Hi Danielle M,

I had an elective caesar due to pre-eclampsia. I had a private Ob in a private hospital. My health fund is MBF and I had a no gap OB. Basically I had to pay $60 for each antenatal visit (got about half back from medicare), had to pay a $400 "admin" fee at 20 weeks and my Ob charged No delivery fee as she was an MBF no-gap specialist. Oh, and you have to pay for all your bloods and scans but you get a fair bit back from medicare.The anaesthetist also just charged MBF direct - not sure if he was a no-gap specialist too or if he just felt sorry for me because he ended up having to give me a general anaesthetic. The only out of pocket expense I had for the private hospital was the $250 excess. I think that if you're gonna have a private OB you might as well go to a private hospital as you should only have to pay the hospital excess. Check it all out with your health fund anyway.

Oh yeah, and as Blue Daisy said, you can make a Caesar a beautiful experience such as requesting things like skin-to-skin with bub in theatre and while you're in recovery. Also, check out the thread on maternal-assisted-caesareans.

I wish you all the best with your decision