What is the average medical costs for having a baby?

[ranchhand]

Quote:
Wow i think you may have a bad policy there. For those in the U.S. we can give birth for free here in the public system but if you choose to have private health cover you can. You get your own room, choice of doctor etc at a private hospital. My sister in law gave birth recently at the mater private and she only paid a couple of hundred dollars out of pocket. She did have what is said to be a simple birth, no c section etc
I am sure glad I gave birth in Austalia.

Aye- but what are you tax rates and what do you pay for fuel? It usually evens out once it's all balanced.

 

[booker81]

I'm trying to read through, it sounds like "a baby" is being thought of no more than an object to dress, play with and feed.

DH had our ducks in a row, we were self supporting, and even when I had to stop working from complications from pregnancy (heart issues, hypermerensis, appendectomy, kidney failure), we were able to live on his income alone for over a year.

Children completely, utterly turn your life around. It's been almost 4 years now since we conceived DD, and I don't think I've slept a whole night since - either getting up with DD, or waking up and checking on her. I don't think I will ever sleep a full night again, meaning a whole 8 hours. Even being drugged at the hospital for surgery, I didn't sleep. I can't anymore.

You can take your plans pre-baby and toss them out the window. All of them. When life isn't about your and hubby any more, but all about the kid, things change. Plans change. Priorities change. Those priorities almost never match up pre-kid and post-kid.

They grow up too. They sass. They hurt you, scream at you, call you names, make you feel like the worst person in the world. They do crap that makes you race to the hospital or call poison control, and then you pray inside that the poison control people or the hospital doesn't call CPS on you because the kid managed to climb a chair, table, and then on a stack of books to get your medication - and you don't even know if they ate any.

I've read once that toddlers are incontinent little task-masters. Even now, DD just came up and asked for a cup of milk. I was typing. She got in my face and said "I talking to you! I talking to you mom!" Then we had a talk that it's not nice to interrupt, and she can wait a minute, and she needs to say please. Then I get her cup.

There is no price to put on kids, birth, diapers and all that. It fades into the background, I think as a part of diminished mental capacity from years of lost sleep. You can't write up a cost for them, and know what birth to 18 will cost.

Get your life together and in order so you can provide a nurturing and caring environment for a child. You don't have that now, and it would horribly unfair to throw a baby into that. Get on some birth control and make sure you don't subject a kid to a quality of life they don't deserve. Parents should want the best they can give to their child, and it sounds like you have the plans and potentially the ability, you just need to act on it.

Of course, with every trial and stress DD puts us through financially and mentally, I wouldn't trade her for the world. That's why I still get up at night to check on her

 

[reveriereptile]

Thanks, ranchhand, about the paragraphs. I just get rambling and not really sure when to start a new paragraph.

I have thought about kids often since I was in high school but put the thought on hold to think things through. Usually once I've thought it through I knew it wasn't the right time. I don't want to rush myself into something I can't back out of.

When I was in my last year of HS my sister had found out she was pregnant and she was living with us at the time due to having to quit her job from carpul tunal (spelling?). She had never wanted kids before and the father wasn't suppose to be able to have any. She didn't know she was pregnant till she was 3 months in due to her cycles being abnormal and she was a little heavy so it didn't really show. A month after I graduated she had her daughter. The father wasn't around hardly at all and would try to show up drunk and my sister told him to quit showing up which he did. I ended up helping her out a lot.

I learned a lot from helping my sister. I knew I'd use her having a baby as a learning experience. I helped her for the first year and a half till I got with my husband and by then my sister was able to move into a gov't housing. Even though I didn't get up and down all night with the feedings I still baby sat often while she tried to work. She had stomach problems and didn't want to be out of someone's arms. I had to sit through a lot of hours of her crying and trying different methods to get her to go to sleep. It was definitely hard but I knew it was helping my sister out and a learning experience. I definitely know I can handle changing diapers. Due to her stomach problems she would poop up her back, out her legs, and have it all over. So I did get a taste of what is to expect.

Reminds me of a roller coaster. There isn't any stopping once it starts moving so you're in for the ride. You don't know what to expect or if you should get on but once you do you can either enjoy all the way through, hate it, or have a bumpy ride.

 

[satay]

Quote:
Wow i think you may have a bad policy there. For those in the U.S. we can give birth for free here in the public system but if you choose to have private health cover you can. You get your own room, choice of doctor etc at a private hospital. My sister in law gave birth recently at the mater private and she only paid a couple of hundred dollars out of pocket. She did have what is said to be a simple birth, no c section etc
I am sure glad I gave birth in Austalia.

Aye- but what are you tax rates and what do you pay for fuel? It usually evens out once it's all balanced.

I am sure you are right there as I have no clue what your taxes are. Fuel is currently $1.30ish a litre and taxes depends on what you earn. Think hubby pays about 15% income tax. We also pay 10% Gst as well. Just meant I would never be able to come up with that much extra to give birth here so I am glad i didn't have to find it.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
Wow i think you may have a bad policy there. For those in the U.S. we can give birth for free here in the public system but if you choose to have private health cover you can. You get your own room, choice of doctor etc at a private hospital. My sister in law gave birth recently at the mater private and she only paid a couple of hundred dollars out of pocket. She did have what is said to be a simple birth, no c section etc
I am sure glad I gave birth in Austalia.

Aye- but what are you tax rates and what do you pay for fuel? It usually evens out once it's all balanced.

Yep.. aint nuttin' free....