Cost of a Delivery.... and an ICU visit

It is official- all my bills from my delivery, pregnancy, my ER and IUC visits and my postpartum care have come in.  

I have been waiting to write this post until I got every bill.  

Last November Joe and I made the decision to put myself on the federal government Employee insurance plan as Joe's plan did not cover maternity until your deductible was met which was very high.   On his plan pregnancy was considered a sick visit so not covered- SO STUPID! 

We would have to pay almost 7000 out of pocket before anything was covered- NOT COOL!

His previous plan covered maternity but only at a certain percent.
For the first 28 weeks of my pregnancy we has some co pays and deductibles but nothing too ridiculous unlike his new plan.  He company was doing this as a way to save money- so stupid.  Because of changing plans half the way thru my pregnancy- I did not include prenatal care in the total below because they were paid by two insurance companies.  So this just includes delivery, ICU and follow up for my complications. 

So while it was a little more pricey a month to place me on a separate insurance- an extra $30 overall a month- this proved to be the best decision we made with regards to the pregnancy!

Here are the bills I received:

March 5-8  Hospital Stay for delivery

$8499  for the Hospital Charges from March 5-8th

$846 for all the lab work required during my stay-  I had lab work drawn at least 2-4 times a day due to the pre- eclampsia and postpartum hemorrhage

$3331 for the actually delivery charges

$1262 for the epidural charges

So my total delivery charges from March 5-8th was $13,938.

How much did we pay-  $0!!!!!

But the story continues.... 

So remember how I had to go back into the ER and then was admitted to the ICU for Blood Pressure mangamement because the Pre- Eclampsia got worse....Here are those bills

March 12-14 

$494  for all the lab work in the ER and the ICU

$712 for the ER visit

$281 for the ICU MD consult

$7791 for the hospital charge for a two night stay in the ICU

So total for my readmission in the hospital was:  $9,278

How much did we pay-$221 for the ER visit

Then after that I was place on blood pressure medication and had to follow up with an MD-  office visit charge-  $55

Total Cost of my delivery/ICU $23,271 

What we paid:  $221

Other things I had to pay:

Blood Pressure Medication:  $10

Mastitis Medication: $5

I planned on having to pay more than this so I started this year taking $20 dollars out of each paycheck into my Health Savings Plans, which will cover all my delivery expenses and my medications so far.  

We made the decision to place Collin on Joe's insurance because I am going down to part time after the baby and this makes my insurance more expensive because it is done on a pro-rated system.  

We are still waiting for Collin's bills to come in as we had to add him to the insurance and this took time and then had to notify all the doctors that took care of him....

However, I can state that he will cost us more than what I had to pay....

More to come on this.  

My New Favorite Snack

Now that I am almost 8 weeks postpartum- 

I am trying to get back in shape.  

This means more exercising and trying to eat healthy. 

However, with breastfeeding/pumping I have never ever been this hungry in my life.  

Dieting is not really an option because it makes me feel sick- funny how running 5 miles a day while I was training for my 10 milers does not compare to how hungry I feel when I am breastfeeding.  

So I have been trying to eat more healthy options however I am finding that raw veggies mean more gas for Collin which eliminates one of my favorite health snacks so I started searching for some other options.  

Special K Cracker Chips 

were on special at Wegmans and I had a $1 coupon so I thought I would give them a whirl.

OMG - so good and only 130 calories for 30 chips!

The only bad news is that Joe actually likes them so I have to label them as MINE!!!!!

Your World Will Be Rocked

These were words we heard from multiple people during the pregnancy.

They all told us how drastically our lives would changes, etc.

So while feeding Collin today, I thought about this and thought I would play a game of true or false.

1) You will never get any sleep- FALSE

Actually I am getting about the same amount of sleep as I was pre-prgnancy- I slept alot during my pregnancy 10-12  hours a day!  I love sleep and maybe that is why Collin does too.  Remember with my job I woke up every morning at 5 am and was asleep by 9 pm. 

 This is true of today!  

Yes I wake up at least once at night but all and all it is not that bad and sometimes I get a little 30 minute cat nap in.

2)Your social life will change-  False

I can honestly say that we have not declined an invitation to anything we have been invited to including a wedding in Florida.  Yes most of our friends have kids so we find ourselves doing more things during the day but this is how it was also before he arrived.

3) You will fight more-  False

I actually find that we are communicating more now than we did before.  

Most of this is because we need to with Collin and Clemson, 

but in alot of ways it has been good for us..
Not that Joe and I have even been big fighters to begin with. 

4) You will never have any time to yourself- True and False

I feel this during the day when I am home with Collin, sometimes not eating lunch or not being to take a shower without worrying if he will start crying.  It is hard being home with him during the day because you do not really have any time to yourself.  That being said Joe and I have worked out a system to allow us both us time-  I get Saturday mornings for my long run and then one night a week to run errands that I can't do with Collin.  Joe gets Sundays for school work, and Friday nights fir his runs.

5)Breastfeeding is the greatest bonding ever-False

So obviously I am pumping and not breastfeeding and when I tell people this they normally ask "Don't you feel your are missing out on the bonding?"  My answer- NO!  I have found other ways to bond with him which are just as special as our baby massage we do in the morning or our after tummy time on my belly, etc,

6)You will do so much more laundry-False

At first I was doing laundry twice a week but now I am back to once a week.  I find I have two loads of colors and one load of whites- this is pretty similar to what we had before.  I know this may change when he starts eating solids but for now once a week works for us.

7) Babies are expensive- False

While we are still waiting for the medical bills to come in for Collin, I can say that Collin himself is not that expensive.  Most of this is because we have such generous family and friends and we received or were loaned almost everything we needed- including diapers.  To this date we have purchased 1 huge box of newborns which he finished using 4 weeks ago and now we are to size 1 which we are finishing up some leftovers from a friends an then have two huge boxes that we were gifted.  We also have a huge box of 2's we were gifted for the later months.  Since I am breastfeeding- food is free!  We also saved a huge amount of gift certificates which have come in handy for the couple things we needed - like more swaddles, more Lily Padz, more Baby Oxiclean, and Lanolin for me.  Joe and I tend to view ourselves as minimalist so I do not see this changing a lot however, diapers will come into play when we run out.

8) You will totally love being a mom- True and False

Just like every Mom I have my days- today is a good day, Friday was a bad day.  

It is an adjustment and while he is still in his "blob" form as I call it, I am ready for him to start interacting with me more.

9)It will take you twice as long to do anything with a baby- False

To get out the door with Collin it takes me an extra 10-15 minutes, and it takes a little more planning but it is not terrible!

10) You will have moments that you lose it- True

I have had three moments so far that I can remember

1) When I was in the ICU and they told me they were keeping me another night

2) On postpartum day number 14 when I had Collin screaming at me while I was trying to teach him how to breastfeed again- this was the day I decided this was a battle I was not going to win and pumping was what was going to work for us.

3) Week 6-7 when he was having a growth spirt and woke up every 2-3 hours for three nights straight. Again this is not something Joe and I were use to!  

That being said I have been screened multiple times for Postpartum depression by both my provider and the peditrican and I have passed with flying colors.  All and all I am adjusting.  

11) Your relationship with your spouse will be different- True

To be honest I now have more respect for him than ever.  He is a great dad already and loves Collin so much and supports me in the decision I make since I am handing all the finances, health care, work issues, etc.  I feel he has stepped up to the plate but I am not surprised by this as he has always wanted children.  It is true we have less time together, but now that Collin is going to bed at 8 we at least get to spend an hour alone even if it while he is doing homework and I am doing all the things I do =0)
We do have to try harder to make time for ourselves but my parents are awesome and are even taking Collin for an over-nighter on our wedding anniversary!  SO EXCITED!!!!

All and all- yes our lives have changed but I am not so sure our world has been rocked!
Clemson on the hand might have a different of an opinion but he is settling down and starting to love his new brother who he brings his toys to and hangs out with whenever it is bottle time.

You will know....

I was told by everyone that when I went out on Maternity Leave that I would know if and

when I was ready to go back to work...

Well I am READY to go back to work- 

part time of course!

Do not get me wrong-

I love Collin and having this time home with him,

but I also need the interaction of grownups and something to keep me motivated.

I have been trying to keep myself busy every week with lunches or walks with friends,

to setting goals and increasing my running but I will say I miss my patients and also my work.

I really do love what I do- more so I love my patients.

Having a baby has totally made me love my job even more because now I have been thru it and now understand what all my patient are going thru.

I still have a decent amount of time on my Maternity Leave for day care reasons

but am looking forward to getting back to deliverying those babies!!

My favorite food.....

Collin's favorite food is milk!

Well it is his only food, but he totally loves it!

He actually smiles while he is feeding- seriously must take after his father!

As you may recall I decided to exclusively pump because he refused to latch which has it pros and cons.

Pro being Joe can feed him, we can easily take a bottle where we go, and I do not have to breastfeed in public- something I would have never been comfortable with!

Cons-  You feel a little weird when you are in  a group and everyone is breastfeeding and you are bottle feeding, and it adds a little something more to your day.  Normally I pump when I feed him so it takes no more time but if you are not on his schedule than it can.  

That being said-  My body loves to produce milk- lots of it.  

I actually diagnosed myself with Overproduction disorder as I was pumping 60 ounces a day at one point- remember he is only getting about 30-36 ounces a day at this point.  

I have worked with my midwife to actually help decrease my milk down because it was so painful to about 40-48 ounces a day!  

If you do the math that leaves about 10 ounces at least a day I am freezing.  

Our freezer was over taken with breastmilk.  

Basically- one of the bottom bins was full and the top pull out draw was almost full.  

It was getting to the point that we could not buy or make anything frozen because we did not have the room.   I knew this was only going to get worse over the next couple of months before I go back to work and he goes to daycare.  We decided we needed to get a small chest freezer- enter Craigslist.  

New these cost anywhere from $200-$600 which was way out of our budget so I starting watching on Craigslist and we were in luck that a lot of people were trying to get rid of them because they were moving, did not need it anymore, etc. I told myself it needed to be ver local, I was not going to drive to Maryland or DC and $50 was our price point.  

Three weeks after starting my search, my hubby picked it up from a lady in Burke....

It was actually in amazing condition and the perfect size to fit in our garage.  

 We turned it on and placed a can of frozen lemonade inside to make sure it works prior to moving my milk.
Then I moved a couple bags of milk down over the next day and this weekend I moved the majority of the milk down along with a couple of frozen dinners I prepared and am saving for when I go back to work.
Our freezer now in our kitchen is back and we actually have room to put stuff in it.