UK couple living in remote French barn guided through birth on call

A British woman is reported to have given birth to a baby boy in a remote barn in the Hautes-Pyrénées, after her partner received instructions by phone on Saturday (August 12).

The couple live in the barn near Arrens-Marsous, a village of 700 people located in the Pyrenées mountain chain along the Spanish border.

The couple does not speak French so all instructions had to be given in English. “It was a bit complicated,” first-aid workers told France Bleu Béarn.

The wife is said to have begun feeling contractions around 20:00, too late for the couple to travel to hospital or services to drive to them.

Their location was so remote that instead of an ambulance or other road vehicle, a helicopter was sent out to the couple.

When the helicopter arrived, the baby had already been born. The couple was taken to Tarbes’ hospital by doctors of the SMUR and first-aid workers of Pierrefitte-Nestalas. Both the mother and child are reported to be doing well.

Neither shop owners, Arrens-Marsous’ tourism office nor mairie officials said they knew of the couple in the village when asked by The Connexion.

Mairie officials said no British couple had yet come to the mairie to register the birth.

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