Hi jcg, I am going public but have also had the odd private app. I think the public system can be a little scary at first, especially if its your first baby like me. For me it took a little while to get used to the blunt instructions given - sit here, wait there, go here etc - without much actual info given to you as to why or for what, so I got a lot of my info from here or babycentre.com or nhs etc online. Plus every test they do in the public system, they operate a no news is good news policy so you don't really see results unless you have an issue. As a result of that I always felt in the dark. I went to see a private doctor for an 8 week scan, really just because I was dying to see the little fella was really there, then again for 12 week scan and downs test (looking back though I could have done this publicly), I did that private mainly because I was going away at the time the public hospital were going to book it for and the window for doing it is small. I also visited a private doc for the 20 week scan because I'd read that the public docs wouldn't say much nor do they really show you the screen unless you request. However my doctor at the queen mary who gave me the scan at 21 weeks was great, he talked all the way through. For me I wanted to see a private doctor for those big milestones so I could get more information and my husband also could get the peace of mind. However without insurance the cost can mount so I've not had any more private apps since then. Since 20 weeks I have relied on the public system, which I am now used to, as its mostly just routine tests for monitoring you (checking urine, blood pressure, measuring size and weight). I can't see the point in paying for those to be done outside of the public system personally.
