Confused. Needing some advice please...

[Liminal]

Congrats!

The public system is much like Teni said. Definitely start with your GP, go from there.

You are only guarenteed a place at your assigned public hospital (or at a hospital they refer you to, if they can't handle your needs locally). You might be able to get a place as an out-of-area public patient at other hospitals (you can ring and ask) but they don't have to take you.

In terms of precise details of how you will be cared for, there's a few public models, but it will depend on your area and your risk category. Some public birthing options are not available to women judged to be high risk or even moderate risk. Some aren't available in all areas. There will be something for you though. These are the public models I know of (they're all billed to Medicare, other than perhaps scans):

Pre-natal with hospital midwives in a hospital clinic (probably with one or two doctors appointments), labour and birth in a hospital birthing suite with shift midwifes and a shift doctor if needed: this is the standard model for low risk women.

Pre-natal with all doctors (registrars, ie OBs in training; and/or OBs; and/or specialist physicans) in a hospital clinic, labour and birth in a hospital birthing suite with shift midwifes and a shift doctor if needed: this is the standard model for high risk women.

"Shared care" pre-natal with a mixture of hospital midwives in the hospital clinic and your GP in their usual clinic: this is available or even required (due to low numbers of midwives) in some areas for low to moderate risk women. Not all GPs have the training required to do shared care, ask yours if it's an option.

"Team midwifery" pre-natal with a small team of midwives (about 4, rotating) in a hospital clinic (probably with one or two doctors appointments), labour and birth in a hospital birthing suite with one of the same midwives who was in your team: this is available in some hospitals for low to moderate risk women.

"Case loading midwifery" pre-natal with one midwife, high chance of labour and birth in a hospital birthing suite with the exact same midwife who did your pre-natals: this is available in some hospitals for low to moderate risk women.

Pre-natal and labour and delivery at a birth centre, which is a more home-like natural birthing-friendly environment, and which typically don't have doctors on-site. Some are on the same grounds as a hospital, some are not very near hospitals. These are available in some areas for low risk women. You will generally need a doctor's approval to be a birth centre patient, and you would be transferred to a hospital clinic if you develop pregnancy complications and to a hospital ward if you need an OB's intervention in labour or birth.

Homebirth with a caseloading midwife. A very few public hospitals offer homebirths to low risk women with a doctor's approval, again with transfer if complications develop that can't be handled safely at home.

All of the team midwifery, case loading midwifery, birth centre and homebirth programs are popular. Some hospitals actually allocate places in them by lottery. If one is available at your assigned public hospital, find out when you need to apply for it to get in! When you've read about women being risked out for BMI, it's usually from one of these options and will depend on the hospital's policy. The "standard" options will remain available to you. No one gets kicked out into private care! (In fact, sometimes private carers kick out their highest risk patients into public hospitals!)