I'm new to Canberra and I'm 18 weeks pregnant. My local hospital is Queanbeyan and I've decided to go there to have bub.

I rang the hospital and they gave me the names of the 2 medical centres who have shared care GPs. The midwife I spoke to highly recommended Dr Peter Davis. When I rang his office, the soonest I can see him is end of Feb.

The other centre was the Crawford St Medical Centre and she gave me the names of 3 different doctors who work there.

What would you guys recommend? Should I wait 1.5 months to see the "recommended" doctor (who sounds fantastic)? Or go with the other centre? Does anyone have any experience with either?

When do you normally have the "main" ultrasound? I was thinking it was somewhere between 18 and 20 weeks. My old GP from Sydney gave me a referral, just in case I couldn't find a GP down here. Can I use this referral whilst I'm waiting for an appointment with the local guy?

Help!

I didn't see my OB until I was 24 weeks pregnant so if a midwife has recommended somebody, I would probably go with them. My GP gave me the referral for ultrasounds that were done prior to seeing the OB and all reports were forwarded to the OB. His receptionist informed me that if there was a problem in the reports, he would contact me and see me at that point.

I cannot reccommend Dr Davis highly enough. Once you start seeing him you'll have no trouble getting appts as the lovely receptionist will fit you in. He is also on call all the time and his surgery is about 3 min from the hospital so he is able to spend all day seeing patients on his surgery and then popping in to the hospital to see patients there. I have been a regular visit to the hospital since I was 30 weeks along due to odema. At 30 weeks Dr Davis checked me out at the hospital every 4 days or so then at about 33 weeks he has been checking me there every week. Last week I was due for a scheduled appt at his surgery (for which I would be out of pocket) but Dr Davis got me to cancel it and go to the hospital instead (for free).

The midwives at QBN are wonderful, they have been so great about me going up to be checked every week, and the hospital itself was only built a couple of years ago so everything is new plus being a rural hospital it's rarely very busy up there. In fact at one stage it was thought that due to complications I would have to have a scheduled CS at Canberra Hospital which really upset me as I love dealing with Dr Davis and the middies at QBN. Thankfully we are all set to go to QBN, hopefully very soon!

PM me OP if you have any other questions

Dr Yates in Jerrabomberra is fantastic and had delivered many a baby (as far as I know - not mine though)

I'm another one for Dr Davis, he delivered 3 out of my 4 children. With my youngest I had to have him in Canberra he was premmie and I had had alot of complications during my pregnancy.

Dr Davis is the type of doctor that will take the time to really listen to you and your fears. I have found that if you need more time than allocated for your appointment he has no problem in giving you the time that you need.

Although if you are going to go to him then I suggest that you call the surgery before going in as he may have been called to the hospital.

I'm seeing Dr John Azoury at Crawford St. He seems pretty much on the ball so far, but he also might take a few weeks to get an appointment. I saw Dr Fred (I'm not sure of his surname, everyone just calls him Dr Fred) at Crawford St a couple of times when Dr Azoury was away. He was okay, but I'm more comfortable with Dr Azoury. He's a GP obstetrician though, not an OB. With the exception of my first appointment, I've been bulk-billed for all subsequent pregnancy management appointments.