#23 Pregnancy and childbirth | Difference between a public and private hospital

Antenatal class - “She is looking into antenatal classes and yoga.”
Catchment area - “This hospital provides the service in a catchment area of two million people.”
Midwife - “The midwife weighed my baby.”

Different terms regarding birth plans

Natural birth – “A lot of mothers are opting for a natural birth for their babies."
Epidural – “My wife got an epidural when she was giving birth.”
Laughing gas – “Did they offer you laughing gas during labour?”
Emergency Caesar – “My son was born by emergency Caesarean section.”
Elective Caesar - “I went with elective Caesar.”

Colloquial expressions:

When someone is expecting – this means she is pregnant.

How far along are you? – this means ‘How many weeks or months pregnant are you?’

Vocabulary:

Due date – The approximate date that the baby is due to be born

Trimester – A woman’s pregnancy is divided into trimesters, each of 12 weeks each.

Morning sickness – Morning sickness is the nausea and vomiting that women often experience during pregnancy, typically in the first to second trimester. This feeling doesn’t only happen in the morning.

Baby shower – a celebration that people organise for an expectant mother and/or father before a child is born.

Antenatal class – a class that a pregnant woman (and often, her partner) can attend to prepare for the birth of their child and parenthood.

Catchment area – also called a health service area. The geographic area that a particular hospital or health service serves.

Elective Caesar – also called Caesarean section or C-section. It is a planned surgical procedure used to deliver a baby/babies.

Midwife - a health professional who cares for expectant mothers and newborns around childbirth and just after birth.

Natural birth – refers to a birth that occurs in the traditional way through a woman’s vagina.

Birth plan - a written summary of what a woman would like to happen when she is in labour and giving birth.

Epidural - an injection in the back that is used to stop pain. It is commonly given during childbirth.

Cultural information:

In Australia, a general practitioner (GP) can confirm your pregnancy, check on your overall health, give you your pregnancy care options and refer you to the health professionals who will take care of you until you give birth.

Generally, pregnant women will either choose to give in a public or private hospital.

If a woman chooses to go to a public hospital, the costs are all covered by Medicare. Midwives will typically look after her throughout her pregnancy. She won’t be under the care of one doctor.

If a woman decides to go private, she and/or her private insurance will pay for the majority of the costs. She can choose to be under the care of a particular obstetrician (a doctor who specialises in women’s health and delivering babies).

For more information about maternity care in Australia, visit the

Department of Health and Aged Care

and the

SBS Settlement Guide

Transcript:

(Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript)

Hi! Welcome to the SBS Learn English podcast, where we help Australians to speak, understand and connect.

SBS acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country and their connections and continuous care for the skies, lands and waterways throughout Australia.

My name is Nikki, and like you, I’m always excited to learn new English words and phrases to help me make my way around Australia as a resident, worker, wife and mum.

And speaking of being a mum, what a journey it has been! And that journey began with my pregnancy and all the new English words and phrases I had to learn to talk about it to health professionals and even my friends.

So, if you’re expecting, meaning you are pregnant, or if you have anyone in your life preparing for the birth of a baby, you might get into a conversation just like this one between sisters Stella and Grace. Grace tells her sister Stella that she is pregnant.

Grace

I’ve got some really exciting news to share with you. We’re expecting!

Stella

Oh wow, congratulations! How far along are you? When’s your due date?

Stella asks Grace how far along she is in her pregnancy and when her due date is. These are two very common questions people ask when they find out that someone is pregnant.

To ask someone ‘How far along are you?’ usually means ‘How many weeks or months pregnant are you?’

When someone asks these two questions, a pregnant woman can reply,

I’m in my second trimester, so finally the morning sickness has eased off. I’m due in July.

A pregnancy is divided into three trimesters.

The first trimester is the first 3 months and a time when morning sickness (or nausea and vomiting) is particularly bad. A woman commonly has less nausea and more energy during her second trimester. The third trimester, that is the final 12 weeks of the pregnancy, she can feel rather heavy as the baby grows heavier.

As a woman gets closer to giving birth, her friends and family might throw her something that Stella is about to mention,

Ok! I’m throwing you a huge baby shower!

A baby shower is a celebration that people prepare for an expectant mother and/or father before a child is born. We say that they ‘throw’ a baby shower, just like we throw any kind of party.

Let’s listen to that whole conversation again:

Grace

I’ve got some really exciting news to share with you. We’re expecting!

Stella

Oh wow, congratulations! How far along are you? When’s your due date?

Grace

I’m in my second trimester, so finally the morning sickness has eased off. I’m due in July.

Stella

Ok! I’m throwing you a huge baby shower!

Oh what fun! I remember the baby shower I had for my first baby. We played a lot of fun games and, people brought so many wonderful gifts to prepare for the arrival of my little one.

You know another thing I did to prepare myself for my baby? I took an antenatal class.

An antenatal class is a class that a pregnant woman (and often, her partner) can attend to prepare for the birth of a child and parenthood. You’ll learn practical lessons on a whole range of things that it is important to know, such as breastfeeding, swaddling or wrapping a baby with a blanket and changing nappies.

Let’s listen in on another conversation between two mums attending an antenatal class.

Mum 1

It’s so exciting to finally take part in this antenatal class, isn’t it?

Mum 2

I know! We’re so lucky we’re part of the catchment area for this hospital.

The term catchment area is something that you’ll hear a lot in Australia, whether or not you are going to have a baby.

If you live in a catchment area for a school or a hospital, it means that you are allowed to use the services of that school or hospital. The catchment area for a hospital can also be called a health service area. It is made up of suburbs that a particular hospital or health institute serves. Usually, the closest public hospital to where you live will be the one that serves your area.

Mum 1 agrees and replies,

Yes! My sister had her baby here as well and she said that the midwives and doctors are amazing.

While we’re all familiar with doctors, midwives are very important people you’ll be meeting during your pregnancy.

A midwife is a health professional who is trained to support and care for women during their pregnancy, labour and the birth of their babies. Not only do they help keep you healthy during your pregnancy, they’ll also help you adjust to becoming new parents.

Now let’s go back to that antenatal class.

Do you know what a birth plan is? Listen to the mums and see if you can work out what it means.

Mum 2

I’m hoping all goes well and I have a natural birth, but I have made sure that my birth plan includes an epidural. What about you?

A birth plan is a written summary of what a woman would like to happen when she is in labour and giving birth.

When labour and childbirth go as they should, women can choose how they want to deliver.

Natural childbirth is a vaginal birth. For some women, this means that no pain medications such as a laughing gas or epidural are used.

An epidural is an anaesthetic injected into the spine, that is, an epidural is when a health professional injects pain killers into a mother’s back.

For others, a natural birth can include pain medications.

While Mum 2 hopes for a natural birth, Mum 1says,

Ahh, I’m scheduled for an elective Caesar because I’m having twins.

A Caesar a medical operation which is used when a natural birth is not recommended.

It is also known as a Caesarean section or C-section, and can either done as an emergency when it wasn’t planned but looks like the best option for a mother or baby at some point during childbirth, or as an elective Caesar, which is decided in advance and therefore scheduled.

When a woman is expecting twins, for example, a doctor might recommend having an elective Caesar as the birthing of twins might be more complicated.

Let’s listen to that whole conversation again:

Mum 1

It’s so exciting to finally take part in this antenatal class, isn’t it?

Mum 2

I know! We’re so lucky we’re part of the catchment area for this hospital.

Mum 1

Yes! My sister had her baby here as well and she said that the midwives and doctors are amazing.

Mum 2

I’m hoping all goes well and I have a natural birth, but I have made sure that my birth plan includes an epidural. What about you?

Mum 1

Ahh, I’m scheduled for an elective Caesar because I’m having twins.

My guest today is Sunita Pokharel from SBS Nepali. Hi Sunita, thanks for joining the show.

Sunita

My pleasure, Nikki.

Nikki

We were just talking about the research you did for your podcast series on pregnancy.

Sunita

Yes! Our podcast series entitled

Mum Mane Ama

or ''Mum' in English, is all about the journey of motherhood – from falling pregnant all the way to raising a child.

Talking to all the migrant mums in the series, I found that a difficulty a lot of them had was getting used to the health system here in Australia.

Nikki

I agree, it can get confusing for someone who is used to a different healthcare system. It can get overwhelming.

Sunita

Yes, but one thing to remember is that the moment you suspect you are pregnant, go to a GP so you can be given a pregnancy test and routine blood tests to check on your overall health. From there, your GP can refer you to healthcare professionals who will take care of you during your pregnancy and childbirth.

Nikki

Ah yes, and from having a check-up with your GP, you can either choose to go to a public or private hospital during your pregnancy.

Sunita

Yes. Generally, healthcare is great in Australia, and the major differences between public and private are the costs and the number of different people who take care of you.

If a woman chooses to go to a public hospital, the costs are all covered by Medicare. Midwives will typically look after her throughout her pregnancy. She won’t be under the care of one doctor.

Nikki

Thanks for the useful information, Sunita!

for previews, updates and to provide feedback.

A big thank you to our educational consultant Professor Lynda Yates, our guest Sunita Pokharel, and Melissa Compagnoni and Arlene Todd who voiced the characters of Grace, Stella and, the mums in the antenatal class.