Being a foreigner and having a baby in France during the INSEAD MBA

Hello, my friends! My name is Daniel Marino Reis Fideles, INSEAD MBA 25J, and I am writing this testimonial to demonstrate that it is possible to move to a different country with a different language and become a parent while studying a top-notch business programme.

My wife and I are originally from Brazil, and even before starting to date in 2020, I dreamed of doing an MBA at INSEAD. She always knew that dream, and every time we discussed MBA application, timing, financing, etc, she reaffirmed: we will go to this programme together, regardless of the circumstances. Nevertheless, we did not know what God and life had reserved for us.

A few months before starting the MBA programme, we discovered that my wife was pregnant with our first child. For that reason, I started to hesitate and tell her that, if she preferred, we could not go to the programme. Keeping her promise, she told me: "Babies have been born in France for centuries. I do not see any reason why we could not make it."

With her outstanding support, I started to search for INSEAD alumni who had children in France (our preference was to stay in Fontainebleau during the whole programme) to know how their experience evolved. Thankfully, I discovered encouraging stories at the INSEAD blog that fueled our hope of managing both MBA intensity and pregnancy development. Moreover, I reached out to the INSEAD MBA Office, asking for recent alumni contacts whose children were born in Fontainebleau. Promptly, they put me in contact with two amazing people, Jaber Ali and Cristobal Barriga Montes.

Generously, both of them, with their respective wives, accepted right away a deep dive call with us to share every detail of their pregnancy monitoring, hospital enrollment, childbirth, and post-birth trajectories. Based on their learnings and tips, we were confident that we could live the MBA experience alongside childbirth, just as they did.

At this point, you might be wondering: how did you deal with the French health system, language barrier, insurance, and so forth?

We leaned on the MBA Student Life team and received stellar support from Christelle Roux to learn the first steps on every matter, since my wife and I had never lived in France before.

On top of that, we asked my fellow MBA friends for guidance, as many of them either have small kids born in France or are French.

Having gone through this adventure, I have some tips for those who are eager to live the same:

1.  If you do not speak French, study to learn the basics at least. In France, if you know the language, it changes the treatment for the better immediately.   However, if you do not know any, do not worry. You can find very good professionals who speak other languages, for instance, on Doctolib (more details ahead), which has that filter. Moreover, many French professionals either do not know how to speak English but comprehend it quite well, or say that they do not have good English but can be 100% understood when talking.
2. As soon as you discover the pregnancy, tell your MBA Student Life team. They can guide you on what to do next, and this reduces anxiety a lot.
3. Get your partner the MBA health insurance if you are not a local citizen. Reason: it covers almost ALL the expenses related to the pregnancy. Besides, get it for your child when he/she is born as well, for the same reason. Believe me: you will have peace of mind.
4. Share in advance with your professors and colleagues any medical appointment/procedure that might impact assignment delivery, class attendance and exams. Manage your absences wisely and you will be fine. I have not had any issues.
5. If you are in France, create a Doctolib account for you and your partner: This is the French one-stop shop for booking appointments with medical doctors, nurses, psychologists, etc. Virtually, EVERY health professional in France uses it to book consultations. They have a good app for smartphones as well.
6. 
7. Already book your first consultation with a Sage-femme (in English: midwife), the nurse specialised in pregnancy and post-partum. We used Chrystéle Ody, and, beyond being a great professional, she speaks English very well. You can book your appointment via her Doctolib page. Note: her office is at Maison de Santé Universitaire de Fontainebleau (Google Maps). Additionally, she can prescribe examinations and medicines. Therefore, she will guide you on all the next steps regarding ultrasounds, appointments with doctors, vaccines, blood/urine exams, medicines, enrollment in the hospital for childbirth and so forth.
8. Last but not least, in terms of child registration in Fontainebleau city hall, you need to do so within five days of the birth. It is quite easy: go to the city hall, get its documents checklist and complete those whenever your kid is born. You will get the process done in less than 30 minutes. After the birth, tell your embassy (in our case, we consulted the Brazilian Consulate in Paris) about your child as soon as possible to book his/her registration as a citizen and get the passport done so that you can go back to your home country without any hassle.

My friends, that is what I had for today! Thankfully, we could both receive our son and complete the MBA! For sure, to live both journeys well, we needed to reduce the volume of traditional and important MBA activities: social events and trips. Nevertheless, we do not regret it for a minute.

Feel free to contact me if you have any doubts about our journey or how we can support yours with our experience. We know how worrying this phase can be.

Best regards and obrigado (thanks, in Portuguese)!