Costs associated with pregnancy and birth/Redlands Public Hospital

Hi,

I am only 4w5d and my gp told me to come back at 6w so I'm guessing thats when I will get a referral to the hospital I want, the gp did ask me if I wanted to have my baby at Redlands Public Hospital and I said yes as I have done some research on the hospital and lots of friends have had babies there.

I was told I can have all my antenatal care at the hospital but I can't ask friends about it as we haven't told people yet.

So I was just wondering if anyone has had experiences at this hospital? What is it like? What kind of antenatal care do you get there? What kind of tests can I expect? When do they do u/s's? how often will I visit for appointments and do they run birthing classes?

Also I would like to have drug-free birth and really want to avoid c section induction episiotomy etc does anyone know if this hospital would be supportive of this kind of birth


Also I am wanting to find out what costs are associated with pregnancy and labour when going through the public system? I can't seem to find any info!

I'm not sure about this specific hospital but I'm fairly sure that if you go through the public system in a public room then there are no costs involved. most places will offer the NT scan at 12wks and the morphology scan at 20wks, you will usually get blood tests to check antibodies to german measles, HIV, Hep B etc, your blood group and your haemaglobin. Most places also do a glucose test at 26-28wks. Generally the blood tests are covered by medicare but you have to pay for the ultrasounds. hope that helps a little and that someone can give you more specific info

We're having our baby at Redlands Public hospital in Jan and so far haven't spent any money with regards to the actual hospital. I'm doing shared care with my doctor and the midwives at the hospital, so have had 2 appt's at hospital so far and have my next at 36 weeks, then 38 weeks and 40 weeks. The hospital appt's cost nothing although you do have to have them during work hours and sometimes have to wait around for your turn. Shared care means I have been seeing my GP mostly, which has cost me a little, but means I can have my appt's after work and don't have to take days off.

I've had 5 scans during this pg, as we have had to see a specialist at Mater public, and 3 of these cost nothing. The 6 wk and 13 wk we had to pay a bit for, but I had those two done at Cleveland X-Ray. The others were at Mater public specialist clinic. Blood tests have also cost nothing.

The actual birth as far as I know will cost us nothing, unless I check in as a private patient, although there's no point in doing that there because chances are high you'll get your own room anyway (they only have one shared room I think).

The hospital also has antenatal classes which have been great so far, and free. It is a fantastic hospital. My husband had pneumonia last year and stayed a week in a public room and was so well looked after.

Thanks everyone for your replies it's really helpful