Getting a private room after birth
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Forum Name: General Chat
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Topic: Getting a private room after birth
Posted By: Mooji
Subject: Getting a private room after birth
Date Posted: 04 December 2010 at 1:05am
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I had a horrendous experience sharing a room after the birth of my first baby in Australia. Next time I have a baby I will be in NZ.
1. How much does it cost to get a private room? Is it covered by any health insurance? 2. Do hospitals provided free private rooms for mums with any health or psychological problems, or in cases where the baby has problems? (this is what happens in oz) 3. I was reading up on Birthcare - if you give birth at, say, Auckland hospital, can you still be transported to stay at Birthcare afterwards? Or do you have to stay in the hospital where you gave birth? I've had PND since the birth of my baby and my psychologist says part of it was the bad experience I had in hospital after birth. I am petrified of the prospect of sharing a room with another person to a point where I'm worried about this and I'm not even pregnant with my 2nd yet!!!! |
Replies:
Posted By: Mooji
Date Posted: 04 December 2010 at 1:06am
| Oh, and do hospitals have nurseries to take away the baby and how much extra does this cost?? |
Posted By: TheKelly
Date Posted: 04 December 2010 at 1:51am
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I don't know the answer to your first two questions, or the last (tho generally I think they prefer the baby to stay in the room with mum, tho after both my babies births the MW's didn't have a problem taking baby for awhile while I slept )
But to answer your 3rd, you can definitely transfer to birthcare, I had my first at National womens (now Auckland ) and transferred to Birthcare a couple of hours later ------------- 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: Lightning McQueen
Date Posted: 04 December 2010 at 8:51am
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You can pay for a private room at Birthcare.
I had a c-section so stayed at Auckland Hospital for 5 days and didn't transfer to Birthcare. I had a private room there and it was great. There are also shared rooms, so I'm not sure how how they go about allocating them. Your baby rooms in with you (assuming there are no medical problems). |
Posted By: weeheebaby
Date Posted: 04 December 2010 at 9:46am
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Depends on which part of the country you are in. Birthcare is Auckland based.
Down here (the Hutt Valley) nearly all of the post natal rooms are private rooms with a shared bathroom (There are two rooms for two people and as a raule generally only fast, easy or smooth deliveries are put in there, unless they are FULL!). As for taking the baby away from you to a nursery etc - i've never heard of this in NZ. I was told when ds was born that the staff couldn't ask you if you needed a break from a screaming baby, you had to ask them for help (although I know they did break protocol on night 3 or 4 for me when I'd pretty much had no sleep the entire time I'd been there and was past exhausted, likely well and truly past it.) If the baby has problems (medically) it will be taken to either NICU or SCBU depending on the hospital you are at and the facilities they have available. (NICU - neonatla intensive care unit, SCBU - special care baby unit). Hutt Valley has SCBU more serious cases get transferred to Wellington NICU. Hope some of that helps a little. Perhaps you could mention where you will be hoping to deliver? (so that people who are in that area can help more as all the regions seem to be so different) ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: cuppatea
Date Posted: 04 December 2010 at 9:56am
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At Christchurch womens all rooms are private after you have given birth, you only have to share if you are admitted during pregnancy.
However you dont' really stay at the hospital as they transfer you out to one of the birthing clinics (or home) soon after, as in a few hours. The birthing clinics are all single rooms. I stayed at Christchurch womens after my first for 3 nights, I was a c/s and plus the birthing clinics were all full so they had no where to transfer me to. The first two nights the mw took the baby for me so I could rest. With second baby I transferred out straight away to the birthing clinic and baby was with me all the time but they were happy to take him if I needed a shower, eat dinner etc. ------------- 
 
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Posted By: crafty1
Date Posted: 04 December 2010 at 10:54am
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If you birth at Birthcare you get the private room free. It is only for births with no interventions tho, no epidurals, forceps etc. You can have gas and the birthing rooms have pools. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  
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Posted By: T_Rex
Date Posted: 04 December 2010 at 11:50am
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I had a shared room in Palmy, but I had it to myself because I'd had a rough time. The private rooms were full, but they had empty shared rooms so I got one of those. I wasn't happy being stuck in hospital though, so discharged myself the next morning. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Babykatnz
Date Posted: 04 December 2010 at 1:26pm
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I had an emergency c-section with #1 and had my own room for the first night, but from night 2 I had to share with someone else (I absolutely HATED it cos B was in NICU, and I was rooming in with someone whos baby just wouldnt. stop. crying!!) This was 7 years ago (tomorrow even!) at Waikato... things may have changed though. Once he was discharged from NICU he roomed in with me.
With Jae I was at Middlemore and had an elective c-section, and it was fairly 'quiet' (still noisy as all get out, but not as many patients as usual) and I had my own room the whole time I was there. She roomed in with me the whole time, and I wasn't offered any time away, but she was having decent blocks of sleep (it was the feeding I struggled with!) so I didnt really need that time away from her. Some of their rooms are twin share, the others are single with a joint bathroom between 2 single rooms. ------------- Brandon - 05/12/2003  
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Posted By: Ceres
Date Posted: 04 December 2010 at 2:52pm
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Hey Mooji, as the others have said Birthcare is associated with Auckland. The Parnell one links to Auckland hospital and the Helensville one to Waitakere or North Shore hospitals.
They have the prices to upgrade to a private room on their website. However, some medical insurance will cover it too. I'm with Southern Cross and they will cover $2,500 of 'maternity' care once you've been with them for three years or more - and that includes a private room at birthcare (yes!). It would pay to give your insurer a call and check in with them though because I imagine it can vary between companies. I'm not sure about the answer to your second question sorry. But in answer to #3, at least at Auckland hospital, as I understand it, it's standard to transfer to Birthcare following the birth (or to home) unless there have been problems. As another person has said, if you birth at Birthcare you also get access to a free private room. The lady who runs our antenatal said that the requirement was that you made a good effort to birth at birthcare - i.e., that you were well and truly in established labour. If an intervention was then required and you had to transfer to Auckland Hosp, you'd still be entitled to a private room at Birthcare following the birth. May be worth phoning them to confirm though. Hope that helps. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">  http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">  <
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Posted By: jano1
Date Posted: 04 December 2010 at 4:02pm
| I had an emergency c section and transferred to Birthcare the day after spending one night at Auckland. I was in a shared room but no one else was in the room with me. Luck of the draw I guess. I had planned on birthing at Birthcare but I was induced so wasn't entitled to a private room. |
Posted By: happymum21
Date Posted: 04 December 2010 at 4:55pm
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I had a c-section at 34 weeks following an induction. My baby went to NICU and I went to HDU as I was quite ill. She was born at 4am and I saw her once that first day for 20minutes at about 1pm. The following day I was transferred to a maternity ward about 11am and she came to. I had my own room as was not well and stayed 11 days in total. For about the first 5 days she didn't stay in my room overnight, they took her and put her in a nursery overnight and would bring her to me when she needed feeding. I was a bit hesitant about this as I hadn't spent much time with her but they insisted on this. This was at National Womens Hospital before it became part of Auckland hospital.
I too had a pretty horrific experience and it put me off having any more!!! I didn't have my own midwife as I was a high risk case, no midwife would take me on so I was under a high risk team from the beginning. So that probably didn't help either. I didn't have one particular person I could speak with which was really awful as no one seemed to be accountable for anything. As I mentioned, this was at NWH before it combined with Auckland Hospital so I don't know what it is like there. ------------- Becs |
Posted By: High9
Date Posted: 04 December 2010 at 4:57pm
Haven't read the other posts but when I asked about private or shared rooms at the hosp I birthed at - mw said it was luck of the draw. Re nurseries, Lily was with me from birth until I went home. Although I did contemplate drawing a black dot on her foot with vivid iygwim! 
I would def ask your mw, if you *need* a private room I am sure it can all be arranged through her! ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: Shezamumof3
Date Posted: 04 December 2010 at 9:12pm
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I had an emerg CS with my DS and elective with my DD and had my own room both times. I *think* a middlemore hospital the single rooms are only for C Sections....due to the fact that we are not mobile for a while afterwards and need more care. ------------- |
Posted By: JadeC
Date Posted: 05 December 2010 at 2:19pm
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I met with Maternal Mental Health because of previous depression, and one of the selling points for me was that they can *suggest* that you need a private room at Birthcare/ hospital.
And yeah, I'm pretty sure if you have a "normal" birth, you need to transfer to Birthcare - I never got too, but everyone raves about the place. And just be aware, you need to transport yourself there, they don't provide transport for you guys. ------------- http://pregnancy.baby-gaga.com/" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: Shelt
Date Posted: 05 December 2010 at 8:01pm
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In Tauranga they have some private rooms and the others are two person share but I am pretty sure it is the luck of the draw what you get depending on how many people are in at the same time. I had Gabrielle 6 weeks early and she was in SCBU and I was put in a room quite some distance from SCBU sharing with another lady. I had blood pressure problems so had to stay for a wee while (and G was in hospital anyway) and I found it quite distressing sharing a room with someone else and their baby when mine was sick and in special care. And they still wouldn't move me even though they had a spare room from day 2. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: linda
Date Posted: 05 December 2010 at 8:47pm
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Considering the bad experience you had would you maybe think about going home as soon as you are able? I did that with the first of my two births and it was good. One of the reasons was because at Wellington Hospital in the old block you had to share with three others (not the same now with the new hospital). ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
Alex 6 and Harry 8 |
Posted By: amme_eilyk
Date Posted: 06 December 2010 at 9:52am
| In Palmy Nth the only way that you are guaranteed a room of your own is if you have a c-section (according to antenatal class anyway). |
Posted By: KrazeeKaz
Date Posted: 06 December 2010 at 10:04am
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In Hamilton, if you birth at Waikato Hosp, I think you have shared rooms up there, but dont quote me on it. You can also transfer to RiverRidge or Waterford Birth Centres after you have birthed at the hosp, or you can birth at the centres. The birth centres have single rooms only, and are free to stay in, also I know the rooms at RiverRidge have double beds in them now. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  
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Posted By: lilfatty
Date Posted: 06 December 2010 at 11:43am
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One thing to note, even if you book a private room at Birthcare, its not guaranteed as there are only a few ... its the luck of the draw. ------------- Mummy to Issy (3) and Elias (18 months) I did it .. 41 kgs gone! From flab to fab in under a year  http://www.femininefitness.co.nz/category/blog - LFs weight blog
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Posted By: KatzWtgn
Date Posted: 06 December 2010 at 11:57am
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I had a great experience at Birthcare, but a couple of tips:
I think part of the baby-friendly policy is not to take the baby away from its mum, so places don't tend to have nurseries. I would highly recommend having your partner stay -- we did, and this meant he was able to walk DS around while I had a bit of a sleep. If you can afford it, book a queen room -- they are much more expensive, but tend to be available, and your DP can then stay. Your DP can also stay in a standard private room, but they set up a trundle bed which takes up the rest of the room - not so comfy. ------------- [IMG]http://lb3f.lilypie.com/rGG7p13.png] |
Posted By: MummyFreckle
Date Posted: 06 December 2010 at 5:48pm
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Talk to your midwife about a maternal mental health referral. If you are under the care of their team (hospital based) then when you transfer to Birthcare they will organise a private room for you. It sounds like that would be the best option for you - but also check with your insurer (if you have health insurance) as sometimes they will pay some of the costs! ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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