Geordie George

Just after a bit of help, please. I''m currently 9 weeks pregnant with my second child (the first was born in the UK) and I need to decide about the care that I'll receive throughout this pregnancy. I'm planning to give birth at the RPA in Sydney, but don't know whether to opt for the hospital or the birth centre. And I don't know whether to just go for hospital care or to go for shared care. My current doctor is excellent (it's not a bulk billing practice, but I'm not too concerned about the cost aspect) and offers shared care, so that's an option. I don't want to go private.

Any insights into antenatal care here would be much appreciated. And any (maternity!) experiences of the RPA would be gratefully received. Are there any positives/negatives to be aware of for each option in terms of who you see/when/how often?

Thanks.

moneypenny20

No idea hon. Many congrats

Sally Redux

Many congrats GG.

Geordie George

Would really appreciate any advice bump.

Jerseygirl

Congratulations N.

Sally Redux

I don't know anything about the Aus system but if you had no problems the first time I can recommend a home birth or as close to that as possible.

asprilla

Ok, this is probably useless advice coming from a bloke up in brisbane but here goes.

My wife faced the same choices that you do currently, and she opted for share care. The main reason was convenience, her local GP is a 1 min drive away and but also, he's been the family doctor for a long long time. In the end she chose that option over the drive to the RBH. Also RBH appointments would be in the day time, but the gp would see her in the evening if she preferred.

In terms of "birth centre" or hospital, there was not really a choice as such, you need to put your name forward for the birth centre and there is only a low probability that you will be selected. My wife however preferred the hospital option anyway. With the hospital option you have doctors right outside your room if required; I'm pretty sure that's not the case in the birthing centre. Furthermore there had been some bad press at the time, re: RBH birthing centre, an internal Qld Health report suggested that it wasn't as safe an option as the hospital birth. Whether that is true or not, I can't say. But it didn't influence my wife's choice, the main factor was the proximity of doctors if required.

best of luck whatever you decide - and congratulations.

lucy.summers

Hi - I had my baby girl last June and opted for shared care.

2 main reasons were:
1) I knew my doctor and trusted him
2) Not sure what the antenatal clinic is like at RPS but at Joondalup in Perth they give a number of women the same appointment time and have a certain number of consultants / midwifes there to see them...BUT...they are the same ones on duty for labour ward so can get called away at any time in which case you can wait 1 1/2 to 2 hours past your appointment time to see them, whereas I knew at the doctor I would be seen pretty much at the time I booked!

One down side I had was that the doctors surgery I go to didn't have a doppler so we only heard the heartbeat at the 18 week scan and then when I was going up to the hospital after 36 weeks when care was transfered. I wasn't as stressed this time round (being number 2 for me too) and could see that she was growing nicely but if hearing the heartbeat is something you need for reassurance just check your surgery has one.

If you have any other questions feel free to PM me

Good Luck with it all

Geordie George

Thanks for the help. I've decided on shared care. I think that the hospital care will end up wasting too much time. And I don't think it offers enough benefits to outweigh the gap costs of shared care. I like the idea of seeing my family GP as much as possible. Don't really care about the doppler, but I shall ask anyway - thank you for the heads up on that.

And I've opted for the birth centre. And got in! Not too many bookings for January yet. I think I'd prefer to be attended by a team of midwives, rather than an OB. And I'm not too concerned about things going wrong. They went wrong last time precisely because we were in hospital.

Sally - Iris was a planned homebirth. But it's not the same this time as we're only renting. And, besides, our house doesn't have air con and the birth centre does. Think I'll need that in the middle of summer here.

bex77

Hi George,

Looks like you have already made your decision about Shared Care, but if you have any other Q's about RPA BC then I might be able to assist.

I am booked into RPA Birth Centre for my 1st bubs birth in September.
For me the choice was easy as even though my local GP is registered with RPA for shared care, I wasn't that impressed with him when I went to see him about this pregnancy. On the rare occasions that I do go to the GP I see a different Dr at the same practice, so I felt I would be better going with full midwife care at the BC.
I'm happy with my decision so far - but have only had first booking visit at 18wks and then standard Obs visit at 22/23wks - my next appointment is next week for the glucose tolerance test when I'll be just over 27wks. I now have all of my appointments booked in until the day after my due date. I have noticed that they seem to 'stretch' out the appointments so you don't get them exactly every 4wks... but they move to about 2.5 - 3wks apart after this and then down to weekly from the 36wk mark.
They are also available on the phone 24/7 if you have any questions or concerns - sometimes the lines are busy, but you just have to keep trying and you can speak to a midwife if they are not attending to a patient.
I spoke to one of them at 7:30am the other morning no problem.

al dente

I did shared care at Royal Women's in Randwick. The system really worked for me.

If you choose to go down the birth centre route, at RWR, and i suspect the RPA will be similar, the birth centre is just down the corridor from the labour wards, so if you do need drastic medical intervention it is available.

My birthing experience, despite emergency c-section in the end, is so much nicer than my girlfriends' that went through the UK system (mostly in London). I was given a private room and had a fridge for the champagne and DH stayed in with me for 3 of the 5 nights i was there. The post natal wards are max 2 in a room, should you have to share.