I think it comes down to what hospitals are in your area? For us, with #1, we went public. Had great care with the midwives during labour, (did shared care with our GP) not bad on the continuity with the nurses, but being young, they seemed to be a little judgemental of me.
#2, our IVF bubba, we went private. Mainly we wanted continuity with our OB, and a private room. The nurses/midwife turnover was astounding! I don't think I had the same person in my room twice in the whole 5 days i was there. Could have been that particular time, there was some staff problems? They were all over the place with my medications, and on night #2 when I started vomiting, DH reckons he had seen someone give me a second dose painrelief not long after my first.. Communication between them wasn't the best.
Our professor OB's fee was around $800, then for delivery (c/s) he charged the no gap our fund pays out, which i think was around $1800?? I can't quite remember now... we did have out of pocket for the anaethetist and paed, but after we claimed the paeds bill went from around $1000 to just over $100 out of pocket. Obviously that will all depend on what your medicare threshold is sitting at as well. Plus our visits to him, and we had to pay for blood tests as well.
If I was to do it again, I would go with the private option, only because I would want to go with our OB again. The public hospital we went to had a better continuity of care amongst the nurses/midwives, but we also had an 8 year gap between #1 and #2...things could be different now for all I know
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks