If you ask around, you will hear mixed stories about public vs private. One piece of advice I would give you, is that your own preparation is probably more important than where you birth. If you are well informed, then you will be able to make better decisions and in most cases this will lead to a far better birth experience.
It is amazing how many people rely on What to Expect and Up the Duff as their only sources of information during pg. Reading really good books on labour and birth are far more helpful IMO. I would start with something like New Active Birth. This will help you understand the birth process better, and learn how you can help your labour by being active and getting into positions which assist, rather than hinder, labour.
With the right information (and a little bit of luck) you can have a great birth anywhere.
There is always going to be different opinions on public vs private. I would suggest that you consider both and then do what you feel is right for you - do tours of the hospitals, speak to staff and other mums etc but in the end go with your gut feelings. I went private and think it was worth every cent, had an OB who I was confident in and who listened to me and my concerns. In the end I got the birth I wanted and a great hospital experience. I will be doing the same in the future.
Good luck, its great that you are getting prepared now!
Thankyou so much for doing this thread, I to amd going to start TTC in dec or jan, but now i have read this i am so confused, we will be going public as we dont have insurance, But I had both my boys in New Zealand, and although I new aussie was different I dont think I new how much.
Do you have to pay for a C- Section??. (I have had 2 previous).
Do you have to pay for the scans?.
thanks all this is so helpfull
krissy2 - If you go public you will pay nothing for the birth regardless of what it involves. You may have to pay for scans though - hospitals vary on this one.
Krissy, Satya is right - you won't have to pay for a c-sec if you go public. And with the scans, it depends on what you're talking about... I believe both the 12-ish week Nuchal translucency scan (I didn't have this one, so not totally sure!) and your 18-20 week morphology scan - both ultrasounds - are claimable on medicare. We had the morph scan at an imaging centre, paid the fee and claimed afterwards. Got all except around $20 back, I think?
EternalHope, I so agree with MantaRay on this one. The public vs private debate is a bit silly, as we are all different, and hospitals are all different, and people's experiences of the same hospital can be different! Like what MR said, prepare yourself for the birth - as Cookie said, BB is a great resource for natural birth options and gives some great suggestions of further resources that will also assist you in preparing as best you can. Support people are something to think about too - if your DH is very nervy about the birth, you might want to think about having a doula to guide you through the pregnancy and support BOTH you and your DH through the birth.
Others know a lot more about PHI than me, but I'd suggest ringing a few different ones, or talking to a broker who might be able to find out more info for you.
With the shared care thing, you would get to see an OB if you needed to. E.g. I went through the midwife clinic at a public hospital, and had high BP toward the end. I saw a public OB a couple of times to consult about that.
Not sure about the amnio (would you really need one?) but the ultrasounds should be covered by medicare if not in full then close to it. But it definitely won't be like some private OBs who will give you an ultrasound at every visit - you'll likely only have two for the duration of your pg unless there're complications. Not sure what you mean by issues with the scans, but if you need specialist obstetric care then you will receive it from a public OB. You won't be able to choose the OB - who you get will be who you get IYKWIM.
HTH a little and good luck with your TTC!
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