I did post this before, but for some reason it didn't stay here...

I was public with Alex, and there's no way I would ever go private.

I was hospitalised for a month prior to Alex's birth, and with the excess of (minimum) $50 per night, that's $1400 just for the prenatal care. Then when Alex was born, he (and I) were in hospital for a further 10 days (each) at $50 per night, which is another $1000.

I just couldn't afford to have private health cover with that sort of out of pocket expense.

And even if I did, I wouldn't have had Alex in the local private hospital, because Shepparton Private didn't do birth, you had to have the baby at the local Base Hospital and then transfer to the Private in a taxi. Not my idea of a good time.

I wouldn't have been able to have Alex in Shepparton anyway, because he was so early, and also because I was so sick.