Having a second baby in Oz. Good idea or not?

[Cousinit]

We're moving to Australia for 12 months in July as DH has a posting over there. DS will be nearly 2 when we leave. If it wasn't for moving to the other side of the world, we'd definitely be trying for baby number two but a bit worried about being so isolated with a new baby and toddler to contend with. On other hand, don't want there to be too large an age gap and feel clock is ticking (now 36 and would perhaps like to have 3 eventually). One minute I think it would be mad to have DC2 in Oz and we should just enjoy our year out there, the next I think we should definitely go for it as I'd really love another DC soon. Decisions, decisions. Anyone been in a similar situation?

Check your medical insurance will cover you from the word go - many have exclusion clauses so you have to have been paying for a year before you can claim for obstetric care.

Other than that, I don't see why not. I think any baby would be entitled to dual citizenship, which is always useful.

You should try to get your DS on the waiting list for childcare centres now, long before you go - the situation is diabolical and you may be too late already. I was told repeatedly that I should have put DD down as soon as I knew I was pregnant. We have managed to find one very expensive private centre that had one day a week available.

If I were you, I'd also try to time it so I wasn't heavily pregnant in January or February - the heat can be quite punishing.

Are you going to a large city? Some of the rural hospitals are tiny and I wouldn't want to have to be airlifted by the RFDS to the nearest capital city for a crash caesar or something.

What ninedragons says is true about private healthcare - if you sign up you have to have been a member for 12 months before you use obs care - so you could sign up and be pregnant 4 months later and use it for delivery, as long as you weren't premature.

You don't have to have private cover though, public hospitals here are great.

Also, medical care in general I have been SO impressed with over here, both in Sydney and Adelaide. You can register with any Dr at all, plus you can normally get an appointment that day, or the next day. Test results come back in super quick time, it really is fantastic.

I went to the Dr as DH and I are hoping to start a family this year and I was given a full blood check and innoculations against MMR and chicken pox.

Plus the joint citizenship thing is really handy as ND says.

Thanks for your replies, very helpful. We will be entitled to Medicare and I've heard the system is pretty good so if we were to have a baby we would go down the public hospital route. We're moving to Adelaide so airlifting wouldn't be necessary

Interesting to hear about the childcare situation, ninedragons. I really hadn't considered that would be a problem and sounds like I might have left it a bit late. Something else to add to the massive "to do list" before we leave!

I think there is some central registration service. I will post here again if I can remember the name. Try bumping this during the Australian day looking for Claudiaschiffer - she's in Adelaide and might be able to tell you if the situation there is any better than it is in Sydney.

Hi Cousinit,
The citizenship thing isn't quite right. Your baby would only be a citizen if one of you were an Australian citizen or permanent resident at the time of his/her birth. Citizenship becomes automatic though when they are 10 - I mean, after they have lived in Oz for 10 years.

But really, why not? There never really is the 'right' time to have a child. Mother's group could be a great way to meet people!

Ah, sorry, my mistake. I thought the parents just had to be legal residents at the time of the birth.

I would go for it. There would be no issues with medical care here.

Do you get sick with your pregnancies? It would be a shame to have a year here and spend most of it feeling unwell and not making the best of it.

I'm in Adelaide too - if you want any info about non child related stuff then let me know. It's a great city to live in.

Childcare here (Adelaide) isn't too bad, as far as I know. I do know that 2 friends have both recently moved their children from one centre to another (not the same centres) and they had no problem in doing so (waiting lists etc) but they were toddlers, not sure if different for babies. I guess it also depends on the area you are staying in.

We are south of the city.

I had dd2 (10mnths) at Flinders Public. Very good, great care, great facilities. Had my own room (as standard).

I am pretty sure that you wouldn't get Medicare unless you were permanent residents, in which case you may not be entitled to public healthcare. So you would have to be private. Not sure about private policies as we don't have one.

Opps sorry...have just seen that you are entitled to medicare, that's good!

As I said, I went public & had a great experience. At some private hospitals here they don't have the neo-natal facilities so have to send the babies to a public hospital, so sometimes you really are better off in public!

If you don't mind saying, where abouts in Adelaide will you be?

Ooh, thanks everyone. Yes, you're right Smugaboo, there never seems to be a "right" time so maybe we should just go for it. I was very lucky with my first pregnancy. Hardly any sickness, felt great and had a straightforward birth but a second may be a totally different experience. I have no worries about medical care etc, just being so far from family and friends at a time when we might really need to call on their help. We don't have family close to us here in the UK but they're only a few hours away. Being on the other side of the world seems scarily far away. We're only coming over for 1 year (although if we love it, then perhaps we might think about emigrating permanently). DH will be working near centre and having done a bit of research on areas, we are thinking of renting somewhere near Norwood/Dulwich areas or North Adelaide as he'd quite like to cycle or even walk to work but as we have never been to Adelaide we may change our minds when we arrive. Got some short term accomodation booked when we arrive so we have a few weeks to get to know the place and find somewhere to live. Thanks Ozziegirly, I will give you a shout if I have any more Adelaide-related questions. How long have you been living there? Thanks for info about childcare, Sandcastles. Doesn't sound too bad. Not sure if I'm going to work or not yet - depends on what's available but I would like to have option of sending DS to nursery for a few hours a week anyway, especially if we're going to have another baby.

Had my first in the UK and my second in Australia. The care I received in Australia was excellent - much better than the care I had in London. Public healthcare is extremely good. If you have private healthcare, having a baby is like going into a hotel! Do check your private policy to ensure that pregnancy and birth is covered without having to wait.

Norwood/Dulwich are nice - we are in Hyde Park which is also nice, and takes us 15 mins to drive to work, and I often walk home, which takes around 35 mins.

We moved here from Sydney just before Christmas.

It's a great city - it's got a weird reputation in Oz as a whole, people think of it as really backward and cut off and full of freaky serial killers. We have had a few high profile really odd murders, but not for years (look up Family Murders, Snowtown, Truro murders, Beaumont children).

But in a way this reputation slightly puts people off moving here which is a good thing. Houses are some of the most affordable in Australia, and yet it's a city full of lovely restaurants, the Adelaide Hills are beautiful and only a 20 minute drive (Stirling is fab), the beaches are huge and deserted, schools are good, people are friendly and the climate is wonderful. We had one extremely hot week where temps went up to 46 every day for about 10 days, but outside that it's dry heat, not humid, sunny for weeks on end, just lovely.

Sounds great, Ozziegirly. Just looking at the Monday morning drizzle here and can't wait to be there!