[gisses]

I am pregnant with our 2nd. My pregnancy/labour/birth of our DD was wonderful- quick and without any problems. I am therefore wondering why we paid $3000 for a private ob!

This time I am considering the Family Birthing Centre at the Mercy in Melbourne and before I book a tour and make more enquiries, I wanted to know of any experiences (positive or otherwise) anyone has had at the FBC.

We are not really a fan of the wards there and I know that if anything at all looks like a problem/risk they will send you there....

Hmmm, decisions, decisions.

They are already booked solid until the start of November, so I would have to get in really quickly to secure a place if we were interested.

[fdab66]

Hi OP,
I went to Mercy with no 1 as we were a couple of months out from our health insurance kicking in. This time with no 2 - it didn't even seem to be a discussion about not going back!

I had a relatively uncomplicated pregnancy, but much tougher delivery. The staff at the Mercy were all over it and just fantastic, so no second thoughts about going back, even with our PHI option this time.

Probably the only gripe I have is the wait times to see midwife/doctor, but I assume that is the same everywhere :-)

Thumbs up here!

[crazyhappy]

I'll be watching this thread with interest! I'm wondering the same thing seeing as the midwives spend most of the delivery with you anyway.My main concern about taking this option instead of the private option is because I love that I have 3-4 nights in the private system to bond with the new bub without having to attend to my other children and the house - and I assume in the Family Birth Centre you go home the next day?

Good luck!

[zanjabil]

I'm there currently (due in 4 weeks) and they are all great. I had my last baby there too 2 years ago and again a good experience. I'm not big ons taying at the hospital so the time period to stay in the room doesn't bother me though I know you can ask to stay longer in the normal rooms if you need to. If there is no-one using the FBC rooms i'm pretty sure they let you have an extra night.

I like the approach they have but you do need a uncomplicated pregnancy. However everyone I know that had a baby in the normal side of Mercy was happy there too in the past few years so I'm not that fussed if worst case scenario I got transferred to normal Mercy.

I know it's not the same but if the only reason was for the private room afterwards - wouldn't the few k's be better spent on a private 5 star hotel room

[spersephone]

I would like to have used them, but due to my history, I was comfortable having an OB. I would love to have had the best of both worlds! My friend used them and loved it. I have only ever heard good things.

[Cheekyrascal]

I had number 1 & 2 at the Mercy FBC and am booked in to have number 3 there in August.
No complaints here!

[bigglet]

I was initially booked in with them and the midwives that I saw were just lovely. However I had to be moved to the normal hospital upstairs because of complications that required the services of an OB.

I've heard fantastic things about them but out of 5 people (including myself) that I knew that used the FBC only 2 managed to stay with them - the rest of us had our babies at Mercy Hospital.

If you have uncomplicated pregnancies and prefer natural births then it's definitely the place to go. The only problem I had with them initially was that midwives could not prescribe meds or request certain tests and I had to go to my local GP for all that. But my pregnancy was not as straightforward as I would have liked.

[gisses]

Thanks so much ladies for your advice and comments. We are now booked in for a tour this weekend!

I am hoping this pregnancy will be as uncomplicated as the last. I guess its a good backup knowing that you do have upstairs in case anything should go awry.

My husband would never consider a home birth. Although if our next labour and birth is shorter than the first one (<3 hrs), we may have an unplanned home birth!