Sorry Emma, I only just looked in here again. The hosp in Berwick is called St John of God. It's been there for years (lots of my friends were born there) but has been renovated in the past 2 years. Like I said, only private rooms on the maternity ward!
As for health insurance, I'm with NIB and they have a 12 month waiting period from the date you take out the insurance to your EDD. I took out my insurance on 8 Dec 07, which means if bubs was due before 8 Dec 08, I wouldn't have been covered. However, with bubs due in Jan 09, I am covered no matter what - even if bubs is born before 8 Dec 08. Hope that made sense!
I work in a private hosp in post natal in Melb. We have mostly private rooms with a couple of shared rooms. The shared rooms are used only if the private are all full and if you are in a shared room the liklihood is that it would be for less than 24 hours as the realisation is that as a private pt u expect a private room.
Also I recently was a doula for a couple from interstate who had a bad first experience and so decided to come to Melb a few weeks before bub was due and stayed with family. We were in contact by phone and email prior to them coming down and then met up when they got here. The birth was fantastic, OB and middies were wonderful, it was brilliant to be involved in it all. If you would like further info PM me and I will pass it on to you.
Someone I know of had a bad experience at St John of God Berwick recently. She discharged herself early because of it. She chose not to breastfeed (it was her second and she had her reasons for it) and once she told the midwives that they basically ignored her. There weren't good facilities for bottle preparation either. It was easier for her to just go home. Just thought I'd mention it in case you are thinking of going there & are not intending to BF.
As others have said, some private hospitals have all private rooms, others don't. I gave birth publicly and had a shared room for the first 3 days & it actually gave me entertainment when I was bored - I could hear everything that went on behind the curtain. I think it's not such a bad experience to share a room when you are feeling well, particularly if your bub is not in the room with you like if they are in SCU. You somehow don't feel quite so alone as what you do in a private room. I had a private room for my final 2 days and actually preferred the shared room as I did not feel isolated once the visitors had gone home.
Aren't you worried about such a long car trip in labour? There's no way known I'd go any further than my local hossy if I had to do it again. That ten minute drive was agony.
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