We're discussing options for our next pregnancy and this is one of the things on my mind and will influence our decision on public v private hospitals. At this stage, we think we've ruled out homebirth

Assuming we have a live baby next time, I'd prefer DH could stay overnight with us. I don't want him missing out on those first few hours of our baby's life.

It's highly unlikely he'd be able to stay with me in a public hospital. I'd most likely be in a shared room (which is another issue I have), so that's not on. He doesn't think his being able to stay over is worth the $000's to pay for a private OB when we would get as good or better care doing shared care with our IM and a public OB. (I'm hoping that as we're 'high risk' we get to see only one OB throughout).

Our IM is a LC, so any help we need could be done with her at home. I'm likely to want to go home ASAP, depending on how the birth goes. I prefer my own space/bed/privacy and I don't want strangers handling me or my baby. So I don't know how long I'd stay in hospital anyway. We have PHI but a $500 excess.

Advice etc would be appreciated.

I assume you can't use PHI to get a private room in a public hospital.

TIA