Pregnant in Paris : First Trimester Recap
If you follow me on social media, you probably saw my recent post sharing some exciting news that I am expecting! I must admit 2020 has been a very weird and draining year thus far, which has taken a bit of the joy away from this new chapter.
I’m currently writing this post at 22 weeks while reflecting on how my first months of pregnancy have gone. In a nutshell I would sum up the first trimester as quite the roller coaster of excitement, bodily changes, and a level of fatigue I’ve never felt before. After I found out I was pregnant, I decided I wanted to wait until I got the green light from my doctor at 14 weeks that all was well before announcing to friends and family. This period limbo of knowing I was pregnant and not telling anyone was probably the hardest. I had so many feelings, so many things I wanted to discuss, I was “fake drinking” around friends and family not to give things away, and barely mustering up enough energy to go to work everyday. Once I got the clean bill of health that all was well with myself and baby, I was extremely relieved and excited to finally share the news with friends and family.
As this is my first pregnancy, I am learning everything about pregnancy in itself as well as the process of how things work in France. Among my list of things I’ve done in Paris from completing my Masters, establishing a life here on a long-term basis, purchasing property, I can now add starting a family to the list. Surprisingly, I am not too worried about giving birth in France and I feel very thankful to be living in a country with such a great health care system. I’m more so curious and a bit anxious about figuring out how to navigate all the processes and steps I need to to bring this new bundle of joy into the world.
If you are thinking about starting a family in Paris or just curious about the process of how things work here. Below you can find a recap of the things I had to navigate during the first months of pregnancy, and resources I found along the way, in my quest to answer the many questions I have.
First steps: I’m pregnant now what?
1. Who will follow your pregnancy?
One of the first things you need to figure out once you learn you are expecting is to decide on the type of medical professional you want to follow you throughout your pregnancy. Typically you have the choice between your primary care provider, gynecologist/ obstetrician, or a midwife. From what I have witnessed so far the prenatal model of care is pretty comprehensive, you just need to take some time to figure out what type of care best fits your needs- something more medicalized/ traditional, or a more patient-centered care like with a midwife, or care from a general practitioner. It also best to choose someone that is convenient to your home or work, as you will begin having visits every month, if not multiple times a month.
2. Choose where you will give birth -Public Hospital, Private Clinic, Birth Center?
After choosing who will be following you for your prenatal care, the next thing to do is to find and register where you will give birth. It is typically recommended to choose a place that is close to home (30 mins maximum away) so that you can easily get there for your monthly visits and the day of the actual birth. You can typically choose between a public hospital or private clinic that is in close proximity to your house. The perk of going with a public hospital is that all your care is fully reimbursed at 100%. I also recently discovered some alternative options like home births with a doula (which are more rare here but feasible if you want to have one), or the option to have your baby at the only birth center in Paris run completely by midwives C.A.L.M: Birth Center (Comme à la Maison).
3. Declare your pregnancy
After your first prenatal visit typically before the end of your third month of pregnancy, you are supposed to declare your pregnancy with Assurance Maladie (national health care system). By doing this your pregnancy is now registered in the system and once you hit 6 months of pregnancy all your visits are covered at 100% (excluding any doctor supplementary fees) compared to the base rate which is usually 70%.
These three things were more the administrative aspects that I had to take care of in the beginning. In parallel, I also started researching as much as I could for all the questions I had from costs, to what are the best apps to use, recommended reading, to which prenatal vitamins are the best…
Pregnancy Costs:
As an American, I still have the general instinct to worry about how much health care costs are. Luckily the cost of my actual prenatal care will be well reimbursed by the healthcare system. However, since I have decided to give birth at a private clinic there are some additional costs that aren’t fully reimbursed such as having a private room in the hospital and some out-of pocket cost for doctor fees that will amount to about 2,000 euros. In the US that amount doesn’t sound like a lot, but in the French setting if you can avoid paying as much as you can out of pocket the better. To help cover the extra costs in addition to my supplementary insurance, I discovered a complementary insurance option (assurance sur complémentaire), that will help in covering the extra costs for pregnancy related hospitalization that cost around 20euros/per month for a year. With the general health insurance, plus my supplementary coverage, and the new complementary insurance I added, I will be able to get my out-of-pocket costs down even more.
Pregnancy Vocabulary:
Whenever I go to the doctor I like to be equipped with the vocabulary I need to be able to clearly explain how I am feeling and any questions I have. Although I feel comfortable expressing myself in French, there are words I don’t use on a daily basis or never used before related to pregnancy that I wanted to learn. For example, I went to the pharmacy to buy an anti-stretch mark cream and for the life of me couldn’t think of the word in French. To avoid any miscommunication and to widen my French vocabulary I spent some time looking up pregnancy related vocabulary so I would be prepared for my doctors visits.
I found a few helpful articles that put together keywords to know for pregnancy that I found really useful like Le dictionnaire de la grossesse pour la comprendre de A à Z or Petit lexique essentiel de la grossesse.
Pregnancy Recommended Reading:
With some extra down time on my hands during the Covid quarantine, one of my goals was to take advantage of this time to read. I asked around to friends who have had kids here as well as back home for some recommended reading and here some of the suggestions I received.
Bringing up Bébe- Pamela Drunkerman (Secrets of French parenting written by American expat in Paris)
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth- Ina May Gaskins (Written by midwife with over 30 years experience focused on natural births)
L’allaitement - Dr. Marie Thirion (Guide to Breastfeeding)
Like a Mother- Angela Garbes (A Feminist Journey Through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy)
La grossesse des paresseuses - Anna Deville
Mon corps après bébé- Tout (ou presque!) se joue avant 6 semaines (Book about Post-partum)
Bien vivre le quatrième trimestre au naturel- Julia Simon (Post-partum guide written by a naturopathe)
Websites/Blogs/ Apps
In addition to the recommended books above, I found some online resources specific to the French context here that helped me get my bearings. I found I Was finding a lot of information from the US, but since I am giving birth here I wanted to find resources in French that would give me a better vision of how things work here.
Doula Paris (Blog written by a Paris based Doula)
Les Louvres (Blog with a motherhood section)
Neuf Mois (Website, magazine related to all things pregnancy)
Alimenation Grosssese (Helpful app for food restrictions)
La Maison des Maternelles (TV show about pregnancy/parenthood, they also have a Youtube channel)
Radio Doula- Podcast
Well that’s all for now, I look forward to sharing my experience and resources discovered during my second trimester. If you are Mom based in Paris with additional recommendations, please don’t hesitate to share.