Antenatal Shared Care is a model in which your pregnancy care is shared between ourselves as Shared Care Providers and your local public hospital Antenatal unit. Under this model, all appointments at the hospital are funded by our State Government and all appointments with us are rebated by Medicare with a small out of pocket cost for each appointment. All of our doctors at Walker Street Doctors are registered for Shared Antenatal Care at multiple hospitals in Sydney. It is a model of care that we particularly enjoy, in that it provides continuity of care from the confirmation of the pregnancy through to the end of the pregnancy and the post partum and neonatal visit and ongoing. We closely follow the Clinical Practice Guidelines of Antenatal Care and the GP Shared Antenatal Protocol, which can be found at: www.sydneynorthhealthnetwork.org.au This protocol includes vaccination for whooping cough and influenza in order to protect mother and child alike.
A variation on the theme, is the “Midwife Clinic” option which is a highly sought after option where your dedicated midwife follows your care through the pregnancy. This is more of a “low key” option with the added benefit of being onsite in a tertiary referral hospital if higher level care is required.
Private Obstetrician Referral. Our experienced doctors can provide you with the details of the obstetrician who best suits you. The benefit of this model is that you have one “go-to” obstetrician to take you from confirmation to delivery and one person to answer all of your questions. (In the shared care option, delivery is undertaken by a midwife or trainee obstetrician/ registrar). Before taking up the option of private care in a private hospital, it is important to check your Health Insurance details to make sure that pregnancy is covered. It is also important to understand that this model of care comes with significant out of pocket costs.
During pregnancy, we recommend eating lots of well-washed fruits and vegetables and whole-grains, lentils and legumes, seeds and nuts and moderate amounts of dairy foods, lean meat, chicken and fish.
You will need more of certain nutrients such as iodine, iron and folic acid, but only a small amount of extra kilojoules – a normal amount of weight gain throughout the pregnancy is around 10-13kg for women who are a healthy pre-conception weight.
It is recommended that foods that may contain listeria are avoided during pregnancy. Pregnant women should avoid soft white cheeses such as brie and feta, pate, oysters, pre-packed salads and soft serve ice cream. They should also avoid raw eggs in smoothies, mayonnaise and mousse because of the risk of salmonella. There is no safe limit of alcohol in pregnancy. For further information, please visit www.foodstandards.gov.au
For further information on pregnancy, birth, baby and beyond, please visit: www.pregnancybirthbaby.org.au or discuss your concerns with one of our doctors.