In the system

I had my first appointment with the midwife at the hospital where I am booked in for the birth of bub #2. Different hospital this time - the hospital where BallFiend was born no longer offers the Family Birth Centre model of care, so I have gone to another major public hospital which does have a FBC.

However, I am not feeling confident in my choice. Today was my second visit to the hospital (the first was to do the tour and book in). On both occasions I haven't really connected with the midwives I met. The first one seemed really bossy and the one I met today didn't seem to be entirely sure about what she is doing. I was kept waiting for about half an hour, then finally had my appointment. Annoying since DeepSpice and I had rushed like crazy to get there on time. I got stressed about running late and then end up sitting around and waiting. Hmph.

After the midwife appointment, I was told to go and book in for the 18-20 week morphology ultrasound and to get pathology testing done. However the medical imaging department told me they are fully booked and that I would have to arrange for my ultrasound to be done elsewhere. This means getting a GP referral and then paying the out-of-pocket expense for the ultrasound. This is just pathetic. Why should some public patients get a bulk-billed ultrasound and others don't just because of timing! It is very unfair.
At least the blood sample didn't hurt - best pathology collection experience I have ever had. I didn't even feel the needle go in.


I am feeling miserable now... trying to decide if I should try and change hospitals / models of care. Do I switch to another public hospital, go private, continue where I am? And that is assuming I could even get into a different hospital or book in with a private obstetrician.

I was planning to try and get a student midwife to be part of my support team, but now I am thinking I might hire a private midwife. Problem is this gets really expensive - there is no Medicare rebate for private midwives, only private obstetricians.


Oh yeah, to top off my so-far shitty experience of ante-natal care... I am still waiting for the results from my first trimester screen (combined blood test and ultrasound). Apparently the place where I had the ultrasound done sent the film from my scan off to the pathology service but the pathology service didn't receive it. So it had to be resent and I have to wait even longer for results. It is now three weeks since I had the initial blood test. Call me a cynic, but I am now expecting a phone call from them saying they have lost the blood test and so cannot give me any results! Would be just my luck.