Birth of Candice in the fire truck
Candice was born on Monday March 11 in the fire engine, when the snow was falling in gusts in the Pas-de-Calais …
On Monday March 11, the north of France experienced heavy rainfall and the temperature was around minus 5 degrees. Shortly before midnight, in Burbure, in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Céline, pregnant and at term, and her companion Maxime, must make an urgent decision, despite the record snowfall outside. Celine feels more and more strong and regular contractions. “I was at the clinic the same morning to have a monitoring check-up. The midwife told me that I won’t give birth until the weekend, or next week, so I went home ”. But the same evening, everything rushes. It is 22:30 p.m. when the young woman begins to bleed. “Above all, I felt the little one coming. “ Maxime calls the fire department. Outside, there is already 10 cm of snow.
A nurse called in for help
The firefighters arrive and decide to take the mother-to-be to the maternity ward. They install him in the truck and Maxime follows behind, in his car.“The trip to the clinic took them an hour altogether. We stopped twice. Especially once so that the firefighter nurse can join us. The cries of the young woman indeed prompted the firefighters to ask for reinforcement. They are therefore joined on the road by the nurse. “She was trying to reassure me,” explains Céline. But I felt that she was not at ease ”. It was, in fact, the first childbirth of this professional.
“The firefighter nurse attached to the health service of the barracks is a volunteer firefighter trained in paramedics, specifies Jacques Foulon, chief nurse of the departmental fire and rescue directorate of Pas-de-Calais. Depending on the reason, he may be accompanying the intervention team or called in as a backup during an exceptional event such as that of Monday evening. In 2012, on average, there were 4 such interventions per month. “
Express delivery on the road
It is 23:50 p.m., the snow continues to fall, the truck is rolling, and Céline can’t take it anymore. “I only thought of one thing, give birth as soon as possible. I felt my daughter coming. “ The young woman dreamed of a delivery without epidural, the least medicalized possible. It is served! While the firefighters hope to arrive as soon as possible so that the delivery takes place in the labor room, Céline, on the contrary, prays for the birth to occur as soon as possible, even in the truck. “I felt my baby was coming and I was very happy! “ The young woman does not remember having been hurt or cold.She only thought of her little girl and giving birth on the spot. At 23:57 p.m., it was granted. The baby’s head comes out. The truck stops. Candice was born! A firefighter comes out to announce the good news to dad, alone in his car in the back, under the snow.
The most magical for Céline? “In the fire engine, my baby stayed snuggled up to me. My eldest son was immediately taken to an incubator. There, everything went faster, in a very natural way and I kept my baby with me. ”
No epidural but a blanket of snow: it is with a little eagerness but a lot of poetry that little Candice came into the world.