carzinoz

LOL I am struggling to imagine this scenario! and feeling very very curious as to how baby came to be getting delivered in a loo but it's a bit personal to get in to on a public forum LOL, more of an afternoon tea with the girls chat methinks.

Geordie George

My DS was born at the RPA in Sydney last January.

I can't help with ante-natal classes, as I didn't bother with them here. (I did before my DD was born - in the UK.)

Choosing where to give birth depends on what type of birth you're after. For me, I was after a midwife-led delivery in a setting that was as non-medical as possible. (No, that's not strictly true. I'd have preferred to be at home, but independent midwives are expensive! Because of their insurance.) For that reason, I opted for the birth centre at the RPA. You can ask to tour the options, ask questions and see what feels right for you.

I didn't bother with a birth plan this time. (I did for DD.) But I had a doula, so had someone to advocate for me. I found that the midwives made notes on my yellow card as to what I wanted for the delivery - skin to skin, breastfeeding, delayed cord clamping - and they were respected. I think being in the birth centre helped on that front, which is another reason I chose to go there.

Initially, you get really irregular checks. Monthly? (Can't remember!) Then they ramp up to every two weeks. Once you get to 36 weeks they are weekly. That's fairly standard procedure, I think? (From memory of DD's UK birth!).

Payment depends on whether you opt for private or public care. And, within the public system, whether you go for hospital or shared (GP and hospital) care. I opted for shared. I paid for visits with my GP, but all my hospital appointments were free. Including scans.

Compulsary enema?! No. You don't have to have anything you don't want - internal exams, monitoring, positions etc are all your choice. Active birth is encouraged (at least where I was!) - the midwives worked around me, making sure I was comfortable. I didn't even approach the bed until well after DS was born and spent most of the time I was in the birth centre in the shower.

Yep, you can do a visit like I said - it's helpful in deciding where you want to be.

After the baby is born and you're out of hospital, you can choose to get a follow-up visit from a Child & Family Health Nurse (from a early childhood health clinic). They are primarily there to check up on Bub, not you. I found that the onus was on me to get DS's weight checked, immunisations sorted etc. (For growth checks just pop along to your local chemist - they tend to do weekly baby clinics, run by a nurse. Sounds odd, I know! But they work.)

As a public hospital patient, I paid nothing. The scans were free, the birth was free, meals were free. Even when DS went to HDU, that was all free (heart scans, xrays, a million blood tests ...). Actually, I'm grateful for being public in that respect - I'd hate to have been concerned about costs at a time like that.

Congratulations!

LINZI

Congrats on your news

carzinoz

Thanks Geordie for all the detail. Wow, I'm thinking this is going to be very different from last time round. I need to think about my preferences, I wasn't taking the idea that I was going to be listened to very seriously before but it sounds from your experience like I'm going to have some support and control this time

By the way my hubby just made a cake....would you like a bit?, it's got cocaine in it you will, you will.

Anastasia Beaverhausen

Coffee soon? Make a list of questions

I'd chance your luck and ask for MGP too, can't fault them, best way to have a baby in the gong, but don't ask for an epidural!!

carzinoz

MGP....That's the midwifes unit right? They didn't have space to take me on. Last time I was in the "midwifes ward" as opposed to the "labour ward". I had no idea there was any difference (noone explained or mabye I missed that in ante natal class) and didn't find out until I was 11 hours in to labour and I suggested now was a good time for them to give me an epidural. You should have seen their faces

Coffee will have to wait a while. I'm covering my pal's family day care for a month. If there's no time during the day we might just have to go belly dancing instead

PS Julie's a granny now

Stu Ward

Hiya it's Lou here.

Congratulations so excited for you all

As mentioned by Stu we had Evie in Wollongong, and i was fortunate to get into the MGP. I wasn't at first but got put on a waiting list as they were having a new midwife start. She was brilliant and saw me at regular times throughout my pregnancy and was only a phone call away if i had any questions.

We never paid anything throughout either.
I felt more than happy with how we were looked after, and didn't feel that we needed to pay privately, however its always a personal choice.

Good luck with whatever you decide and remember to use your voice if you are unhappy or confused about something!!!!
Must catch up soon x

saranstuart

Hello!
I am new to this Forum : )
My husband has been offered a job in Wollongong, so i have been tasked with all the research for the move, We just recently found out that we are expecting in March & looking to move in the next 8 weeks from the UK.

Any advice on antenatal costs, good schools/nurserys in the area would be much appreciated, We have a 3 year old & a 1 year old, plus bump : )

Thank you, Sara

carzinoz

Hi Sara,

Congratulations on hubby's new job, the move and the bump

I think the cost of things might depend on whether you are permanant visa holders or temp visa holders. I'm PR so this is based on that...

Ante natal costs - doc visits are about $60 for a 15 min appointment with about $30 able to be claimed back on medicare. Ante natal clinic appointments at the hospital have been free. Had two blood tests so far, both free. Two scans at about $145 each, can claim back about half. Ante natal classes are run by the hospital and cost about $150 for the course. Then there's iron tabs, folate etc which won't be prescribed, you pay for those yourself which are about the same as UK prices.

Childcare - For under twos the sooner you get on a waiting list the better. A lot of centres are over two's only so there are less places for that age group. Choice is long day care/pre-school (same thing pretty much) or family day care which is same as childminder. F.Daycare is about $6ph and again, north of the gong you need to get on waiting list asap. There are governement subsidies for approved care but I'm not up on that as haven't used it (try looking up family assist). I did placement at the Montessori pre-school in Balgownie and I thought they were excellent. (look up my child website)

Schools - my daughter goes to Woonona Public school which I have found to be really good. Kids start later here - age 5 or 6 and the school year starts in January. If you rent the chances are you will move again before kiddie starts school so perhaps it's not something you need to worry about too much at the moment? Think there is a government website rating the schools but can't remember what you need to look up for that.

How are you feeling about the move? Excited? Apprehensive? Where are you staying to start off with?

Caroline

paddyo

Hi Sara,
Congrats on the job and impending move to 'The Gong'! I can certainly echo what Caroline says, we are currently here on a 457 Temp Business Visa and are going through our Permanent Resident Visa process now (hopefully not too long to wait!).
The biggest concerns most families have when coming here is picking the right schools and areas for their kids, but really around here they are much of a muchness. If you intend to work and want to put your children in childcare then it can be expensive especially if you are on a 457 Visa as you will get no Child Care Credits, anything upwards of $60 per day per child is the norm.
You don't have to worry about the actual school yet so you will have plenty of time to look around when you get here.
Location can be tricky. As with Caroline, we live on the northern beach suburbs of Wollongong. To us as a family it has several positives; beach!!, direct train line to Wollongong and Sydney, recognisable demographic, decent schools and a lot of extra curricular activities for kids post school and at weekends/school holidays. Ensure you leave your rose tinted spectacles at home, life here can be great but also some things (like houses!!) are very expensive to buy and renting is very common here.
Have a think about what you, as a family, like to do in your spare time. If you fancy the idea of a beach lifestyle then definately look at the suburbs north of Wollongong (Woonona, Bulli and Thirroul in particular). If you are not fussed then look more west of Wollongong (Figtree, Farmborough Heights, Mt Ousley/Balgownie). A rough guide for renting is about $400-$600 per week for a decent 3 bed place dependant on your location and its closeness to public transport and the beach.
Will your OH prospective company be providing initial accomodation for when you get here? That USUALLY happens, e.g. a 2/3 bed serviced apartment for 4 weeks, but if its a small company they may be tighter on the overheads.
As for Wollongong itself, well, its OK in my opinion but nothing more than that. It has all the amenities you would need but my advice would be to try and find a place to live away from the centre which can be a bit 'vibrant' at night!
I am lucky in that I can work from home but also have to go into Sydney regularly, its only a 90 minute train journey direct into the heart of the city. By the way, people here often commute more than an hour each way to work, sometimes 2-3 hours, so there is a slightly different mentality to commuting here. If you intend to get a car when out here then that will give you more options on location, depending on who gets the car of course!! I really would suggest that you find a place near the train line and let OH use that to commute and you can have the car to explore and meet new friends.

Stu Ward

Hi Sara this is Louise Stuart's OH

We moved here in 2008 on a 457 visa which we have just re extended but are looking to go PR at the end of the year. I fell pregnant with my second child within a few week of moving here, so very unexpected and quite daunting as i was only used to the British system. But i have to say i was very well looked after. We have a reciprocal Medicare card and this helped with the cost of hospital and doctor appointments. As caroline said you do have to pay for scans which are about $140 but you do get about half of that back. I didn't however pay for anything else. I never bothered with anti natal assecond time round knew what to expect!

I was fortunate enough to get into the Midwife's group, which is a group of say 3 midwives, one assigned to you, but any other hiccups then you see one of the others. They were fantastic all the way through my pregnancy, and if you can get your name down then do so

Wollongong hospital i found to be like any other hospital, i was happy to go there as didn't plan on staying in there for too long, however if you opt to go private they tend to keep you in for about a week, and at the cost of around $3000 !!

Good luck with the move and we must meet up when you get over here, we know what it is like to be first timers so keep us posted on your news!

Louise

carzinoz

The midwives group sounds ideal Lou, wish I'd been able to get in. Sara, my GP advised me that to get in now you have to practically put your name down the moment you conceive. Think they only take the cases that are anticipated to be straight forward too.

The choice for care is a) midwifes group b) shared care between GP and hospital or c) obstetricians which my GP advised against as lots of trainees.

The wait for your first hospital ante-natal appointment at Wollongong is 6 weeks from when you first call to make the appointment. So as soon as you get here and get an address be sure to start things in motion, first step would be to see your GP.

BTW you can go to any GP here, doesn't matter which area you are in. I'm doing shared care and mine has been great.

Vibrant Paddy LOL....that'll be all the wee lassies stoatin along in high heels on a saturday night will it?

paddyo

lol....well..I was being polite!! I think its bogan world but I can be a bit snobbish at times!! For some reason young ladies here dress up for a night in the local pub as if they are going to an awards ceremony...and not in a good way! Very trashy. As for the guys..well...it could well be my age but I just think they are a bunch of numpties with not one ounce of social class within them.

saranstuart

Hi Ladies,
Thank you all for your advice
Louise the midwife group sound like my best option, hopefully i will be lucky enough to get on the list & it would be great to meet up when we make our move.

Paddy we are looking for a serviced apt for around 4/5 weeks, the company are working with us on costs so hoping they will cover some if not all of this for us. How long were you out on your visa before you applied for residency?

Not sure where we are staying to start, will look for serviced apts in the next week or so, i am very excited about the move, my husband has been away working in dubai since May so we are looking forward to being back as a family.
Stuart is happy to commute up to an hour, i was considering shipping the car as i have found that they are pretty expensive out there. Slightly apprehensive about keeping up the antenatal care, although once i get on a list i'm sure it will be fine

Sara

carzinoz

Baby brain and managing your own ante natal care....I forgot to go to the GP at 24 weeks and when I turned up at 28 weeks (for something else) she frowned and asked was I still doing shared care, woops LOL