Help pregnant and moving to Perth

[Mitchell81]

I am only 5 weeks pregnant and we are thinking about moving to Perth in July. Baby is due middle of August. Will be another c section. We got our permanent residency visa last week. Our entry date has to be 10 October and instead of going twice we have decided to move permanently before then but obviously with the baby won't get a visa for them in time between mid aug and beginning of oct. What I really need to know is how quickly will medical things be sorted out as would need to register with a doctor and book a c section. (Am I mad? Is this impossible??)

Congratulations:)

I guess my first question is will you be allowed to fly? I think lots of Airlines want a medical certificate ect. I think that will be the first thing to consider.
In terms of visas have you spoken with the Australian Embassy? Would you be able to fly baby in on a tourist visa and then make a PR application? Tourist visas are issued withing about 24 hours as it's just an email. Are you sure you can't just have the baby added?

You don't need to register with a GP like you do in England. You just call up a GP and make an appointment.
Do you want to have a private Ob-GYN? or are you wanting to have a public birth?

It might be worth speaking to the hospitals in Perth about what you need to do for an Elective Cesarean. Here is a list of Hospitals in Perth. You could check which ones have maternity facilities and give them a call. Also maybe contact the organiser of perth positive birth group they should have a good handle on how things operate in that state, as service provision can be quite different depending where you are.
You will need to get a medicare card sorted pretty quickly when you arrive. A passport will be fine if you need essential hospital treatment but if you want to see a doctor and not pay the whole bill yourself you'll need to have the medicare card.

Thanks for the info, will look at that now. Most airlines say you can travel up to 36 weeks. I would be looking at a public hospital birth, not private as won't have private medical in place and I've seen you need to be on it a year before to be covered for pregnancy.
The baby would need a visa if I applied after they were born but wouldn't if they were born in Australia. Thanks for your help.

I think you need a doctors note to fly that late. Which maybe fine but worth checking early on as the no fly stuff is about risk of DVT which is also a risk with cesareans.

Hopeful a couple of Perth based MN are around soon to give you some info about the hospitals ect.

ngala might also be able to help. www.ngala.com.au . you will also need to get a tax file number but as you are PR's this is quite easy to do. worth photo copying your passport with visa details, birth cert, marriage certs , driving licences etc and getting them certified by any pharmacist as soon as you get here, as most people need a copy of these docs.

Easy..
You can fly up to 36 weeks. Later with a Drs letter.
Medicare covers you as soon as you land. Just go into Medicare and get registered. You may need evidence if your address but you can still book in to have your bub under reciprocal healthcare if needed.
Lscs are common in aus but there is quite a big drive for vbac. There is not normally the right bit choose. It's a medical grounds decision. Not sure how that compares to uk,
I guess the sooner you come over the better. Stress of moving, setting up a home, new job, etc..

Thanks for the responses. It's my 5th c section so no choice but another one and definitely my final c section.
If we are in temporary holiday accommodation to start with, how will it work with an address? Or will it be better to give a friends address to register. We might have found something permanent in a month but not definitely.

Congratulations. Moving is hard enough so hats off to you for doing it pg. we gave our temporary holiday rental address to Medicare and just changed it when we moved.The paperwork is standard but you do need all your bits and bobs with you or it's back to the end of the queue. In your situation I would come sooner rather than later.Choice of hospitals depends on where you will be staying. tHe only other thing to get ASAP is ambulance cover as it's about $ 500 here in WA and with you being preggers and all! Good luck.

Yes 5th cs will be another :0) just put it in as I know some people are very resistant to vbac and if it was just one cs they are depending on circumstances keen to vbac now and it's hospital not patient decided ... I know a couple of new migrants that have been upset by that!
Otherwise giggly is spot on!
You still heading this way giggly?

Second giggly's suggestion of ambulance cover. It cost a fortune to travel in an ambulance if you don't have cover.

Also register with Centerlink as soon as you land. They do all the child benefit (Family Tax Benefit) stuff and they back date it to the date of claim so it's worth doing early.

Thanks will have my list with everything I need to do on it. am I better buying all the baby bits in the uk and bringing them over? Just wondering if things are more expensive here or in Australia? I need to buy carrycots, cribs, sterilisers, bottles, clothes, car seats etc. (have given away all baby items!!!)

Not sure about carry cots or bottles and stuff but you'll need to buy the car seat in Australia because only car seats with the Australian standard mark are legal in Australia. Check out this website Not sure how old your older children are but they might all need seats/boosters too.

Children's clothes are a little bit more expensive but not sure how much shipping them from UK would be. Cheap places for kids clothes are Big W, Target or KMart or expensive would be Seed, Pumpkin Patch or David Jones.

Sorry I keep responding but I'm meant to be studying :)

I think you would have to buy here for many things as you won't have time for a container to arrive, and still be able to unpack. Hazchem.. Yes seats.. Seats and more seats! And a big car! They will be different to the uk too! We have a Hyundai IMAX.
Kmart is great for cheap clothes. Coles and Kmart have recently been put in the hands of an ex asda big wig. So it's very asda. Woollies is slowly catching up so I reckon big w will follow suit! Great for all manner if baby stuff.

Ok yes that's true, container will take awhile. That helps with the shops.

You can send your container ahead of you if you have basic stuff to live with for a month or so, or can stay with family, but negotiate a period of storage at the other end to keep costs down . Finding a rental will be your challenge though, although the market seems to have slowed a little. Will your DH have a job to come out to? While we've not struggled as much as we'd feared on a single income it is awfully expensive here if you're not careful and jobs vary wildly from headhunted very lucrative roles through to short term contract stuff with no security.

Good luck with your plans though, we love it here in Perth.

Thanks, because we don't know areas or schools. We want to stay in temporary accommodation for as long as we can so that I'm happy with the area and school. Will keep the kids out of school for as long as I need to. They have had a very unsettling year and can't change schools again once we arrive in Perth.
Ideally my DH will have a job to go to so that should help, will know in a couple of months how that is working out. Otherwise will have to look for work once we arrive but hopefully that won't be the case.

By temporary accommodation I presume you mean an unfurnished rental? Not a furnished holiday rental?

How old are your DCs? PM me if you'd like any info on the areas we considered 18 months ago when we moved across ans some we've gleaned since.

Hijack, chloeb still here in Perth and still not happy here. debating to move East or back to Scotland, just way to expensive here.
Sorry Op you might not want to hear that, but PErth is very expensive, we went through about £. 30 000 in the first few months and that was with a container coming. Ther are lots og FB pages selling baby stuff and gumtree is very active here so bargains to be had. Things like breast pumps are cheaper in the UK, I buy a lot from M&S and get it shipped over it is usually free postage apart from the CHristmas period. Just waiting for dd school uniforms to arrive

I mean holiday accommodation for the first 6 weeks, before our container arrives. I have heard it's very expensive in Perth, what do you find expensive besides good?
Boys are 7,5 and 2.
Good know about 2nd hand sites as well. Also nice to know you can still order from m&s