Bec - ahh it's so nice to hear you say those words, that you're thinking of TTC. You know it takes a lot of courage, especially when your pregnancy will be high risk. Mine were high risk but for different reasons. I was shared care with Maternal Fetal Medicine and OBS, for HB, but thankfully only ever ended up needing minimal assistance for the FM.

If you have private health insurance cover, I would go private. The continuity of care that you receive is something that I found the most beneficial. I know your Obs has said he won't see you next time, so you'll have to explain your history to the new Obs, but once told, you won't have to tell that Dr again. And if you get the right one, they will be super sensitive and super accomodating of you. The Obs I see will ALWAYS see me for a reassurance appointment and scan. ALWAYS, no matter ho busy he is. That in itself is a hug reasurrance. I don't have to go and sit at AnE waiting waiting waiting. In AnE they don't usually triage maternal anxiety highly. It's a pretty tough road to be pregnant again after late loss. You might have to tell each new specialist you see, though. If you need tertiary level care that can't be provided for at the hossy you're at, you/bubs will be transferred, though possibly not at the same time. If you have the option available to you from the start, go to an Obs that delivers at a tertiary care level hospital.

I recommend you do some research into Obs that specialise in cardiac issues for bubs, and also as Tash said, a paediatrician in your area. You can do this by asking your Obs, or the Tertiary Level Care Hospital ( they will have consultants who they should be able to say who's on staff, or just look them up on the hossy web site, as most hossies have staff bio's) or by calling the FRANZCOG and seeing if they keep a list of Dr's that specialise in that subspeciality, and same for a Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist.

Once you have some names and you're happy with them, you can ask your GP for a referral to the Obs. The Obs will then refer you to the FM. In relation to a paed, you can always just ask the new Obs once you see them and same for a neonatalogist. Though you may not have as much choice here.

It will involve a fair bit of leg work on your part, but it might help you to have some sense of control over some of the process. It really depends on how much control you need but also how much $ you are willing to spend, as a specialist Obs will be more expensive, and even though you can claim from medicare and possibly your health fund for your apps, the gap will be at bit. For my Obs, the gap is about $60 per scheduled visit. But he usually gives me a free scan each visit and doesn't charge for the reassurance apps. Also when he can, for hospital procedures, he will bill the health fund direct, which means that he's absorbing the gap for that stuff.

So the things to ask a private obs in term of fees - fees for initial consults ( will be higher than regular consults), regular consults, whether you can have reassurance consults and whether you can call the obs if you're worried, what their management fee is. Scans and pathology will all be extra, but if you're worried about the cost of those, one way around the cost of pathology and to get your GP to request it and tick the BB code on the pathology form. I am not sure how much medicare rebates for scans if you're under 35. I was doing some reading the other day that suggested they didn't.

If you were in Qld, I would be able to ask my friends who they'd recommend for an obs that subspecialises in cardiac issues, but you're in Vic.

If you're going public, none of the above matters, as it's all out of your hands. As you're high risk it's not likely you would be seen by middies.

GL with your decision making process and TTC, once you're ready.