Any first time mums who need product/labour/baby advice! (australia)

[skye93]

Fire the questions away

 

[iwantabub]

Which pram did u pick

 

[TTC Baby M]

Same as above, but also the one thing u cannot do without, that us first timers might not think of!

 

[skye93]

I just ended up buying the steelcraft one from Target (was on a tight budget) thinking about a Babylove one now!
One thing I've found I couldn't live without would be my tommee tippee nappy bin. You may have thought about it, but many ppl say don't bother with one. Trust me, it makes life so much easier.
Also, beware of Johnsons products!

 

[jesswishing]

I just wanted to ask - if you can remember OP, or the other Aussie ladies - did you have a 12 week scan? I had a dating scan at 8+3, have my first hospital appointment at 14 1/2 weeks but I've been told I won't have an ultrasound then, so I'm guessing I'll have to wait to 20 weeks? I'm petrified of a missed miscarriage cause I have no symptoms!

 

[iwantabub]

Yep 12 and 20 were the only ones I got and covered by medicare

 

[Leesy]

I had a dating scan at 8+5 then scan at 12 weeks & 20 weeks. I had an extra one at 32 weeks but that was to check size of bubs as i had a very low pappA at 12 week scan.

 

[stardust1976]

Pretty sure you have to ask for the 12 week one as it's not standard it's the NT scan. You have the blood test within a few days of it to check your risk of trisomies. I think the ultrasound is usually bulk billed but the blood test isn't. It's $35 (over here at least). Just ask your doc for a referral for it and you'll be able to book an ultrasound.

 

[Kitta]

My blood test was $90 for the NT scan. Medicare covered a dating scan, 12 week and 20 week. Had an extra scan at 15 weeks due to pain but we ended up going to cogus and having a gender scan as well. We paid for that one but got something back from Medicare.

 

[greenlady]

Hi there, I'm in Sydney and I had to book my 12 week NT scan privately and Medicare only gave me less than half of it back. I'm not really sure why some areas are fully coveted by medicare and others aren't. I had my first child in the UK and lived there a long time so I'm just getting used to the way it works here!

 

[iwantabub]

Thats crap... I had a datin scan at 6 weeks and had to pay $120 not covered by medicare but the NT and bloods at 12 weeks were completely covered... u would think its all uniform... stupid government

 

[Kitta]

When I had my 12 week scan, the tech said Medicare are starting to charge for it unless its nessasary. We were ok for bulk billing due to an issue with our previous child but I guess if he didn't have a problem we would have had to pay for it because it's optional. We would have still paid though!
Even my ob this time has bulk billed me! I knew he was more expensive than the one i saw for my previous child so we saved enough to be able to see him but for some reason he decided to bulk bill all my appointments!

 

[jesswishing]

OK thanks ladies, I'm going to ask my doc for another scan - not worried about NT (and I'll be 14 weeks on sat so it will be too late!) but just want one for peace of mind... Incidentally my dating scan was bulk billed and when I called up the ultrasound place to book a NT scan as I thought I was going to get one he said it was $200 out of pocket!

 

[skye93]

I just wanted to ask - if you can remember OP, or the other Aussie ladies - did you have a 12 week scan? I had a dating scan at 8+3, have my first hospital appointment at 14 1/2 weeks but I've been told I won't have an ultrasound then, so I'm guessing I'll have to wait to 20 weeks? I'm petrified of a missed miscarriage cause I have no symptoms!

I had one at 7 weeks, missed out on the 12 week scan (wasn't enough places) one aat 18 weeks. They were the standard ones. I then had them at 26, 29, 32,36,39 because I wasn't putting weight on.

** they were ALL bulk billed so free.

 

[greenlady]

One thing I've learned since moving back home is bulk billing is 'at the doctors discretion', and where I live they assume everyone has loads of money and they hardly bulk bill anything. I had to pay for my dating scan as well as my 12 wk scan. I had to choose a clinic, and some of them were charging $3-400 for scan and bloods. I went for the cheapest option at $254 and luckily got $110 back from Medicare. However I also had to pay for the appointment with the GP to get the referral letter, which the cow wouldn't bulk bill. She also didn't see the point of the NT test as it wasn't 100% and thought it was better to go straight for the amino, and didn't hesitate to tell me that she would have aborted a Down syndrome baby. I hope I stay low risk so I don't have to see that horrible GP again.

Sorry for the rant!!

 

[Leesy]

Is the difference if you go public or private? I went private and the 12 week / NT scan was routine. I guess I could of opted out if I didn't want it. I had to pay for it though with only a small portion refunded by medicare.

 

[stardust1976]

I don't know what the difference is. I know my doctor mentioned the scan briefly but if I hadn't already had heard about it I wouldn't have known it existed. As it turned out the specialist at the hospital ended up telling us to get the scan for various reasons but for a normal public system pregnancy I don't think it gets mentioned a great deal.

I have had 8 scans so far ( due to suspected ectopic, previous mc and mmc, and then lots of bleeding due to sch.) The first two were as an in-patient so no cost, the third was bulk billed. The next two were not and we had to pay $70 upfront which was not reimbursed through medicare as they billed medicare the additional cost.

Next one at 12 weeks was bulk billed but in another state, then the one after that was at specialists office. My last one was through a private company for the anomaly scan and it cost $230. We only got reimbursed $85 for that one! Next one is bulk billed though cause they have to redo it.

So I definitely think it's a little to do with medicare but a lot to do with which company you get your bloods/ultrasounds through.

 

[Taurus8484]

I had a private scan done at 8 weeks which we paid for and then because Im going public, NT scan at 13 weeks, anomoly scan at 20 weeks all covered with no out of pocket expense.

Blood tests, I work at a pathology lab and we bulk bill for all pregnancy screenings, but we are also SA Govt run, private labs will bill most of it to Medicare and then charge what they want for the rest of the test.

 

[xobabyhopes]

ok not from Australia but what do Braxton-Hicks/Contractions feel like? might sound dumb over here but this is our first so i have no idea what to expect lol

 

[skye93]

ok not from Australia but what do Braxton-Hicks/Contractions feel like? might sound dumb over here but this is our first so i have no idea what to expect lol

I hardly had them, but basically just like period cramps. That's what my labour contractions felt like to, just really bad period pains lol.