[Mise à jour à 18h27 : la totalité des sages-femmes hospitalières sont arrêtées]
“I was followed up at Nevers Hospital every month for my pregnancy, as there were complications. Since September, I have been hearing that midwives and doctors are having problems recruiting. But I did not think that childbirth will end! »
Like Amelie, an expectant mother of Nevers, many expectant parents of Nevers have been shocked and worried since the announcement, Journal of the Centre, that childbirth in Nevers Maternity Ward was no longer possible, at least not in an emergency. From Monday, April 11, the maternity ward can only care for mothers who have a cervix dilation greater than five centimeters. That is, very close to childbirth. And who could not go anywhere but Nevers.
Auxerre, Borges, Moulins…
But for many, you should consider going elsewhere. Auxerre, Bourges, Moulins… and mothers giving birth there should be sent with their baby to these other maternity units for follow-up.
If I give birth at Nevers Hospital, where will I be transferred?
A future mother
At issue: a large number of sick leaves among maternity ward midwives, who say they are exhausted after months of understaffing. On Tuesday, April 12, in the evening, all fourteen hospital midwives were arrested, the midwives themselves said. “My due date is May 1, but my uterus has already changed a bit. In Nevers, I am told that it is possible to give birth, but only if I really want to give birth. If so, after giving birth, I will be sent to another maternity ward with the baby. If it’s Dijon, you can see the road,” worries Amelie, who is expecting her first child.
Friday, April 15, will be her last pregnancy consultation. Originally from Riom, she wants to contact the maternity hospital in Clermont-Ferrand to see if she can give birth there. “If I give birth in Nevers Hospital, where will I be transferred afterwards? Because I guess it depends on the free/available places… I really don’t want to get down that far from home, when I have a maternity ward on my doorstep. »
Laura is also near the end. He was delivered in two weeks. “This is the first baby for us, childbirth is already a special stress. It is unknown. And now, we don’t know where to go…”. She lives in Saint-Eloy and likes to expect: she contacted the Moulins hospital to see if she could give birth there. The organization accepted. “They were very understanding. »
Knowing that neither I nor my spouse transport, I am very, very, very worried.
A future mother
Manon, 25, from Neversoy, is 32 weeks pregnant. She already has several children and is used to high-risk pregnancies. “I usually go into labor prematurely between 29 and 38 weeks and I need medical help. So I can give birth anytime. Knowing that neither I nor my spouse transport, I am very, very, very worried. I was informed about the temporary closure of the hospital through the article (from Center Journal, Editor’s Comment), I had no information from the hospital. »
What to do when giving birth?
And to add: “On Wednesday, April 6, they just told me that my appointment that was to take place two days later has been postponed for a month without further explanation. I am being followed by a generous midwife, as I have to have an observation every week. I will meet him, to resolve. He might be able to answer my questions, guide me. I don’t know where else to turn. No one has the answer. It’s stressful, I’m in pain. I have trouble sleeping. I’m afraid to give birth in a house surrounded by firefighters.
“We are walking on the head! »
The lack of information puts Charlotte, a Neversayse with less than a week left, on her nerves. She had an appointment at the hospital on Monday April 11 for her last pregnancy ultrasound. “I was not told anything. I got to know this information through the Facebook page Center Journal. We are not dogs. It seems to be omerta. »
It’s her first delivery and Charlotte is worried about the situation. The hospital tells her that she can give birth on the spot and then she will be transferred. “But if there are no more midwives, if there are more than one woman at the same time, what will they do? You ask yourself this question, though it is not for us to ask ourselves. We tell ourselves that the one whose situation is most critical will be taken care of. But we don’t know. In 2022, we will walk on the head! »
Sunday, I had to go to the emergency room, I was 2 cm dilated. (…) If something happens to me, what will I do, where will I go? It’s totally stressful.
In Bulcy, towards Pouilly-sur-Loire, Séverine, 44, is about to give birth. “I am coming up on week 36. This is my fourth child, and I have struggled since 30 weeks, when I almost gave birth. Sunday April 10th, I had to go to the emergency room, I was 2 cm dilated. I was finally able to get home, but I know it could happen at any time. If something happens to me, what will I do, where will I go? It is total pressure, which can advance my delivery”.
“This should be a moment of joy, it has become a moment of terror.”
On Tuesday, April 12, she tried all morning to join the maternity ward. In vain. “So I called 15. They tell me to go to Moulins or Bourges, but it is an hour or three-quarters of an hour away. And if the contractions are close together, they will send an ambulance, which will transfer me to one of these two hospitals. But anyway, you have to go through them to transfer my file to another hospital. One has a sense of abandonment. It is: “Make your own way”. I will not go to the hotel next to the hospital for fifteen days. »
Severin continued: “This should be a moment of joy, it becomes a moment of panic. We are not in the country of war! I’m crazy. I understand the inconvenience, the annoyance, the fatigue. But burnout causes others to drop everything, to shut down a service overnight. It’s not the patients fault. Those responsible must be held accountable. All we ask is to bring our child into the world in good condition and with dignity. »
He had to “accidentally” drop his belongings
Some women had just given birth when the service was stopped. Like Jessica, who gave birth to her second child on Sunday. He appreciates the work of the team, but regrets the way he was informed, on Monday afternoon, about transferring his baby to the Burgess Maternity Ward, because there was no other midwife there from 8pm, “despite our request really without further explanation”. Jessica explained that she had to leave her things “in the lurch”. “It was total anarchy in the maternity ward to be able to transfer the people who attended before 8pm as quickly as possible. This situation upset us greatly because we wanted the best for our children and ourselves. »
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Lydie Ratheu, the Nivernais spokeswoman for Confederation Paysan, Sylvain Ratheu was also transferred to another maternity hospital with their second child after giving birth on Saturday evening. Destination Auxerre. She was the last one informed and did not understand what was going on in the maternity ward.
“In the afternoon, I felt that something was wrong. I heard mommy cry: I thought it was because of the baby blues. But no, it wasn’t.” Half an hour after being informed, Lydie Ratheu left with her baby. “We had to find a car seat. All this in a hurry. Me, I didn’t want to go to Auxerre with the baby in my arms. So they got the maternity car seat. Borrowed on a stretcher”.
“We land in places we don’t know”
Ma thinks he has done better in terms of destination than others. Auxerre is about the same distance from his home as Nevers, which is near Corbigny. But once she arrived in Auxerre, she felt disorganized: she had to find a room, fill out a file, while her baby wanted to breastfeed. “For me, motherhood feels like my home. They followed up on me, etc. There, we land in a place we don’t know… Pfff”. In Nevers, he believes that “the staff did their best”. But he doesn’t understand that we have reached this stage in the government hospital. »
Jenny Pierre and Marlene Martin
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