[mary ross millie]

Hello All - I hope this is the right area to post this question ....anyway let me explain my partner, daughter and I received our PR Visas 3 May 2007 - which was great coz it took us a long while. However a few weeks ago I found out I was pregnant!!

This has created a few dilemmas and I hope some of you out there may be able to offer some words of wisdom, experience advice?

1. If we decide to stay in the UK for the duration of the pregancy could we (with not too much difficulty) get another wee person a visa alongside ours before ours runs out?

2. the baby is due 19/2/08 and our visas run out 3/5/08 - is it totally mad to travel with such a small baby - he / she will probably be just over 2 months? I also have a child who will be about three and a half.

3. Should we keep to our original plan and move out at the end of October - I will be about 5 months pregnant - will this give me enough time to arrange ante natal care?

Confused...the hormones don't help!

Mary, Ross and Millie xxx

[nippa&pippa]

Congratulation on your pregnancy! join the club, my third is due in sept! Personnally, it is down to you and your OH's final decision. But I do find the maternity care is fanstantic here! I know there was two women in this forum arrived in NZ as 7months pregnant and had babies here. But your problem might be is who will look after millie while you are in labour if you haven't got friends or family in NZ. Hope that help.
Also if you think about coming after birth, my daughter was 9weeks and my son was 2half years old when we flew to NZ for reccie last april. Flight no problem. But when we emigrated to NZ in last Oct, my children was unsettle in motel till we had to find the place to rent quick..I wondering how you will cope with newborn and dealing with finding place, unpacking etc...
Just give you some ideas...
By the way, there is three different post on pregnancy done three of us..hope they might help you on idea of maternity care in NZ
http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=10197&highlight=pregnancy
http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=9491&highlight=pregnancy
http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=3136&highlight=pregnancy
Also we had someone asked about having second child in UK or NZ
http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=11445&highlight=pregnancy
HTH

[aberdian]

One thing to remember is that most airlines won't let you fly post 26-28 weeks.

[Tia Maria]

Mary,

nippa&pippa has given you some great links to read. :nice1

But here are a few random thoughts ........

I think many stay in their home country to have friends and family around to help if the pregnancy or birth isn't straightforward and also so the family can 'meet' the new arrival. Another reason to stay would be if you were happy with where you had your other child, then you might like to give birth in a familiar place again.

For me personally I found it easier to leave with a 'bump' rather than have family have to say bye to a newborn. It also meant we got more visitors in the first year with people coming to see the baby. I was also very unhappy with the standard of care in our local hospital and found NZ healthcare to be great.

We had an emergency fund which we had to use at the end of the pregnancy when I was ill and we needed a nanny share for my 2 other children. And its times like that when you really need family. Plus you have less people visiting you in the hospital which is strange. However, as mentioned before the standard of care for me was so good it made up for that.

I found it very easy to make friends in NZ when pregnant - so many people offered to do my shopping, help with the kids - even do my ironing! :laugh

Maybe one of the things that I wasn't prepared for was the effect of pregnancy hormones. It did make trying to settle much more of a roller coaster ride for myself and my OH. I couldn't just 'dislike a rental', I had to 'hate it because it was ugly and damp and the wrong shade of green etc etc' and I didn't want to just 'live near a beach', but I 'absolutely had to, otherwise my life wasn't worth living as it was what living in NZ was all about'.

Other classics were bursting into tears because my son's school was just so great, then getting really angry that NZ was so hilly - most of which I could no longer walk up. The local dairy owner became very familiar with my OH as I often sent him out when I was craving cadburys creme eggs!

If you've read some of the homesick posts you can understand how emigrating while hormonal can be a fatal combination! But I can imagine being sleep deprived parents of a newborn could equally take its toll.

You should have no problem getting ante-natal at 5 months, if you are looking for an independent midwife you can even contact them before you come. Make sure your UK midwives keep comprehensive notes which you can bring with you.

Other practicalities to consider are whether you want your OH to take paternity leave, this will have to be discussed with his future employer as he will only have been in the job a short time so he won't be entitled to paid paternity leave.

Also, does the area you are moving to have a good supply of housing? You won't want to be in anything temporary too long whether pregnant or with a newborn. Finding a suitable place to live can be quite hard in some areas.

What will you do if you are ill when pregnant and have to go into hospital early? What will you do for help if you are ill when the baby is young, will your OH be able to get time off from his new job, or afford time off? Or will you have to investigate other childcare options?

I always suggest people have an emergency fund one to cover unexpected situations and the another to pay for a trip home if they need/want it. I think this is maybe even more important in this kind of situation.

If you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask!

Congratulations on the pregnancy, I have only good things to say about the care I received in NZ and now we have our own little kiwi baby. :D

Cheers

Tia

[Park City Partner]

I had my baby here vs. the States and it was frankly far superior! The care was great and the support pretty good too from my perspective. Coming over at 5 months will be no problem for arranging care. The friends I have here are almost exclusively from my post-natal group as it was a strong bonding experience. The hormones are an issue but they will be an issue there as you well know...just probably a different focus. Personally, I think I wouldn't want to be getting settled in a new place with a new born. I would rather already be here. The newborn is disruption enough I wouldn't want to be settling in as well....but only you can decide what is best for you.

Good luck and if you decide to give birth here, I am sure you can get some good recommendations from this group on midwives etc.

[ruthyroo]

Just wanted to agree with most of the above - I have chosen to stay in NZ to have our first as the quality of care seems to be way above anything the NHS can offer. I would slightly differ as far as getting a midwife signed up though - there is a real shortage of midwives here in Dunedin and I had difficulty finding one, even though I was only about 10 weeks gone at the time. BUT then my dd is 14 December which complicated things - midwives here are essentially self-employed and many of them choose to take holidays throughout December / January (school summer holidays). Just bear that in mind - I would recommend getting in touch with midwives asap if you think you are going to be in NZ for the birth.

[Tia Maria]

Good point Ruthyroo about getting midwives. I chose to have a midwife who was assigned to the hospital as they decided I needed a C-section so there was no problem with availability for me.

However, I was also given the option of an independent midwife. If I had chosen to go this route, I would have:

a) Find a midwife in my area who wasn't fully booked
b) See if I liked them!

If you know which area you are heading to, then you can do research on midwives from the UK and contact a few to find out what their availability is like. Some areas have more midwives than others, so shortages aren't always a problem, but obviously you can just be unlucky if your due date is a popular time! So as Ruthyroo suggests contacting them sooner rather than later is a good idea.

Do you know where you are heading to yet?

Cheers

Tia

[swissmissdesigner]

Congrad to your baby!

I also would go for a little kiwi baby.

best wishes..

anna

[Debbie P.]

Congratulations, to all of you. I'm expecting too and due on 6th December. Slightly different for us, as we had been planning to move in, er... December!!! So obviously waiting here a while. But if I could choose, I would go over there while pregnant, as I think it's going to be even harder to leave my mum once the baby is born - I will feel SOOO guilty! Also, it'll be easy to have her support and that of my 2 sisters, and a real wrench when I don't have them, whereas you will be managing by yourself right from the start, hopefully with help from fellow new mums.

I'm pretty happy with the NHS service I'm getting, but then we're in a good locality with 2 maternity units near by and loads of available midwives thanks to the local midwifery school. It's pretty clear that not all of the UK enjoys the same provision.

Good luck to all of us pregnant ladies :nice1

[Familyofmonkeys]

If you do decide to have the baby and then travel, I would reccomend Singapore airlines. We travelled recently with 3 children aged just 4, 2 and almost 3 months. The airline were fab, and it was much easier with a baby who is not old enough for solids as you need far less with you for travelling. In my experience, when you get out of the UK, you get alot more help when you have a very young baby with you.

[IanW99]

From NZIS:
R5.65.1 Newborn children of residence visa holders
a. Children born to applicants who hold residence visas but have not yet been granted residence permits, may be included in their parents' application, provided that the child's name is added to the application form and the following documents are submitted:
i a full birth certificate, and
ii 2 passport-sized photographs, and
iii a fully completed and acceptable NZIS medical certificate, and
iv an acceptable travel document.

b. Newborn children added to General Skills category, Skilled Migrant Category, Investor category, Entrepreneur category, Employees of relocating businesses category or Family category applications after residence visas are issued to the rest of the family (with the exception of those applicants described at R5.90(a)), are subject to Migrant Levy policy (see R5.90).

So yes you can add the newborn to your application.

Might be an additional cost for medical and migrant levy?

Ian

[mary ross millie]

Thank you so much for all the posts of advice, information and wisdom both here and from a NZ side.

Still unsure what to do...so we're going to think about it for a wee while. I did contact a doula here yesterday who happened to be a Kiwi...perhaps that will be my Kiwi birth experience?

Anyway thanks again for all your posts.

Mary Ross and Millie xxx

[bininalte]

Hi Mary,

I know exactly what you're going through! I'm pregnant with my 3rd and my due date is in the first week in February, which is when my oldest will start primary school (mad laughter)! Plus we need to sort out a house, etc. But we're hopefully going in October, touching down in NZ after a bit of travelling. I suppose I'm a bit relaxed about it as my hubby's family lives there so I've got somebody to show me the ropes. Best of luck with whatever you decide!

Regards,
bini

[pete&kaz]

Great to read all your replies, especially as I am very broody at the mo and having the same dilemma! Lots of food for thought and I can see the pros and cons for both scenarios - easier travelling with just a bump but keen for family to see baby b4 we go, especially as OHs parents too elderly to travel and very expensive for rest of family to visit NZ (mine live in Denmark!).

Will no doubt be back for advice at some point!

Congrats to all the pregnant ladies and good luck with your decisions and birth experiences!

Kaz