Day 19

November 19th: What am I thankful for today? ....Skype. Today I am thankful for Skype.

Good morning!

Just chillin and doing some tummy time

What a talker we have! Her sounds have changed this week, well I would say really since she got her shots. Here is a little clip of the latest:

Haha! Mike took Olivia shopping while I worked

Mike had not been at work long when he texted me saying that he missed his ladies. He isn't supposed to be on his phone at work but I told him to Skype us so that at least he could see her in real time for a few minutes. It is great when we are able to Skype with other family who have not met her in person yet or who live so far away that they do not get to see her often at all. Olivia is already great at looking at the camera and will be having conversations, although not understandable, before we know it!

Dad really liked this outfit although I think that it is a boys onsie. Future detective like Olivia Benson from Law & Order SVU? We shall see!

Taking a nap before we have to go get dad

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lesson for the day:

When talking to people who have children, they will tell you how expensive it is to have kids. Yeah yeah, you have to buy diapers, wipes, baby food, teething toys, regular toys, clothes, school supplies.... and the list goes on and on. But no one talks about the cost of actually HAVING a child; giving birth. It is crazy! So, for all of you future parents out there reading this: make sure that you know what your insurance covers and if you can get double coverage some way, do it!

we are very thankful that I had insurance at all! I got a notice from my insurance about bills that I owe for giving birth in the hospital and the breakdown of the whole cost and what portion I owe. I figured that I would share so that you have some idea of the real cost:


                                                   Whole Cost          Our Portion
Hospital Stay:                               $14,101.02           $1,373.26
"Nursery":                                    $4,580.40             $397.78
Doctor #1 (delivering doctor):        $4,541                 $538.81
Doctor #2:                                    $313                    $246.14
Epidural:                                       $2,782                 $201.60


These are just a few of the charges. It does not include all of my doctor visits, Olivia's doctor visits, and pharmacy charges, etc. Above, I say "nursery" because it is not an actual charge for the nursery. I called my insurance to inquire about this charge because Olivia never went to the nursery. She stayed in my view the whole time. The charge is for the initial assessment, the APGAR test, that they did on her at the warming station in my room. $400 for that??? I may need to call the actual hospital to clear this up. If we owe the money, we owe it and will pay. I just need to have it actually explained to me what the charges are for to put my mind at ease. 

I know that not all babies are planned pregnancies, after all Olivia was not planned, but it would have been nice to have known about this cost so that we could have better saved and planned for it. We will be better prepared next time! It was just a big shock to see these charges; not to mention that you don't get the bill for almost two months after the fact. Next time it will be a different hospital for sure and possibly a birthing center or home birth (if I can talk Mike into that). 

In the end it was all worth it, Olivia is perfect. <3