration with the British Embassy, and is there any way to cross a border on a document other than a passport? If not, then it's 8 weeks minimum for issue of a first passport from overseas - add longer given current backlog)

Here's the AIBU which has a number of view points not being reflected on this thread.

One important one was asking OP to consider if a holiday at 37+ weeks which involved keeping a toddler safe in unfamiliar places will be as relaxing as she is currently anticipating.

I think insurance is the absolute deal breaker - if you aren't insured/can't get insurance then forget it.

After that: language. How is your French? Do you know enough to get by in an emergency, could you cope if you had to give birth in a French hospital?

Local facilities: how far will you be from a maternity hospital if it were needed?

Then lots of other considerations - how would you feel if you had to give birth alone if DH was looking after DC1? Would it really be that relaxing if you were worrying that any twinges/changes 'could be a sign' the baby was on its way?

I'm planning to holiday in the uk at 37 weeks, mainly because it was already booked and the other kids will be very disappointed if we don't go. Massive difference though!!! I will be taking my bag and the car seat, know exactly where to go if I do go into labour and have no issues with having the baby in Bournemouth if that's what happened. Also my mum and sister will be there so there's someone to look after the other children if I do end up in hospital. If you've got other children then have you got a plan for where they will go if you are took in?? If not, you will end up giving birth alone as hubby will have to stay with them.
I don't think id be so gung-ho if it was France I was contemplating. In fact I'm pretty sure it's a risk I wouldn't take at all!

I had to cancel a holiday during my last pregnancy as I couldn't get travel insurance after 37 weeks. French hospitals are nice but expensive.

Personally I wouldn't go to a foreign country where I couldn't just drive home within a couple of hours at 37 weeks.

I've had a baby in France and things you might like to know about having a baby in France are (in my experience)

• birth is highly medicalised
• care is very good
• in general pain relief is via epidural, gas and air is rarely used
• when you are in labour at the hospital you are not allowed food or drink, maybe just a sip of water to freshen your mouth
• doctors might speak some English but very few nursing staff will
• it was hard giving birth and staying in hospital in a foreign language that I understand and speak well - I usually speak French at medical appointments, when the anaesthetist offered to speak English when doing the epidural I was relieved he spoke some English.

If you don't have travel insurance to cover the bill if you did end up having the baby in France, do your research to find out what could happen regarding covering the costs. I don't know the answer, but would you be expected to pay up front for everything and then be reimbursed afterwards via the EHIC or do you only have to pay for the extras that aren't covered as part of basic care in France? And how does that apply to public hospitals and private clinics? Most French people have top-up medical insurance to pay for the extras that aren't covered as part of the basic care.

You say you are pretty skint at the moment - before making a decision to travel you need to be sure you know what costs you might have to pay yourself (even if reimbursed later on) if you did give birth in France and be sure that you have those funds available for peace of mind.

Of course, now that you have been advised by so many people not to travel you can be sure that nothing will happen until 42 weeks and you will feel utterly fabulous at 37/38 weeks!

So you won't be taking your own car? I wouldn't like to be stranded in France if you were unlucky and gave birth. Also will you be 37 weeks at the end or start of the holiday? Don't risk it!

No car - we don't have one. That doesn't worry me as after my car crash in France I feel far safer on public transport and am used to overland euro travel. However giving birth in France is likely to be very costly. Though it's unlikely I think it's probably a risk not worth taking so unless I can bring trip forward I don't think I'll be going. I am quite a gung-Ho person In pregnancy I have realised - I'm still cycling to work to the shock and dismay of many - but this is poss a risk too far!