Before I go into detail about the Jane going into labor scare today, let’s talk about the cost to have a baby with no maternity insurance. The cost to have a baby officially broke the $10,000 mark the other day - which is the amount we’ve paid thus far out of our pocket.
We’ve done everything we can to negotiate the lowest amount hospitals, doctors, blood work people, etc. all the way to the cash price for Pregnant Jane’s delivery at the hospital. I’m sure we’d be near $20,000.00 if we didn’t do what we could to get the lowest cash prices.
See the cost to have a baby without maternity insurance page for a full run-down on costs.
Uhhhhhgggh. $10,000 is a lot of money. But I’m not going to focus on that at all. What’s done is done and what’s paid is paid. We’re getting too close to the birth of Tarzan Junior to worry about it. There are more important things to worry about, right!?
Like one thing that I need to work on is how to swaddle a baby. At the class Jane and I took the other day, I did my best following the instructions on the DVD we were watching, but I had some blanket left over and the only place where it would fit is around the dolls neck. I think I failed that part of the class. In fact, I know I did. I’ll need to practice swaddling – that’s for sure.
Besides working on learning how to swaddle a baby, I also need to somehow strengthen my stomach. Yes, I have a very weak stomach when it comes to any types of body fluids – especially those that smell. I can’t get a part of the video out of my head when they removed the diaper of a baby’s first poop and how much of a mess it was! The stuff was EVERYWHERE!
I have a feeling that after dealing with baby poop 15 times or so a day you get pretty used to it after awhile. But those first few days or weeks are going to be rough. I’m thinking of investing in rubber gloves for my hands, clothes pins for my nose, a garbage bag I can put some holes in and make a shirt, a face mask, some goggles, and a snorkel. I should be well prepared for whatever is squirted my way – literally! ha ha!
Next… I thought Jane was going into labor today!
I was in the kitchen this morning and Pregnant Jane was still in bed sleeping. I was about to head up to my office when I hear Jane moan and then cry out in pain. She cried out in pain a few times as I rushed into the bedroom.
Thoughts of seeing her holding her stomach and seeing fluids squirting out all over the room as her water broke flashed through my mind. I remember panicking a little because the thought that we haven’t packed a bag for her yet raced through my mind. Who do I call? Her doctor? 911? Do I drive her to the hospital?
Am I going to have to deliver little Tarzan Junior on my own while someone from 911 walks me though it?
So many thoughts raced through my mind within about 7 seconds. I rushed into the bedroom and Jane is hunched over in pain. ”What’s wrong!? What’s going on!? Are you OK!? What hurts!? Where are you hurting!?” I asked with rapid-fire questions.
The blanket was over her so all I could see was that she was hunched over and in a ton of pain making all sorts of “I’m in a hell of a lot of pain” noises. I quickly took the blanket off of her and saw that she was grabbing her leg.
“I have a really, really bad charlie horse – it hurts so bad!” Pregnant Jane cried out.
I told her to try and straighten her leg and she couldn’t initially. After another 15 seconds or so, she could finally straighten her leg out and the pain went away almost right away.
Whhheeeeewwwwwww.
I thought for sure Jane was going into labor when I heard those sounds coming out of our bedroom!
A charlie horse. Who would have figured!?
Pregnant Jane explained to me that those charlie horses or pregnancy cramps are sometimes common when pregnant – but it was the first time that happened to her, and hopefully the last. I agree. If that had happened at 2:00 AM when we were sound asleep, I think I would have hit the ceiling because I would have jumped so fast out of bed!
Wow. That was quite a way for both of us to wake up this morning! Although I was already up, I was still waking up. I skipped out on the coffee today because that adrenaline rush was all I needed! :)
You might also want to read:
- The cost of having a baby has broken the $2,000 mark thanks to a surprise bill
- No worries about additional baby costs during labor and delivery, pills are included!
- The real cost of having a baby with no Maternity Insurance, no Medicaid, and no help.
- Final Cost To Have A Baby Without Maternity Insurance And Now Health Insurance! The One-Two Punch!
- The real cost of having a baby without maternity insurance: Major news here! Spoke to the hospital today.
= a post from Mommy Jane 
= a post from Daddy Tarzan
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Best of luck on the charley horses- I got one and it WAS in the middle of the night, but that was my only one luckily so hopefully that’ll be true of Jane too. A couple of other things- for the swaddling, my husband and I HIGHLY recommend investing in some swaddling blankets. We watched the nurses swaddle our son with the hospital blankets and tried to emulate them with no luck at all. The swaddling blanket, with its velcro, is sooo easy by comparison, and our little guy loves being all cozy in it. Finally, regarding the poopy diapers, one good thing is if Jane breastfeeds, they actually do not smell at all! They still look gross, but seriously, odorless!!
Hey Emily – there are two INCREDIBLE things you mention above… Odorless poop and swaddling blankets with velcro. I’m starting to feel like I’m going to be a pro!
Jane, be sure to register for some of those velcro swaddling blankets! After Tarzan grows out of them, I’ll use them and make us hats to wear. 
We actually have 4 swaddling blankets already. Don’t worry, I’m making sure it’s really easy for you so that there is no excuse you can come up with.
Only kidding about that last part.
Ugh, leg cramps are killer. I haven’t had a problem with them since being on bedrest, surprisingly, but the morning I got admitted, I nearly died. Adia was sound asleep next to me and suddenly I jumped out of bed in horrendous pain. I couldn’t even bend my leg it hurt so bad, let alone put weight on it. Sadly, I woke up Adia with my hopping around.
We never swaddled Adia, but my brother and his wife swaddled both their kids. They loved the Swaddle Me blankets. I just never liked the idea and actually, when ever you tried to wrap Adia up, she’d start screaming. The girl never stops moving!
Baby poop doesn’t smell until your introduce solids or your baby has jaundice. They can, however, have some pretty explosive diapers. I remember when Adia’s first started smelling.. ugh, it was horrible, but it wasn’t until she was 9 months or so. I’d still take one of her smelly, solid food diapers over those first couple weeks of jaundice diapers. Those were absolutely disgusting and something I’ll never forget.
Oh man, I had SO MANY charlie horses, and yes, many of them woke me up in the middle of the night in agony… which made me wake up my husband to massage them.
The good news is that labour pain makes your hormones start to go and your adrenaline race, so while they hurt, your body and mind try to help you through them.
Also, I must say, my husband is squeamish about body fluids too, but he watched me give birth here in our living room, he helped clean up the dirtied sheets, and he even held our baby with birth juices all over her… and he loved all three things
Now when he is changing our little girl, he’s laughing and talking to her as he cleans up all the poo. Sure, sometimes it’s disgusting, but it’s your baby, and you’ll be excited that he’s pooping (because if he’s not, something could be wrong!)
My first and only (thus far in my life) Charlie horse came at about 4:30am when I was 7 months pregnant. I thought I was dying. My husband thought I was in labor. I couldn’t get the words out to tell him other than “Leg! Leg!” And he just kept saying, “It’s running down your leg?!” Funny now, not funny at the time.
My daughter loved to be swaddled, but some babies really hate it, so maybe you won’t have to worry about the swaddling at all.
Hmm, I wouldn’t say “odorless” for the breastmilk poop, there’s a strong sort of sweet (but not in a good way) smell, but it is definitely better than what you’ll eventually encounter.
I saw in an earlier post by Jane that you learned Harvey Karp’s 5 S’s in your baby class-they were invaluable to us in those first days and weeks. My husband became a master “shusher” and it really helped to calm down our son.
Yeah, baby poop only really begins to stink when food is introduced. Especially meat. But breastfed babies can have “projectile poop.” JSL, thankfully, never seemed to have this, but NHL did. I still remember the phone call from my wife, as I was driving home so we could go look at a house: “Get home now.” “I’m on my way.” “Get home *NOW!*” I walked in and saw the changing table, a 7 foot span of clean carpet, and then a 4 foot line of poop.
I got quite adept at jumping out of the way of those poop projectiles. Can’t say the same for TheAngelForever. More than once, I leapt out of the way and she got hit. I’m all for chivalry and all, but when poop comes at you you just react!
Don’t worry, though. She gets her revenge every time one of our kids pukes and I react my trying to catch it to minimize the mess. (Don’t ask why I keep doing it. It’s a reflex.)
As for the cramps, dried apricots helped keep my wife cramp-free. She ate a few of those a day and the cramps went away. Something about the potassium in them prevents cramps from happening. (Cherries have nice amounts of potassium too.)
I got leg cramps so bad when I was pregnant that I actually got huge bruises from them! Jane, eat bananas and yogurt, that should help. If it doesn’t, the minute you feel one starting, jump out of bed and start walking. That is the fasted way to get them to go away.
Good luck!
Hmmm… Projectile poop with the potential of squirting 7+ feet is possible!? We have white carpet in baby Tarzan Junior’s room! Oh boy.
Lately Pregnant Jane has been buying cherries. She’s never bought cherries before. I didn’t think anything of it because she always come home from grocery shopping with all sorts of new things. But maybe they looked good to her because her body needed them. We’ll make sure she eats a handful every single day so we can avoid the screaming at 3 AM!
I’ve done that to my husband a couple times now too. It’s not intentional, honestly, but sometimes the pains and twinges of pregnancy shock the stuffing out of you!
Fingers crossed that Jane doesn’t have another charlie horse anytime soon!
I truly feel for you guys. My goodness, $10,000? I’ve got a semi-private doctor, which is affordable what with Canadian health care and our company insurance for the extras. I wish you lots of luck–like for the lottery. At least baby will be very well worth it!
I get leg cramps every second night or so, and I’m only at week 25. They surprise me every time!
TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS?!?
This blows my mind, really. I had never really thought about it, being from Canada where health care is included in the price of admission.
But I’m so glad you two are making it work. By the way, this is a LOVELY blog. Thanks for sharing with us all.
I can’t imagine paying that much to have a baby! What a stress! I live in Canada, and everything is paid for thank God!
What do you do if you can’t afford it??!!