Private/Public??? help

[Nixon]

Hey Rach,

I'm booked in Private with my own Ob. Figured if something does go wrong and I do need a C/S then I want to know the person operating on me.

I also want a natural birth - I would suggest calling a few hospitals and asking if they do tours. The one I am going with does a tour ofthe birthing suite and rooms every Sunday - you can go along and ask all the questions you want. I've been twice - once before my Calm Birth classes and once after to ask more questions that related directly to how I want to have my baby and if they had any problems with the techniques I would be using.

I also found it really hard to know what to do and felt REALLY stressed about making a booking so early on, but I am feeling really good about things now.

We have private health insurance and figured why not go private when we are covered for it. The only thing we can't get any cash back on is one payment to out Ob of $1900. The rest is fairly well covered by medicare and our insurance - especially because we were over the medicare safety net.

Anyway - I think next time we may look a bit more into homebirth and birthing centers, but for my first precious baby I am happy that we are going private/Ob (even if it is only for my own piece of mind)

Good Luck.
X

[tippytoes]

Oh wow guys thank you so much for your help.

Basically, I was discussing it with DH and decided to go through the public midwifery delivery at the hospital.

I feel that the last year we have been scrimping and saving for IVF, AP, storage fees etc. it will be great to just have a birth experience without the financial worry. Also I am a big believer in what midwives do! So there we have it I am booked in at hospital to see midwife on the 22 Jan. I am also having an early scan on 2nd Jan (got referral from my GP).

Snacks - basically yes, it was really the cost thing. Also, the whole IVF stuff is so so medicated/controlled??? (can't think of right word) I like the idea that my body can do this and I want it to be as calm as possible.

Tobily - totally agree about the whole FS thing!

Smiles - glad you had such a great exp

Nixon - I hope it all goes to plan hun. You'll have a great birth I am sure!

Janie - with you all the way re: IVF clinic encouraging it etc!

Thanks you guys are awesome!

Rach xx

[Ellibam]

you can do shared care!
just another option to throw in
so see your OB but have your bub in a birthcentre

[~Saram~]

Rach - yep my GP went through all the options with me and recommended a couple of different people they knew of personally.

reasons I choose to go private

- my own dr and set appointments, the public system I was faced with was an open clinc (ie open from 2pm sit and wait)
- hospital stay 5 night vag birth 7 night csec
- family room

My experience
- hospital stay was good, gave me more than enough time to get myself together
- having my own OB gave me more power over choices in my care, ie neg my induction in both situations

In the end I figure midwives are going to be the same whichever hospital. I have had some awesome ones in private as well as some shockers. I think if you educate yourself enough about birth no-one is going to push you into having a c-sec. If you aware of the things that lead to c-sec etc than you can avoid them.

All the best making your decision

[Snacks]

Snacks - basically yes, it was really the cost thing. Also, the whole IVF stuff is so so medicated/controlled??? (can't think of right word) I like the idea that my body can do this and I want it to be as calm as possible.

Totally understand where you are coming from with all of the above. (Except haven't been through IVF, so I understand what you're saying just from hearing others' experiences.)
I chose midwife-led care for the very same reasons - I liked not having to pay And I liked that with them I was more likely to get the natural birth I wanted (and I did )
This time I am having shared care only because I have to go through a major public hospital and the waiting times for appointments are unreal!
Anyway, congratulations on making your choice It is so overwealming having to make these decisions when you are still reeling from finding out you are actually pregnant! So good on you.
Enjoy your pregnancy

[satya]

The only people I've heard of who've left hossy that early are people who want to & it's usually cos they already have kids at home and they are eager to get home to them.

I gave birth in a public hossy & had 3 nights in a two bed ward & 2 nights in a single bonding room as my bub was in special care. I had help with breastfeeding for every feed and I don't know anyone IRL who got that in a private hossy. The average stay for vaginal delivery for those who were at hossy when I was there was 2 days if no stitches were involved & 3 if you'd had them. I had one particular middy who would just sit on the end of my bed and chat to me for a while to get my mind off my worries of having a sick newborn.

I found the public system fantastic & would do it again if I were to give birth again. I've heard bad stories about how long you can wait to see middys and docs for appointments though but I avoided that by having my own OB for appointments only (although my reason for having an OB was to have one person watch me throughout pregnancy due to my age). The out of pocket cost were minimal (I think $17 per appointment) and no pregnancy management fee.

What you pay extra for by going private is a private room (apparently that's not even guaranteed in some private hossys) and the choice of who delivers your baby. Even so the doctor may not arrive in time to deliver your bub, or may send another OB if they are not available (busy delivering another bub or on holidays etc). If you aren't fussed about those things it's just not worth paying the extra money.

I'm sure you will not regret your decision to go public.

[farmgirl77]

Hi Rach,
Before I was diagnosed with APLS I went through the same thought process, and had decided that I wanted to go through the midwife program as a preference - for many of the same reasons you have identified, and because I wanted something 'normal' post IVF (that is my mental picture of it anyway). However after being 'high risk' we are going private. I think we still could have gone public, but not through the midwives - we would have ended up seeing different obs depending who was on duty.

Good luck with your decision, and I'm sure if you need to you could always change your mind or get second opionions if you have any doubts during the pg.

Good luck
FG