Illawarra ob's

[shellymumof2]

Hello girls

This question is for a friend of mine who is newly pregnant.

Wondering which ob's don't charge or which ones don't charge a lot.

I saw Dr Davis but he charges $1800 at 22 weeks, which is too much for her. She has private Health insurance.

So of the ob's you know how much do they charge?

Thanks

[talia11]

My Ob was Dr Greening and he cost $3000, but I got over half back from Medicare -not sure what the rebate would be now.

Dr McCosker did my emergency c-section as Dr Greening was away, and my friend is with him and I believe he is around $2500???

[emiliaabell]

Dr Joe McCosker charges $180 for initial consult, $80 per antenatel visit and $2000 gap due at around 25 weeks. Some of that you will get back on Medicare. Dr Davis charges a little less but is booked out till October due dates.... he does his bookings based on due dates. Dr Bisheer (spelling??) charges $150 initial consult, bulk bills her antenatel visits and $2500 gap.

I have a question for anyone.... can anyone give me feedback on Dr Joe McCosker versus Dr Bisheer (the only lady gyn/obs in Illawarra). I have had some negatives and positives on both so far ... very confusing for me right now. I am 15 weeks so I am kinda leaving it all a bit late and need to make a choice.

Other than that, all is going well with my pregnancy. I am glad that my first trimester is over.... was rough times :-)

[lizzieruth]

Hi all
I'm also looking for any feedback on Dr McCosker. I'm moving to the Illawarra and he was the only Ob with space for a sep. baby. I can't find any opinions about him at all. I'd love to know what you have heard?

[emburrows]

Dr McCosker was my Ob for when I had my son in Sept 2009. As it was my first child, I can't compare him to any other Ob's although I found him to be a good Ob. He was thorough and let me ask any questions at appointments. I ended up having an emergency c-section with my son and he did a great job as a surgeon. My scar is so tiny and faded that you can hardly see it and my recovery time was really quick.

[Kimnus]

Dr Davis is my OB and he was awesome. I ended up having an emergency c-section and he kept me calm through the whole process. Because i am a high risk patient he kept myself and my husband informed. I would recommend him to everyone.

Is she interested in going through the private health system or through wollongong hospital? The other thing she could always do is go shared care, i haven't done it as i have high risk pregnancies but i have heard great things about it.

[JJJ1980]

Hello ladies, Wondering if anyone out there has had severe preclampsia in wollongong hospital, if there are any high risk obstetricians in the area and there experiances. i have had two pre eclampsic births at St George hospital , the first becoming eclampsic and very scary, under the rap team and Professor Mark Brown who are leaders in the field. Recently moved down to the lovely Illawarra, become pregnant with the third and I am not sure if the local hospital has the expertise in the field. Would appreciate any info as I have to make a decision.:wave:

[naebie]

Hi JJJ, I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I know of a few people who have had preeclampsia quite badly and gone through Wollongong Hospital. I also think that Wollongong and St George hospitals are under the same organisation, so if in doubt they transfer patients up there- I had complications and was told that if I went into labour before 32 weeks I would be transferred to St George. I suppose, if in doubt, ask the midwives :)

Hope this helps.

[mrsmamo]

Hey ladies!
Just after some info on obs - i have seen Dr McCosker for other things and while we have PHI, the gap fee's are one to be scheduled into the poor old budget.

After DD's birth i refuse to give birth/recover in a public hospital in the illawarra/shoalhaven so just getting some info.

Am i able to call the obs and get 'quotes' over the phone?? as heartless as that sounds. I wasn't a high risk patient the first time so there's no existing complications.

Is there a private midwifery practice in the illawarra that i can go to instead??

Sorry for so many questions and my rambled post!

K

[carley20186]

Hi Miss Mamo Wollongong Hospital run a program called the midwifery group parctice (mgp) where you see the same midwife every visit and ring her for any thing she is also the one who delivers your baby. Ring Wollongong hospital and they will transfer you i went though this with my first baby but for the next will be going private as wonderful as they were i still was not completely happy with the service the ultra sound company reccomened i be induced because my little man was so large and they told me no thet wont be happening cause they were to busy..... luckly i went into labour early naturaly cause my little man was almost 10 pound when he was born and they were runnign around stressed out cause he was coming and they realised he was so big and my labour went forever and bubs was distressed (only had a few min and would have had to have an emergency c section) thank goodness i got him out :) and the staff on the maternity ward were SHOCKING except for one lovely lady they asked me to buzz them when bubs feeding to make sure he was attaching properly (which i was having problems with) not one time but a few times and each time they turned up an hour and a half later he was fed burped changed and asleep next time i will be going through an ob for sure..... Dr Greening will be my first choice have heard so many great things about him

[Kimnus]

I had Dr Davis as my OB. I work at wollongong hospital and I refused to have my bits exposed to everyone I knew in there. I asked around and most of the people asked said that they would use Dr Davis out of all the other doctors in a second. It also helps he is the head of all the other OBs in wollongong.

I needed an emergency c-section with my little man as he was so distressed and Dr Davis kept me and my DH so informed and calm and I would use him again in a heart beat.

From memory we had to pay $2100 but got some back from medicare and the rest was covered by the PHI.

Good luck in your search

Sent from my HTC Desire using Bubhub

[mrsmamo]

Thank you so much ladies!

First time round i went through the antenatal clinic in wollongong hospy (we now live down on Jervis Bay) and i have done a tour of the maternity/labour wards of shoalhaven hospy thru school (im a teacher) and i wasn't impressed.

The care on the ward i received in wollongong after i had my daughter was disgusting to say the least.

I had a midwife make me cry. I suffer from depression and had the social worker just come and dump an envelope full of photo copied pamphlets on my bed- gee that was helpful, had to wait 4 hours for a new sheet for DD's bassinet then got yelled at for 'spoiling' my daughter by holding her too much - umm well if i had a new sheet then i could put her in the bassinet! And i remember walking the corridors with a screaming bub, bleeding nipples and crying coz i just didn't know what else to do and there was not 1 nurse on the ward - changeover meeting apparently.

I refuse to go through that again.

thanks again ladies!! (sorry that turned into a bit of a rant!)

[Kimnus]

Thank you so much ladies!

First time round i went through the antenatal clinic in wollongong hospy (we now live down on Jervis Bay) and i have done a tour of the maternity/labour wards of shoalhaven hospy thru school (im a teacher) and i wasn't impressed.

The care on the ward i received in wollongong after i had my daughter was disgusting to say the least.

I had a midwife make me cry. I suffer from depression and had the social worker just come and dump an envelope full of photo copied pamphlets on my bed- gee that was helpful, had to wait 4 hours for a new sheet for DD's bassinet then got yelled at for 'spoiling' my daughter by holding her too much - umm well if i had a new sheet then i could put her in the bassinet! And i remember walking the corridors with a screaming bub, bleeding nipples and crying coz i just didn't know what else to do and there was not 1 nurse on the ward - changeover meeting apparently.

I refuse to go through that again.

thanks again ladies!! (sorry that turned into a bit of a rant!)

Rant away. Are you thinking of going to a private hospital?

Figtree Hospital was great and the nurses there are great!

[mrsmamo]

sure am! Figure is the closest .... read ONLY private hospy I can go so I'm gonna go there. Rather take the risk of having to travel in the middle of the night to figure than deal with a public hosp again.

That is such a relief that you had a great experience there! Definitely a relief. :)

Sent from my HTC Desire using Bubhub

[Kimnus]

Yeah I ended up having an emergency c-section and they were wonderful. I had to stay in 7 days and they really take care of you and the food isn't bad either!

Because I lost so much blood during the c-section my milk didn't come in and before they diagnoses this problem my baby was scream everytime he was a wake and at one stage I had 5 nurses in my room looking after us both, making sure that I had meds, and bathing my bub and comforting him as well.

[missie_mack]

My experience at Wollongong wasn't much better. However birth wise they were fantastic and have it hands down on birth outcomes on Figtree when you look at the Mothers and Babies reports. I was stunned to see that Figtree as a 1 in 2 intervention rate and if you are induced (which a LOT of women are) they are remiss to let you off the bed to birth or anything. Their VBAC success rate is 7 in 100 where as in Wollongong it is 1 in 4. Wollongong is also the only hospital that does waterbirths. If only you could birth in Wollongong and recover in Figtree :laughing:

Seriously look at the stats before choosing your hospital. Sadly it doesn't seem to be dependent on your OB for your outcome- as the same OBs basically serve both hospitals. And don't forget there are also private midwives in our area. Employing a private midwife is not just for homebirth :no:

ETA Incidently if I was needing an OB to birth again my first choice would be Greening. I loved this man with my first pregnancy. My other choices would be between Coleman and McCosker ;)

[Kimnus]

Working in wollongong Hospital there has been a lot of bad things been said about Dr McCosker but you can't always trust what you hear...if I didn't have Dr Davis I would have chosen either Dr Coleman or Walton.

[missie_mack]

Working in wollongong Hospital there has been a lot of bad things been said about Dr McCosker but you can't always trust what you hear...if I didn't have Dr Davis I would have chosen either Dr Coleman or Walton.

I'm suprised anybody in the know would want Walton at their birth, unless of course their intention was to be induced or have a CS then I would think he would be my first choice as he would have one of the highest amount of experience of all the OB's. I was really suprised that McCosker was doing OB work again as for the past few years he has tended to specialise in more the GYN side of the business. But having said that I have heard from midwives who have worked in the system that he would be most likely to do his best to give you the birth you wanted, as opposed to the birth he feels you should have.

[lizzieruth]

Hi missie_mack
Your post was very useful to me as I had heard from others that the stats for Wollongong birth outcomes were actually much better than the private hospitals. Where do you get access to these stats?

Also interested in your suggestion to hire a private midwife - is there anyone you recommend? and what can you expect from them?

thanks
lizzieruth


My experience at Wollongong wasn't much better. However birth wise they were fantastic and have it hands down on birth outcomes on Figtree when you look at the Mothers and Babies reports. I was stunned to see that Figtree as a 1 in 2 intervention rate and if you are induced (which a LOT of women are) they are remiss to let you off the bed to birth or anything. Their VBAC success rate is 7 in 100 where as in Wollongong it is 1 in 4. Wollongong is also the only hospital that does waterbirths. If only you could birth in Wollongong and recover in Figtree :laughing:

Seriously look at the stats before choosing your hospital. Sadly it doesn't seem to be dependent on your OB for your outcome- as the same OBs basically serve both hospitals. And don't forget there are also private midwives in our area. Employing a private midwife is not just for homebirth :no:;)

[missie_mack]

Hi missie_mack
Your post was very useful to me as I had heard from others that the stats for Wollongong birth outcomes were actually much better than the private hospitals. Where do you get access to these stats?

Also interested in your suggestion to hire a private midwife - is there anyone you recommend? and what can you expect from them?

thanks
lizzieruth

The most recent copy of Mothers and Babies reports (http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/pubs/2009/mothers_babies.html)publicly available for free in NSW is sadly only 2006 however you can still see the stats. The years prior are also available for comparison, if that would help.
As for a private midwife there are a couple who service this area however I think it really tends to depend on what type of birth you want yourself as to whom is the best. Which really is the case IMO with any care provider.
The Illawarra has a great group which can be googled called Illawarra Birth Choices I used them as a source of information about local care providers. They have a list of doulas and private midwives in the area on their website.

I ended up employing a private midwife (whose name I am a bit amiss at putting on the forum for privacy) for this pregnancy after much investigation. My midwife has a high success rate of VBACs (which was a BIG thing for me, given that most private midwives are commonly dealing with VBACs) and is willing to support me through the hospital system should I have chosen that avenue. However my choices were reduced greatly when we found my baby was in breach position at 30 weeks and didn't turn until just after 36 weeks leaving neither hospital confident in my ability to VBAC or prepared to take the risk on me, despite having a very healthy pregnancy in both myself and the baby. Fortunately my baby has since turned and I am not recovering from another CS and my baby has been given the opportunity to mature inutero as it was intended :goodvibes: