Will travel to appointments be worth it?

[ShandiQ]

Hi all, I will hopefully be preggers next year and we are looking into the details re medical appointments/delivery etc. We really dont have any Ob's in town and would like to travel to the Gold Coast to have the baby in a private hospital. I am concerned about the amount of travel it will require to get to those monthly appointments.....its about 7hrs drive.....Has anyone else driven that far for appointments? It makes so much sense in so many other ways to have our baby on the coast but I guess I am nervous about the travel.Any other advice from rural mums wouls also be appreciated!!Shan

[Von Zipper]

Hi ShandiQ. I don't live in QLD - I live in South Australia - but I have to travel 6 hours for appointments with my ob in Adelaide. I can't have my baby here, so am choosing to have it in Adelaide because I have family and friends there that I can stay with before having baby.

I will only see my ob a few times during early pregnancy, and much more towards the end because I will be staying in Adelaide then.

Are you able to do shared care with a local GP? Preferably one experienced with pregnancy. That way you can have most of your appointments closer to home and just travel a couple of times - say at 12 weeks and 20 weeks.