Help! Will arrive in Sydney 27 weeks pregnant

[Continentcrosser]

I currently live in Scotland but my husband's just got a new job in Sydney (visas confirmed today) and we will fly out at some point in October. I am due on 14th Jan 2012, and the private health insurance excludes pregnancy/childbirth for the first year. I am really unsure what I can expect from the Australian system.

In the UK I would hope for a midwife led unit, but I have also been encouraged to book antenatal classes already as they fill up so quickly. I will leave before I am eligible to attend the classes in the UK (30 weeks pregnant). DO they book up as quickly in Australia? This is our first child so I would really like to attend classes to get some idea what to expect from the birth. Can someone let me know if there are any private classes that are recommended and that I can book now even though I am not yet based in Sydney.

Any suggestions would be very gratefully received.

[lola77]

Congratulations on getting your visas.

I'm not sure I can be a huge amount of help as we went private but thought I could suggest a couple of things.

As soon as you get here you need to register with Medicare which is the nhs equivalent. Not sure what visa you're on but if not permanent residency, you'll still be entitled to a reciprocal cover Medicare card. When you see a doctor or other healthcare service, you'll generally always have to pay the bill on the spot unless they do something called bulk billing. You then take (or post) your paid bill to a Medicare office and they pay you back whatever the standard rate for that service is. You're left to pay 'the gap'.
Private hospitals are a lot more common here for childbirth in the UK. Do you know which part of Sydney you'll be living in yet? I can personally recommend the northern beaches :)

Several hospitals do have a group midwife program or you can do 'shared care' with your gp.

I know several friends who've had babies at royal north shore hospital in st leonards who spoke highly of it.

I did calmbirth classes which I found way better than the ones offered by my private hospital. Did them with a midwife called Louise Luscri at All About Birth http://www.allaboutbirth.com.au/

Best of luck for your exciting journey to Oz. Feel free to pm me if you have any questions at all

[quitecontrary]

Hi! How exciting to be moving here, if a little daunting with all the things that need to be organised!!
I live in the (inner) southern suburbs which I can also recommend! I had both my babies at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Camperdown (almost inner city, inner west) and I can highly recommend it if you will be in the area. They have a great midwife program - here it is a bit different (no, a lot different) to the UK.
A lot of hospitals have Birth Centres which are different to our labour wards. I was in the birth centre program for my daughter (dd ie dear daughter) but did shared care firstly with my GP then with my obstetrician. So, I went private at the end though we didn't have private health insurance, we just paid as we went. Some of it we got back on medicare and some we didn't . With my son we went private with the same Ob and we had private insurance.
Birth Centres are set up with double beds and a bathroom with a birthing bath and it is a lot more homely than the labour ward - soft lighting, more "comfortable". But the labour ward was ok!
At my local hospital (St George) I think they actually run a homebirth midwife program, as well as having the birth centre. But I do know these programs book out very quickly. But coming from the UK I think you would have a good case to plead your way in.
Do you have any idea where you will be living? As soon as you know this, get in touch with the local hospital!
I did the calmbirth course with a local practitioner - I do recommend it highly, as it gave me much more "birth" prep than the hospital course did. The hospital one was more about the hospital processes and being orientated to the hospital itself, which was actually pretty handy too.
With the calmbirth course I looked it up online and found a teacher that was going to suit me locally! It was pricey, but very worthwhile.
My sister is a midwife at RPA so if you want I can pick her mind for you once you know where you might be living. My Ob came midwife approved from that hospital - which was important to me. Oh yeah, and with her first she booked herself into The Royal Womens Hospital birth centre from Spain - which is where she was living up til the last trimester - so it can be done from afar!
Oh, its all so exciting!!

[Continentcrosser]

Thank you so much for your responses. That helps an incredible amount - I feel a little more prepared now. My visa is 457 - temporary business one, so reciprocal agreements will cover me, thankfully!

I am amazed that I can get in touch with the hospitals in advance. I think we'll end up living in Inner West as it's close to my husband's work and the only person we know in Sydney lives there! So the RPA that is the nearest hospital. I found an email address for them and have requested some assistance with my next steps, so I do feel that I have started to get somewhere. Thanks so much for your help. Hopefully over the next few weeks I'll keep moving forward, but I may well ask for further advice. Thank you for being so kind and helpful.

[shinebrite]

Can I just suggest, if it already hasn't been, either hiring a midwife or getting a training midwife. I moved from Canberra to Adelaide when I was 11wks pregnant with my third and she has been a HUGE help!! I can ask her for ANY type of recommendation I need she does all the pregnancy leg work for me, tells me which places to get what test done etc... I'd be lost without her!!! GL xx

[quitecontrary]

Oh, the other thing I recommend is you join your "Due in January '12" group here on bubhub - you might even find some women who live in the inner west, who are going to deliver at RPA too. I found my birth groups here very supportive, as we were all going through similar things at the same time!
Ah, RPA!! A busy place indeed, but definitely a good hospital! If you don't get an answer via email don't hesitate to call them, even with the time difference its not that hard to call during our office hours from the UK. We use skype these days to call overseas - it is very cheap to call a "normal" phone number. (my dh is English).
Oh, and even though the birth centre is in high demand, you can also do the midwife program at the hospital of course. It just means you will go to the labour ward instead of the centre. But the labour ward rooms also have the birthing baths etc, its just a different feeling. They are right next to each other anyway!
I'm so excited for you!! Good luck with everything, I hope you get an answer from RPA soon!

[AJoy]

Hi Lola, I've been searching through the forums and noticed your reply to this one. I'm hoping that you can help me. I'm currently living in Perth and will be relocating to Avalon in early October. I need to find a fantastic Ob/Gyn ASAP so I can start booking in all of my appointments. Is there anyone that you can highly recommend? Also is there a really good maternity hospital that you can recommend close by in that area? Thanks for your time. AJoy

[lola77]

Hi Lola, I've been searching through the forums and noticed your reply to this one. I'm hoping that you can help me. I'm currently living in Perth and will be relocating to Avalon in early October. I need to find a fantastic Ob/Gyn ASAP so I can start booking in all of my appointments. Is there anyone that you can highly recommend? Also is there a really good maternity hospital that you can recommend close by in that area? Thanks for your time. AJoy

Lucky you. Avalon is lovely! Public hospital wise, the maternity unit at mona vale got shut down and I wouldn't personally go to manly as I feel its been underfunded and run down, and both DH and I have had bad experiences there.

Privateh hosiptals- there are none with maternity services on the beaches so the two main ones beaches mums use are The Mater in Crows Nest and North Shore Private in St Leonards. They are adjacent suburbs and are a few mins drive apart so a lot of obs deliver at both. I delivered at NSP and really liked it. It has the advantage of being joined to Royal North Shore Public Hospital so has all the special care baby facilities you should ever need, should the worst happen!

Anyway, they're both probably a 45 min drive from Avalon in good traffic.

I loved my obstetrician. He was recommended by my gp and fertility doc and I've met so many medical professionals who had their babies with him or who just think he's great. Oh yes, his name is Gil Burton and his rooms are at NSP but he delivers at the mater too.

If there is anything I can help with just give me a shout. When are you due? I'm on my iPad so I can't see signatures / tickers.

I have a booking with Gil that I'm about to cancel for reasons that are obvious if you can see my signature. I was due 21 feb so you might snatch my booking if you're around the same time!

Enjoy the move!