Unexpected Homebirth.
“We knew the birth of Clémentine would be different from Zoe’s. All births are unique. Clementine's would be different from Zoe's because we couldn't organise a home birth in Abu Dhabi. We still asked ourselves at the beginning of the pregnancy whether to return to Sydney for the birth, to give birth “at home, with Cara”. Or to go to France to have a home birth. But those options meant being far from home, from our bubble. We asked what was possible in the Emirates. We found the only place where it was possible to give birth in water in Abu Dhabi, at Burjeel Hospital.
I wasn’t excited to give birth in a hospital, but we had no choice. We would have to deal with it. I visited the birth room with a bathtub three times, met the midwives, we told them about our birth plan, apparently different from what they are used to. In the Emirates, the presence of an obstetriciangynaecologist during childbirth is mandatory. The gynaecologist we had chosen respected our choices and our birth plan. The whole team of midwives had taken note of it, which was very reassuring. Kim and I left confident from our last visit to the delivery room at the end of July, I even told him “I want to give birth right away!”.”
