Give birth as naturally as possible but in complete safety.
This is what the Coulommiers maternity hospital (Seine-et-Marne) now offers.
“It's like giving birth at home but in a secure environment,” explains Nathalie Surowaniec, midwife at the Grand Hôpital de l'Est Ile-de-France (Ghef) to which the Coulommiers site belongs.
In a blazing room of the columérien hospital, everything will be done naturally.
No epidural, no cesarean section, no injection of hormones to initiate or accelerate labor, or episiotomy.
"No doctor", only a midwife and a childcare assistant
Obviously, all this does not happen without a minimum of preparation.
And you have to meet health conditions and not present crippling diseases or risks.
“Interviews with patients who want to give birth in this way are done as early as the fourth month.
They are reassessed in the eighth and ninth month.
We reserve the right until the end, and for purely medical reasons, not to welcome patients in the nature room ”, clarifies Pauline Overtoom, midwife at Ghef.
In this case, the parturient would then go to a “conventional” delivery room in the Coulommiers maternity hospital.
In the nature room, only a midwife and a childcare assistant are present.
But you should know that midwives have followed extensive medical studies and are trained in childbirth.
No panic, then.
And if things took a delicate turn requiring a cesarean, for example, the patient would immediately be taken to the operating room, which is right next door "there is only one door to go", informs Pauline Overtoom.
"There is no doctor in the nature room, adds Ghef's obstetrician Marie-Christine Zalasko with a reassuring smile," but the doctor is not far away!
"
Bathtub, lianas for hanging, music of your choice ...
This brand new nature room includes a very large bathtub, "lianas" (kinds of sheets hanging from the ceiling), a round bed and a more classic table.
The principle is that the patient settles where she wants during all the duration of the work.
She can use whatever is available to her, including vines she can hang from, to ease and control the pain.
“Everything is designed to relieve the patient and help her,” says Pauline Overtoom.
The whole room, which has been refurbished, cost the Ghef 200,000 euros.
In addition to the medical equipment, the color and intensity of the light are adjustable and patients can play their favorite music in the room.
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Isabelle, 28, from Citry, is pregnant and close to childbirth.
She could be the first mother to give birth in the nature room.
She already gave birth to a little boy 2 years ago.
“I gave birth vaginally but with an epidural.
It was too dosed.
I didn't feel anything.
For the second delivery, I wanted no anesthesia.
When she went to the maternity ward for her first date, she expressed this wish and it was then that she was offered the nature room.
For Isabelle, the absence of an epidural means “to recover faster.
And the child suffers less inconvenience.
He has less of the feeling of suffocation.
"
One or two "natural" births per day expected
Contacted, a midwife practicing in private notes that there is more and more demand for natural childbirth.
For the director of Ghef, Jean-Christophe Phelep, investing in such equipment corresponds to a real strategy.
“We care about Coulommiers maternity.
We must maintain momentum.
We are not satisfied with the 700 annual births
(Editor's note: 734 births in 2019 and 738 in 2020).
This room offers a plus to moms and dads.
The idea is to prevent patients wishing to benefit from this method from having to go to Paris.
“We hope for one or two births in a nature room per day,” concludes Nathalie Surowaniec.
