Urgent poll - Would you go to Paris at 8.8 months pregnant?

[thomcat]

I'm due 25th Sept.
Proposing to go 8th/9th Sept.

If I deliver there is that so bad (other than not having my home birth).

If we wait then we can't go for ages on our own as I'll be breastfeeding, so for a break that is just for us it's kinda now or never.

So, is it now, or is never?

Ohh Fio that look lovely. Glad you had a nice time.

There's no reason to not go later tbh, just that as I'm breastfeeding DC3 it'll be tricky to work out going on our own for a while yet. Not the end of the world though. Just irritated that D has lost his passport and knew he was taking me to Paris and yet a month later still hasn't sorted a new one and now it's too late to go. So typical. It's like having a teenager living with me that I have to kick into shape all the time!

Anyway, Paris can wait. I might just make him take me for a posh meal and treat me to a pedicure etc before the birth and then once I'm ready to leave DC3 I might upgrade my birthday present to a trip to New York!

(He did buy me Prince tickets and a very lovely posh fig candle on the day so he's not totally crap!)

Definitely wouldn't go, sorry. But think of it this way - what fun is it going to Paris when you can't have wine or nice French cheese?! Go when you can enjoy it more instead of having to restrict yourself!

I wouldn't go to Paris that pregnant and I live in France!

If you took the risk, you'd need to check whether your travel insurance and E111 would cover the costs of you giving birth while away.

Frustrating about your DH. Hope he can make it up to you somehow.

I wouldn't go, ds was born that early and I just wouldn't take the risk (think you've probably decided that now anyway )

But you should definitely go somewhere in the UK, short drive, lots of pampering, nice food, special time for you and dh before the baby comes. You should still celebrate in style. Just closer to home

I was thinking of going to Bruge 3 weeks before I am due on the Eurostar!! Is this not a good idea?? I usually go every year for the christmas markets, was going to go ahead this year provided I can get travel insurance to cover me.

It is up to you. i would be inclined to go somewhere over here.

However, if you feel the slightest contraction you can jump on Eurostar and come back and get a taxi from waterloo.... altho you never know how quickly it may all go and it is a risk.

I would consider it but only if travel insurance covered me for a birth there. However both of my pregnancies have gone to 42 weeks.

How about some nice hotel in this country?

I wouldn't if it's your first child. I had ds in Paris and I found the French midwives and nurses interfere far too much before and after the birth. I would only risk it if you know what you're doing with a newborn and have a strong enough character to say no to half the stuff they might want you to do or have done. I realised ths in hindsight as I have subsequently had 3 others in 3 different places.

Oh thomcat
I'd never give birth in France personally. Love the country, not mad keen on its medicalised perspective on childbirth, although the hospitals are excellent otherwise.
I think the so and so needs to treat you to a lovely weekend away locally, as others have said
(Glad you had such a great time Fio, that hotel looks fab)

Main problem with it is that you would be stuck here in France for quite a while before your new baby could get a passport. You have to apply to the British embassy in Paris and it can take ages. So if that would be seriously inconvenient then probably give it a miss.

I mostly live in France but travelled back to the UK to have my two because of the style of care here. But I did wait until 36 weeks (both born at 38 weeks) before going back to blighty as it wouldn't have been a disaster to give birth here, just a bit more formal than I would like.

There are no restrictions in terms of stage of pregnancy for travelling on the Eurotunnel (although jokes about free travel for the baby if it is born en route didn't go down well....).

Also, I couldn't get travel insurance that late in pregnancy.

I hadn't thought of that! It took me three weeks to get my passport renewed via the Embassy.
And it is more expensive when you out of the UK.

Fio thread hijack, can i ask what one you were at, we've always fancied the Glasgow one but don't know anyone that's been & in the back of my mind I think you're in Scotland.
TC - I wouldn't go as Paris is such a great place to explore & eat & drink, all things that are pretty rubbish to be doing at your stage. If you haven't been before then I really don't think you'd enjoy it to it's fullest in your condition and, if you have, it's not like you're missing out on something you've never done before. I think a nice break just the two of you getting pampered in a lovely hotel sounds great. You can always do it later in the spring when it will be lovely.

I was unable to get insurance after 32 weeks.

Actually that should read - our annual policy did not offer me cover once I'd reached 32 weeks.

I had difficulty trying to find travel insurance beyond 28 weeks... let alone 36 weeks (thomcat - I am due the same day!)

Also, worst case scenario, if you gave birth there and there was a problem, baby might not be able to be moved and therefore neither would you (and could you afford to pay for a prolonged hospital stay if required?)

Very medicalised birth in France. I got a photo from my friend who gave birth there a few months ago - 'normal' birth but she was in a gown and cap and looked like an operating theatre...

no

there will be life after baby so you can go another time

why not check into a fab hotel in the uk and get really pampered - somewhere completely unkid friendly - cool bar sort of thing and then you are not putting yourselves under any pressure

Obstetric care is very good in France I hear ! That was what a UK m/w told me !!
Maybe you'll be ok on the eurostar, I went about 3 weeks ago and it was pretty cruisey, however Paris can be quite tiring if you have to walk far. ( I was 32 weeks at the time)If you really want to go, take your notes and maybe you could get a letter from your obstetrician ?

As others have said, don't go, but demand that you do something in the UK instead. Insist your other half gets his passport sorted out now though - it's for 10 years. And then get LO his/her passport as soon as you can after the birth and book for a weekend in Paris with baby in tow. I went in February some years ago for my first anniversary of meeting dp (long before our 16 week old baby) and it was great, we got a bargain deal from a newspaper, Eurostar and a hotel.

Good luck with the birth and with getting breastfeeding established.

sorry not read all the thread. the news yesterday - baby alfie was delievered at 24 weeks at 30,000 miles (or something like that) on an aeroplane. You might not mind giving birth in a french hosp but how about half way through the tunnel? Something to think about

Oh Babe, tell DH that he is a plonker!
What an eeejit.

But have your w/e away on your own, go somewhere lovely nearer to home...really do the 'going away' bit because i know that although you are brilliant at getting this sort of thing sorted, it is inevitably going to be a bit harder to get 3 dc cared for over a whole w/e. So be Angry, then calm down and forgive, and then go for it and enjoy.

And no, you can't risk going into labour in france - quite apart from the medical ins issue - you wouldn't be able to bring the baby home again until s/he had a passport....and how long could that take??? (can't get a passsport iuntil birth has been registered etc)