I am so grateful for my time at Birthcare with each of my children. If you have your baby at Auckland Hospital, you are transferred here for about 3 days to recover and learn what you need to do with a new baby.
When I was there, the deal was you were entitled to a 3 night stay in a twin-share room at no charge. Meals were included (and were actually really good! Pretty much restaurant food, not gross hospital food). You only had to pay if your partner ordered a meal.
I took this free option, and it worked out well. I think I had 1-2 nights in both stays where I didn't have anyone else in the room with me. I didn't see the need to spend big money on having a private room where my husband could stay. Plus the second time around, he had my older son to look after at home.
Also, the midwives are so helpful with teaching a variety of important skills you have to learn. Interestingly though, (and this is useful advice to all soon-to-be-parents) the advice between midwives varied significantly so just take from that what you find to be the most useful. Once you start reading parenting stuff, you realise there is no right or wrong answer, and there are extremes. You just find where you fit and go with it. read more