Emma, this is a really tricky question to answer and I don’t think there really can be a “yes” or “no” outcome. As you said it’s more about hearing the experiences of others, to give you some food for thought.

I have also asked Hannah Dahlen, who is the national media spokesperson for the Australian College of Midwives and is also an associate professor of midwifery, for some tips on what you should weigh up when making your decision.

“Firstly, if Emma has a commitment to having a normal birth – if that is what she is wanting to do - then her chances of achieving that is much greater in a public hospital,” says Hannah. “Statistically there is a much greater rate of intervention (such as inductions, caesareans and so forth) in private hospitals over public hospitals.”

“And I would suggest that if her number one reason for going private is continuity of care with her obstetrician, well we now have continuity of care within the midwife profession as well. This means that Emma can choose to see the same midwife throughout her prenatal, birth and post natal time. Women using this model tend to have less medical intervention, higher rates of breastfeeding and simply greater happiness overall with the outcome and post-birth settling. This continuity of care is available for private and public patients.”

“I would suggest that Emma discuss her concerns with the hospitals of her choice. It will depend on which public hospital is in her area - some areas still don’t have this “continuity of care” model - but if her local hospital doesn’t then she could maybe check whether she can use another hospital that does.”

“And don’t forget that midwives also work very closely with obstetricians and will know if something during the pregnancy or birth is not normal, in which case she would be referred for specialist care.”

Emma, I think it’s a case of finding out what each of the hospitals in our area offers, then weighing up the pros and cons of each. Best of luck with whatever decision you make!

EB Members: Did you go public or private? Do you have any tips for Emma?

As an aside, why is it, whenever this topic comes up, advice/opinion is always sought from midwives in these types of articles. I absolutely do not have a problem with the advice provided by the quoted midwife's advice. It is very sound advice.

However, it would just be nice to have an obstetrician's point of view on this topic.

Emma - I really can't offer any advice but wish you all the best with your decision.

I agree, overitin2010, I'd love to get an Obstetrician's view too. I'll keep that in mind for next time.

Firstly, it does come down to money, especially in the southern states where obstetrician fees are higher. I think most people would agree that private care is not worth going into debt for, in the area of obstetrics.

Secondly, it depends on what sort of pregnancy you are going to have. Noone has a crystal ball. If it is going to go smoothly, no dramas, you go on to have an uncomplicated vaginal delivery - then some would even say you are better off in the public system.

However, if you are going to develop any complications, eg my gestational diabetes (which affects at least 5% of pregnancies), then it is my opinion that I received better care and had more control over the outcomes in the private system. I had a private endocrinologist who I could call / email about my sugars and she would adjust them - people in the public system have to call a nurse who passes on the message, different doctors get back to them in varying time frames with varying information. Obstetrically, I was at risk for a number of complications because of the diabetes. I was seen frequently and could call up the obstetrician who knows my case at any point and ask them about what to do. Not go up to the hospital after hours to be assessed and have an after hours junior doctor decide what to do.

That raises the whole private vs public thing about doctors. You will get more junior doctors publically: that is not always a bad thing, a junior doctor may be more up to date with things. But you might be their first caesar (someone has to be!). Of course, it would be under the supervision of someone senior. You won't necessarily see the same doctor at each OB appt, although they do try to achieve that. And the whole decision about induction, induction or caesar date etc etc - may be made by a different doctor to the one you saw last time.

Those are the practicalities of the system, and I guess are probably different across different areas. But those issues are some of the ones inherent to the whole public vs private debate.

To "Emma": there are no clear answers. We are lucky in Australia that the public system is as good as it is. Your decision will at least partly rely on your financial situation. I would suggest that you should sit down and add up how much it would cost and see if you think that is doable before even considering going private.

I expect there will be plenty of responses to say that they have had a great time in the public system, and for the majority of people I think it works reasonably well. But I think just being aware of what you are paying for and what the different issues are does help make an informed decision.

Sue

I went private and it was worth every cent. I got to see the OB I wanted to see and trusted. He was great. My OB was also my FS so I have a great relationship with him. Also I was able to chose when to have DD. To cut a long story short I had pre-eclampsia and was put in hospital. My BP came down and my OB was going away for the weekend. DD was booked in the come out the following week. Any way my Ob asked if I wanted to wait a week and I said no so he did the c-section the day he was meant to go away.

Next time round I will be going private too. I just dont trust my two local hospitals. I have heard bad stories and I dont want to be in a room with other mothers and newborns.

Hope this help

I would personally never go privately. I personally think it's a rip off and have had great public care. (And I was also admitted and induced for preeclampsia with #1, I don't see how it would have been handled better with a private OB. I'm curious for the need for a caesarean with the previous poster since she was obviously far enough along to be able to choose now or next week, they are not a standard necessity for PE (blood pressure had also come down) and it was a 1st baby. Maybe there were other complications she didn't mention).

My SIL went privately recently and I'm sure she had great care. But visiting her the standard rooms were identical to the single room I got in a public hospital for free and both her and her baby contracted staph infections which can happen in any hospital but I can't say that had me thrilled about private hospitals that you pay through the nose to use (in premiums and OB fees).

Yep, that's one thing that no amount of private hospital money can prevent!

If you really want a natural birth stay home, your chances are slim in hospital, public or private.

You can have a natural birth in a public hospital ( or private for that matter) - I did and it was great and all that I wanted. So ignore PP who seem hell bent on turning everything into a home vs hospital birth. The origional question was public vs private.
I had DD1 privately and the care was good, got my own ob but after she was born that was pretty much it. My Ob also induced me 10 days overdue and the birth was horrendous compared to DD2, who we went publicly for. I still had my own doctor and fortunately got my own room ( just how it turned out at the time) and I was allowed to go 2 weeks over with careful monitoring so went into spontaneous labour. I couldn't fault the nursing staff or doctor and it was a much better experience.
Do your homework and check out the private and public hospitals you can go to. Ask them questions and see what their response is to a natural birth. In public, I was allowed to plan my birth with DD2 and it was hassle free and relatively easy compared to DD1.

I went private with DD. I hated my birthing experience and it was over rated.
I since moved toa regional town and with DS I did share care with my GP and did go as a private patient in a public hospital. All that meant was that I had a private room. It cost me nothing.
I will do the same for this baby.

I would be worried that you are paying over a $100 a month and you are not fully covered...

Don't see the question as public or private - the question you should be asking is hospital x (your local public hospital) versus hospital y (your preferred private hospital).

The question public versus private is totally irrelevant unless you take into account the specific hospitals and caregivers that you are referring to.

My local public hospital offers one on one midwifery, my midwife worked in a small team and I could call at any time day or night and she (or whoever was on duty in the team if overnight) would call me back within minutes and deal with any queries I had. I have every confidence that if I had had any complications they would have been dealt with superbly.

In the end my bub arrived so fast that my midwife didn't make it to the birth. She was there 20 mintues later (almost 2am...) and hung around until I went home 2 hours later. But if I had had a private Ob they likely wouldn't have made it either.

And that's another reason public suits me, I prefer not to stay in hospital any longer than absolutely necessary, so not much point paying out in insurance premiums for a hospital room that I'm not going to use (since PHI doesn't cover much of the other stuff).

mumtomakandissy - the facts speak for themselves drug free natural births are rarities in hospital, I didn't make it up.

If your wanting a Normal natural delivery then public is the way to go... its free (other than blood tests and ultrasound)...

But its not only picking public or private its also to do with the quality of the hospital... some are better than otehrs.

I say public health all the way. There are going to be 'bad stories' from any hospital, public or private, you need to remember that doctors are not going to go out of thier way to stop you having the birth you want and paying them is certainly not going to make a difference in the care they give you. The main thing I thought of was where is the best NICU? In a lot of cases private hospitals don't have a neonatal department at all or as advanced and well staffed as a public hospital and although nobody wants to think their baby may need it I personally feel better about it being on the same floor rather than an ambulance ride away.

We have had 6 children in the public system and our 7th baby 4 weeks ago privately. I loved the care in the private system as it felt more personalised and continuity was there. I had a pregnancy with a higher risk and felt very at ease with the care I was given. I didn't have a bad experience in the public system just preferred the care in the private. My Ob and his team were a dream to visit at each appointment and when it came to my c/s I knew exactly whom was carrying out the surgery (unlike in the public system were I had 2 complete strangers operate on me) Having said that we had a couple of great natural births in a public birthing centre and the midwives were fantastic, like op I think it depends on the hospital you choose and I think it can depend also on the type of pregnancy you have.

We only had basic health cover and our fund would only pay a small portion for my room. To give an idea our Ob charged $3500 for the birth (we got around $2600 back from medicare), he charged around $80 per visit - also a portion could be claimed back (as with U/S and blood tests). As we weren't covered for Obstetrics by our health fund we had to pay the hospital C/S theatre fees and most of our hospital stay/room upfront and were left out of pocket $3300. Our anaesthetist charged around $1600 but we only had to pay a $290 gap.

Costs can vary greatly depending on the ob and hospital. If there had of been complications with our birth and if the baby had required special care we would have been charged more. It would have been a different story had we had more comprehensive health cover. I still feel it was worth the money.

Wow - that's awesome. Congratulatons!!

I had both my kids privately and it was the best experience ever, my OB was alway there the whole time for both. I never had to wait for my Epidurial as I requested it both times and recieved it, without any horror stories. My DH was always made to feel comfortable and could sleep over with me - with all meals for him available. I had scented baths and amazing midwives both times.Also you have your own room, mini fridge and ensuite - which basically means my other kids are comfortable and can stay as long as they like. We are expecting our third child and wouldn't have it any other way. Private is Ace!

I went public for baby #1 and while the birth centre care was adequate, I hated having an obstetrician I had never met on the other end of a set of forceps (and no pain relief, so I felt pretty sorry for myself). I had a private room in the the post-natal ward but i still didn't get much sleep due to baby crying all night and the nurse's call button being on constantly in the corridor - the midwives were too busy to help anybody, let alone me. - so that damn buzzer just went off all night.

I swore I would go private if I ever did anything so insane as to have another baby again.

Now expecting baby #2, and I decided to go public again! I looked at the cost and it would be about the cost of a family holiday to Fiji... mmmm I think I'd rather go to Fiji. Or more weeks on maternity leave. At the end of the day, whether I was public or private I probably still would have ended up with a forceps delivery. And I will try and go home immediately this time, regardless of stitches, and get some home help in, instead.

Going private is an awful lot of money for a fairly short experience. If I had a paid-off mortgage etc then I would definitely go private.

I would say if you go public, then it is a necessity to take your own health and care very seriously. YOu can't expect a public dr or overworked midwife to worry on your behalf. If you have any concerns at all about your pregnancy, or don't like the care you are getting, then kick up a fuss and don't take no for an answer.

i am having my baby privately in the comfort of my own home. much better solution than the public intervention-filled birth of my DD

I went public. Despite having PHI I would still have been out-of-pocket over $4000 (not including premiums) to have my baby in the private system. The PHI only covered the hospital, not the pregnancy management fee or other costs.

I was nervous about it, but in the end I was very happy with the care I received in the public system. I ended up needing an emergency caesar. The care myself & my baby received was fantastic. I felt very well looked after.

I had to share a room - but it really wasn't that big a deal. Most of the women got private rooms in our hospital anyway, I was just unlucky as they were particularly busy that day. But really it was no biggie sharing a room.

I went private and my sister has been public with both her kids. As far as I can tell the only difference in care was that she had to share a room and was kicked out of the hospital a lot faster.

I wasn't happy with my hospital experience but will remain private next time in a different hospital. My sister also wasn't happy but for different reasons - ie she was kicked out before her milk came in after the birth of her first child. She was tougher the second time and wouldn't let them kick her out until she was ready (she had a c/s the second time).

If you go public be firm about not leaving until your milk comes in - this is especially important for the first baby because breastfeeding is hard and has to be learned. Otherwise you're paying for privacy and a few extra nights (oh and much better food!!) in the private system.

All the best!

It's a great way to birth on your own terms Independent Midwifes are on call 24/7 should you need assistance in the early weeks.

Have you considered hiring an IM and even birthing in the local public hospital? That way you get fantastic 1 on 1 care and out of hospital support but you still have the security of birthing in hospital.

If you have the cover why not go private? I think its best to be informed about the choices that are available in your area - visit the wards and get a feel for the attitudes of the staff to see if they match your own.

I had DD1 privately - I appreciated having my own ob.. and my own room... and I really liked the motherly midwives at my hospital.

I'm having DS privately too - this hospital has a fantastic reputation for supporting natural births and have big baths for water births in each birthing suit. I love my ob, the midwives and I've also hired a doula so I have a "team" of people who are there for me (inc DH). The midwives are all multiskilled (some in lactation, some in hypnobirthing etc) and are very supportive of alternative forms of pain relief. I know I wouldn't get that level of care or choice in a public hospital (at least not to my knowledge).

As for the homebirthing aspect... I think that there are a lot of women who want natural births but have reasons why they choose a hospital birth and not a home birth - having a hospital birth shouldn't have to mean intervention.... although I know the stats indicate otherwise

I had a fantastic experience at my local public hospital - but as another pp said, I think this depends a lot on your local hospital. We are lucky that we are in the catchment of a lovely public hospital, with private rooms and a midwifery program for continuity of care.

I was like you, I had PHI but not top level cover so would have been quite out of pocket had I gone private. At first, I was really against going public but did some research and found our local hospital had received great reviews and a high rate of natural births.

I didn't get the drug free birth I was after, but that was more to do with my baby than the hospital. I will go to the same hopsital again next time and have since lowered our PHI premium to include no birth related services.

I suggest researching your local public hospitals - do a tour if you can and talk to them about your options.

I went private the first time. Loved my own private room for 4 days with DH bunking in - but that's not possible this time around as we also have DS (2) to look after - I will be on my own.

I also want as little intervention as medically necessary - so why pay thousands for my OB to do, well, not much, hopefully.

Last time I was not at all impressed with the care from the hospital. I love my doctor, and he did a great job, but I 'broke up' with him yesterday. He wished me well and assured me that the midwife program at the PUBLIC Family Birth Centre was excellent and I am in good hands.

I KNOW I made the right decision for me and my family, and my OB just confirmed it....

Hi Justine and Emma

We went public and wanted a caesar at 39 weeks because of blood pressure problems and concerns about our baby. However there were no beds, so we were told to go full term. This meant our 39 week health baby was stillborn at 42 weeks.

So for our next 3 kids we went private and never looked back! Now I know that this is not the norm, yet what price peace of mind? If we'd had private hospital cover we'd have a beautiful daughter to go along with our 3 beautiful boys!

There are a couple of things you can do to clarify the cost/benefit of whether or not to use the private hospital cover you already have.

Firstly, you are not required to go private even if you have private hospital cover! In a way this is similar to whether or not paying the excess on car insurance is worth having the bingle fixed by the insurer or simply paying yourself.

Public hospitals will ask you if you have private cover and automatically assume you will use it as they usually make more money admitting private patients than they do public patients. Importantly it is still your choice!

All you need to do is complete an "Admitted patient election form". The form may differ state to state as hospitals are a state responsibility. When you're admitted whatever your choice, make sure you sign this form! Otherwise you might assume you're going cost free in the public system only to find out the hospital is charging you as a private patient!

The other thing you and everybody else can do, is to ask all private doctors likely to be involved in the private hospital alternative to complete an "Informed financial consent" form. You can download an example here
http://www.ama.com.au/system/files/node/50..._prothetics.pdf

You'll find the informed financial consent form very useful as it will help provide an estimate of your out-of-pocket costs after you've claimed on your private health insurance fund.

So Emma after you're equipped with this information it should be much easier to weigh up the pros and cons of a public or private birth.

As a simple (and maybe stupid rule) I'd always recommend going private for the 1st child. That way you'll get the advantage of the most peace of mind for the most stressful occasion the first birth! After that, you'll always be in a better position to make the choice whether to stick with private hospital cover or go public for future pregnancies. Perhaps you'll also know whether or not subsequent births are likely to be natural or caesarian.

Because we chose NOT to have private hospital cover we lost a daughter. Sadlym that's the reason why I ended up being a senior strategist working for a not-for-profit health fund - until last month when I quit my job to launch two health related websites of my own.

The first is called www.Dogtors.info and is about my goal of creating a non-profit research organisation to study how dogs often know their owners have cancer before their owners have symptoms or doctors can even detect the cancer!

The second website I'm launching fully next month is at www.HealthInsuranceHounds.com
At this site I'll be providing lots of free information about health insurance. Notably I will NOT be paid be any health funds so I can remain fiercely independent and hopefully provide truly unbiased and balanced information about private health insurance. This may be the 1st time anybody has actually done this!

Of course Emma we all wish you a happy and healthy baby no matter which way you go!

Good luck and I hope you'll post a comment about whether it's a boy or a girl!

Best wishes, Jonathan Crabtree
Founder www.Dogtors.info and
www.HealthInsuranceHounds.com

I had much better level of care in the private system than I did in the public system.

I may just be jaded because the baby that I had in the public system I lost. But on going to emergency at the public womens hospital I was lied to by the doctor that saw me (she told me there was a good chance that my baby would survive. There was no chance that he could have survived - he had NO amniotic fluid). I had to beg to be admitted for obs.
I got turfed as soon as they could.
I was back within 12 hours.
I was made to wait 36hrs with baby feet sticking out of me (he was stuck and dead).
I had some trainee nurse try and tell me it was for the best as he looked like a downs (He did not have downs).
I was put onto an IV to make me dilate ... it was supposed to be incremented at regular intervals. They forgot, and only realised that no-one had done it after 5 hours!
I had a trainee anaethestist try NINE times to put an epidural in.
I had to beg on the OP table to be put under a GA.
While I was recovering someone stole the stuff that my mum had bought in for me. (food - as for 36 hours they would not allow me to eat).
After the op I was pretty upset and hysterical and I had the stupid nurse ask me why I was being "so mental" ...

So yeah. I HATE the public system. I dealt with one f*cker after another. I did not have dealings with even ONE person that showed me any compassion, or even any expertise in their field.

First "working day" after I was released I called my insurer and upped it to cover maternity to ensure that I would never have to go public again.

I have had 3 pregnancies in the private system and I have received nothing but top level care.

I'm so sorry to read about your experience!

If you never got the emotional support you needed, maybe consider chatting with other parents who can understand more about how to cope...

After we lost our 1st born in the public system (only because of a bed shortage) I became a phone counsellor for SANDS which became http://www.sidsandkids.org/ and I know that this organisation can help...

***hugs!***
Jonathan

You couldn't pay me enough to give birth in a private hospital!

And to those posters who wanted an Obs opinion, you guys should go private cos clearly a midwives point of view isn't good enough for you.

Thanks Jonathan.
It happened in 2003 and whilst I dealt with it pretty much by myself, I recovered from the loss quite well (considering). My 3 subsequent children went a long way toward the healing as well.

Better food, rest, private room and a lovely time was had both times in a private hospital. They give the parents a romantic dinner together while baby is in the nursery to have some time together.

I was trying to work out ways to stay in the hospital longer as it was GREAT.

Perhaps that is just North Shore Private, perhaps others have had different experiences but worth every cent. I wasn't seriously talked out of epidurals unlilke mums in my mothers group who had babies in public systems.

Superpuppy and Cathode - that's heart wrenching to read about your experiences. But thankyou both so much for sharing. xxx

How I decide to go private... I'm a women. I'm pregnant hence not only I will give birth to a lovely baby, I can also DIE from the delivery. Even worse, my baby cold have DIE for some horrible reasons. Therefore, I want the BEST care for me and my baby. I want to be treated as a QUEEN in the hospital as I just gave birth! I want my child to have the best care. (How spoiled and selfish of me? yes. I thought I can be selfish just for this)

Having said that, it does not mean all private hopitals are good and all public hospitals are bad. On the contrary, it is all have to be individually assessed.

When I found out I was pregnant with DS 2 years ago, I research on MY OB that my GP had recommended. Then I research on the hospitals surrounding my areas including the private hospital that my OB recommended.

You can only do your best the rest is out of yoour hand. So I did my research.. HEAPS of research on everything about pregnancy (As I was strangely afraid od dying when I waas pregnant with my first).

I do not have to pay extra for the hospital yet I have to pay for the OB + the blood test + u/sound... but if I can afford to pay for private insurance than I don't mind. I told DH if we have to cut on the movies, dinners, etc for a year that we will cos I want my OB! ( the truth is Midwives are the best OB are there for emergencies and I don't mind paying him for something that he will nnever have to do ie trying to save my life or baby in the delivery room)

Try to look for hospital that have a great support for b/feeding as that is also very important!

There is an assumption that private means drugs or Ceasarean. My birth experience are the opposites. No dramas (Thanks to TENS machine) no drugs (epidural, gas), no ceasarean. I could have done it at home if I wanted to.. but could have means risking it to the unknown.

There are many things in life that I can RISK it but not this one. Being pregnant and delivering your child is the most beautiful and dangerous thing that can happen to a women and her child. EVEN in this modern and develop country.

I heard so many stories that break my heart. I do not want to re-tell the stories or experience it myself.

Even after all the things that you can prepare, everything ALWAYS goes wrong on that day! My DD came out 10 minutes after I got to the hospital and 5 minutes before my OB arrived (at 4 am, He was pretty fast considering ....)

From both experiences, I can say MIDWIVES are the best but they are not OB. I choose them over DH to hold my hands during the labour and to get me calm down. I trust them on helping me to push my child, thir encouragement are far better than DH.

But if something is wrong I want my OB there for me. 100%. No questions. (even Midwives will refer to OB if there is any complications right? so I just want MY OB not someone that happens to be there. Cos that means I'm risking it....) .

I don't think this help at all

Just putting my own opinion down I guess.

All the very best for your delivery!

My personal and professional opinion is that a public tertiary hospital is the BEST place to get care as a patient, especially if there's a drama. I gave birth(three drug free natural vaginal births)in a fantastic public hospital in Sydney and feel I was given far better care in this hospital as part of the midwife program, then at my fancy looking workplace, a private hospital, that is always dangerously understaffed, has a crappy skill mix amongst the staff, even staff brought in from other areas that have no idea how to look after a maternity patient. Private health care isn't top notch, trust me on that.

I think it is relative.
My experience was at a Public Tertiary Hospital.

At the private hospital I chose for my 3 surviving children I had pretty much the same team of midwives look after me over the 4 years that I was in and out having children. 95% of the staff I came across I would class as excellent health providers. I also imagine that you would find both excellent and crap staff everywhere.
In my personal experience (and that is all I can speak for) I have found the ratio of excellent staff to crap staff much better in the private system.

edited to add-
I also really like that we had double beds and that family was encouraged to stay - if you had younger kids they provided cots etc. I also really like my own space, so if I would have had to share a room I would have totally borked.

I went private with my first DS, as I wanted the 'best' for my baby and I had in my head that this would be the best. Although it was a great experience, I felt secluded in a room all by myself with no-one else to chat to and I felt the stay was too long. For my second, third and fourth, I went public and the care was wonderful. For my fourth, I stayed in a Birth Centre. Unfortunately, I couldn't birth in the birth centre like i'd originally hoped, as both of the rooms were full, but I was moved into one as soon as one was available. You can only stay in there for 24 hrs, which suited me just fine. I hate hospital. My DH got to stay with me and helped me with the overnight feeds and nappy changes. A great experience.

I started private and ended up public with DS due to complications. I was a risk patient from the start and wanted a specialist to look after me. Unfortunately if you labour before 32-34 weeks private hospitals in general can't accomodate you - they don't have NICU's.

I found the comment on NICU's interesting - my experience was you went to the nearest hospital with an available NICU bed. I started labour at 26 weeks and delivered at 28 weeks and was accomodated in 3 hospitals with ambulance trips between. I was moved whenever they decided imminent birth was threatening AND the hospital I was in ran out of NICU beds.

If I was do this again I would go private again (loved my OB and the SCN staff at our private hospital were fantastic when we were transferred back once DS no longer needed ICU/HDU) but would research who the top OB's were in the 5 nearest tertiary hospitals were so I could go private with them in case. My experience of a different registrar every morning on rounds and never getting the same message on my health and my bub's would mean I'd try to be private even in a public setting - just to see the same face every morning.

Superpuppy and Cathode - my deepest sympathies on your loses.

I've done both and the experiences were WORLDS apart.
Private, without a doubt.

Unfortunately many women (myself included and I live in one of the most populated areas of Sydney) do not have access to a tertiary hospital because of zoning restrictions - or perhaps they live in a rural area.

I can't remember who mentioned it, but at the end of the day it comes down to what hospitals are available to you. Compare your local public hospital to the private option and weigh up the benefits.

I have had 3 children, all were public at the local birth centre at the public hospital. Three drug free, vaginal births with no interventions. I *loved* my midwife for my last two births. For the first birth (8 years ago) they didn't have the primary midwife approach and we had someone on the day we hadn't met before. Still, all in all three fabulous experiences, I would never go anywhere else.

According to my friend who is a doula, her clients who go to the private hospital here have much higher rates of intervention, much lower chance of have a natural birth, even if that's what they are aiming for, than whose who go public (be it in the birth centre or the hospital).

Are you in Aus??? I have never had to pay for ultrasounds or blood tests I don't understand...If you are in Aus is it different in other states??

I don't understand the public versus private...Is it just so you have a private room??

I went public and I had private rooms to myself both times one in a regional hospital..and I was the only one in there who gave birth And one in a major city public hospital..

I had great experiences in these hospitals and I see going private a waste of time..

Theres no gurantees if you do go private..

No guarantees of what?

In private system I was guaranteed to have my Obstetrician for the entire length of my pregnancies and a consistent level of care with someone who both knew me and my history very well.

When I was public I was in there for nearly a week and I didn't see the same care provider more than once even though I had 8-10 health staff in and out of my room day in day out.

for me it has to be private, this will be my 4th baby delivered privately! We never really thought about it too much just made sure when we got married we got the right level of health care and would have an OB

turned out to be a fabulous experience and when I ended up needing a c/s it was so great to have my dr do it, the dr I had seen every appointment in my pregnancy. With the twins it was still great and reassuring and now with number 4 although it leaves us over $5k out of pocket for his fee and before any blood tests and u/sounds I'm still happy with our decision. I just consider it an expense of having a baby.

I've always had the best level of care and because I need c/s's I'm not willing to risk it in the public system. Also my local maternity hospital has a dreadful reputation, always in the local paper with something going wrong, I've met local ladies who had terrible c/s wounds and infections after jr OB's did their c/s and it's just reassured me that we've done the right thing! same thing happened to my sister, dreadful management of her labour, jr OB did c/s, infection etc and she didn't have her private insurance in time for her pregnancy but won't go public again!

I know plenty of people with straight forward pregnancies and twin pregnancies that love going local and I respect that but for me love going private and always had a wonderful experience!!!

Corrie:)

With DS1 I started out public and changed to private at 30wks as there was some concerns for the delivery and I didn't feel very confident with the way things were being done at the hospital. I saw different midwives everytime, my first aapointment wasn't until 24wks, (lucky I had organised my 20wk scan myself) the appointments were 2min in and out the door and I being mu first baby I felt scared and stressed about the complications that were a high chance of happening at the birth and noone in the public hospital addressing them with me.

Changing to private was the best decision I ever made. My ob was excellent and saw me nearly every week and did an ultrasound at each appointment to keep an eye on everything and put my mind at ease. I ended up needing to have a caesar and I am so thankful I could have my brilliant ob do it. I barely even had a scar.

We couldn't book in quick enough with the same ob and private hospital with DS2 and again had a happy and stree-free birth.

Even though the medicare rebates have become pathetic on obstetrics now, we will definitely be going private again with #3. We will just be leaving a bigger gap this time so we can save for the greater out-of-pocket expenses.

Goodluck with your choice

we went private all the way. it is a very expensive option and now looking back i would have prefered to have a room at the private hospital and seen a midwife/OB at a public hospital and had our baby that way (with the widwife/OB coming to me in the private hospital). the private hospital we have chosen works closely with the public hospital and they are no less than 5 minutes away from each other with the OB's wking at both places. This would have ensured that the people we saw during our preganacy where the same people and that they are accessable at both locations.
dnt get me wrong our doctor is great,but the money we are spending we didnt really have and we could have done without the extra debt.
once u choose private exclusively everything cost u money, every blood test & scan. But i found out later that if you take ur referal for ur blood work etc to ur normal GP they can recommend you to someone who will either do it for cheap or free in the public sector.
if ur pasisonate about going private then do it but research how u can do all the extras for minimal cost. we love the hospital our babies going to be born in, we have to have a c section because we have placenta privia so regardless if we where public or not this would have happened, and because of this i find our initialy decision to go private has taken a bit of the "scare" out of the whole proceedure.
its all about personal choice private hospitals do have more comfort and for the cost of health insurance why not spoil yourself, we just plan to not spend a small fortune on all the extras associated with pregnancy next time

I had all 4 of my children in public hospitals, the first two in a birth centre, the last two (twins) had to be born in the delivery ward, as the local birth centre wouldn't take a twin delivery. After a lot of research, I chose public over private to avoid unnecessary intervention. With the twins, I couldn't find a single OB in the area who would consider vaginal delivery, let alone natural (no drugs). I was very fortunate that the OB I was assigned in the public hospital was pro-vaginal delivery, and was willing to take my wishes into account rather than telling me what was supposed to happen.
In all my births, I had continuity of care. This is not confined to the private system.
The birth centre was fabulous. My husband, newborn baby and I spent our first night together in a double bed in the birth centre. I chose the early discharge, and we had a midwife visit us at home for the next 6 weeks. If I were to change anything, it would be to hire a fulltime mothercraft nurse or similar for the first fortnight at least. DOn't waste money on private hospital stays - get them to come to you!
Having natural births was important to me - mainly because I know the baby benefits from a natural birth (in a normal pregnancy/delivery - obviously not everyone's situation) and because the recovery time for the mother is much faster than a caesarean. And I'm not keen on anyone slicing open layers of my stomach muscles! So I went public, because had I gone private, odds are I would have had at least one caesar.
Someone has already mentioned NICU - private hospitals don't have them. A set of triplets died in my city recently because their mother was labouring in the private hospital, things weren't going well and the private hospital didn't transfer them quickly enough. One was stillborn, two died after. If your birth has any risk indicators, go public with a NICU.
Good luck!

Oh, which facts are they?
The fact that I know is that approximately 70% of women have normal vaginal deliveries and if they are not drug free it is because it is what the client wanted.

I had both babies publicly, the first with midwives the second, with my own obstetrician but in a different public hospital. i cannot fault the care I received in labour, yet post-natal is another matter. I suppose its the hospital in which you go to. But in these times where the government is fighting to gain contri=ol, there is places that lack professionalism and unfortunately this is one of them.

I went private for both pregnancies but have top cover so didn't pay one cent extra for the hospital both times. I didn't like the hospital 1st time as the nurses & midwives gave me conflicting advice - not great for your 1st bub!! I did my research the 2nd time & went to a different hospital & couldn't fault it. The other thing I can recommend is to find out if you OB has a gap agreement with you health insurer. My first OB & sundry assistants didn't so I was out of pocket about 10% of the total cost, while the 2nd one did & I didn't have to pay one cent apart from the paediatrician!! I have 2 major public hospitals wher I live & have heard mixed things about them, so I think it's very dependent on the situation & who you cares for you at the time. One reason why I went private was so that I could have more control over my care.

So my advice is to find out as much as you can about your hospital options & how this fits with your expectations. Ultimately the most important thing is that you come out with a healthy bub & healthy mum.

I went public for my first and I'm going private with my currently pregnancy. Although, In some ways I'm regretting taking the private route this time. With my first pregnancy, on the advice of my colleagues who were studying their PhD's alongside me, I opted to go to the local birth centre under the care of a midwife. My colleagues told me that they ended up substantially out of pocket taking the private option and that the birth centre was the way to go if I wished to try for a natural birth.
Generally, I had a good experience at the birth centre. The faults I would point out would be a high staff turnover amongst the midwives, (one of the midwives allocated to me, was new to the profession and she quit because she didn't feel confident... and it showed). Secondly, discharge was really quick.. 11 hours for me, and follow-up virtually non-existant ( I got a phone call about 3 weeks later). However, it's a trade off, because this time we're fully covered so thought we would try the private route, but honestly, it's been overkill. So, many trips to the obstetrician, more than I think is really necessary and we are out of pocket a whole lot more.
If I'd not initially been pregnant with twins, I would have entered my name for the birth centre ballot again (they don't accept twin pregnancies).If you have a good support network around you to help you at home after the birth, I'd say go public.