Hi babyno1 and congrats. The only way your relative would know you are booked in is if she did the booking in (it's a midwife that usually does this) and/or she saw your file. Having said that, it is actually against the law for your relative to then tell ANYONE else at all without your permission - she can be criminally charged with breaching patient confidentiality (there are very strict laws about this).

I myself have private health insurance with full obstetric cover but my DH and I have decided to go through the public system as a public patient to save some money - we are using shared care so my GP/OB manages the pregnancy and other than two appointments at the hospital (one booking in at 10 weeks and one at 34 weeks) i only go to the hospital to have the little bubba. You can go public as a private patient, often what you get depends on your insurance policy. This way, you may have the option of your OB delivering your bub as opposed to hospital OB, but otherwise it's fairly administrative - oh - you will have to pay for the same things that you would have to in a private patient such as medications etc if needed (as public it costs you nothing). Also, in a public hospital there is no gaurantee that you will get a private room (often private rooms are used for c-section patients). Really depends on your insurance policy. Hope this helps and hope you work out what to do - you could also speak to the nursing unit manager of the unit and advise her of the situation and that at this stage you don't want your relative to know, she should be able to help.