I birthed at National Women's and transferred to Birthcare Parnell about an hour later. I have to say I highly recommend both. National Women's was clean and had great up-to-date equipment, the birthing rooms were huge (ask for one with a spa pool -- they are amazing) and I never had any random people popping in during the birth (I had a big fear of janitors or medical students wandering in to watch me in labour!). The only crappy thing about the experience is the lack of parking. You have to park in the 3-minute parks outside, rush up to the maternity unit, and then your birth partner has to run back outside and park the car in the carpark so you don't get towed. We got lucky, as a security guard spotted us as we pulled up and said he'd watch our car for us while DH got me settled upstairs, so we wouldn't get towed.

You can do a tour of National Women's -- you have to ring and book, but it's pretty useful. They tell you all the good stuff, like how to get the elevator to take you right to the maternity floor without stopping!

Birthcare Parnell was also great for me. I was in a twin share room but never got a roommate in the time I was there. The food was good (you got to choose from a menu, which I loved), the midwives on duty were fantastic -- the second and third nights they took my baby out into the hall with them so I could get some sleep, as I wasn't sleeping at all out of paranoia that something would happen to her if I went "off duty". They were great at helping me with breastfeeding, although I admit that each midwife had her own idea of what was the best position. They were also good at kicking unwanted visitors out -- all I had to do was nip down to the midwives' station and look at them with pleading eyes, and they'd come bustling into the room a few minutes later with some excuse that always made my husband's nosy relatives hightail it out of there!

I also did antenatal classes at Birthcare, and like Emma, I found that they focused too much on pregnancy and not enough on what it would be like with Baby at home. I suspect that is what most of them are like, though. I also had a bit of a clash with the other people in the class -- they were all professionals in their mid-30s and most of them were a bit, ahem, poncy. For example, in the first class, we spent 30 minutes discussing the types of cheese that are and aren't safe to eat during pregnancy. "Is brie pasteurized? How should I store it? Can I have camembert if it's straight out of the fridge? What about bleu cheese? Edam?" I remember my husband and I looking at each other and mouthing, "What the hell???"

We did a tour of Birthcare as part of our antenatal classes, and next time I think I will try to birth there. Yes, they don't have all the medical equipment that the hospital has, but the hospital is right around the corner -- so if you've had a complication-free pregnancy and you want a drug-free birth, Birthcare is a good option. They have spa pools at Birthcare as well, although their birthing rooms are a bit smaller than at National Women's.

So I'm a satisfied customer of both places -- but not in a hurry to do it again! Not yet, anyway!

:) Katherine