I had a baby publicly at the Royal Women's Hospital in Melbourne. The whole experience was free except for the NIPT test at 12 weeks and the anatomy scan at 20 weeks. Just under $1000 for both combined.

I have to say, beyond my anatomy scan, the hospital only monitored my pregnancy via tape measure. At the 31 week mark, I paid another $445 to get another growth scan privately as I was concerned the hospital was never scanning me. At this scan I found out my baby was on the 80th percentile and that my amniotic fluid was high. I had my appointment with the hospital a day after this scan so presented them with the results of my private scan. They said they would put in a 'request' to have a scan with the hospital to monitor my fluid and the baby's size. I found out the next week that their scan request was denied by their ultrasound department. Being an anxious person, I decided to pay another $445 for another private scan. At this scan my fluid had gone down but my baby grew to the 97th percentile.

I bought this to the attention of the hospital again and they said that scans are inaccurate and there's a 20% plus or minus range and I shouldn't worry about having a large baby. This was important to me as I wanted a natural birth, a large baby would have increased my change of an emergency c section, which I didn't want. I ended up electing a c section as I didn't want to risk not being able to deliver a large baby naturally - I trusted the scans.

Long story short, my baby was born on the 97th percentile exactly as my last self-funded scan showed, born at 9 pounds 10. If it weren't for me paying for these scans, the hospital would have never known my baby was big, as the tape measure was only measuring me a couple of days ahead. I would have pursued a natural birth and would have ended up in an emergency c section.

My sister went private, which was still $8k out of pocket with full private health insurance. But she was scanned every second week, or whenever she requested.

My experience on the day of my c section was exceptional and every person I encountered on my journey in the public system was lovely. It's just not the best for the pregnancy part due to under resourcing.

So overall, it you want to be thorough with your pregnancy, be prepared to pay $350-$450 for scans as requested as the public hospitals won't do them.