Kitten Nov 11, 1918 at 11 am was the declared end of WWI which is why I think Europe and canada both observe it. I think the Americans already had a Memorial Day before then or I'm sure they'd observe it too! I believe Memorial Day was the end of the civil war? Or is that wrong? We don't get much American history up here in Canada
Haven't the foggiest, honestly. I had what I'm sure was a very good US History class in high school, and it bored me to tears, and I remember almost none of it. (I had a world history teacher who said "US history is all just wars; world history gets things like 'let's invent math,' and that's just much more interesting.")
America does weird things with semi-global holidays anyway. Labor Day on the 1st of May, relating to the labor movement? Oh no; let's have it on the first Monday in September and make it about barbecues!
Kitten how expensive is it to have a home birth? I take for granted our health care until I think about Americans and the crap system that is in place. Our taxes might be higher but itâs worth it to not have to stress when health care is needed.
Ricschick I love that you are getting your tree up so early but I also struggle with doing it too soon. Not for any good reason other than it then seems like we are waiting for Christmas forever. My dd has been vibrating about Christmas since about September so I donât know if putting it up too early would be a good thing or a daily question of âis it Christmas?â Lol
Iâm starting to get uncomfortable while sleeping and Iâm not even big yet. I mean my belly looks about 6 months along but itâs not filled with baby yet.
How much have you all gained? Iâve only gained 3 lbs. I know being sick has probably been a factor and not losing weight is a good thing but it just seems low. I had weight to lose so probably not a bad thing.
Ahahahaha. Oh man. Uh, if I'd chosen different insurance a few months ago, it probably would have been in-network and a LOT cheaper. (This is the first place I've worked where there even IS a choice; everywhere else has just had one option.) And open enrollment was in August, right around when we conceived.
Between prenatal visits (covered out-of-network) & the birth itself (covered not at all, because my insurance company cherrypicked their evidence about homebirth), we'll end up paying $3500+ if I remember correctly. (But not if we end up with a hospital transfer, in which case the hospital gets paid for the birth by our insurance, and the midwives get paid an hourly rate, which is dramatically less.)
That's about the ballpark we expected (actually kind of on the low end). But I still freaked out mightily at first. My husband mentioned that he still has an HSA though (Health Savings Account; it's a pre-tax savings account that can only be used for healthcare expenses, but the approved expenses are defined by the IRS, not an insurance company). So that'll take care of more than half of it. But jeez.
American healthcare is a clustermess. I was a lot more understanding about it until I spent a year in France in my early 20s, and interacted with THAT system, and learned more about it (it's good as is, and then something like 92% of French people also have private insurance). Yeah, there are pluses and minuses to every system, but nearly all my friends who've had to file for bankruptcy had to do so because of medical emergencies. And it follows them around for years, making it nigh impossible to get credit for anything.
THIS IS ME SHAKING MY FISTS IN CAPITAL LETTERSSSSS
Meanwhile, I lost two pounds then gained five, so I guess I'm right around +3 right now, too!
thank goodness we have a gender scan booked for the 9th dec so I get to see baby again.
