Her baby decided to show up at the same time as Cyclone Chido, on Saturday December 14, 2024. Bérengère has lived in Mayotte for seven years, she is herself a midwife… and now a mother. Like other women, this resident of Tsingoni, in the west of Grande-Terre, gave birth while the cyclone swept across the archipelago. “At 10 a.m. in the morning, my water broke, just before the worst of the cyclone arrived”she says, three weeks after the birth of her son.
“The roads were blocked, so I told myself that I would stay calm at home so as not to contract, try to delay the birth as much as possible”explains Bérengère.
No network all day : Bérengère is cut off from the world until her colleague Audrey, who also lives in Tsingoni, visits her home the next morning. “You open the gate for me and you tell me : 'I cracked yesterday and I'm contracting'. And there I say to myself 'oh no'. We didn't have a suction cup, we didn't have anything to suture, we didn't have anything at all.”remembers his colleague.
Labor has started, but Bérengère cannot give birth at home. Audrey then leaves to find a satellite radio. “I run as fast as I can, climbing trees, going around huge sheets of metal”says the young woman.
He is informed that at the Mamoudzou hospital, the landing zone is destroyed. No SMUR helicopter will be able to land there. Meanwhile, Bérengère is still patient : “I was still in my contractions, so I was really focused on my pain.”
On Sunday afternoon, the gendarmerie sent a helicopter. Luckily, Bérengère's house is right next to the stadium, where the device can land. “From the moment the helicopter landed, all the pressure went down, we said to ourselves 'we're saved',” remembers Audrey. “It was already the first time that I had been in a helicopter! saw all the vegetation. There was nothing left, everything was flat. A horrible vision from the top of Mayotte…”explains Bérengère.
According to Audrey, “the police were super nice”more “were a little stressed though”. “They're not used to having pregnant women in labor in their helicopters, so they gave me a good look and said 'you're sure she's not going to give birth on the road ?’“
Arriving in Mamoudzou, the helicopter manages to land near the port. Transported to the maternity ward which was largely spared by the cyclone, Bérengère was finally able to give birth on December 15, surrounded by her midwife colleagues. “The girls wouldn’t have been there, more serious things could have happened”said Bérengère, her throat tight. She called her little boy Ezio, even though everyone told her “baby Chido, baby Chido”. A “unprecedented, unforgettable experience, that’s for sure”underlines the young mother.
A woman gives birth during the passage of Cyclone Chido in Mayotte, report by Agathe Mahuet and Gilles Gallinaro
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