trouble getting information - what do i do next?

[jdx]

hi everyone...

about to get teary (which i'm sure is just hormones), but i seem to be running into a whole lot of dead ends. I just found out i'm 6 weeks pregnant from my gp. It cost me $90 to see her.

I have no idea what i'm supposed to do next?

She said i need to book in to the hospital for courses and a check. so as royal womens in randwick is closest i googled their services. i rang to book in for their "just pregnant" course (which is supposed to cover private vs public, what happens when, diet etc,) only to be told they don't run their courses anymore. so i rang to book into their outpatients antenatal dept for my 1st appt in the hope that they'll tell me when i go - but they say there is no one working there now due to staff shortages. I've tried ringing RPA instead and just got an answering machine...


not sure what i'm supposed to do now, when i'm supposed to go for scans/checkups, what my options are going public - if i cant even get an appointment?! my only option seems to be to go back to my GP who does shared care, but leaves me $60 out of pocket each time!

my private health insurance doesn't kick in until August 27, and the baby is due 5th July... so i was hoping the public hospital service would be able to take me.

any suggestions? i just want to book my 1st appt somewhere so i know everything is ok...

[Ambah]

Hi jdx,

You poor thing, it really sounds like you are getting the run around!!
If you leave a message on the hospitals answering service they will usually call you back to make an appt.
As I am aware of it, your GP needs to send a referral through to the public hospital about you and your pregnancy, for them to take you as a patient?
Most public hospitals also will not make your first appt until you are over 12 weeks (usually more like 16 or 17 weeks pregnant).
If you are wanting the Nuchal scan at 12 weeks though you will have to make enquiries through the hospital about doing that soon (otherwise you may have to do it privately)... so its probably best to get a referral sent off to the hospital of your choice fairly soon.

[feeb]

Congartulations to you

Your GP should have give u a refral letter and discussed hospital choices with you!

Some GP order a heap of blood tests and others dont.

Ask around friends and family to find where they to have babies.

Bloos tests can be done later they dont need to be done staright away they tests your bllod group, hep B and hep C, rubella, chicken pox, thalassemia, ferritan, HB and more.

If u know your dates a scan is not really needed till 18 - 20 weeks so relax and enjoy!

[MantaRay]

WRT cost - what is your threshold for the saftey net? I think for some people it is about $400? If so, you will hit that soon if you are paying $60 a visit, and then you will only be a small amount out of pocket each time.

I would ring your GP back and ask for more info. You shouldn't walk out of an appointment without the info you need. GL.

[Kazbah]

Congrats JDX!

Its so hard - I wish there was a pamphlett called "now you're pregnant".

First thing may be to call your health insurance provider and see if there's anything you can do to bring forward the date of your private cover.

Next would be to go and register with a hospital and midwife or OB. You have choices for your childbirth - OB, GP or midwife. To be honest, I had an OB but he missed the actual birth and the midwives did all the hard work - he mostly was there to do the checkups and stuff after.

Busy hospitals have huge waiting lists, so register now with the hospital. The midwives there may be able to point you in a few directions as well. Phone them up and make an appointment, you have your EDD and I think "better early than sorry" is a good maxim at this point.

Good luck - and there's support here if you want it.

ETA: Julie Doula's post just reminded me of this - Birth Week in Kallista Nov 7-11 - BellyBelly Forums ~ Pregnancy, Birth & Baby - its Birth Week In Kallista (just past Belgrave) which should also give you some great options.

[jdx]

thanks everyone...
i appreciate your support and information!
I'm going to book in to see my GP and see if she can book me in to royal womens...i wish they'd answer their phones! on the positive side, a lovely lady from RPA just called back about their course for girls up to 12wks. its not until the 26th, but at least i've somewhere to start

thanks again so much!
Jessie x

[Kazbah]

Have you tried calling the Royal Women's yourself? I had to book myself into my hospital.

[jdx]

Have you tried calling the Royal Women's yourself? I had to book myself into my hospital.

hi kazbah,

I've tried the last 3 days... again today i've called the antenatal outpatients booking number twice and only got a machine message saying there's no one there today and to try another day.
I thought i'd try and be tricky and call the main switch to see if they cld put me through to anyone at all, and i was told that due to staff shortages there is noone able to help me. i asked what day i should call. i was told that friday is the only day that there is definitely somone there due to staff shortages , but i can't call friday because they have clinic and don't take bookings. i asked what i should do, and he said try calling again tomorrow...

so cross fingers there'll be someone there?

jessie

[alittlegrubi]

That is shocking. I'm lucky my Dr asked where I wanted to have the baby and did the referral up at 5 weeks and then the hospital sent out a booklet of information and appointment for around 14 weeks, I'm doing shared care only because sitting at the hospital for appointments can take hours and I'm still working so I need to limit the time off for appointments. I see my Dr once a month up to 28 weeks and then fortnightly after that until 35 weeks then back to the hospital for 36 to 40 weeks.

[Kazbah]

Jessie - how are you going?

[satya]

Do they have an email address you can book in by? My hospital was hard to get through to as well but I rang a few times to listen to the message to get the email address written down and on my fourth call I got lucky and they picked up. You could try looking up the hospital on the net you may find info on there - there's stacks of info on my hospital on the net. I was able to book myself in as I can't see my OB until I'm 14 weeks (already have my referrals for scans & BT's from an OB that works from a different hospital). I'm being handled by a GP at a bulk billing clinic until then so it costs nothing except if I go after 6pm or on weekends which costs $10.

[Karina]

My hospital had a "maternity bookings" phone number which I had to call. No one ever answered it, but I did leave a message and they always got back to me. I didnt need a referal. I just told them I was pregnant and wanted to go there to hve my baby. They sent me out a pre-admissions booking form which I had to send back to the admissions dept at the hospital. Maybe you could see if you could call the admissions dept to see if they can tell you more info? I did have to call them once when I couldnt get through to anyone else.

[MrsBump]

JDX, Im sorry your getting the run around.. Is there another hospital you might like to go to? Did you go back to your GP?

On a more positive note, why dont you come and join us in belly buddies due 1-15th july 08? You will meet more of us that are due around your EDD. (We are actually due the same day)
Goodluck!

[jdx]

Hi everyone,

thanks so much for your concern and for checking on me...

I waited till the Thursday afternoon, and after still not being able to get through or to leave a message (they don't have an answering machine, just a recording), i was a lil emotional and rang my mum in Melb.

Lol mums can be quite resourceful when it comes to this sort of thing, and within about 5mins she'd found an email of one of the senior midwives and got a reply!
They said they'd contact me, and after another prompting email, i finally got a call from a lovely midwife who has booked me in for my 1st appt. They then called mum to follow up and sent me a confirmation email as well. Apparantly they had no idea that sort of message was being given out, and they were concerned about it - which is really good.

I really want to go to that hospital, because its not only close, but it's attached to Sydney Children's...

Thank goodness for the internet!

Oh and scorpiomum, how do i join the belly buddies? i think stars69 is due the same day as us as well!

[Kazbah]

Jessie -

Just go there and start posting!

Good to see your mum came through, and the run-around is being followed up ...

kaz

[garfield13]

jdx - just a note if you want to go private - I am due 10th july and my health insurance didnt kick in until 8th august, but I found latrobe health have a nine mth waiting and taking away what I served my new insurance with latrobe starts 8th May

Just incase you wanted private

good luck

[jdx]

jdx - just a note if you want to go private - I am due 10th july and my health insurance didnt kick in until 8th august, but I found latrobe health have a nine mth waiting and taking away what I served my new insurance with latrobe starts 8th May

Just incase you wanted private

good luck

ooo thx lily... i'll investigate now...
i like having options.

apparantly when i upgrade to family cover in May the baby will be covered as private from day 1 - wondering if its nessesary for me as well?

are you left much out of pocket as a privte patient?
one of my friends had 2 gyno related ops - the 1st was public and she paid nothing, the 2nd she went private, and even with top level health care she was out of pocket $4k!