What is the average medical costs for having a baby?

[silkiechicken]

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That is why my mother quit work to take care of us when we were growing up. Dad and mom was figuring it out and everything, I mean, everything that Mom made, went to daycare for me and sis. I am a stay at home mom and it works out quite well!

Child care is so expensive, that my co-workers parents that are retired are switching off every 6 months to fly from CHINA to baby sit the child while they BOTH work full time. Paying the costs of having your parents stay and for airline tickets every 6 months is cheaper than day care for the 9-5 hours of the work day...

 

[classicsredone]

If you have a normal pregnancy, a midwife is a great way to go. Most midwives have a very low c-section rate (1.5% compared to 29% in hospitals) and almost never have a loss. If you are not comfortable giving birth at home, birth centers are a great way to go. The cost is around $800 in our area for the birth center with a nurse midwife attending. (an RN)

My pregnancy care and c-section were RIDICULOUS. All in all, I added up around $100,000 in expenses paid by the insurance company. I had hyperemesis and spent the night in the hospital once because of a fast heart rate. My c-section was planned due to a large baby/low amniotic fluids. I stayed 5 days because that was what the insurance company paid.

 

[EmtheFishLady]

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That is why my mother quit work to take care of us when we were growing up. Dad and mom was figuring it out and everything, I mean, everything that Mom made, went to daycare for me and sis. I am a stay at home mom and it works out quite well!

I still work, I run my business. Every once in awhile I have a call I have to take her out with me on, but I have that option being the boss. childcare is OUTRAGEOUS. I seriously considered opening a daycare center, because it's CRAZY how expensive it is.

 

[EmtheFishLady]

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I had so many issues that we didn't even have a choice. Lillian even turned the last month and was footling breach, so we had to schedule a C-Section, then she decided she wanted to come anyway and my water broke THE NEXT DAY.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I had two C-Sections and I don't know how much it cost because I had insurance at the time, but WOW I know it must have been a fortune.

(No more for us, either!)

In fact, my Obstetrician said no more for me. I had complications.

 

[TriciaHowe]

4 c/sections here..... last one was 2 years ago at the tune of almost $24,000 - 3 day stay and baby had to stay in the special care nursery 1 night due to fast breathing.

NOT to be mean, but your husband sounds like he REALLY needs to grow up before he has a child. You absolutely should have your own place before even thinking about having a kid. Especially if it's a smokey, cold, drafty house. Doesn't sound like the best environment to me.

 

[reveriereptile]

Thanks for all the replies. To answer some questions we would get health insurance once we start trying. My husband is a village judge and private attorney so we most likely wouldn't be able get help with programs like WIC. The reason we still live at his parents was so it would cut down on costs while he is paying on college loans. He got one loan paid off that had a high interest rate and his other loan is around $60K but has low interest. He has been saving money on the side which we did have to use part of it since I hit a deer before winter and we had to buy another car. I don't work at the moment. I thought about going to college to become a nurse and have my SIL help me get into the mental health unit. If I did that and got lucky like she did and was able to do three 12 hour night shifts and have 5-7 days off like her that would help. The baby would be older since it will take me 3 years of college to become a nurse and I'm not sure if I can get in this year or next. We do have some trustworthy relatives that will babysit newborns and up so I don't have to worry about a stranger if we do need a babysitter and might get a discount. We plan on building the main part of a house but make it so we can add onto it. He is going to buy the land from his dad which he won't charge him much for the land. So far I've been going through Walmart's website and adding up items and have a huge list that isn't complete just for the first month. I still have to add extras for some of the items. My sister was able to buy a ton of baby clothes from yard sales at cheap prices for box fulls that helped her with I would like to try to do. I don't want to be paying $8 for one outfit that will be out grown in a month when I might have to go through 3 or more outfits in one day. I hope I have a boy cause all the girls stuff is pink which is my least favorite color. I went to a baby shower a few months ago and she was having a girl and my husband has a large close family and everything was pink that everyone bought. I'd go nuts with so much pink. Gets me thinking that people on here should make chicken baby blankets, clothes, and other items to sale. I seen a bedding set with farm animals on it but don't think it had chickens on it. I knew the medical expenses were going to be high but I didn't realize how much. I know twins run in both sides of my family. I was born with a eye crossed, allergies, and had ear infections all the time. My mom had my eye fixed, tubes put in my ears, and went through allergy testing and weekly shots. I had a couple really bad reactions to some medicines that my family doctor didn't think I was going to live through it. Makes me worried that my child might be allergic to medicine also. My husband doesn't know much about kids. A relative stopped by a couple weeks ago with his 8 month old that was a happy baby. I was holding him and knew my husband had only held a baby in front of me once for 1 second so I walked over and sat him on his lap. He asked, "Is it alright for him to sit like this?" which shocked me cause the baby was just leaning back in his lap against him and wasn't a newborn. It is going to be a major shock to him once he has his own kid and we both had colic. I'm going to breast feed so hopefully that might help avoid a upset stomach. I don't know if I was or not and he definitely didn't even though his mother tried. He thinks it was due to her smoking that her milk probably wasn't good. I don't smoke, drink, or do any other drugs luckily and he is pretty much the same except for an occasional beer with friends or family. We still aren't sure if he can have kids. Took his mom 5 years to have him and his sister hasn't really been trying not to have kids with her husband and hasn't gotten pregnant yet. She tried at first but thought maybe it was due to just getting off of the pills. I haven't gotten pregnant yet and don't use birth control of any type. Hopefully after my husband realizes the costs of even just the items he might hold off till after the house is build.

 

[TriciaHowe]

Sorry if this is to personal but if you aren't using bc now, how is that not the same as trying? You aren't doing anything to actively prevent a pregnancy

 

[Katy]

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Most insurance policies have to be in place for at least 10 months before a pregnancy occurs or they don't cover it so you can't wait until you're pregnant to get insurance and expect to be covered.

I am sorry, but you don't sound remotely ready to be a parent.

 

[elizabethbinary]

Unless he uses prophylactics, it actually is up to you whether he backs off or not since the resposibility (sadly) does lie on you not to get pregnant.

Though it does seem to me like you want to.

Anyway, I should mention my $7,400 estimate was just childbirth average in this country... with our government paying for most of it. That was just out-of-pocket.. with socialized healthcare.