I had a private Ob with my DS. As someone else said, I don't really use my private health insurance for hospital and DH and I felt like we wanted to make use of the private hospital in our area. Neither of the public hospitals in our area had good reps so we were happy with our choice. For me, I loved the continuity of care that we got from having an OB and my Ob was fantastic. He was so supportive and calming and I called on him whenever I was concerned. He would always return my calls and reassure me when I needed it. He was so encouraging of helping me to birth naturally, however, for reasons beyond both our control I ended up having a c-sec. Again, he was fantastic and I have not had any problems since then.

I will be going private the next time I have a baby, however will need to find another OB as we're moving at the end of the year. I'm really sad about this as I really wanted to use my Ob again. I just can't speak highly enough of him

As others have said, going private is not a guarantee of a private room, however there is a greater chance of that. Also, depending on the hospital there are additional benefits. For us, my husband was able to come and go whenever he liked and he even stayed at the hospital with me on 3 nights. I've had friends who have had babies in the public hospital next door recently and they had less freedom with visitors and their husbands presence than I had.

I also found the additional one on one support I got from the mid-wives post birth was fantastic. From the lactation consultant who came and sat with me and helped me learn how to hand express, to the nurses who came and showed us how to bath DS in our room, I couldn't fault our hospital.

Also, those costs sound about right. My ob was $3000 for labour management and $45 each visit. Also, with private don't forget to add the costs of a Paed and anesthetist if necessary.

Hope this helps and goodluck.