April Munchkins 2013- enjoying our wonderful babies!

[maybesoon]

Holy crap, just reading quickly over the money/insurance situation with some of you American ladies. Absolutely insane! It's all so complicated, I don't know how you ever figure it all out!

I'm not sure any of us really understand it at all. I also think this is how they like it because they can screw the hell out of us & we don't know the difference.....

 

[maybesoon]

I just spoke to my insurance company & from what they are saying I have a $2500.00 deductible then 70/30. I need to remember to ask my doctor about her billing me on the 29th when I go back to see her. She hasn't mentioned it at all throughout so I don't know when it's standard for her to bring up the fact she wants to get paid!!!! lol

Sounds like you're likely to get socked with a huge bill from her a couple months after delivery.

Yep, that's what I'm afraid of so I'm going ahead & asking about it now so I'm not hit with a ton of bricks & fall out with a heart attack or stroke!!!!

 

[Steph82]

Holy crap, just reading quickly over the money/insurance situation with some of you American ladies. Absolutely insane! It's all so complicated, I don't know how you ever figure it all out!

I'm not sure any of us really understand it at all. I also think this is how they like it because they can screw the hell out of us & we don't know the difference.....

That sounds about right!!!!!
The less we know, the more they can screw us

 

[ukgirl23]

Holy crap, just reading quickly over the money/insurance situation with some of you American ladies. Absolutely insane! It's all so complicated, I don't know how you ever figure it all out!

It is for this reason that Im grateful yo the NHS! lol xx

 

[kirstabelle]

Doggylover, I'm with you. I have no idea what's going on with health insurance and have left the entire thing up to DH because it is his fault we live here and not in a nice normal country like the ones I am from where everything is paid for It is so weird and confusing, like when they told us it was going to cost $500 for the nuchal fold test because I am not over 35, but then they paid it anyway Which makes more sense anyway since they are supposed to cover 100% of anything related to my pregnancy.

Nimbec! How are you walking around with a fractured back?! That sounds absolutely awful. When I picture a person with a fractured back I picture some sort of full body cast and a hospital bed. My goodness. I really hope your mini-op helps.

And Sweetpea, sorry you failed your GT! At least you know what you're doing with all the testing and what not. I had a missed call from a blocked number today and when I saw it I "knew" it was the hospital and was freaking out because they told me yesterday that no news was good news about my GT. Called them to see if it was them who called and it was, so then got put on hold to freak out for a while longer, but they were calling because my iron was a bit low but my glucose was fine. They did hematocrit levels and mine was 31 when it should be 35-38, so not super low. I was surprised though because I take a prenatal multi with a full dose of iron in it, plus I eat lots of green veg, dried fruit, eggs, beans, shellfish etc. This baby must really be burning through the iron I guess! Anyway, went and got an additional iron supplement per their recommendations. And bought a boatload of kale and am going to do green smoothies for the rest of third tri. If baby wants iron, baby gets iron!

Got my stroller yesterday and put it together last night! Very exciting! Congrats on deciding on yours Lily. And congrats on your crib Little Spy! Makes me feel better about that ticker going down when I get things off the list! I realized yesterday that there are only nine weeks left until I am full term! Holy crap! Oh and today I am officially in my United States approved third trimester Exciting!

Oh and today I discovered one "galactagogue" I am going to be trying right away... Lactation Cookies! Yes, please! There seem to be lots of recipes online. Even if they don't do anything for my milk supply if I get a batch made before I go to the hospital then at least I will have something to eat in the house that I won't even have to heat up or prepare or do dishes to eat

And today baby had hiccups for the first time! Yesterday MW said she seemed head down and that was confirmed with her head down hiccups today. Thump, thump, thump on my cervix Funny little pot roast

Oh yeah, and TV shows. I don't watch much TV. My fave show ever was The Sopranos. And also Law and Order. And recently all I have really watched is Game of Thrones (I have read all the books already ) and the first season of Downton Abbey, which I really liked. Waiting to get the second season from the library (as you all know by now I am the bargain hunter/cheapskate extraordinaire, so won't pay for netflix when the library will eventually get me everything for free ) And DH and I just started watching the first season of Homeland which was recommended by lots of our friends. I like it so far.

This is a mega post, but in my defense it is in response to the approx 7 pages of lady chatter that I missed today

 

[kirstabelle]

Hmmmm... who knows how long you're supposed to sterilize the baby's bottles for? If I am planning to breastfeed (but pump enough to have a stash for babysitters and hubby to give an occasional bottle) do I need a bottle sterilizer? I put one of the microwave ones on my registry... but do I really need this?

 

[Steph82]

Kristabelle, Ive done the same thing. Not sure if you really need one but the microwave ones are not that expensive so i'm hoping someone will buy it maybe??

 

[ReadytoMum]

All of the financial stuff sounds so crazy to me! Here everything is paid for as well! (unless you want a private or semi-private room, and thankfully DH's insurance through work will fully cover a semi-private room!)

The pre-natal yoga today went pretty good. There was about 7 other ladies there, most of them due March/April so we had pretty comperable bump sizes which was nice. The class starts off with 30 minutes of discussion about pregnancy related topics and then we have an hour of yoga. The woman who teaches the class used to be a doula and is going to school right now to be a midwife. Today we talked about the importance of kegels and how you can incorporate them into yoga poses for added core strength... and then we had a pretty invovled discussion about perineum massage and how that can help prevent or minimize tearing during labour.

I think it'll be an interesting class, and I'm curious what other discussion topics will end up coming up in the other classes!

 

[LittleSpy]

Hmmmm... who knows how long you're supposed to sterilize the baby's bottles for? If I am planning to breastfeed (but pump enough to have a stash for babysitters and hubby to give an occasional bottle) do I need a bottle sterilizer? I put one of the microwave ones on my registry... but do I really need this?

2 words: boiling water

 

[ukgirl23]

I have the microwave one its 5 minutes on the micowave. 5-10 Mins boiling. if your dishwasher goes upto or over 120 degrees you can use that too but clean the bottles before dishwashing them. xx

 

[lily28]

Kristabelle: sterisation with boiling water takes 5 min, with microwave it takes from 5-? depending on the wattage of your appliance. My appliance has 750w power as it is kind of old and I think the sterilization takes around 7 min?
IDK about the sterilization machines, I don't have the space for one so I will not be getting it.

I'm having green smoothies as well, I was drinking them before pregnancy anyway, and I'm loving them!

Did I read lactation cookies??? That caught my attention!!! I will look out for them!

insurances: I have 2 health care insurances, one national (from my years of working) that covers my hospital visits, birth, and anything done at a public hospital or prescribed by a national health doctor. As I will give birth at the university hospital, I'm covered entirely for my stay there, but I have a private doctor and I will pay him from my own pocket. I don't pay my pregnancy related visits to the hospital, but I pay my visits to the doctor at his office.
My private insurance (payed from DH's work) is covering other stuff, cardiologist, general physician, stay at a private hospital, and emergencies. They don't cover the birth/pregnancy as it is considered a normal thing and not an emergency. If I had complications or needed a c section my private insurance would cover it.

So now many tests that I do are not covered from either insurance, because 1) national insurance doesn't cover them because I have a private doctor, b) private insurance says they are pregnancy related therefore not an emergency...

Crazy huh?

Everyone have a great day, I have some shopping to do today!

 

[nimbec]

Hi ladies wow gosh I really feel for u ladies having to pay lots of money - how stressful!! We pay for outs over here by our taxes but at least we do t have to worry whilst preggy!! Gl to u all!!

I have bought a microwave steriliser and a couple of tommy tippee bottles just incase I can't breast feed or like you I'm going to express-it was in the sale for 12.99 so I snapped it up quickly lol

Littlespy crib
Sweet pea sorry bout test but at least you know how to manage it. Just another thing to worry about!

Kristabel I've did my back about 6yrs ago now and they said I needed an op to fuse my vertebrae within 6months but I was managing fine (competing horses!) so no way was I having major surgery however I did get periods where I was in huge amounts of pain! I hadn't really thought before pregnancy but the strain on my spine has changed the angle and my fractured bits are now sitting on the nerves fun !! But I was completely fine (well for me) up until a few weeks ago!

Kristabel yay on stroller what did you decide on?

Hoping to have a quiet day today but I can't see it happening oh is already questioning me can u do this can u do that? Grrrr I feel like saying can't You see I'm in pain and pregnant do it yourself lol!!! I best not tho as we where with his parents for dinner last night (they are very prim & propper) and I accidentally farted ...silently but it stank lol lol so he was so angry with me! I was embarrassed enough I didn't need telling off grrrr!

 

[ukgirl23]

OMG Nimbec @ farted at the parents during dinner!! I can't stop loling!! I had one coming in Tesco last week so I walked along and tried to let it out quietly but it ripped right out and there was a guy right behind me hahahaha... mine stink too!! Apparently it's hormones and digestion and baby all in one making them really bad! Aaron's are horrendous so I'm glad to be getting my own back!! You know they are bad when even he can't stay in the room!!

Tell your other half to do things for himself, you have a fractured back and are pregnant! does he have a case of lazyitis today? x

Well I keep telling Connie and Lucas to put their clothes in the washing basket and pack up their toys after etc... I'm having to bend over all the time to pick up after them... even Aaron leaves his shit on the floor but I'm starting to nest so I can't just leave it! grrrr!

Hope everyone has a lovely day. I have nothing to do today so I'm going to drag Aaron out for ice cream! yay! xxx

 

[Jenny_J]

Found out yesterday that I have full plasenta previa and that it is unlikely to move due to the scarring on my uterus. Was having a section anyway, but im scared of the high chance of randomly bleeding :-/ and ending up in hospital with a prem baby.

Actually crying into my cornflakes this morning

 

[nimbec]

Oh no Jenny ((((hugs)))) have they given you lots of info - I'm sure lots of women are fine but I guess they have to warn you fx it moves a little....and that all goes well and bubs stays put for a while longer!!!

Ukgirl I know the feeling I'm nesting too - about to tidy upstairs even tho I'm in pain! I just can't leave it and I can't help but nag oh as he drops his clothes on the floor where he takes them off - we have a constant streem of socks around the house ...then he has the nerve to complain the dog has peed on them Hahahahahahahahahahaha Karma I'd say hehe!!

Hope u enjoy your ice cream! Sounds yummy

 

[doggylover]

Jenny So sorry to hear about this. But I am sure that if your Dr had any major concerns, he would let you know, so try not to think of the worst case scenario (as hard as that is)

Nimbec: lol at farting at the in laws! So embarassing! My dh insisted on telling my in laws when we were there at Christmas all about how I fart all the time

Now, in terms of sterilisation, I was actually going to buy a microwave steriliser from tesco yesterday as it's reduced to £10, but then they didn't actually HAVE it but I am planning on bf anyway, so not sure how much we will use it. My SIL has one she can lend us anyway, but I'm happy to just boil the bottles.

BUT when we say you boil them...do we literally mean you drop them in a pan of boiling water like they are potatoes?! Or do you just put a little water in the bottom of a pan and put them in to steam?

 

[Jenny_J]

Oh no Jenny ((((hugs)))) have they given you lots of info - I'm sure lots of women are fine but I guess they have to warn you fx it moves a little....and that all goes well and bubs stays put for a while longer!!!

Ukgirl I know the feeling I'm nesting too - about to tidy upstairs even tho I'm in pain! I just can't leave it and I can't help but nag oh as he drops his clothes on the floor where he takes them off - we have a constant streem of socks around the house ...then he has the nerve to complain the dog has peed on them Hahahahahahahahahahaha Karma I'd say hehe!!

Hope u enjoy your ice cream! Sounds yummy

Well I only found out yesterday, 4 weeks after the scan where it was picked up. No one said a thing about it to me at the hospital, it's only when I went for my community midwife appointment did she mention it to me.

All she said was if I bleed im to go straight to hospital.

Iv looked it up online, and now wish I hadn't as it sounds really bad.

 

[Jenny_J]

Jenny So sorry to hear about this. But I am sure that if your Dr had any major concerns, he would let you know, so try not to think of the worst case scenario (as hard as that is)

Nimbec: lol at farting at the in laws! So embarassing! My dh insisted on telling my in laws when we were there at Christmas all about how I fart all the time

Now, in terms of sterilisation, I was actually going to buy a microwave steriliser from tesco yesterday as it's reduced to £10, but then they didn't actually HAVE it but I am planning on bf anyway, so not sure how much we will use it. My SIL has one she can lend us anyway, but I'm happy to just boil the bottles.

BUT when we say you boil them...do we literally mean you drop them in a pan of boiling water like they are potatoes?! Or do you just put a little water in the bottom of a pan and put them in to steam?

Iv not even seen a doctor so far this pregnancy. Which I found odd as im high risk due to previous sections and high bmi.

 

[lily28]

Found out yesterday that I have full plasenta previa and that it is unlikely to move due to the scarring on my uterus. Was having a section anyway, but im scared of the high chance of randomly bleeding :-/ and ending up in hospital with a prem baby.

Actually crying into my cornflakes this morning

Oh no hunny, so sorry... At last you know this in advance and you will prepare properly. Don't worry about a thing, they will take good care of you

 

[doggylover]

Whoa, Jenny that is so strange that you haven't seen a dr at all. BUT I guess that means your midwife is more than happy with your health, as i she was worried she'd refer you to a consultant. So take that as a good sign!