Pregnant in Australia but heading home

Dats_rite

Hi all,

We are planning on moving back to Ireland in May or June this year and just found out my wife is 5 weeks pregnant, delighted!

We are still planning on going back home in June just after the 20 week scan.

Just wondering if any other board sites have been in the same position and have any advice or thoughts on the process of transferring to an irish hospital midway through pregnancy?

We've been here for 5 years and are dual citizens. And not sure where we will be moving back to, all dependant on finding a job.

Thanks!

mandrake04

No advice, but best of luck.

lg123

are you with a private healthcare provider? if so, any policy transfer opportunities with them?

we're with bupa and i believe you can transfer with them, not sure on the specifics.

congrats and best of luck.

Pugins

lg123 wrote: »

are you with a private healthcare provider? if so, any policy transfer opportunities with them?

we're with bupa and i believe you can transfer with them, not sure on the specifics.

congrats and best of luck.

As suggested there are some sort of international reciprocal agreements between healthcare providers. If you transfer across to one of the ones recognised by your provider than you won't have to serve a waiting period. We were able to use our Australian insurance shortly after arrival here as I had an email from both Irish and Australian insurers confirming they recognised similar plans.

If you don't have private health insurance you will still be able to access the public system in Ireland. I believe the midwife led services have caps on number of patients but the hospital can't turn you away. You could look into semi private as a more affordable option than fully private.

acb

We were with HIF in Australia and I asked we were covered in Ireland for a few months while we organised cover here. They said NO, I have it in email. When I contacted VHI here about cover they said they'd cancel the wait times as Id just cancelled our HIF cover.

As another poster suggested though, I believe Bupa are a better option and will transfer your cover over straight away.

Ive had one baby here in Holles St and one in Australia. I found attending appointments soooo much easier in Australia, they actually were appointments.

Best of luck with the move home and i wish you a safe pregnancy.

acb

Also would say, in terms of choosing a hospital t have the birth in - Im not sure what type of birth your looking for...but places like Holles street have higher rates of induction/episiotomies and assisted births etc but lower rates of caesareans. So prior to choosing a hospital you might want to look at those things. x

Dats_rite

acb wrote: »

Also would say, in terms of choosing a hospital t have the birth in - Im not sure what type of birth your looking for...but places like Holles street have higher rates of induction/episiotomies and assisted births etc but lower rates of caesareans. So prior to choosing a hospital you might want to look at those things. x

Thanks for the advice. We're with health.com.au so i'll give them a call and see what they say.

As for the hospitals we're not sure what part of the country we'll be moving back to, ideally North West but until we sort out a job we'll have to put the hospital selection on hold until then!

Thanks again for your thoughts

Zambia

Do you have to go back before the birth?

Dats_rite

No its a personal choice to go before the baby arrives.

Half of me thinks its the wrong decision but the other half thinks we want to go back and have family support etc when the new arrival comes.

Zambia

Mate it sounds like you don't have a job back home.

The smart money from where I am sitting is have the baby and fly home once the baby arrives. The family support is for when the baby is born.

New borns are pretty easy to fly with.

Just being the devils advocate here

DulchieLaois

Following on from Zambia response, a long flight can be dangerous for a preganant woman with a possibility of miscarriage - best to research into that.

Rather than complicated life, follow the pregnancy through in Australia rather than worrying about health insurance, maintain the job and look for jobs via the internet and when the baby arrives, you can always come home and see what is out there on the job front while on hols here, while your wife can stay here with family due to her maternity leave.

I wish you all the best with the whole thing

Dats_rite

Well its settled, leaving at the start of July.

No job yet, nowhere to base ourselves yet so therefore no definite hospital to have the baby.

Nervous and excited at the same time. It'll be a tough few weeks/months I believe when we get home but I think it is the right plan of action for us. I know a lot of people and friends think we are mad for leaving jobs and a good life here - Maybe we are. But if we don't go now I think we'll regret it. We can always come back in a few years if it doesn't suit us....That's the plans anyway!

Long Gone

I agree with the people who think you're mad to be going back, but if that's what you're determined to do good luck and I hope everything goes well.

cnocbui

No job, nowhere to live and a baby on the way. Personally I think that isn't a very sensible plan. Having a job, somewhere to go and a newborn seems to me a much better option.

jank

If it were me I would have had the baby in Australia and then headed home, especially given the way the health system can be in Ireland if anything goes wrong.
Is it just to be with family and friends?

Morshlac

Dats_rite wrote: »

Well its settled, leaving at the start of July.

No job yet, nowhere to base ourselves yet so therefore no definite hospital to have the baby.

Nervous and excited at the same time. It'll be a tough few weeks/months I believe when we get home but I think it is the right plan of action for us. I know a lot of people and friends think we are mad for leaving jobs and a good life here - Maybe we are. But if we don't go now I think we'll regret it. We can always come back in a few years if it doesn't suit us....That's the plans anyway!

how's it all going?

interested to know as debating doing the same thing next year, possibly head home from Perth..

Dats_rite

Arrived home at start of July and its been an interesting few months but getting settled now.

We were lucky that my wifes company allowed her to work from Ireland full time until she goes off on maternity leave at the end of September. SO that gave me a bit of a buffer to find a job. I got offered 4 jobs and turned 3 of them down as it did not suit us and the location was not right. We eventually took the job im in now as it was a good offer and role, not exactly where we wanted to base ourselves but we thought we would take it and reassess in a year.

Our stuff arrived last Monday 14th September after being picked up in Melbourne on the 30th June which was the final piece in the jigsaw of the move. We now have about 2 weeks to enjoy before our world is turned upside down again when the second child arrives.....but we cant wait!

Not sure what other specifics to tell you. Renting is a bit of a nightmare trying to get a place. We purposely stayed out of Dublin for that reason but even the rents in Galway are very expensive - 3 bed house around 1100 - 1300 euro per month. And there is a definite undersupply so I would scope out whatever location you are looking to move to prior to moving.

Get a letter from your car insurer in Australia saying if you have a no claim bonus. I got one from my companies insurer but they wouldn't accept it. Thankfully though I was named on my mums policy for last 3 years whilst in Australia and that brought my premium down from 2700 to 770....Scandalous prices I was getting previously.

Let me know if there is anything else you want to know....I think i'm rambling now!

Dats_rite

And its great to be home. We took our daughter to my nephews birthday party on Saturday.....That's the stuff we came home for and it was brilliant. We loved it being round family again and seeing my daughter with her cousins makes the move definitely feel right.

Morshlac

Dats_rite wrote: »

And its great to be home. We took our daughter to my nephews birthday party on Saturday.....That's the stuff we came home for and it was brilliant. We loved it being round family again and seeing my daughter with her cousins makes the move definitely feel right.

ah thats great..


thanks for reply, thats interesting read this article on Irish Echo last night "A move back to ireland not without Risk" (i'm not allowed to post link here apparently)

"Women who return home from Australia to have children waive their right to paid maternity leave from their old jobs ..."
I thought she's saying here that if you have the baby in ireland you can't get paid maternity leave from your job in australia..
although don't see how this would be prevented and seems to be what you've done?

even a quick look told us that about rents so already thinking of trying to avoid dublin but depends on work.
is monster.ie still the main job site at home these days? (i'm confirming from 10 years ago lol)
i'm in IT and do like that seek is one stop shop here
(although frustrating when u see 10 jobs realise its all same one under different recruiters)

good tip on the letter from car insurance company will defo do that thanks, hopefully can find some way around being totally ripped off..