Kiwi's having babies in Oz

[karenngaire]

Hi guys,

I'm having baby number 3 after having first 2 in NZ. I'm currently going through the Mater Midwifery Group in Brisbane as that seems to be the best option through the public system. Just wondering how other kiwi's are finding the system over here compared to back home...I think we are so lucky in NZ to have the choice of any midwife we like taking care of us and birthing at any hospital, public or private all at the cost of the govt....NZ has definately got maternity care sorted. Any thoughts?? :)

[NonnyMouse]

The system here sucks! My DD was born in CHCH, and when I fell preg over here the only way I could get the birth I wanted was to hire a private midwife and birth at home.

[karenngaire]

Interesting...I wondered what other kiwi's did or are doing to combat the changes over here....I'm not really into having a home birth but what kinda of charges do private midwives costs?

[NonnyMouse]

It depends on where you are, and what you want from them.

For my homebirth last time it was $4,000, but I get a discount for my second, which is only costing $3,500.

As far as I'm aware you can hire a midwife even if you are going through the hospital system, and they will provide all your antenatal care, but depending on what hospital you birth at they may not be able to act in an "official" capacity during your actual labour, instead being relegated to "birth support person".

[JosieJo]

I had my 1st in NZ, my 2nd through the general public system here, and now my 3rd through the Midwifery Group. I found the general public terrible, but am finding the Midwifery Group on par with NZ - have the most lovely midwife who does the visits at our home, I feel very happy with the care I have at the moment.
But yep definitely, my 2nd experience was very much "you're a number not a person".

[*Chels*]

I had my first bub in NZ,and yes it was great choosing a midwife and having one on one care throughout the pregnancy,
I had my 2nd bub in OZ,but I went through the Birth Centre in Gold Coast hospital.
Luckily I got an amazing midwife,and I became quite close to her.I had an amazing waterbirth,and great after care.
So I would definatley only go through a BC if I had another baby

[aquagirl]

I had my first in NZ and went public for my 2nd over here. My sister did the same (same hospitals) and warned me not to have baby here but I didn't listen. I think it would have been fine with another midwife and a different dr at another hospital but I didn't have many options because I'm in a kinda small town.
The midwife was rude and she made me feel like I was interrupting her dinner, and the dr that stitched me up gave me the creeps, and I couldn't wait to leave.

[jandals]

I also had no. 1 in NZ and no. 2 in Brisbane. I actually had a better experience here than in NZ. That may have been because I had an elective c-section here so it didn't matter so much that I didn't know the midwives, if that makes sense? I think I was a lot more relaxed too as this was the second baby. Don't think I would like to be having my first in this system as you don't get anywhere near as much reassurance as you would (generally speaking) with a midwife you see the whole way through.

I don't know anything much about the Mater Midwifery Group Practice (other than you have to leave hospital after the first night I think) but I had my baby at the Mater Mothers and I was really happy with the staff and the rooms are really nice too. The only downer was it was a total nightmare waiting to be discharged, so be prepared to wait all day as I know it happens regularly there.

Good luck. The system is very different but not all bad :)

[BlissedOut]

It is far below what we receive in NZ.

I never had a baby there, but my sister is a MW in NZ. She thinks it's horrific I have never seen the same MW twice and only met my birth MW in theater.

I definitely think the Australian maternity system would benefit from adopting this part of NZs maternity health care model. They have a proven reduced use of pain relief and c-sections, which is cheaper!

Women in Australia seem constantly dissatisfied with their maternity care and their comfort during birth (as in confidence in carers) and I think this is largely attributed to the impersonal nature of the care model here.

[MikasMum]

I have had no.1 in Australia, but my husband and i will hopefully moved over to NZ (near Whangerei) before we decide to have number 2. I am wondering what the system over in NZ is like? Over here i live in a small country town and had to travel over an hour away for all my appointments and to have the baby. I had a wonderful doctor but felt a bit disconnected from the midwives like I was just another person. Just wondering if you could tell me a bit about the NZ system

[changethestars]

Hey all,

I am Kiwi, moved here in August (Melbourne), and about to have my first baby. I don't know a lot about the NZ system but to be honest, I am kind of horrified by the system here and am pretty sure it is more midwife based in NZ...

... I am now considering paying the thousands of dollars to have a homebirth through an independant midwife, as I am not happy with the hospital system here at all, and want more control over my birth experience.

Interesting that others have had similar thoughts/experiences!

[helicopter]

I see from your sig that you decided to go the homebirth route changethestars :) I hope it's wonderful - not long to go now! :)
How much does that cost?

I am gutted today :( I had both my kids in NZ with homebirths, no complications, never seen an ob in my life, nice uncomplicated born at home babies. I can't afford to pay for a hb here and was perfectly happy with the idea of going to the birth centre at the royal but looked up their 'low risk exclusions' and according to australia I'm a high risk pregnancy and can't use the birth centre! It is because of my high BMI... which was the same when I homebirthed in NZ and no one ever mentioned it as a risk factor... am bummed :(

I've actually been loosing weight prior to falling preg this time and so have continued doing the same things and lost a little more since being preg (with doctors approval) but there's no humanly possible way for me to get my bmi under their limit in time and while pregnant so I'm gonna be a high risk hospital birth this time round :no: Seems so ridiculous :heywhat:

I could pop to nz for a few months and have baby there lol, but I don't want to. I just wanna go to a birth centre! *sulk*

(Speaking of which since someone here might know - is it true that if bubs is born in Au and lives here for the first 10 years of it's life, it is automatically granted citizenship on it's 10th bday?)

[aquagirl]

helicopter-wow I had to google that one and apparently yeah if the kid has lived most of their life in Aussie they automatically acquire Australian citizenship on their 10th birthday

[DragonGirl]

I thought the law had changed now? And that doesn't happen anymore?

Anyway noticed this thread while going through what's new. I'm also a kiwi. I had my first two kiddies in nz. My second being a great experience. My first wasn't that bad but it was before midwife care. I just saw my gp who delivered my baby too (he was a gyno/ob. I'm now pregnant with my third and hating the care I have. I'm through the public system so I mainly see my gp, have only seen a midwife once and an ob once. I can guarantee I won't see the same ob or midwife again. The hospital here is crowded so I'm not looking forward to birthing this baby! And I can only hope the care after birth is decent! I won't know until I get to that part. I hate how you don't get to see the one person throughout your pregnancy!


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[helicopter]

Thanks Fivasmum :)
Dragongirl I just did a google too and seems it's still current at the moment. Who knows if it still will be in 10 years time though :rolleyes:
ETA: heres the link I found http://www.citizenship.gov.au/current/

That sucks about your care here :( Is there no birth centre option in Twba? At least here if you can get in there, you do have continuity of care there. But yeah, I'm not looking forward to the GP shared care then turning up to hosp with some random person who's on duty either :no: I hope it goes much better than you're expecting it too xx

I'm still feeling quite bummed today. I never really understood why so many people go for unassisted hbs over here (I did hbs because it was easier, not because I'm really staunch about it) but now when I see what the only alternatives are, I am starting to understand how one might find themselves choosing to do that! :eek:

[emzluvbub]

re: Citizenship. It is true however we want to take our bubs back to NZ to meet the rellies so have to apply for citizenship by descent to get him an NZ passport. PITA!

This is our first so I have no idea what it's like in NZ. Spose that's probably a good thing as I have nothing to compare it by!

[helicopter]

Yep I think it's definitely a good thing emz ;) Yeah we will need to do the nz passport thing too as we'll be back and forward probably a few times over the next 10 years, well I hope so anyway! :)

[karenngaire]

Hi Mikasmum, not sure if your still after info on NZ maternity system but here goes. I had my first 2 children in NZ and the 3rd in Oz.
In NZ there's generally three types of care offered...
Public system:
Gp shared care - similar to what's offered in OZ, you see your Gp for checkups and then turn up at the hospital and have a hospital midwife deliver
Independent midwife - they can work on their own or as part of a team of midwives, you see them one on one and they do your checkups and deliver at any hospital public or private, some do homebirths but you have to check with them. They visit you at home for the first 6 weeks after baby born.
Private system:
Obstetrician - you are cared for by obstetrician at your cost and normally if your high risk, they attend the delivery but I think you have to access care afterwards with someone like plunket (baby nurse, great institute to access after baby arrives, they visit at home or you can go there).
Hope this helps...the NZ system is looked upon as the gold star (told to me by an aussie midwife so you should be ok and if in doubt start with your Gp of contact the local plunket nurse...good luck.:)

[karenngaire]

:) Hi guys,
me again, just an update...
I went through the Mater Midwifery Group and delivered at the Mater Public in Brisbane. I found them very good and the closest to what we have in NZ. I delivered at Mater Public and found the staff and facilities there great and stayed there three nights. The only different thing I found with the midwifery group was that the checkups and appointments were done group style so there were about 10 in my group and we all met together and discussed issues etc. Even though at first I thought that was a little weird I ended up meeting other Mums and some of us still meet up so in the end it was good.

[helicopter]

Congratulations Karenngarie! :) That sounds like an interesting system - glad you had a good experience :)

[MikasMum]

Thanks for the information about the system in NZ. We are currently living in NZ (moved over nearly a year ago) and have just found out I am pregnant. So just about to get into the system over here. I'm interested to see what it's like compared with the care that I got in Oz.

[karenngaire]

Hi Mikasmum,
Congratulations on your pregnancy, I hope you have a good experience with maternity care in NZ...I also am interested in how you find the maternity care compared to oz so keep us posted. What part of NZ are you? :wave:

[MikasMum]

i'm up in Northland. between Dargaville and Whangarei in a little place called Paparoa.