Baby in France or England?

[overmonnow]

If you could choose, would you prefer to have your first child in France or England?

My wife and I are planning to move to France, and planning on having a baby - so which order would those who have had experience of both do it in?!

Many thanks for your advice/comments.

Alistair & Emma-Jane

[Russethouse]

It might be worth finding out Maternity services for normal births in your area of the Uk, 24 - 48 only hour stays in hospital are not unusual in this area (Reading)
Also remember availability of family, if you think you may want them nearby etc.
A friend told me that she had her first child in Normandy and lunch including wine was served every day for a week.....sounds good to me !



Gay

[Pucette<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Pucette<FONT><P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">"Qui ne connaît pas la campagne lhiver, ne connaît pas la campagne et ne connaît pas]

http://www.livingfrance.com/dcforum/DCForumID30/378.html
I think this thread is worth looking at if you haven't already.

[Foxtrot]

I've had 3 children in France and none in England so difficult to make comparisons. However, when I was pregnant with number one in 1998, two gitlfriends were going through it in the UK. I was jealous of their birth plans and all the ante-natal groups they got into - I tried 2 ante-natal classes here and they were horrific but I don't think that's the norm. Pre-natal care in France is good - 3 scans and monthly visits (I consistently went to my GP until 8th month since I had no complications) and post-natal care for babies - monthly visits is also good.

OK, I'll try and sum up pros and cons as I see them.

+ for France (and - for UK)
*pre-natal medical care good, perhaps a bit less in UK
*5 days in hospital or more as a standard

- for France (and therefore + for UK)
*no real ante-natal groups for mothers to get to know others in the same boat, especially good for a 1st baby
*no birth plans (but from my experience, it never happens how you imagine anyway)
*pain relief "to epidural or not to epidural" - nothing in between like gas and air, acupuncture (I'm talking hospitals and not private clinics) I'm more scared of needles than pain so went without for all 3 including Charlotte who was breach.

If you want more info, do contact me directly.

Katie

[Saira]

LAST EDITED ON 22-Apr-04 AT 09:16 PM (BST)

Having had babies in both countries,I would prefer the UK for flexibility and being more relaxed. However France is very good technically so if you need help for complications then things will be dealt within much the same way wherever you are. It is when things are uncomplicated that the differences are more apparent. Mostly it is just that things are very slow to change here, but they are changing slowly!
Where I work we run lots of ante natal classes and we have just begun postnatal sessions too for mums and babies to meet up again. Obviously you need to be able to speak reasonable French though to be able to take part properly.
I think it would be easy to feel isolated having a first baby in here if you don't speak the language and are not lucky enough to come across midwives and doctors who can speak good English. It isn't really for the important issues, but it can make a big difference for the little things.

[Lizzielou]

I have no experience of having a baby in france. Both my 2 (now 5 and 3) were born in England. We will be moving to France in July.

I had very good experiences with both my children in the UK. Both me and my husband went to the N.C.T. (National Childbirth Trust) meetings before we had our first. These were excellent. Gave us lots of neutral information, (not just what hospitals want you to do to make life easier for them!!) This made us both feel very in control of things??? (as best you can be).

This, and the support of the friends I made during those classes, and other friends and family was invaluable in the first few months after having our first baby. I would have no qualms about having a baby in France now, but I think I would have felt very isolated and vulnerable in a foreign country having my first child.

Sorry if I've put a downer on things. This is only from my point of view and everyone is very different!!!

Good luck.

Liz

[Michele]

LAST EDITED ON 30-Apr-04 AT 10:11 AM (BST)

Hi Alistair and Emma-Jane

(and everyone else, as I have just found this forum by chance! Is there a new member thread for introductions?)

I am a student midwife in the South of England, with a home in Brittany, and almost 5 yrs experience of life in France (on the Swiss border).

I am really interested to read all these ladies replies.

I think you should consider the options of midwifery led care in the UK. All women have a named midwife who would routinely undertake ante-natal care. I recommend you enquire in your area, if there are any caseloading midwifery teams. This is IMHO by far the best service the NHS currently offers. What this means is, that your midwife will come to your home to "book" you at around 12 weeks, and undertake all your care in the home, including routine blood tests, and refer you for anything particular like scans or to a Consultant if necessary. You will have prob. seen your GP first for referral. If you get a caseloading team, your midwife (or one that you may have met in the team, eg, at Parentcraft/ a/n classes) will accompany you into the hospital, or come to your home as you have chosen.

The essence of midwifery care in the UK, is "woman-centred" care, with informed choices by the woman, and good holistic care of her and the whole family.

If you are well informed, you get better outcomes, less intervention, less medicalised prescriptive care.

Obviously, post-natally, your midwife will come to the house (daily or as req.) for anything up to 28 days, where you get support integrated by the Health Visitor as already discussed. This is not only v. convenient, free, but a wonderful support mechanism - especially for breast-feeding support. If you get a good midwife, you should have a positive experience whatever the labour entails.

This is something that will be a pivotal experience in your lives, it's really refreshing to see your considerations at this time.

anything else you want to know, please ask!

regards
Michle

*who is just a tad disappointed that the registration process wouldn't allow her accent grave!! ;)*