New and confused ;-)

Sina, get in touch with Kim from Beautifullyborn (see website) she teaches ante natal classes in the northern suburbs. Her classes (HypnoBirthing) focuses on natural birth so she will be able to connect you with the right midwives / doctors.

Hi Sina

I hope you are well. Have you been to a GP yet?

I used a midwife for a natural birth and had a bad experience. Try to get references before you pick a midwife. When we originally went to her she assured me she charged medical aid tariffs and that the scheme pays 100% of her invoices. But when I received the invoice and submitted it to the medical aid it was not the case. There was other issues with the billing as well, but I won't get into that here and she made promises she didn't keep. In the end the medical aid covered less than 50% of the costs. I've spend hours trying to sort this out with her and the medical aid, but decided to pay her. This was after all precious time I could spend with my little one.

I don't want to scare you. I don't want anyone to go through what I went through. Make sure you don't have to worry about the bill after the delivery. I was shocked and sad, I trusted her with the most important experience of my life and then this happened. I'm sure the hospital/gynae will be able to refer you to an excellent midwife.

Good luck with the pregnancy

Thanks so much.

I am originally from Germany but have been living in CT for a while.
I just always assumed things would be the same as in my home country.
By now I should know that assumption is never good
In Germany natural birth is always given priority, C section only in emergencies.
I want to have a natural birth and I am overwhelmed at the reluctance of the gynaes here to go through with that.
You really have to pick the right one.
My plan is to go through a midwife and just have the gynae as a back up.
I am in the northern suburbs and there don't seem to be many midwives around who are associated to the hospitals here.
The hospital to go to seems to be Vincent Pallotti.
I just need to get my bearings.
Do I need to have the pregnancy confirmed by my GP before making an appointment with my gynae? I most likely won't stay with my current gynae anyway.

I might be overthinking this whole thing.

Any help would be appreciated

Thank you

Hi Sina,

Welcome here! Hope we can help with some of your questions and concerns.

Whereabouts are you from?

Hi everyone,

I just found out I am pregnant.
I should be around 5 weeks now so still early.

I'm in Cape Town and trying to get to grips as to how all things pregnancy work here in SA.

I have many questions, which I will post in the appropriate category.

Glad to be here and hoping for a smooth nine months.

Sina