Dr Angela Hardy returns to deliver private obstetrics at Port Macquarie Base Hospital

Weighing just over three kilograms, Sofia Carmela Pisanu was born on May 5 at 7.01am after a 12-hour labour.

Giorgia said after giving birth to her first child Gioia in Sydney through a private obstetrician two years ago, there was no other choice but to plan her second pregnancy and birth the same way.

"After moving back to Port Macquarie, I became pregnant again and realised there was no opportunity to have obstetric private care in Port Macquarie and really the only choice we had was to go through the hospital midwife program," she said.

"Which, for me, was not my preferred option because I had some issues with my first-born."

Giorgia and her husband Gabriel were looking at either moving back to Sydney or travelling to Newcastle to receive private obstetric care throughout her pregnancy.

"Weighing all of the travel and everything, it just wasn't worth the stress for us as a young family," she said.

This was until Dr Angela Hardy returned to Port Macquarie in February and started offering private obstetric and gynaecology services for women.

Dr Hardy (nee Jay) left Port Macquarie seven years ago after she was almost murdered by a former partner she met on a dating app.

Dr Hardy was working in Port Macquarie when she suffered serious knife wounds in the attack on November 3, 2016 at the hands of Paul Lambert.

He was later shot dead by police near Coffs Harbour.

The advocate and survivor of violence said she returned to Port Macquarie to offer women private obstetrics care.

"It's been a long time since there was private obstetrics in Port and one of the reasons I was interested in providing that service is to have that continuity of care with the patient and their family," Dr Hardy said.

"Having a baby can be a stressful time and it can sometimes be more challenging if you're seeing different health providers at appointments."

At the moment, Dr Hardy is the only private obstetrician in Port Macquarie and working at PMBH.

"It does mean I'm on call a lot, basically all the time," she said. "But for me, it's worth it to be able to do what I do."

Dr Hardy said generally at most public hospitals there is the option to be a private patient.

"For obstetrics, you need and obstetrician who is offering private obstetrics for that to happen," she said.

"What it means for patients is if they are privately insured for obstetrics, their health fund will pay the hospital rather than it coming from state government funding and for patients who choose to self-fund, it means they choose their care and doctor, but they will then incur a cost and the hospital will charge them for the hospital stay."

Giorgia got a referral from her GP to see Dr Hardy in February.

"Having Dr Hardy, who is a specialist in her field, was really important to oversee the pregnancy care and to make sure everything was ticking along nicely," Giorgia said.

"Having that expertise actually in the room when I gave birth was reassuring."

Giorgia said seeing Dr Hardy on a regular basis and forming a relationship with her was "really beneficial".

"She had my best interests at heart the whole time which is important," she said.

Giorgia said PMBH and Dr Hardy worked well together to ensure her daughter's birth went smoothly.

"Because the midwife program has been the only one here for a long time, having a private obstetrician come in and make decisions was different for everyone," she said.

"In the end it worked out really well, with the hospital and Dr Hardy working well together.

"The midwives and Dr Hardy did an amazing job. It was a very calm birth."

This was the first natural birth Dr Hardy has assisted in since returning to Port Macquarie, with the first being a cesarean earlier this year.

Dr Hardy said her return to Port Macquarie has gone more smoothly than she anticipated.

"The Port Macquarie community is such a wonderful one and everyone has been so welcoming," she said.

"I have such a great group of colleagues at Port Base Hospital and the other gynaecologists that I work with.

"Surprisingly I always used to be worried about coming back here in terms of whether it would exacerbate my PTSD, but I steer clear of the part of town I used to live in and I've been feeling really well."

Dr Hardy said it's now "a different time" in her life and said she's back here for "very positive reasons".

"If anything, I feel gratitude for how well I was cared for when I was a patient at this hospital and how much love the community did give me during that tough time," she said.

IN OTHER NEWS: