How I survived a record Paris heatwave while seven months pregnant
Paris experienced its worst heatwave on record, surpassing 2019 and 2003. A journalist, seven months pregnant, describes her week of extreme heat, including lack of air conditioning, cancelled medical appointments, and rising death toll.
Monday: Plans disrupted
In the summer of 2019, when Paris was about to have its hottest day in history, the author decided to test various cooling strategies around the city. It was not fun and they did not help. Last week, Paris faced an even worse heatwave, surpassing the 2003 event that killed nearly 15,000 people. The author now lives in Seine-Saint-Denis, the poorest department in mainland France and one of the most exposed to extreme heat, and is seven months pregnant.
Tuesday: Problems begin
When she found out she was pregnant, her greatest anxiety was giving birth in summer – many French hospitals lack air conditioning and are not built for heatwaves. She planned to attend an information session on the extreme heat plan, but it was cancelled due to the heat. A friend a few weeks further along checked into an air-conditioned hotel because heat in her apartment caused contractions. The hotel is reportedly full of other pregnant women, but it’s not affordable for most. The author rented a portable air conditioner due for delivery tomorrow, hoping it will last until the weekend when the heat is expected to break.
Wednesday: Heat and public health
At a morning meeting at a public health office, it was already 30°C at 9:30am, and staff made people queue outside, though she was let in quickly due to her condition. While filling forms, a woman collapsed from apparent heatstroke in reception. A friend away offered her a desk in an air-conditioned office. At a nearby childcare center, staff taped reflective recovery blankets over windows and sprayed toddlers with a hose. A man had set up his belongings under a shaded archway to sleep through the hottest part of the day. The magazine office where she works is in a converted factory above a modeling agency; staff looked horrified as she lumbered in. The rented AC was delayed and arrived after midnight; she was too exhausted to set it up.
Thursday: Struggling with the heat
The AC didn't work because opening the window for the exhaust pipe let in too much heat. When her partner came home, he properly installed the window kit, and the temperature finally dropped. On social media, everyone talked only about the heat. A new father in Bordeaux shared a video from a maternity unit where it was 36°C and a healthcare worker collapsed from heatstroke. There were 25 heart attacks in 24 hours across Paris.
Friday: Despair
The author spent the morning indoors with shutters closed, then went to the office. People in the park sat listlessly on shaded benches at 38°C with no breeze; the fountain provided only brief relief. She notes that media shows young men backflipping into canals, but not the homeless woman also seven months pregnant living on the street, nor children sent home from unsafe classrooms, nor hospitals unable to care for patients. Emergency services reported 109 deaths in 24 hours in Paris, compared to a normal seven. In the west of the city, a bus driver succumbed to the heat and crashed into a tree.
Saturday: Giving up
Her body gave up – aching all over and leg cramps. In the afternoon, she tried to stay cool in a local park with her dog, sticking to shade. Her neighborhood has no air-conditioned “refreshment rooms” in government buildings as provided in central Paris town halls. Instead, she took shelter in a cinema. By the end of the week, health authorities announced 1,000 deaths in France over three days. Four toddlers died in hot cars, and drowning deaths reached 74.
Reflections
The author felt anxiety about global heating in 2019, but now is furious. French fossil fuel company TotalEnergies reported a profit of €5.8 billion in the first quarter of 2026, and the AI lobby is pushing the EU to abandon already inadequate climate goals to prioritize building data centers. City authorities have implemented some measures, but she feels abandoned by those in power. French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday: “We cannot adapt to a heatwave that has no equivalent in Europe today and has never had an equivalent in our history.” Forecasters predict another extreme heatwave next week.
