Newbie & First Scan

[pinkfairypaula]

Hi to everyone in this section. I have posted only once on this site, so I will update you a little about me.
I am 8 weeks and 1 day pregnant, after 5 IVF attempts, so VERY happy. I am in England at the moment, but my husband has a job over in Queensland, near Surfers, and we are due to come out to live an about 6 weeks I would say. BIG lifestyle changes for me then!! I have a beautiful DD of 4 and can't wait to start our new life.
We had a scan today and my little bean was looking amazing and the heart was beating really strongly.
I am looking forward to getting to know the people on this thread, and hope it's ok to join in this way?

PFP xx

[LadyRaven]

Congrats, hope you have a happy and healthy pregnancy, welcome to the group and a pre-welcome to oz!

[sjs]

Welcome Pfp, and congrats on your pregnancy

We moved to the GC 12 years ago from London and we absolutely love it! We live about 10mins from Surfers in the hinterland. I'm sure you will love the lifestyle and weather here!

All the best,

[Mum0809]

Welcome to BellyBelly. Congratulations on your pregnancy!! I hope have a happy and healthy pregnancy.

[chickbabe61]

Welcome hun. I hope you have a happy and healthy pregnancy and remember we are here to answer any questions you may have

[pinkfairypaula]

aww thanks everyone.
looking forward to getting stuck into this. Not sure how my care will be worked out when I get to Queensland. Is it normal to have a 12 week and 20 week scan? And of course I will need to register with a doctor. But don't even know how to arrange that? Anyone have any tips? Is there a section on here to ask about how to get a doctor? And what are the hospitals like?? We have a lovely one here with a water pool and nice furnishings and all that...anything like that there? looking quite ahead I know, but need to be positive about this.
PFP xx

[hannahfroodoo]

Congratulations and welcome!!

It is normal here to have the 12 week scan and then a 18-20 week morphology scan.
It's probably wise to think ahead about booking into a hospital as you will be more likely to be able to go where you want if you book early. The public hospitals can't turn you away if you live in their catchment area but it is nice to be able to choose where you want to go so I would recommend booking early.
I don't know if you are going to qualify for Medicare (the public health system) but if you do, the public hospitals are free. If you aren't covered by Medicare, you'll have to pay and it can be quite pricey. If you book a private Obstetrician, you have to pay. Most people who go with a private OB have private health insurance which covers a lot of the costs. There is a public Gold Coast hospital with a big maternity ward so sounds like that would be your closest.

Anyway, sorry for rambling. I'm sure there must be some articles or info on BB all about this. Maybe someone else can point you in the right direction. There is a forum for hospital and doctor recommendations which might give you some good info too.

Good luck with your big move!!

[SammyRo]

Welcome to Oz - we did the move about 5 and a half years ago, and its been the best choice I've made (met my lovely hubby here). Altough, I have to say, I found the first year the hardest, but with so much going on you'll be fine. I found the hardest thing making friends my age, but friends who moved here with kids had no problem coz that was a link to meeting new people.

Anyway, if you're on a permanent residency visa, you'll be able to qualify for medicare, so you'll have access to the public health system. Don't know how the maternity care goes, but both my mum and a friend of ours (who were both nurses in the NHS) have been treated over here in the public hospitals and found the treatment and the service better than the NHS.
Have a good move and enjoy the sunshine!