Birth Support and Resources in Queensland

Patsy Lee March 20, 2024 0 Comments

Medical professionals cannot stress enough the importance of getting quality care for the duration of the pregnancy for expectant mothers. This is to ensure that both the mother and the baby are healthy. The mother should be healthy enough to host and nurture the baby in her womb and the baby needs to get a great head start at life by being in the best possible health.

Good prenatal care includes ensuring that the mother gets the all-important nutrition and does all the appropriate health habits not only during pregnancy but even before, if it was a planned one. Good thing, Australia has an excellent health support system that all you need to do as a citizen is to choose the right option according to your actual need. If you are pregnant or a partner or spouse of one residing anywhere in the state of Queensland, here are your birth support options, along with some resources for your convenience.

5 Top Maternity Support Options in QLD

Publicly Funded Midwives’ Continuity of Care

This option is where your maternity care will be provided by a midwife or a team of midwives from the majority of the public hospitals and health centres within the state of QLD. To have access to them, it usually requires a referral from your doctor. This literally means you will be handled by the same midwife or group of midwives throughout your pregnancy.

Privately-Practising Midwife Care

As the name suggests, you will be taken care of by a midwife or group of midwives that are practising their profession in their private clinics or office, with visiting access to hospitals and medical centres, for the entire duration of your pregnancy, birth, and up to postnatal care. With this, it will be up to you to decide whether to give birth at home or in a hospital. Also, the services of these midwives might be covered by Medicare.

GP Shared Maternity Care

This is where your care is handled by both your GP and the local hospital’s midwives and doctors. This is usually the option when there are inherent risks in the pregnancy that a general practitioner is not able to handle.

You can also have this setup where you will see solely your GP for up to 20 weeks and then meet a midwife or an obstetrician thereafter, until the 40th week. However, please check first whether this service is available or offered by your GP as some do not offer shared maternity care.

Private Obstetric Care

For this option, you will be provided care by an obstetrician who is a medical doctor in private practice that specialises in the medical care of the pregnant until birth, particularly those with complicated or special cases. Please note that choosing to be cared for through this and deliver in a private hospital, you need to secure a referral from your GP.

Public Hospital Maternity Care

With this, prenatal care is provided by doctors and/or midwives employed in public hospitals’ outpatient clinics, whether they be onsite or outreach. After birth, care may be continued either at home or in community centres by the hospital midwives.

Options Where to Give Birth

The choice of where to deliver your baby is up to you. However, the factors that will affect your decision include whether you have a high or low-risk pregnancy and where you live in Australia. 

Based on these, your doctor may recommend some options that they think might suit your case and what will make you and your baby the safest yet convenient, particularly if you are located in rural Queensland. Some of these include the following.

Home Birth

This option is ideal for healthy and low-risk pregnancies based on the assessment of your doctor or midwife. The cost of home birth is usually covered by Medicare for eligible midwives, however doulas are a private expense.

“Being a business owner with a lot of competing demands on my time, I was hoping to have as smooth a birth as possible. Home birth was perfect for me and allowed my husband and I to be relaxed and comfortable in our own home in Dutton Park Ironically, we live less than 1 kilometre from some of Brisbane’s best public and private hospitals – The Mater, Greenslopes and Princess Alexandra (the PA)” says Samantha Graham, owner of Brisbane Tree Removal.

In cases where complications arise during labour, you can request to be brought to a hospital. Since it is not uncommon to happen, talking to local hospitals near you in advance about the help you could possibly need will be a great precautionary step to take.

Private Hospitals’ Private Care 

This is probably the most desired situation as you get to choose your own private doctor or obstetrician coming from private hospitals. This is of course ideal for those who have the means to finance this exclusive service or those who have secured private health insurance that can help them cover the cost.

Public Birth Centre

Another option for those with healthy, uncomplicated pregnancies is to give birth at a public birth centre as this is very cost-effective because the service is usually covered by Medicare. There are available public birth centres in Mackay, Toowoomba, and Townsville if you are anywhere near these areas. But at your preference or if any complication arises during labour, you can ask to be transferred to a proper hospital.

Should you need to inquire beforehand, there are five available birth centres within Queensland. Here are their contact details:

• Gold Coast Hospital Birth Centre — (07) 5687 1437
• Mackay Birth Centre — (07) 4885 6000
• Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital — (07) 3646 8111
• Toowoomba Base Hospital Birth Centre — (07) 4616 6000
• Townsville University Hospital Birth Centre — (07) 4433 2779.

Public Hospitals’ Private Care

You can choose your own obstetrician or doctor to take care of your pregnancy by opting to give birth in a private hospital. With this, you can use your private health insurance to cover some of the costs if you are able to secure coverage. Here is a map of the available rural and remote public health centres and hospitals around Queensland.

Public Hospitals’ Public Care 

Here, you can avail of the public hospitals’ midwives for your pregnancy care. However, doctors are also another option should you need them or your baby. The good news is that public hospitals’ services are usually under Medicare’s coverage.

Childbirth and Pregnancy Support in Canberra, ACT

Patsy Lee March 16, 2024 0 Comments

Picture this. Those babies born to mothers who did not undergo prenatal care are threefold likely to suffer from low birth weight and five times more likely to die as compared to those whose mothers sought care early into the pregnancy.

These can be prevented by seeing a specialist early on because they can identify potential problems as they observe mothers every scheduled checkup. This allows doctors to treat these health issues as soon as possible before they create bigger problems and affect both the mother and the baby if left untreated.

Antenatal/Prenatal Care

At first sign of pregnancy or even if you just suspect that you are pregnant, your immediate reaction would be to go to your GP to confirm your suspicion. Once it is proven that you are indeed having a baby, the doctor can begin the necessary initial steps in pregnancy care like organising initial workups such as ultrasounds and initial blood tests. These are not deterred by your decision on where or how you decide to deliver the baby. Still if you’re starting to dilate, you may want to save exterior cleaning of your Canberra home for a later date.

Pregnancy Care and Childbirth Options in Canberra

Foetal Medicine Unit

Here is where those high-risk and complex pregnancies are referred to for them to be able the get the specialised care and supervision for both the mother and the baby. At Centenary Hospital’s FMU, specialist doctors, midwives, and sonographers will take care of your pregnancy for that all-important “continuity of care”.

Along the way, some team members may be asked to check up on you such as the genetics doctors, neonatologists, and anaesthetists. When the time comes for your labour and birth, a team of doctors and midwives will take over at the Birthing Suite.

However, this setup can be altered if after the initial appointment or after a few of them, it is decided that you are safe to have regular pregnancy care. They will let you know about this and will help you book the right clinic and practitioner for you. You can even ask them for contact details for a doula, if you wish.

Homebirth

This Australian capital has been running a three-year trial for babies to be delivered at home, with support from a midwife. Prior to this, a primary midwife is assigned to look after you for the duration of your pregnancy leading up to the actual birth. However, to be eligible for this, one of the requirements is you have to be living within 15 minutes from the Centenary Hospital.

Midwives

These are healthcare professionals who have trained in providing care for women during pregnancy, delivery, and postnatal period. They can work either in public institutions or they can work independently in their private clinics.

When you have chosen a midwife for your pregnancy care, they will usually collaborate with other healthcare professionals when necessary. You also have the option to deliver the baby in a birth centre or at the Centenary Hospital’s birth suite.

Obstetricians

You may opt to be taken care of by the actual medical professional who was trained exactly for overseeing pregnancy and delivering the baby and skip those in between like the GP and the midwives. After all, these professionals will often consult the obstetrician when complications in the pregnancy arise.

These specialists can deliver your baby either in a public or a private hospital, depending on the necessity or your preference. Also, obstetricians are available whether you attend a prenatal in a public hospital or a clinic, or you can also be seen by one via a referral by your GP.

Shared Care

This is where you see your doctor for your prenatal care for the whole duration of the pregnancy, but you also see a midwife or a doctor at a hospital or clinic in between. If any complications arise, you may also be sent to see an obstetrician.

The actual birth will be done at a birth suite, where you will be accompanied by a medical staff. Thereafter, you will be brought to a postnatal ward for your recovery.

Specialist Team Care

If you have a particularly complicated pregnancy, you might be referred to a Specialist Team Care composed of midwives, medical, and allied health staff. As a resident of ACT, you will be visited by a midwife at home after you have been discharged from the hospital.

These services are available at the North Canberra Hospital and Centenary Hospital for Women and Children.

ACT Public Maternity System

If you have decided to go with Canberra’s public maternity for your pregnancy care, two public maternity hospitals will be your options: the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children (Garran) and the North Canberra Hospital (Bruce).

Before you will be allowed an appointment with these hospitals, you need to do the following steps:

1. You need to sign up for MyDHR through an online registration which can be accessed via the website or mobile app. This is where you can access and update all your health details, schedule, and manage all your future appointments in the facilities.
2. Learn all about your options when it comes to your maternity and birthing care. If in case your first choice is not possible due to your medical history or the hospital can no longer accommodate you due to slots being already filled up, a midwife will call you to discuss the alternatives.
3. Call the Central Health Intake at 5124 9977 to register and answer important questions like when is your baby due, your hospital of choice, and your chosen maternity care.
4. Your first prenatal appointment with the midwife will be set between 12 and 14 weeks. You will be notified of the confirmation of your first appointment and you will also receive a reminder so you won’t forget the details.