Hi there,

I'm looking for any advice anyone can offer me on having a baby in Perth. I am 3 months pregnant with my first baby and will be having it at Joondalup. I have no idea what to expect over the next few months appointment wise etc. I'm petrified of the whole idea at the moment what with being so far away from family. Although we have been here over 4 years and I have lots of Aussie friends who have little ones, I'm eager to listen to any advice from expats who've been through the same situation.

Thanks in advance.

Congratulations! I found the best way to calm my mind about pregnancy was to read up on as much as I could about the whole process. There's lots of good magazines and websites and of course your doc. You'll get a ton of advice form all over the place and it's not always right for you so the best thing IMHO is to find out as much as you can under your own steam then you won't get confused with peoiple telling you their personal experiences which might not be relevant to you.

Hi
Congratulations! I emigrated last year at 32 weeks pregnant. I had my daughter in a public hospital and my care for the last 8 weeks and the birth were much better than I have received in the UK. Youre in better hands here, so dont worry!
Join babycentre uk website. You can go to the month youre due and join your birth club - every worry or twinge you have, you will find someone due the same time as you experiencing the same. An invaluable source of information when you havent got your family around you. Site used by lots of aussies too, ive made some good friends off it with little ones the same age as mine.
Its natural to worry. Congratulations again, youve got great times to come x
Les

Hi, I had my first child this year. We have private health cover (HBF) and they had a list of obs that you could go and see - luckily the one I was recommended by a friend who just had a baby was on the list!!

Appointment wise I didnt have many until near the end, but then I was lucky enough to not have any complications or issues that needed monitoring. From memory I think the appts were 8 wks apart up until the last few weeks when I went every fortnight, then every week for the last couple (I went overdue). Sometimes he bulk billed so I didnt have to pay, but other times I had to pay and then claim back from Medicare (private cover does not cover any out of hospital bits).

I had two scans, one at 12 weeks and one at 20 weeks, which I paid for and then claimed some back from Medicare.

Not sure what else I can tell you, maybe let me know if you have any specific questions and I'll try and help.

You could also have a look at www.bubhub.com.au as I found the forum there very helpful.

Thanks Bridie. I've got private health cover with MBF but a few people I've spoken to say not to bother going private as you get really good care public - especially as Joondalup has the same patients in the same wards, and there are few out of pocket expenses. I've got my first scan 12 week scan next week which I have to pay $155 for and apparently can't claim any of it from private health cover or medicare.

I'll def have a look at that forum tho.

Thanks for your help.

You should be able to claim from Medicare for the usual 12 and 20 weeks scans..... might be worth phoning Medicare to check. Just remembered, I know when I phoned up for the appts they said I couldnt claim but when I turned up for them the receptionist said that actually I could claim back from Medicare for a %.

As for private vs. public a couple of things to consider:

Firstly, public you probably wont have a room on your own - private you should. I must admit I loved being on my own and having the privacy, I found it hard to walk for the first few days and it was just nice not having to worry about anyone seeing you in a state!!! Also, no need to worry about other people, other babies or other visitors in and out, and your own bathroom so no embarrasment with anything. I had a piece of placenta that got left behind, so 6 weeks later had to go and have it taken out, I chose to go to the public hospy (just because I was worried that if I said I wanted it done privately they wouldnt do it there and then) and had to share a room, the room was a bit grotty, the woman next to me had a terrible cough, all in all I wished I'd said "private please".

The other thing is, if you go private you get your own obs who will actually be the one who delivers your baby. Mine was fantastic, he was the Dr I saw for all my check ups while pg and so you build up a bit of a "relationship" with the Dr rather than just some random man in a white coat breezing in! It was a relief to see a face I recognised at the other end of the bed when mine arrived!!!

The only thing I paid for while in hospital was the $100 excess, everything was covered and I had all the pain relief: pethidine and in the end an epidural as I had to have a forceps delivery - it was all covered.

So, although the care may be just as good in a public hospital those are a few things to consider.

HTH

No advice, but just wanted to say congrats and good luck!

[QUOTE=Muppett;5626488]Hi there,

I'm looking for any advice anyone can offer me on having a baby in Perth. I am 3 months pregnant with my first baby and will be having it at Joondalup. I have no idea what to expect over the next few months appointment wise etc. I'm petrified of the whole idea at the moment what with being so far away from family. Although we have been here over 4 years and I have lots of Aussie friends who have little ones, I'm eager to listen to any advice from expats who've been through the same situation.




HI
You should phone your local public hospital and find put what services they have to offer, there may be programs such as midwifery group practice where you get your own midwife throughout pregnancy, labour and afterwards.
In the public system you usually get a midwife visiting you at home too unlike private. You may even get you're own room afterwards too depending on the hospital! YOu will also find they offer regular researched based antenatal care and antenatal clases too.

If you go private you are more likely to end up with an un-natural birth, ie epidural and forceps. Time is precious those obstetricians, they would rather be out playing golf!

Going from what the other mums in my group have said who also went private not entirely true, but perhaps we are lucky with our hospital and obs.

I was unlucky as my baby just didnt want to come out and the contractions started tailing off when she was only half way down!!!

Given my time again I'd have an epidural straight away

We had free antenatle classes but only went for two of them, TBH didnt tell me anything I hadnt learnt from books and honestly when you're giving birth you really couldnt give a fig how dilated your cervix is or any of the other stuff they like to fill your head with. I found it more scary having the classes which is why we stopped going.

Grrrrrr

[QUOTE=electricbaby27;5627171] I must say that as a soon-to-be obstetrician, I find this statement highly offensive.

Obstetricians ALWAYS put the SAFETY of the mother and baby first.
Most would rather find a way of stopping women dying in or because of pregnancy.....rather than out playing golf. I know just one golf-playing obstetrician out of loads...he doesnt even play once a month.

Good luck to the OP - the hardest thing for you is likely to be dealing with the hormonal changes while being on the other side of the world from your family.

Thanks to everyone for their replies. I think I'll keep reading the books and taking each day by day.