Well that sucks

[rkold]

So we just found out what sort of benefit our Health Insurance would give us towards the expense of having a baby. I would have had to sign up by week 15, I just started week 18 and it would involve having to talk to a Future Mom's Coach through out my 2nd Trimester and PostPartum. As a reward for having to deal with someone unhelpful on the phone I would get $300 in credits which could be applied to the following:

* your copay for prenatal vitamins Cause Prenatal vitamins are sooooo costly ~.~
* tuition for birthing, parenting or infant‐care classes
* pregnancy fitness classes
* postpartum wellness classes or a 6‐month gym membership So their big concern seems to be keeping the Mom from getting fat??
* videos for those unable to attend classes
* breast pumps, related supplies and lactation consultants
* a jogging stroller

So nothing actually useful other than a breast pump, they won't help with car seats, and a jogging stroller in and of itself is useless since most you can't use with infants because of lack of recline and true jogging strollers are awful for non-jogging use since the front wheel is not on a swivel which makes trying to turn the damn thing while shopping a royal pain in the ass. And the idea of getting 3 strollers seems pretty ridiculous to me.

I don't plan to take up jogging since my knee joints are not going to take that well.

I'm so underimpressed right now. If only I was European or Japanese ~.~

Comments

[winter]

You'd think that with a budget deficit like the US's you'd at least have some decent social net, wouldn't you?

Mind you, over here I think aid comes up to a bullet payment of about 340 USD... on top of 22 weeks' paid maternity leave of course.

[rkold.livejournal.com]

If I was working, maternity leave would be 6-8 weeks at best. A lot of women try to save up sick time to use for maternity. My cousin is trying to get as much sick time as she can for her leave now.

We get a tax credit every year but it doesn't begin to even cover close to what the expenses of a child are. Car seats alone are like $150 each and you need 3 different types here, an infant one that faces backwards for the first year, a larger one until the kid is like 5ish and then a booster seat o_O; And they are something you can't really do used because there are recalls on a fairly regular basis. ~.~

We have a huge deficit because the US government believes in huge bail outs and welfare for companies/corportations and spending lots of money fighting wars where we really don't need to be. ~.~ And there you get my political views for once

[winter]

All in all I'd rather the government finance kids, they're future taxpayers after all ;)

(And over here tax credits are another 340 USD per annum. NOT nearly enough, trust me.)

[rkold.livejournal.com]

All in and all there are many things I would prefer the government finance, but our supposedly "liberal" president hasn't proved to be any more liberal than the last president, he just gets better press Internationally ~.~

I'm sure the $340 isn't but other countries in Europe give you even more and 22 weeks of maternity is still awful nice. I know a lot of people who would be thrilled with that.

[winter]

*nodnod* I'm always stunned how little the US supports mothers. I guess it contributes to the high number of stay-at-home moms - over here once the kid's in nine-to-five kindergarten, there's few obstacles to going back to work, since there's sick leave you can take (with no limit once there's a doctor's note) when the kid is sick, and two days of special childcare leave per year for when the school closes or similar.

(Oh, and starting this year - paternity leave, a week this year and supposed to go steadily up :> Go equal-ish rights.)

[rkold.livejournal.com]

It was a big deal here when Clinton got the FMLA passed which allows people to take off time to help family for medical reasons without pay but without fear of losing their jobs. Not really all that impressive.

The US does very very little for mothers or people with children in general. I mean things are only just starting to be set up so that people can use food stamps at Farmer's Markets instead of being forced to use them at grocery stores. We also need to work harder to get more produce into poorer income areas and set up community gardens.

I am just thankful I don't have to work and can stay home with my baby/child. I expect it to be exhausting, but also very rewarding. I think many women in the US would love to be able to stay home but don't feel like they have that option financially. And don't get me started on the costs of childcare or trying to find decent childcare.

[winter]

My mother stayed home with me for the first four years, and I think that's an ideal arrangement, but once my time comes, I'll probably be at the wrong point in my career :( Still, once kindergarten starts (providing one doesn't have another child on the way), I would expect a type-A personality like me to go stir-crazy and find work ;)

[rkold.livejournal.com]

It's odd, I've sort of lost all my type A quirks as I've gotten older and I don't really miss them. It's not so bad staying home really. Though by the time the baby is heading off to school I'm going to have a lot to do with my gardening and I hope to get into some more crafts.

I don't remember how long my Mom stayed home with me, I know she always regretted having to go back when my sister was like 2.

It did help a lot though that she worked about 2 miles away from where we lived/where the schools were making it much easier to meet us and keep an eye on us. Her hours also coincided better with school hours as they were 8-4 rather than the more typical 9-5.

[twotone]

Oh no, I'm so sorry that the health insurance benefits are so unhelpful!

Re: carseats, are there any convertible ones that can be switched from one mode to another as the child grows out of it, or would those be as expensive as getting three separate car seats?

[rkold.livejournal.com]

The problem is the convertible ones tend to not be as useful with infants because they're just not as well designed for them. The nice thing about infant car seats is you can buy a stroller frame for them and detach them from the base and use them as the seat in a stroller until the baby is around 6 months old and wants something a little different, though hmmmm a lot of people might switch at 6 months because they tend to have ginormous babies.

The other problem is a lot of more convertible ones are just not as well made or as safe as the non-convertible one and while I don't drive so much, to me the car is one of the most dangerous places. That and a crib seem like two places you don't want to skimp. It's just annoying because I am sure the program mostly consists of someone nudging at you to exercise which sounds less than appealing. ~.~ I remember when the insurance company kept calling about my back issue and it was like... leave me alone I don't have a chronic condition. lol

On the bright side, I just splurged and bought pickles form NYC and they're going to taste so good when I get them in my greedy little hands!

[pure-trance.livejournal.com]

I just read that the US is one of the worst developed countries to be a mother in and I am so not surprised.

That being said go for the breast pumps etc.

I am lucky that with Kaiser at least we didn't have to pay anything when Noah was born...

BTW too lazy to comment on 2 separate posts lol...I have medication and therapy but I still need to go to a class to help me gain tools to get around it but that has to wait until I can pay $80 for it...I have a lot of work to do since I went untreated for so long...lots of bad habits that are deeply ingrained in my brain as well as the crappiest memory known to man.

[rkold.livejournal.com]

No, I can't go for anything. ^^; I just started week 18 and you have to be enrolled by week 15. So I could still join up now and go through with annoying phone calls, but I wouldn't be able to get the rebate.

The breast pump is pretty much the only useful thing they appear to give you money towards.

We have to pay a co-pay a bunch of times. I am expecting to have to pay more since I want a doula and I hope to switch to midwifery care. But I am willing to pay more to keep myself from becoming a Cesarean statistic.

Ahhhhh my memory is fine with older things for the most part, it's just pulling up recent things or well anything pretty much since I became pregnant which is a blur.

I'm glad I am slowly making a dent on my list, I have the darks in the washer, the lights in the dryer, and I nearly watched my movie today. I ordered my pickles and the car has an appointment. And I am going to make my husband help me order him new clothes!

[pure-trance.livejournal.com]

Ahh I see.

I had a co-pay but only for dr. visits.

Well since you are a normal person and not me I am sure you will get your old self back after post partum. My issue is that I make lists/schedules and then forget to look at them...thus creating a terrible circle of doom.

[rkold.livejournal.com]

If I stayed with the same doctor, I am done paying co-pays for doctor visits, and would just need to pay for tests, I think? But I am starting with a new one in June because I am not schlepping an hour to see the doctor.

I am making a dent with the list, it helps a lot. The biggest problem is I just was not thinking well when I packed things up and now I have tons of boxes with whose know what in them who knows where. I really need to find my husband's passport.