mosman man

Morning all,

The missus and I want another baby - and are considering using our PR/citizen status to move out in the next 12 months.

I'm wondering what folks' experience of maternity care in Aust - esp NSW or VIC - was like.

We had our first baby in London in a big NHS hospital and were none too impressed.

Thought, impressions, warnings and experiences all welcome!

Cheers....

Petals

You get to choose the doc if you have health insurance. I had my two children here many moons ago and the care was great. My daughter has friends who have just had children in the public system not the private and they both had the best of care.

I have no problem with the hospitals here and we have had a lot to do with them as my daughter has chronic conditions which require a lot of docs and hospitalisation from time to time.

Pomster

I had our first child here in Melbourne 18 months ago- was a bit disappointed that Medicare did not offer that someone else gestated for me!

Actually I had a great experience. I had private health insurance, so chose my obstretrician whom I visited monthly/weekly/daily (as pregnancy progresses) and went to one of the hospitals she attends. Not sure if this is the same for public hospitals.

I ended up needing an emergency Cesear, and the hospital was fab. Hubby was disappointed that the option for going to stay in a 5 stay holiday was removed due to my op...he fancied room service and a stay somewhere posh!
Care generally was second to none....

TillyG

You can either go private or go through the public system. Next time around, we are planning to go through the public system as we had DD in the UK on the NHS and I personally don't see the benefit of going private. If you have a "group midwife team" at your local public hospital then you get assigned your own midwife anyway so get good 1-on-1 care.

The beauty of going under the midwife team is that they are happy to discharge you just 24 hours after the birth. I think under the normal public "clinic" it's 48 hours and privately they like you to stay in for 4-5 days! Obviously, if you have c-section you need to stay in for a good few days but again, for me personally, I was itching to get out of hospital when I had DD as I just wanted my own bed and to crack on with things!

Reading fan

I had my second child in Oz and it was a fantastic experience. I was classed as extremely high risk and my care reflected this. I wasn't private but after my first child in Ireland the care was private standard in my opinion. I had a private room with ensuite facilties and one of the most sort after obs. professors in the area. I honestly can fault anything

midwifetanya

Hi Guys,



Had my last baby six months ago here in Brisbane Privately....
In retrospect, I wish I hadn't wasted the money. I work in the public system, and it's just as good as private IMO.
Tan

DownUnderPaddy

We are using a public, midwife led, family birth centre at the Mercy Hospital in Heidelberg, Melbourne for the birth of our first child.
http://www.mercy.com.au/html/s02_art...&nav_top_id=84

Coincidentally, this article was in Fridays Age :
http://www.smh.com.au/news/lifeandst...145589248.html

"The analysis, which is the largest undertaken in the world, also found that women in midwife-led models of care were less likely to be admitted to hospital during pregnancy, have instrumental deliveries, episiotomies or require analgesia and were more likely to have spontaneous vaginal births, feel in control during labour and better able to initiate breastfeeding."

bridie

Had my baby private..... main benefit was getting a room to myself rather than having to share. Cant complain about the docs although the midwives did my head in - taking ages to come (short staffed of course!) when you buzzed and a few other issues.

IF (and it's a big IF!) we had another I'd go private, mainly as you can come home the following day (assuming all was straightforward) and the midwive will visit you at home for four or five days - going private I had no visit from anyone until a week after discharge.

michael_w

We had out first in London. Not that impressed with the hospital, but the GP care in the UK was great. Had the second in a Sydney public hospital and it was just the opposite experience: great hospital care, but almost no GP or nurse follow up afterwards. Also think private health cover is a waste of money for childbirth ... having seen some of the cheap motel-like private hospitals here.

JAJ

Out of interest, what is meant by "PR/citizen"? Is one of you a citizen and the other a PR? Or something else?

DownUnderPaddy

Well, our beautiful baby girl, Niamh, arrived last Sunday morning at 08:45.
My wife, trooper she is, laboured at home until she felt it was time to get the middies involved and at 6:30am grunted the command to get her down to the birth centre. We got there at 06:45 and our child arrived 2 hours later in a fully natural birth with the help of some of the wonderful midwives from the birth centre.

I can't say enough good things about the place. It was an amazing experience and thankfully we never had to see or deal with anyone but midwives during the entire pregnancy.

TillyG

Congratulations Your little girl is adorable Hope your wife is keeping well

londonjas

Hi there

We had our first at the Royal Women's Hospital in Randwick, we went for the public option because our GP recommended it, and the whole experience was fantastic, with excellent care, a great hospital, and much needed mid-wife visits afterwards.

the_nanny_uk2

Major CONGRATULATION to you both but especially your wife on her natural birth. have fun with your little bundle.

Jo x

joh117

Had both mine here one in Frankston Vic, and one at the New Mater mothers in Brisbane. Both public. Had initial care this year under NHS until I returned to Oz to give birth 7wks ago, Public here is like private back home you get spoilt. I would recommend for sure

Jo