Having a baby in France

As I write this blog, baby Emilie is now 6 months old. People told me the time goes so quickly and they were so right!

It’s a good time for me to reflect on that experience again of giving birth here in France and what that was like as a British person, a first time mum and self-employed person too. I had wanted a natural birth without intervention if possible, just like my alpaca mums had done in the fields last May. What an inspiration they were to me having witnessed their births.

To fully prepare myself for birth, me and my husband Will went to the 7 one-to-one sessions with my Sage-femme libéral (community midwife equivalent) to prepare for birth and parenthood. Whilst these were great, I knew I wanted something a little more and had been intrigued about hypnobirthing, so I sought out a course to learn about this and I also felt more comfortable doing this in my native english language, knowing I was doing it alongside my birth prep in french with the midwife.

After searching a little I found a great Doula and Hypnobirth practitioner, Poppy Child, who had an online course that I purchased. I chose this course as Poppy’s practices focused on what I would call realistic hypnobirthing - she didn’t promise that I could breath my baby out without pain and just with meditation. She set up the expectation for pain, but also endurance and belief and understanding of the birthing process through education. I shared my whole birthing experience on Poppy’s podcast “Pop That Mumma”, if you wanted to hear the whole birth story.

Here are links to listen my birth story on the podcast, wherever you choose to listen:

For Apple, click here

For Spotify, click here

For Amazon, click here

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Walk the alpacas

Would you like to walk the alpacas around a 13th century chateau?

Walk the alpacas around the chateau

It’s a wonderful experience with the calming affects of spending time with the animals and the beautiful Chateau de Sanzay

Contact us to book!

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3 days before labour

I believe France to be a little more in tune with worldwide birthing statistics and practices, than what I perceive the UK is. For example, the UK’s “due date” is calculated to 40 weeks, with around 85% of babies being born after this date, however some practices are offering inductions for 60% of births and these are being offered at 40 weeks, without women going “overdue”. In France, they use a 41 week gestation period, and when discussing “what ifs” with my midwife, induction wasn’t mentioned until 42 weeks had been reached. Knowing I wanted an intervention-free birth, this was quite a relief to me to know.

The hospital midwives were happy for me to have a long tour of the labour and delivery ward, including birthing rooms and the rest of the maternity ward in order to help me visualise the birth leading up to the date. They were also keen on encouraging movement during labour, and taught breathing techniques in the one-to-one sessions we had. All of this was perfectly in line with the course I’d purchased too. I was so happy with the care that was given.

I feel quite privileged to say that I was able to have spontaneous labour, no induction needed. I should have known it was coming as my nesting had been tying up all loose ends for my business and making sure the alpaca farm and accommodation was in the best position, ticking over. That night my waters broke and we made our way to the hospital.

I was admitted as soon as their tests confirmed my waters had broken, a contrast to the UK, where a certain level of dilation is needed before admission into the ward. I was then left to labour alone and in peace in a private room for a lot of the day, with some monitoring periodically. I had planned on having pain relief when needed, but this wasn’t necessary in the end.  A wonderful midwife suggested a bath when I first thought I would need some help and this did a lot for me.

“Perhaps this was the most French moment of my life”

Those familiar with France will know that meal-time is sacred and true to form, the nurses made sure I didn’t miss a meal during the day, directing me to help myself to breakfast in the kitchen and then bringing me lunch, which was andouillette… If you’ve not heard of this dish, I’ll mention it has a particular smell, and we lovingly call it “poo sausage”. Perhaps this was the most French moment of my life.  I hate it, and Will loves it. He did what any loving husband would and took the offal based sausage into the ensuite and ate it so I didn’t have to have it in the room for a moment longer whilst I laboured. That certainly brought some humour to our day.

The best part of it all was after the delivery of the baby, the three of us; Will, Emilie and I were left in the birthing room for skin-to-skin bonding before any checks on the baby were done. We didn’t know her birth weight for quite some time. And after this, it is usual practice to stay in the hospital for 4 days. When I was first told this, me and my modern British culture thought this would be absolute torture and I thought I would be climbing the walls. Actually, as other mums who’d had their babies in France told me, taking those few days in the newborn bubble where help was a button away was bliss and much-needed. It was helpful for a very quick recovery and the nurses couldn’t have been kinder.

I feel happy that my experience was here in France and lucky that things went to plan. If you want to hear a little more about this, I would point you in the direction of the podcast I mentioned, and I’d also be happy to hear from you and answer any questions you may have about my experience of having a baby here in France.

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Secluded, peaceful, private, revitalising, and wholesome

These are just some of the words that describe the unforgettable experience that Donna and Nick had at La petite Ferme d’Alpagas Sanzay during their stay.

From witnessing ‘Buddy’ the baby alpaca being born to exploring the surrounding areas, their 6-night stay was filled with many precious moments.

We are thrilled that they had such an amazing time and we can't wait to welcome more guests to our farm!

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