Oh dear... *sigh* (article)

Baby bonus creates hospital havoc

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18jun06
THE introduction of the baby bonus on July 1, 2004, caused more than 1000 scheduled births to be delayed, a new study shows.

In its May 2004 Budget, the Federal Government announced a maternity payment – $3,000 for every baby born on or after July 1.

Research by Melbourne Business School economist Professor Joshua Gans and Australian National University economist Dr Andrew Leigh has shown there were more births on July 1, 2004, than on any other single date in the past 30 years.

"We estimate that around 700 births were shifted from the last week of June 2004 into the first week of July 2004," Dr Leigh said.

"But more troublingly, we found that around 300 births were moved by more than two weeks."

The researchers also found that the share of births that were induced or delivered by caesarean section was high in July 2004.

Dr Leigh said hospitals needed to plan for July 1 this year, when the bonus rises from $3,000 to $4,000.

"Maternity hospitals should expect fewer babies in the last week of June and more in the first week of July," Dr Leigh said.

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Dear, oh dear, oh dear....

Kelly - I read this in the paper too - and I thought the same thing ...the only good thing is that some people who previously might not have waited for a natural birth but opted for an earlier induction or elective c/s - will wait now in the hope they will get the extra $1000 (or $2000 in some cases :) )

i think this is just sooooooooooooo sad.

it reminds me when i went to the milkbar to buy the paper after the announcement of the new baby bonus in 2004 and i was obviously already very pregnant (due in september) and this rude rude rude man said to me in a really sarcastic voice - "gee you will be alright you'll get $3,000) i mean wtf you really think money would make me have a baby - sheesh this ****es me right off.

Why couldn't the government grant the xtra amount of $1000.00 to those who gave birth this year aswell. eg if you gave birth in june and got $3000 why not give them the extra $1000 after the july 1st date????:confused:
After all we are all helping the nation by having Australian born babies!! I am sure doing my part:p

The plus side is hopefully a lot of induced labours may have been prolonged to have natural labours!!!!

Geez, how pathetic. I can't believe people push aside the welfare of their baby (and themselves) for a bit of cash... and their OB's let them too!

I totally forgot about putting the claim form in until someone mentioned it, and only did it recently. I know others sent it off straight away to collect their $3000. I was too busy being a mum :) I registered his birth 1 day off the time limit too! LOL.

Urgh it makes me so sad. Matilda was due June 1st 2004 and when I was overdue I got told heaps of time I was "holding out" for the $$. I could have used it at that time in our lives, but I wasn't having a baby just to get the $$....

Christy

I got the same thing when I was preganant with Asha ... people used to say to me oh I bet you are hoping to be late and I used to say that the extra $1000 wasn't going to make up for the extra $$$ I would have to pay out in child care for the extra 12 months she would have to go before starting school ... that usually shut them up!!!

So sad to think that people want to delay the arrival of a child jsut to get extra $$$. Perhaps I am just silly but I always thought children were had for the love not the $$$.

Cheers

That article is sad, but not surprising.

Paige was born 3 days before that payment came into effect (on her due date) and if I had a dollar for every time I had someone ask me if I was going to cross my legs and hang on till July 1, then I wouldn't have needed the money.

LOL I was actually thinking of you when I read the article, that you probably got it worse than I did.

Oh yeah, like you wouldn't believe. Myself and two other mums who were all in hospital together were interviewed for our local paper asking our thoughts about the new payment. One of the Mums was actually due on July 7 but had to have her baby earlier on the 25 June because of complications. Poor thing was devastated.

I would like to know how you can "hold on" to a baby when it wants to come out.... I would have done this with all my pregnancies because when the labour pain really hits I'm always wishing I could pause it for a while:)

I think they are talking about scheduled births here ;) i.e. inductions and caesars. Another angle to this - I bet there will be so many to critisise the women, but it's amazing how many asked if pregnant women were going to 'hang on' thinking it was a joke... I definitely would be letting baby do what it needs to do, $1000 is nothing compared to a gentle entrance into the world for my baby...

Yes but it gets dangerous too where because so many spots are booked up by deferring by a week, others started deferring by two weeks for the sake of making the date...

I know that I wouldn't have minded the $$ seeing as we got around $700 when Matilda was born, but I also know that the hospital said that they were fully booked for the first 2 weeks in July & wouldn't be able to cope with any "spontaneous births" WOW.... They said they would have to move them to general wards.

Originally my Ob was planning a C/s for 37wks on 11th July ... 10 days ago when he rang to book theatre was booked out for 11th anyway - so He made it for 14th - but said it was better anyway to leave them longer. It is a major public hospital though and I doubt they would bend to such whims as mums wanting extra $$$$.

Unless some private OBs are ... might be full house still when I go in - just hope I don't go into labour too early and there is no room for me and the boys. Though being twins they may need special care .I hope they do have room as it is closest hospital to offer NICU/special care.

Trish I would think that you would be given priority over other mums especially if your boys need NICU/special care. They would have too.

It's all a bit here and there. Some women out there are actually having babies for the money while the majority arent. I agree with Shannon re non-emergency life saving etc births. Down here in Hobart there has been a massive increase in women having babies, so much so that our public hospital is unable to cope the last month and women have been having their babies at the private hospital next door. I have probably worded this all wrong, but my basic gist is- I see no problems in having a c/s booked for early july if it only means a few days over. But as with Trish it does make you worried about the stretching of staff and resources in the hospitals, esp for all the women who are due to be brought on or have spontaneous labour during this time. I think it is all just going to become a fact of the new payment, that July is going to be very busy, as I know in 2008 it is going up to $5000.

Love

I think its a bit materialistic to wait, but then again, if I was due to have a c-section say, today, at 36 weeks or whatever, and it was SAFE to wait till 1/07 I would probably enquire about having the c-section later. Probably sounds really selfish, and I feel a bit of a money hog saying that, lol. I am sure that for the women who did this were told it was safe to do so. Their doctor or hospital woudlnt have let them otherwise, yes?

I doubt that a risk-averse obstetrician (with a very large insurance bill) would agree to delay a birth so that someone could score big time on the baby bonus. It all seems a bit over the top to me.

I agree ... if it's a matter of days, then why not wait? Apparently most elective c/sections take place at 37 - 38 weeks. Mine was at 41 weeks so at least we were sure he was well and truly overdue. =)

Thats the thing Mel, many women regardless if it's to do with this particular issue, will demand to be induced or to have a caesarean. Women will always have choice and that's okay but even in cases where Obs are advising otherwise, women are still demanding to have these procedures. (back to July issue) It is completely unfair to those coming into hospital with spontaneous labour. Imagine being turned away from hospital when you get there as a woman in spontaneous labour as you have no beds available for her due to everyone having their inductions and caesars? This very thing happened at my last birth, we turned up for an induction (for a medically based reason) and because they had taken in double the amount of women they normally do for inductions in a day, we could not have the induction done that morning. All the beds were full and we were told they had one spare bed which was allocated to any spontaneous labour coming in.

If I was awaiting my baby being born, I would not want the stress that there may not possibly be a bed for me, and I think the basis to all of this is that there needs to be better pre-natal education available to all. The pre-natal education in hospitals is completely inadequate. When a woman says yes I have choice and yes I am completely informed, is she? Our rates of inductions and caesareans are SO high that it's scary, and how many women will tell you they chose and induction and would never do it again? Of course some would, but the majority wouldn't. That doesn't sound like they were empowered and informed to me. I admit I was neither with the birth of my two kids, even though Elijah was a natural birth. It was amazing that I got to 9cms on my own at home - I had no idea, I was expecting to be able to go to hospital and have an epidural when it got worse - I had no faith in my body whatsoever. But I'm going off track here - if the amount of induced and caesarean births booked at any one time affects those who choose to have a spontaneous birth (yes we have choice too) then that is of great concern. Just as those have choice to have a medical birth, there are those who choose to have a spontaneous birth and they should have equal rights and opportunities to get a bed in hospital at any given time. And another point - if the hospitals are full up of women who have had caesareans and inductions (something that leads to increased caesarean also), what happens if someone needs an emergency caesarean and the theatres are full? Midwives are already flat chat run off their feet, how will they cope with all high needs women post-birth? Obviously post-caesar you will need more assistance and monitoring due to infection risks etc.

(hope I haven't offended, I am just trying to discuss another side here)

The fact that in some areas spontaneous births are the minority is just too frightening to comprehend. I am sure the figures would acutally be similar around Chrsitmas new year too if anyone checked that out.

But aside from that it is just wrong that women who do go into labour on their own may be turned away from hospitals because of this unusually high rate of inductions/caesars. I couldn't even imagine how I would feel if I turned up in established labour to give birth and I was turned away.

Well this is disturbing!!!1 I was induced with both kids but have a medical problem that prevented me releasing oxytocin!!! But now that my Tumour has been ELIMINATED iam hopeing for a spontaneous labour!!!! My Obs was very encouraging and said i can go past my due date and see what happens! At my 12 week scan my placenta was low which is usual but if it hasn't moved i may have to have a ceserean, (unles there are options of moving it up somehow??? Kelly??????)Obs not worried though saying that 90% move up by 20 weeks!! If i have to have a cesar i would love to still have the option to go into spontaneous labour then if necessary have a ceserean, infact my mum had 5 cesereans with the natural labour proces!!!! So why can't they do that now, atleast you now the baby is ready to come out????????? soorry for going off the tracks here!

Absolutely no need to worry sweets, this is very common, and unfortunately it is common for *some* Obs to book women in for caesars for at this point when it is completely unnecassary - this came from another Ob!

The lower part of your uterus does most of it's stretching in the middle of the last trimester, so thats when it is likely to move. I would refuse a caesarean that was offered to me on the basis that I have a low lying placenta anytime before then. Only something very small like 1 in 200 have true placenta praevia.

Well he didn't seem worried he said it was most likely to move. I really really do not want a cesarean!!!!:crying: If it doesn't move can i still have a natural labour???? He too said that cesar was a LAST option he mentioned that one of his patient had a low lying placent till 36 weeks then suddenly it moved. So you are probably right that most of the times OBS are to impatient and just organise a cesar when it wasn't necessary!!! He did say that if didn't move at the 20 week scan he would monitor thru frequent ultrasounds, as to avoid an unnessary operation. I know some people love cesareans, but for me there is no satisfaction as a natural birth!
i'll wait and see in 2 weeks and hopefully it has moved up, but in all i have a good feeling that i may go into spontaneous labour with this one, my other 2 i knew that i would go over but for some reason my intuition is telling me that this baby will be in a hurry to see the world!!! Well at lesast i hope so:)
Thanks!!!

If it's not covering your cervix, I am sure it will be fine :) But if the placenta was wholly or partially over your cervix, you would need a caesar or the placenta could rupture with the cervix dilating. I would say you have a very good chance of that placenta moving especially if it isn't on your cervix at all :) You'll just need an ultrasound later in your third tri, frequent ones aren't really necessary unless he is concerned about something else, which I am sure he's not. In two weeks you may be disappointed if it hasn't moved, just remember that it will probably move later in your third tri.

Thanks Kelly. yes it was totally covering my cervix, but as you said and the obs, 90% move up by 20 weeks, so atleast i'm praying that it has:pray: Thanks i will post about it in 2 weeks!!

If it's totally covering your cervix (total/complete placenta praevia) then it's a bit different - that is when it could be a problem resulting in a caesar. Hoping it will move for you, a low lying placenta is a much better thing to have than placenta praevia, but perhaps you can clarify with your Ob next time if its a complete placenta praevia or not? Fingers crossed for you hon - it's still early and hopefully with that time it will go walkies ;) Have you had any bleeding with this pregnancy? You may notice some in the third trimester with this condition.

I had bleeding in the beginning 5- 8weeks but nothing at the moment i hope it stays that way!!!!! I hope it moves!!!!! Me don't want to be CUT!!!!! Too scary!!! I had an operation 3 yrs ago and when i look at my stitches i FAINTED!!! This is comming from a div 2 nurse!!! Go figure that i can watch surgery i have been in scrubs and yet can't handle my own wounds!!! WEIRDO!!! Thanks Kelly