baby on way

niallish

hey am just here to ask some questions,
girlfriend is currently pregnant, we live in dublin
wat is the best hospital to use for delivary ? and how much will it cost ?

Oryx

Maternity care is free in the public system. Cant advise you on a hospital sorry!

embee

Privately, it can cost around 3K, sometimes more.

Choice of hospitals is something you should consider - most people will tell you all sorts of things about different hospitals - that they are great, they're terrible etc etc. All of the hospitals in Dublin are going to be busy by their very nature though. Your best bet is to think about it in terms of ease of getting to the hospital - there is no point in choosing a hospital thats very awkward to get to in a hurry - you'll need to factor in that you may be doing a hospital dash in 8 months time in the middle of rush hour traffic etc. There are also some hospitals in Dublin that are running Midwifery Led Units/ Domino schemes. Your girlfriend may be eligible to join one of these schemes. Essentially what they involve is that her pre-natal care is done entirely by midwives - ie all check ups, scans etc. You don't deal with any doctors unless there is a specific reason to, ie your girlfriend has a pre-existing medical condition, or your baby has special needs etc.

There are a lot of things to consider. Some women are happy staying with MLU's, others prefer a doctor to deliver. Neither is "safer" than the other. I was on Consultant led care in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda (which is just as busy as any Dublin hospital tbh) when I was having my daughter, but it was a midwife who was with me through my entire labour and delivery. My consultant came to see I was okay in the ward the next day and stayed with me for a total of two minutes! She asked how I was, how my daughter was, and disappeared. I never saw her at all.

Also, with MLU's, you can't have an epidural as pain relief. A doctor has to sign off on that and a midwife cannot sign off on it or administer it. You can have an epidural if you want it - but it means that doctors become involved in your delivery, which can be a bit disappointing (on an MLU you are dealing with the same midwives from your first booking appointment to your post-natal check ups, so you develop a rapport with them and if you end up with a doctor delivering you it can be disappointing).

You should ring around the different hospitals in Dublin to see what they offer. Some people don't want to end up going public and being in a ward with 11 other women and their babies, but then, some people quite like that. I was in a public ward with 5 other women (one of whom had had twins), so there were six women and seven babies in one room. For me, it was okay, as it was a bit of company and there were other women there to talk to about babies etc. Your girlfriend might hate that though and might want to be in her own private room - nothing wrong with that either. My aunt went private in the same hospital I had my daughter in but she felt very isolated in her own room (she had a section and so was in a room on her own for five days, with just her and the baby).

I would advise you book in with a hospital asap though - in some hospitals in Dublin there are huge numbers of expectant women on the books and the later you book in, the later your first appointment will be (an earlier appointment is better - any potential issues with mother or baby need to be picked up as quickly as possible).

Congratulations and best of luck The nine months are going to FLY past.

silja

As embee says, I'd advise making a decision soon, especially if you want to go private, as the good consultants book up quickly! Also keep in mind that even if you have health insurance which pays for private rooms, you are exrtemely unlikely to get a private room unless you go private with a consultant (= pay them 3000-4000 euro)

In terms on which hospital, distance is definitely something to consider, but also facilities. For example Mount Carmel has a very good reputation, but they do not have a premie unit, so if you have reason to suspect there may be complications with the baby or in later pregnancy, I'd advice against it. Rotunda is more progressive than the Catholic Holles Street if you are interested in natural birthing/ want certain genetic testing done. Holles Street is excellent medically, and they also have the domino scheme (where you go home asap after birth, instead of staying in hospital for 3 days).

niallish

well thx alot for the replies,
we are living in blanchardstown, money is a big factor, basically the cheaper the better, private isnt a need for us,

embee

niallish wrote:

well thx alot for the replies,
we are living in blanchardstown, money is a big factor, basically the cheaper the better, private isnt a need for us,

Hi niallish,

If money is an issue, go public. It doesn't cost a penny. Your girlfriends GP visits and her hospital ante-natal check ups are all free, plus she is entitled to paid time off from work for all pregnancy-related check ups.

RIRI

Congrats! Very exciting news!!

Just to reassure you the public maternity care is excellent. I went public to Holles Street & my only complaint was how busy the ward was, it was christmas week & there were 11 beds in a ward that was ony kitted out for 6I had no privacy at all but that said it was nice to have other new mums around. As far as I have heard all the dublin hospitals are very busy all year round though.
It's definately worth checking out the midwife led schemes for all of the reasons embee mentioned - if I was going again it's the way I'd want to do it.

Best of luck to you both with the pregnancy (& birth). The next few months will fly in. Get as much sleep as you can now - you'll need it.

BlazingSaddler

Going private does initially cost around €3.5k but you can claim about half of this back.

Love2love

I went Public in Holles street and it was fine. During labour (after epi ) I got chatting to the nurse about public vs private and she told me that privately you can be put into a public ward, if the private ward is full and if that is the case the only difference between the 2 is that your consultant delivers the plancenta.

kmick

Tell your partner to look on www.rollercoaster.ie it has a lot of information and you can post up questions to people who are pregnant, just delivered, 6 months, 12 months etc. Consider the community midwives scheme - my wife went on that and thought it was really good.

di11on

Congratulations!

The other main difference, as far as I know, between public and semi-private care for your pregnancy is that if you register for semi-private care from the start, you will normally be attended to by the same consultant throughout your pregnancy. Also, the waiting times for semi private clinics should be shorter. I know from my wife's experience that a crowded hot waiting room is the last place you want to spend a lot of time in when you're pregnant.