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Thread: Pregnancy & Birth in New Zealand

  1. #1
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    Default Pregnancy & Birth in New Zealand

    I originally posted this on another forum, but I have been asked a lot of questions about my experiences and thought some people on here might find it interesting.

    It would be nice if others added any experiences they have had - I know a few of you have had little ones recently, or are expecting. I think this would make it much more useful than just 'my story'.

    There will be a few posts to follow.

    Cheers

    Tia

  2. #2
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    Well I've finally made it to my last month of pregnancy - hurrah! And I thought I'd let people know how I've found the whole experience in NZ, compared to the UK, (this is number 3).

    When to fly

    Normally its suggested you fly in the second trimester, as the threat of miscarriage is mainly over, and you're not too big to fit in the airline seats.

    I ended up flying when I was about 9 weeks, and I'm so glad I did, if I'd been any further along, we wouldn't have had time to sort out everything before the baby came. Going on holiday is one thing, but when you are emigrating there are so many things that can throw your time line out - taking longer to get a job, or finding somewhere to live etc. And you really don't want to be looking at rentals, a few weeks before you are due!

    The downside is the issue of miscarriage. I spoke to my doctor in advance, who felt it would be OK for me, and just asked that we be aware of who we could see in New Zealand, if something went wrong.

    Flying

    I had really bad morning sickness, which is made a hundred times worse on a plane, especially when they bring the airline food out. I got some of these, (www.chuckiebags.com), before we left, for any emergencies.

    I spent a fair bit of time at the back of the plane, with 'woman who had child who wouldn't sleep', and, 'man who had to exercise because of DVT', and, 'girl who was scared of flying'. We were a cheerful bunch, and Singapore Airlines staff, were very sympathetic, and would bring us water, snacks, entertain the children etc.

    I would definitely suggest booking the transit hotel. I got the chance to sleep, (its amazing how tired you are in the early days), and the OH took the boys off to run around.

    All in all, we survived, and made it to New Zealand.

    One thing I would have done differently, is taken some pills for morning sickness. They are reluctant to prescribe them in the UK, and I was offered them as a last resort. But they really would have made a big difference, and its well worth trying to persuade your doctor, if you can!

    Cheers

    Tia

  3. #3
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    OK next bit:

    Registering

    As we did a fair bit of travelling first, I didn't get to register with the doctor until about 13 weeks. (I was allowed to register with a temporary address, but did have to show proof of PR).

    She talked through my care options, and I opted to go with a KYM midwife. This is a midwife who is assigned to you, but based at the hospital you are likely to give birth in. You submit the relevant paperwork and wait for them to contact you.

    Scans

    As I hadn't had any scans at this time, the doctor suggested that I arrange one in the meantime. I'm not sure how many scans they usually do, but I had 2 in total.

    The doctor gave me a list of various places you could get a scan, and I could choose which one to go to. This was also quite good as you could book an appointment convenient to you, and I was seen straight away. I often had to wait in the UK, which I found near impossible after drinking all that water!

    I did pay, something like $75, but I think that's because I ended up with a CD of the scan. I've always found the people who do the scans in the UK really good, and they were in New Zealand too.

    For my second scan, I went to a different place, I think they charged something like $35 - no CD, (but I did get a giant X-ray, with lots of pics of the baby on). The lady who did the scan, was from the UK. Once again the standard of care was very comparable to the UK. The one way they were better, was the fact I could pick where and when to have the scan. Also the waiting/scan rooms were really nice.

    Bloods

    I have a bit of a phobia on this one. My memories of the UK, are of very long waits, so long once, 2 women passed out before even being seen. Horrible little rooms, but the staff were very sympathetic to my phobia. I never let the midwife do it, (sorry to all UK midwives on this forum!), because they were so naff at it.

    In the UK they also seemed to be constanly sending me to do yet another test - bad organisation and losing results, more than anything to do with my health.

    In NZ, very similar experience to the scan. I booked an appointment with a medi-lab, when it suited me, 5 minute wait, nice waiting room etc. I've also only had to have 2 needles in total, (one was an extra glucose test), they do lots of tests in one go, so you don't have to keep going back. All in all, a lot less stressful.

    I wasn't offered the triple test, not sure if this is standard here or not. I prefer to not have it done, so it wasn't an issue for me.

    Cheers

    Tia

  4. #4
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    Midwives

    I had fairly bad experiences with my midwives in the UK. I won't go into it here, but it did strike me that a lot of the problems stemmed from understaffing and an increasing concern for being sued. Maybe some of the midwives on the forum who have worked both sides could say if they have found any differences.

    Options

    It seems you have several options here:

    1) Midwife attached to the hospital.
    2) Independent midwives
    3) Private midwives/consultants.

    Most of the people I know here from Canada/America, seem to go the private route, as this is what they are use to in their own country. They have spoken quite highly of the services available on the North Shore, but did say they felt they were treated a bit differently in the hospital, because of their 'private status'.

    I don't know of anyone who went the independent midwife route, maybe if someone on this forum did, they can explain what was involved

    I chose to go with the first option, (a KYM midwife), because it just seemed the simplist way to go, especially as I was reasonably far along in my pregnancy by then.

    The first visit was arranged after I filled out the paperwork with the doctor. I thought the midwife had just been assigned to me, but at the end of the visit I had the chance to meet and choose someone else if I wanted to. I think having a choice at this stage can only be a good thing, as personalities do play a big part with how well you get on with your midwife, and therefore, what the whole birth/pregnancy experience is like.

    I was really pleased with my midwife, she took her time to explain everything to me, and any referrals I needed were made the following day. Also I was prescribed morning sickness pills, which have made the biggest difference to my pregnancy. I was never prescribed them in the UK, and I feel quite angry about that, as I really did suffer.

    So, so far, its been a really good experience for me.

    Obviously I haven't had the chance to meet the hospital ward midwives yet, but I hear that one called samdavers, is an absolute superstar!

    Cheers

    Tia

  5. #5
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    I have now had a lovely baby boy, he's a very mellow baby - well much more mellow than his parents anyway!

    Hospital

    I found the North Shore Hospital a hundred times better than the 2 I'd been in in the UK. I had my own room and I shared a bathroom with just one other person, which was a total luxury.

    They got you up an about very quickly which was good, and gave you plenty of pain relief, which was even better (I had a C-section). They were very pro breastfeeding, but the midwives didn't really seem to have the time to help with this, also because it was so busy I was asked to leave earlier than I would have liked, as they said they didn't have enough beds.

    The standard of care was very good, all the people who saw me - consultants, anaesthetists, physios, midwives etc all took the time to to let me know what was going on, reassure me and genuinely allowed me to make decisions on how things would go.

    In term of hospital/midwife care I'm really glad I had the baby here rather than in the UK. But the main downside is not having friends and family close, I found this extremely difficult.

    Cheers

    Tia

  6. #6
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    Finally

    I've managed to sort out birth certificate & kiwi passport for the baby, trying to get a photo that fits in with all their rules and regulations is a bit of a nightmare - but 40 photos later on the digital camera and he finally co-operated. I'm working on sorting out the UK passport also, but at least we've got one for the trip home.

    We had family come to visit, so I didn't think I'd be popping back to the UK so soon, but shortly after he was born I had an overwhelming urge to see all my freinds and family back home who couldn't make it over. So as a result I'll be swapping sunny NZ for freezing UK.

    Everyone else who I know who've had a baby over here, has returned for a visit within a year - so do budget for that along with cot, buggy etc.

    All the visits with Plunket (like our health visitors), have been very similar to the UK - weight, height, checking their hips etc. Also they organise coffee mornings for new Mums and drop-ins for if you need to talk about feeding, sleeping etc.

    So to all those coming out pregnant, or with plans to have a bay once here - good luck with it all and just be careful that those pregnancy hormones don't detract from the experience of emigrating. It will be harder doing it away from friends & family, but for me the standard of healthcare here made up for that.

    So anyone due soon?

    Cheers

    Tia

  7. #7
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    Hope it reads OK, as I actually wrote it as a series of posts during my pregnancy, when lets just say my hormones got the better of me on more than one occasion.

    Would love to hear other people's stories!

    Cheers

    Tia

  8. #8
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    It reads wonderfully!

    Thank you so much for putting it all together

    I have one question though, apart from the scans was there a financial cost to going down the KYM's route? When I was last in NZ giving birth was free but I'm not sure if that's changed over the years?

    PS: Congratulations on your (first) little Kiwi!

  9. #9
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    Wiki - The only things I paid for during my pregnancy were Scans and for Iron tablets. I only had to pay for the latter as I chose to have the ones you take 1 a day, if I'd have chosen the 8 a day ones they would have been free - but I would have never remembered!

    Cheers

    Tia

  10. #10
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    Tia, thought I would link your thread to my old one from when I had AJ, as I used an obstetrician & had bub at National Womens, so there is some differences that may be useful to folks. will link yours to mine too..

    http://www.enz.org/forum/showthread....ight=pregnancy

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