Getting a private room after birth

Oh, and do hospitals have nurseries to take away the baby and how much extra does this cost??

You can pay for a private room at Birthcare.

I had a c-section so stayed at Auckland Hospital for 5 days and didn't transfer to Birthcare. I had a private room there and it was great. There are also shared rooms, so I'm not sure how how they go about allocating them.

Your baby rooms in with you (assuming there are no medical problems).

At Christchurch womens all rooms are private after you have given birth, you only have to share if you are admitted during pregnancy.
However you dont' really stay at the hospital as they transfer you out to one of the birthing clinics (or home) soon after, as in a few hours. The birthing clinics are all single rooms.
I stayed at Christchurch womens after my first for 3 nights, I was a c/s and plus the birthing clinics were all full so they had no where to transfer me to. The first two nights the mw took the baby for me so I could rest. With second baby I transferred out straight away to the birthing clinic and baby was with me all the time but they were happy to take him if I needed a shower, eat dinner etc.

I had a shared room in Palmy, but I had it to myself because I'd had a rough time. The private rooms were full, but they had empty shared rooms so I got one of those. I wasn't happy being stuck in hospital though, so discharged myself the next morning.

Hey Mooji, as the others have said Birthcare is associated with Auckland. The Parnell one links to Auckland hospital and the Helensville one to Waitakere or North Shore hospitals.

They have the prices to upgrade to a private room on their website. However, some medical insurance will cover it too. I'm with Southern Cross and they will cover $2,500 of 'maternity' care once you've been with them for three years or more - and that includes a private room at birthcare (yes!). It would pay to give your insurer a call and check in with them though because I imagine it can vary between companies.

I'm not sure about the answer to your second question sorry. But in answer to #3, at least at Auckland hospital, as I understand it, it's standard to transfer to Birthcare following the birth (or to home) unless there have been problems. As another person has said, if you birth at Birthcare you also get access to a free private room. The lady who runs our antenatal said that the requirement was that you made a good effort to birth at birthcare - i.e., that you were well and truly in established labour. If an intervention was then required and you had to transfer to Auckland Hosp, you'd still be entitled to a private room at Birthcare following the birth. May be worth phoning them to confirm though.

Hope that helps.

I had a c-section at 34 weeks following an induction. My baby went to NICU and I went to HDU as I was quite ill. She was born at 4am and I saw her once that first day for 20minutes at about 1pm. The following day I was transferred to a maternity ward about 11am and she came to. I had my own room as was not well and stayed 11 days in total. For about the first 5 days she didn't stay in my room overnight, they took her and put her in a nursery overnight and would bring her to me when she needed feeding. I was a bit hesitant about this as I hadn't spent much time with her but they insisted on this. This was at National Womens Hospital before it became part of Auckland hospital.
I too had a pretty horrific experience and it put me off having any more!!! I didn't have my own midwife as I was a high risk case, no midwife would take me on so I was under a high risk team from the beginning. So that probably didn't help either. I didn't have one particular person I could speak with which was really awful as no one seemed to be accountable for anything.
As I mentioned, this was at NWH before it combined with Auckland Hospital so I don't know what it is like there.

I had an emerg CS with my DS and elective with my DD and had my own room both times. I *think* a middlemore hospital the single rooms are only for C Sections....due to the fact that we are not mobile for a while afterwards and need more care.

In Tauranga they have some private rooms and the others are two person share but I am pretty sure it is the luck of the draw what you get depending on how many people are in at the same time. I had Gabrielle 6 weeks early and she was in SCBU and I was put in a room quite some distance from SCBU sharing with another lady. I had blood pressure problems so had to stay for a wee while (and G was in hospital anyway) and I found it quite distressing sharing a room with someone else and their baby when mine was sick and in special care. And they still wouldn't move me even though they had a spare room from day 2.

In Palmy Nth the only way that you are guaranteed a room of your own is if you have a c-section (according to antenatal class anyway).

One thing to note, even if you book a private room at Birthcare, its not guaranteed as there are only a few ... its the luck of the draw.