How important is an obstetrician?

[~Raven~]

An OB is only really important if you have a high risk pregnancy or elect to use the private system. If you want to go private then you need to have an OB. Unfortunately they go hand in hand as there is no midwife led care in the private system

An OB will give you continuity of care and in most cases will be there for the birth but it's not a given.

So from there it's a matter of deciding where you want to birth and why and going about and finding your care providers that will support you in your choices!

Speaking from a personal point of view, with my first birth I went private due to the reputation of the local public hospital after speaking with friends who had been there. Due to that choice I had to engage an OB who I was happy with and I chose to see him again for subsequent PG's. A public hospital with midwife led care did open up in my area when I was expecting my bub #3 but due to complications with my 2nd birth they didn't accept me because they are a low risk facility. This had a lot of bearing in my "choice" (wasn't really a choice TBH) to go back to my OB and private hospital for #3 and then again for #4.

I feel like one of the few that has had good experiences with an OB Make sure you know what you want and talk about stuff early on in regards to how you want your birth to go. Not all OB's are the same and it's important to find out early on if they will support your choices. If he/she doesn't then find one who will!

ETA forgot to mention the fees! A lot of how much you get back depends on your medicare safety net which accrues from Jan-Dec. Find out how much yours is (they vary a lot depending on your income and if you get any centrelink benefits) and if you go past it, which is quite easy once you pay for scans and appointments, you get the majority of any further Drs fees and some tests refunded for anyone on the medicare card.