Since I am planning to deliver Baby Hogge in Paris, I have been warned early and often that it is important to register at a hospital as early as possible. If not, the consequence being we wouldn't get a private room in our hospital of choice.
Of course, I would not be kicked out of a hospital if push comes to shove (haha) and we weren't pre-registered before the day comes to meet baby, but it does make the experience a whole lot more pleasant, as new moms and babies stay in the hospital longer than in the US: 3-4 days on average. With this in mind, and given the fact that we have never done this before - let alone in Paris! - we have been in high information-gathering mode over the past few months, trying not to panic that we had not already decided and registered at a hospital. For the record, the options we were considering include:
A quick note to those of you who are reading this and asking yourself about how midwives play into this whole birthing thing in Paris. When we think of a midwife in the US, it is usually in the context of someone who is looking for assistance during a home birth. Here (and elsewhere in Europe), most deliveries are actually assisted by a midwife (sage femme) in a hospital or clinic - similar to how we have nurses present for most of the birth in the US, with the MD only coming in for the delivery itself. So with all of those options to choose from, we ended up sitting down this afternoon in front of a fast-talking, exuberant French nun to register at Sainte Félicité. It was a herculean effort to keep up with her in French, but we are pretty sure we have now signed all the necessary paperwork to have a private room waiting for us in February!
2 Comments
Corissa
10/12/2016 02:20:22 am
Sounds like the right choice! So exciting! How soon after the birth will the nuns allow you to slip the yellow rain boots onto baby?!
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