Sneak peak of his photo shoot

Having a baby (part 2)

It was now 6 am in the morning on Saturday and I had just had 2 beautiful hours of rest thanks to the wonderful Epidural.

The doctors/midwife kept me on Pitocin and attached to the monitors. Ever few hours they would come and re-check me for any signs of progress. It seemed like such a slow battle. I'd either be a little more dilated or a little more thinned at each check up, so they would add on another 2 hours of monitoring.

Despite a constant epidural medication, the "pressure" they kept describing that was "normal" was anything from and I was in pain. I get pressure, I know what that feels like, but this was horrible. I cried a little bit and they gave me a booster for the epidural. Once that hit, I was in bliss for another hour, which told me that I was right and it was pain and not the expected "pressure" they told me to expect.

The monitors they were using were unable to gauge how strong my contractions were, so they put the internal one back in. Around 11 am a nurse told me the baby's heart rate wasn't looking so good and just put me on oxygen without really explaining anything to me...

So of course I panicked. A couple of friends were in the room with us at the time dropping off food for my husband and I tried not to cry too much in front of them, but once they were gone I called for the midwife. She kindly explained what the nurse had not. Apparently hard contractions sometimes deprive the baby of oxygen so periodically putting me on it gives him a boost. If my baby were in danger, 8 people would be in the room, not a nurse hooking me up and leaving me alone. She took me off the oxygen at that point and I calmed down and my husband played some music for me to breathe to...

Around 2 in the afternoon they put me back on oxygen... and kept it on...

a little later I then developed a fever... because there was an infection...

I got another boost of the epidural to help with the pain...

and while the midwife thought my pelvis was a good round size to deliver a 7-8 lb baby, my body wasn't progressing anymore. At 6pm I had dilated to a 9 but my cervix wouldn't thin anymore so she called for a doctors opinion and I told her before she left I wouldn't fight a C-Section, I just wanted a healthy baby.

The doctor came in and offered me the C-Section. I was prepped and ready to go in 30 minutes. SCB got his scrubs on and since the epidural was well placed he would get to hold my hand through the procedure once things were ready.

Thankfully I was with a room full of happy women who were playing upbeat music in the operating room -- which really calmed me down because I'm a happy bubbly person and it made the cold operating room easier to manage on my own because they wouldn't let me husband in until they were just about ready to begin. 

The medication numbed more than it should and the ceiling tiles buzzed, I had double vision, and my lips tingled so they were simultaneously waking and numbing my body.

King of the Selfie :)

I didn't shake on the table and I held my husband's hand. He got to see our little boy when he was cleaned up and they placed him on me briefly afterward to show him to me while they finished stitching me up.

I lost a lot of blood...

Too much in fact. Any more and I would have needed a blood transfusion.      

Our baby had also pooped inside me and had that in his amniotic fluid which was the likely cause of my earlier infection and fever.

But he was here, he looked healthy and he was mine...

My birth went nothing like planned. I wanted freedom of movement, my husband coaching me through everything and instead I got bed confinement, 28 hours of labor and a C-section...

But I got my baby... and that's what's important. My husband and I had discussed what we wanted to have happen if our "plan" didn't work and I'm so glad we did. We took classes and paid attention to both natural and C-section delivery. I had talked to friends who did both and I think it made it easier for me to accept.

Having a baby (Part 1)

Its a labor and delivery post... so if you want to skip this one, feel free ... at least we know its a happy ending.

So last Friday my day began at 4 am as I woke up and headed to work to do the early morning 5 am shift. Normally I don't do these shifts anymore, but I had a 2pm "monitoring" appointment at the hospital and didn't want to use my PTO before the baby got here if I didn't have to. (Yup,  41 weeks and I was still working because my doctor was kept telling me at every appointment that my body had not started the labor process. Saturday was going to be me last day at work since i knew worse case I would be admitted Thursday at midnight for a Friday induction.)

So I worked and went to the hospital right afterwards. I checked in and they put me in the chair to check the babies fluid levels to make sure he's was still happy in his temporary home. They wanted a measurement of 5, but I had few areas that were big enough to measure and after some 4's and one 5.2 section that couldn't be replicated, she told me she was going to call my doctor, but would have me go on to the next stage of the test, the heart rate monitoring just in-case.

He was a champ there with a nice strong heart and apparently some of what I thought was him "moving" was actually a contraction or two... but it came down to fluid, and the doctor gave the go ahead to induce me. I was walked across the building after I called my husband at work, and they brought me to my room.

Since my body wasn't doing anything at this point, the doctor advised against the folly balloon and gave me a pill to dissolve under my tongue that was supposed to help thin my cervix. The side effect was contractions, so I had to be hooked up to a baby monitor and a contraction monitor and basically confined to bed for the next 4 hours or so until they came to check on the progress to give me another pill, or to try something else.

Around 7:30 pm I had shown some sign of progress, but had had too many chemical contractions to take the pill again... and while she knew it would be hard, the doctor was able to get the folly balloon in place and they started me on Pitocin. I also got an internal monitor to measure how intense my contractions were.

Before going to the hospital, I had decided I would see how painful labor was before deciding on pain medications, (I didn't need to be a hero if I didn't want to be... but I didn't need to take drugs I didn't need). So going in, I knew the only thing I would take would be the Epidural since the other narcotics could affect the baby.

I told the nice nurses my "pain" plan and told them not to offer me anything unless I had progressed enough to get an epidural. My breathing skills would just need to help get me through. The balloon fell out around 10 pm and I was 4.5 to 5 cm dilated. I hadn't really thinned much, but the balloon did its job. If I wanted an epidural, I could have it now that I was at least 3 cm along... but I didn't need it since the nurse/husband helped me move a chair closer to the bed so I could stand up next to the bed, sit in a chair or lay in the bed. That was all the movement I was allowed since I still had to be attached to all the monitors.

The next step was breaking my water... which is a very "unique" feeling since you are sitting in bed and for me, I had a gusher. My internal monitor also came out, but since I prefered not being in the bed but alternating between standing and sitting, they put back on the original monitors. 

I got checked on a few times, but things got worse. The pitocin and the chemicals made me begin to dry heave and vomit. After a couple of "episodes" I got some anti-nausea medication..... but that still didn't help and after a few more incidents around 3 am I decided it was time for an epidural. I had already been up for over 24 hours that day since I had gone into work for the early shift and I didn't need to be a hero. The problem was the anesthesiologist got called to an emergency C-Section and the back up was on the other side of the hospital helping someone else so I had to wait.

The pain got worse. My legs would involuntarily shake... I cried in between and tried to keep my breathing steady... an hour later, the anesthesiologist came in and between contractions he had me up and running seamlessly.... and I slept for 2 solid beautiful hours. 

He's Here! Welcome Elias!

Elias Alexander

Born Saturday, 4/4/15 @ 6:50 pm

7 lbs, 8 oz

19 inches long

 

We made it home, but we are resting after a 28 hour labor that ended with a C-Section. I'll post all the details of my induction later, but for now we sleep :)

Present for the baby

I decided that our son might be hanging out in the womb still because i didn't "make" him a welcome present yet...

and he was jealous of the Hobbes hat I made for his dad to wear in the hospital while he holds him... (Yup. I made his daddy a "hobbes" hat from Calvin and Hobbes so he can wear it when he holds the baby because my husband absolutely loves Calvin and Hobbes).

So because i'm not above bribery at this point,  I busted out my crochet materials and made him this adorable hat, tie and diaper cover with suspenders...


I found the pattern here for $5, which is awesome since she also makes and sells the sets for $40 and I was much more willing to spend $5 for directions and a Sunday afternoon than shell out $40 even though it's really adorable.

Plus I got to learn how to do a new stitch I hadn't done before on the hat which gave it that extra decorative striping... and I like learning how to do new things, especially when I nail them into perfection.

I also made him a puppy outfit last night... My friends keep joking that they think he should stay in longer so I make him more adorable things but we are really ready to meet him already so I think if I make anything else it will be some paw print booties to match his puppy outfit.

We decided we are going to do a small newborn photo shoot in our home since its always bothered me that there are NO pictures of me when I was a newborn or a baby for that matter... My sister has some, but I have none and since I don't have to pay for expensive props because I can make them, I'm starting to get really excited about it.

We are going to get the pictures done with the same woman who took our sealing pictures which we just blew up on canvas, so the "little" outfits will come in handy for making him look really adorable.

Since we don't want to blow a ton of money on a bunch of photos, we'll get 10 edited shots for $150.00 which will be enough to document the moment and pick a few of our favorite shots to print of him for the house. We could do a $300 package and get 25 shots, but that's a bit more money than we really want to spend for everything.

I also made him a little dinosaur outfit too.

Its hard to believe that today is supposed to be his birthday.

Who knows if he's here or not yet since I'm "scheduling" this post in advance in case I'm hanging out in the hospital holding him right now.

(Wishful thinking is always good, right?)

But the doctor was pretty sure I'd make my Monday appointment and go over so I'm assuming he's still in there. If things look better on Monday, I'll be induced of Friday, April 3rd if he doesn't come on his own since that will be 41 weeks.

If things don't look good on Monday, I'll be induced on Friday, April 10th so depending on how long labor is and when things last, I could end up with a "411" information baby or maybe an Easter baby at the latest... which is far better than a tax day baby :)

Bump over the months...

12 weeks

I still get a kick out of my early "progress" pictures...

It's weird to see how thin my face was back at week 12... I can't wait for some of this bloat to work its way off me to see if I can get to "normal" again... Which should be interesting in and of itself since I had been loosing weight like crazy before I got pregnant :) (I mean I think I was smaller and in better shape when I got knocked up then I was at my wedding)!

Today though, I'm especially grateful that I snapped a few pictures in the same "Sunday" dress over the course of my pregnancy... In hindsight, I wish I'd taken a couple more, but I'm really glad I did a few early pictures in this dress when my other clothes still fit fine because I now have these three "journey" pictures that are cool to look at and see how much he has grown over the months from 12 to 25 to 39 weeks! It really gives you something to look at!

25 weeks

I'll be really happy with myself if I can get back to my  before pregnancy starting weight when all is said and done. I'm giving myself a year to do it since it took 9 months to change my body to accommodate my son and I'll need to recover after he comes before I can ease back into it... but if I go beyond that, and continue to improve my health, more power to me but I remember just feeling so fit and alive and able to move and do things at that weight... and this week its like that motivation to move and go and push myself just magically came back.

For weeks and months I haven't really cared all that much as I've been trying to grow a healthy baby inside me but something about this week has made me crave being able to be active like I used to.

(Maybe that means he's coming soon????)

(We can only hope so at this point because SCB is getting a little anxious and keeps telling him to get out of "mama's" belly each morning.)

39 Weeks

I know I certainly can't wait for the swollen ankles and the pregnancy aches and pains to go away. You have no idea how "interesting" it is to get out of bed in the morning or put shoes on... or shave your legs... but I'm lucky that my husband will help me with all three if I ask him to - and with no judgements at all.

Most days I just sit down and hold out my shoes and he comes over and helps me put them and my toe socks on (my sport short toe socks help keep my swelling at bay better than my regular socks do). Although I still *can* put them on by myself, he knows its not very comfortable and steps in like a champ.

I'm actually pretty darn grateful that I've had a pretty mellow pregnancy.  Some people aren't so lucky. I like to think its because Eli wants a brother or a sister down the line and he knows his dad is more likely to make that happen now that this one has been "easier" than those of other people around him at work.


When I tell people at work that my baby is due on Friday they look at me like I'm a mad crazy woman for still coming to work everyday... But for the most part I just sit at work and do things on a computer, so I would much rather sit there and wait then at home and know its one less day I'll get to spend with him before I have to go back to work.  

My sister called me up earlier in the week when I posted my week 39 photo because she was shocked at how wide I was -- in her words, "you look like your going to topple forward -- but its like only in your belly! The rest of you looks great!" -- (which is an actual compliment from my sister in some way...)


But its all about "photo" angles. I have some pictures where I look just like a big fat bloated bus because I'm "looking down" at the camera which is a bad angle for anyone let alone the almost full term pregnant lady :) But I'm okay with those "bad" photos too because pregnancy isn't always that glamorous... I just won't post those ones on facebook or my blog :)

2 days to go!

Baby Room Tour :)

I've still got my glider in our bedroom and Eli has a swing and a rock n' play in the living room for the time being.... along with his changing table, but South County Boy finished up our little guys room! We saved some of the banners from my work baby shower to put up on his walls for the moment so they weren't so bare and uninviting.

He gets to rock the teddy bear bed sheets :)

We put up a little toy bag on the other wall, but we'll need
to space it out a bit more so they don't hang down so low.

View from the hall way :) his extra clothes
are all vacuum sealed under his bed by size
everything under 6 months is in his wardrobe.
We can also fit a clothes hamper on the
other side of his crib.

My hubby put in 2 corner shelves near the switches for his sound
machine and a couple of little decorations (including the cool
name his brother made for our son).

 11 days to go!

I has the best co-workers ever :)

My co-workers gave me a baby shower for our little bundle last week and we are still standing in awe of their generosity.

Between the shower my sister through for me and the gifts and the gift cards from my work shower, we are basically all stocked up and ready to go with essentials and we still have $120 in gift cards for after he is here and we have a better idea of what he will need based on how delivery goes and if he is allergic or sensitive to certain things.

We didn't go crazy with every baby item out under the son, but we were able to get a few perk items that will make life so much easier for me during my maternity leave.

Other than paying for some items for our hospital bag and some nursing bras that we bought this month in a big trip to Walmart, we haven't had to spend a lot of money on our little one because there have been so many generous friends and family members who have blessed us with hand me downs and gifts...

Its such a wonderful feeling to know how well our baby is loved by everyone :) it's truly touching :)

We even saved 2 of the banners from the shower to hang in his room since they are Calvin and Hobbes :)

14 days to go.

I'm so proud of him

Another short post, but I'm so proud of my husband that its worth a post all on its own...

Last night South County Boy sat down with me and took notes on how to access all of our financial accounts, pay all our bills, and understand when things happen throughout the month, when it comes to our finances...

He took notes... about money.... I could do a victory dance!

For those of you who don't know, this has been a goal of mine for some time with the baby coming (even before the baby) but especially because of the baby in case things don't go as planned and I'm out of the loop for a while...  but he took notes and feels like he could keep the system going for the short term if anything bad does happen.

I feel revealed :) Its hard to get my husband to focus for our 15 minute a month budget meeting so I didn't know how this was really going to go, but he powered through like a rock star!

and I finally packed most of my hospital bag for me and the baby... now just a list of a few things to pick up to make our stay more comfortable... and get hubby to pack his bag too!

21 days and counting ... you know... if he's on time and everything :)

Got to see my baby today

I went in for my regular appointment and my little guy was moving around while the doctor was just listening to his heart beat and I got to hear his little baby hiccups... Which are totally adorable by the way.


After a swab test, my doctor had thought my baby was head down based upon feeling him... but after he was doing some kind of a cervix check he wasn't sure... which meant I got to see my baby because he called for the ultra sound machine.

I don't know about other mom's but I get excited to hear my doctor call for the machine because it means I get to see my baby and nothing makes me happier than watching him just hang out in there. I wasn't even thinking something might be the matter, I was just like "score, I get to see him again!"

So I got to see his head and his heart beat like crazy... I even got to see his cool skeletal structure. It was pretty epic since the last time we got to see him was his gender reveal ultrasound.

I'm happy to report that he apparent he still has room to move around and my fluid levels are good and despite my size and weight gain, my doctor isn't thinking he's going to be a huge baby since he still has room. 

Oh Happy Day! #32 days left, 35 weeks and counting!

Feb Bump Update

33 Weeks Folks! I feel like we are in the home stretch here with around 40 days to go until my "due date"... which depending on how he feels, could mean I'm waiting 8 weeks or 4 weeks to meet him if he's late or early.

I've had a couple days of swollen ankles (Because I spent a few days on my feet working a couple events and having a baby shower...) but thankfully it hasn't been painful... and I'm glad I still have my running shoes since those are nice an comfortable since I buy them bigger than my "street" shoe :)

I'm still sleeping okay... but I've had a few nights were I've positioned myself too low (not elevated enough), and I've woken up gagging and coughing on stomach acid....  which is not something I wish upon anyone.

Other than all that, things have been going pretty well. We finished all our baby prep classes, completed our Kaiser hospital tour, and we are getting into baby prep mode.

I've started to batch cook some food specifically for our freezer to make life for SCB a bit easier when he has to feed "us" 3 meals a day for a few weeks while I'm recuperating after delivery. I made 2 dozen whole wheat banana nut muffins that I will put directly into the freezer as breakfast aids so I'm not living on cereal.

I am hoping to make a list of things that SCB can make for me for breakfast, lunch and dinner where he just has to pair items together or take something out of the freezer and heat it up so he's not just staring at food, wondering what to do with it... After all, he lives for the simple and most of my recipes would overwhelm him if he were to make them from scratch so I'm going to try and give him as much help as I can while I can do it.  

Baby Swag!

My sister threw me a baby shower over the weekend with my mom at her place. It went really well and my friends, some people from church, etc. all had a pretty good time.

All I can say is diaper raffles are awesome... We got a few cases of them which made SCB really happy! We also have a changing table we got from my old babysitter that we need to move over from my mom's house to our condo... but we need to wait until next weekend when my sister's fiance can bring it over in his truck.

All in all, this little guy felt really loved over the weekend.  He has so many clothes and we still have more hand me downs to go through that are in a box, but thankfully they are all different sizes so we don't have to worry about everything being infant sized! He already has a selection of 3 month, 6 month, 9 month, 12 month... even some 18 to 24 month pieces. (all the 6 month plus clothes are living under his crib in some under the bed storage containers for now and we are just keeping the infant to 3 months and 3-6 month clothes in his wardrobe.

We're still putting things away and sorting through all of his stuff so we can make a list of duplicates to return and things we still need to pick up, but I'm feeling better about his arrival now that our classes are done and we have some of the basics!

Baby Budget update

So I sat down and worked out some details with my friend from church for watching our little baby boy... so we have a good update to our baby budget!

After our conversation, I'm really feeling comfortable with this arrangement and I think we have made a choice to go with in home care instead of the Montessori Day Care.

We spent an hour discussing a variety of topics from child rearing styles, thoughts on TV viewing, play dates, watching other children, illnesses, vacations... even things like what would happen if Eli hits her daughter... etc. We pretty much covered a ton of material (I pulled stuff from various websites on interviewing nanny's and combined them to cover what was practical for our situation).

After figuring out that we both have a similar style of parenting, ie we believe that if a baby is crying for a need, that need should be met immediately... whereas if a baby is crying just to cry, you can let them pout it out a bit before interfering... We don't believe you can discipline a baby.... etc....

So I feel very comfortable with how she handles situations from what I've seen her do first hand and from what we discussed. (She used to nanny full time before moving to California).

The General Stuff & Plan
We plan to bring and leave a pack n' play and spare sheets over at their place to help with nap time. Based on their ages, Eli will be in the crib they have most of the day since he'll still be taking multiple naps, but depending on timing both kiddos might be down for the count around the same time, so that's where the pack n' play we scored off Facebook for $40.00 will come in handy.

We plan to keep a storage container with diapers, wipes, and essential items over there and when we are low on supplies, she will let us know and we can re-stock it up the next time he comes over (very similar to a daycare.)

When we are ready to transition over to solid foods (at our insistence), we will pack his food and some supplies to bring with him. We can keep some basics there as well so we aren't carting so many things around each time we drop him off. She has no problem preparing foods that we supply, mixing bottles if we have to go the formula route, etc.  

We don't need to bring over a spare infant car seat base as they already have what they need there for day trips or in the event of an emergency, etc. She already has a carrier for park trips so she will most likely wear Eli and put her daughter in a stroller until she can walk a bit more, etc. (Her daughter will be 16 months old when she starts to watch Eli).

Their place is clean and child proofed :) There are plenty of toys and things for him to play with so we don't need to bring over any age appropriate things for him.

While she will be watching another child for a few months in the morning, it is a short term arrangement that will be finished before she begins watching Eli. We took the time to discuss if she would consider watching any other children besides her daughter and my son. While she told me she will never watch more than 2 children besides her daughter because anymore and she would need to be licensed (she researched all the legal stuff on her own already)... but she isn't planning to solicit for more kiddos to watch and would speak to me before hand. 

Illness:
We took the time to discuss illness and the kids. While she's okay with us bringing Eli if he has a little runny nose... any fevers or green coming out of him he stays home with me or SCB just like he would with the other daycare option. We will still pay her the full weekly amount if Eli is sick (this was at my insistence since I know her family will be planning on that income.)

The reverse though, if her daughter has more than a runny nose, Eli won't be coming over and we won't be paying them for that day of care so we can use that money to bribe someone else to watch him or call in a sick day at work. I have another friend of mine from church who will be having a baby as I'm going back to work and she had mentioned helping us out with daycare too so I think she will be our "back up" if we can't bring Eli over to his regular place once she gets settled in.

Vacations:
While we both aren't planning any long vacations or trips at the moment, we have decided that we need to give the other party at least a months notice of any planned vacations and we won't need to pay for care while we are on vacation. (this is a nice perk over the other daycare option). So if they take a week off, they will give us at least a month's notice so we can make arrangements for someone to watch him (my other friend from church, my mom, maybe a couple of sick days if need be split between SCB and I, etc)...  and likewise if we are planning on taking a trip, we give them a months notice and get to keep the daycare money for our trip. 

Payment:
We also talked about payments and transaction records, taxes, and all that. She IS reporting the income to the IRS, wants us to pay her in a way the payments can be recorded and tracked... and yes we will be able to write off the childcare expenses at the end of the year on our taxes to save us even more money.

We plan to set up electronic payments, paid weekly on Fridays so we aren't paying her in cash or going through checks like crazy each week. Thankfully I can do that through my electronic checking account at Capital One 360. At the end of the month, we will get an invoice showing our payments that we can keep for our tax records too.

Flexibility:
What's really cool is the flexibility of the situation. Since we only need 4 days of care, we are welcome to switch those days if my work schedule were to change to accommodate a special event. For instance, if I have to come in to work on a Monday for an event, and get a Wed off instead that week, she is fine with watching Eli on a Monday and me taking Wednesday off instead that week and cutting her the same amount. If we need an additional day of care, (like a Saturday or a Monday on top of the regular 4 days), we pay her an extra $55 per day.

We also talked about swapping date nights at no charge, which will be awesome once we get the energy to spend time alone with one another again. 

With all that in mind, I love the fact that he's going to get more individualized attention, a playmate, time outdoors, a no TV environment and while we may have to take a extra sick day throughout the year to cover her or her daughters illness, Eli will be less likely to get ill over all being in a smaller environment then in a place with a lot more children and parents who try to sneak in a runny nose, saying its teething when its not.

So now we just need to figure out the health care choice... and considering he won't be in the major daycare environment, we think we might be able to get by with the High Deductible plan if we find a good doctor we like and we have a good over all delivery... but that decision won't be made until he gets here so let the health insurance ideas/questions keep coming!

With Kaiser, I can interview pediatricians at no charge so we hope to have a Kaiser option set up in case we choose that route... and hopefully we will be able to find a non Kaiser option to compare it to.

Baby Budget Options

We have 5 budget options to look at in regards to welcoming our little goober into our lives. The first budget, listed below, we have already decided does not work well for our family (It’s the budget where SCB becomes a stay at home dad). Since his boss just gave him a HUGE raise and we found at least one daycare we are comfortable with, it doesn't make too much sense for SCB to quit and stay home with our little guy when my maternity leave ends... but we wanted to include a stay at home budget option since some of you have asked about it.  

Option 1: Baby Budget - SCB stays at home & Family gets “platinum” Kaiser Insurance.
Spending: (Money that leaves the bank account each month)

• Tithe: $392.00 + $20.00 Fast Offering 
• Mortgage (P&I, Property Taxes): $771.80
• Home Owners Association: $295.00
• Groceries & Household Items: $300.00
• Work cell phone allowance: $60.00
• Electricity & Internet: $150.00
• SCB’s Burner Cell or Land Line: $30.00
• Gasoline: $200.00 (a little less since he’s not driving to work)
• Date Nights: $80.00
• Pocket Money: $80.00 ($40 each)
• Diapers/wipes: $92.00

Savings: (Money for semiannual/annual bills that will eventually leave the bank account)

• Prescriptions & Dr. Visits: $47.60. 
• Roxy: $47.60
• Insurance (2 cars, earthquake & Homeowners): $155.00 
• Car Repair/Replacement Fund: $100.00
• Car Registration and Smog Fund: $25.00

Extra Checks: (received twice a year since I am paid bi-weekly but budget 2 paychecks a month)

• Total Tithe: $392.00 
• Clothing Replacement: $600.00 a year
• Vacation: $700.00 (1 trip to visit SCB’s extended family in Utah)
• Emergency Fund: $308.00
• Christmas Savings: $600.00
• Birthday & Holiday Savings: $600.00

Retirement:

• Just my 8% contribution to my City Pension + $120 a year to a 457 deferred compensation account which adds up to 8.28% of our income.

Now that that one is out of the way,  lets look at our real contenders. We could look at more budget “options” but we eliminated some of them from the running because they didn’t make sense financially for us (some health insurance options only left us with an extra $20 a month for less care, so we tossed those ones out). 

We actually have 2 daycare options and 2 health insurance options to consider, so 4 total budgets. We already know that I will always be on my work plan with Kaiser because if I don’t use my benefits, the money we can cash out is reduced enough that we don't really save any money but forfeit better insurance on my end.

Our first health insurance option is for the entire family to join me on my Kaiser “platinum” insurance plan. The second option would be for the baby and SCB go on his work insurance (a high deductible plan) while I keep Kaiser. Then we need to look at the 2 daycare choices/options we have found (a Montessori school… or paying a friend to “nanny”).

•  Just a quick mention about the word “nanny” and tax implications. Since we would be the only “family” she is watching along with her own daughter, with the care taking place at her residence and not ours, she does not need to file a license with the state and we are not required to make her a household employee and pay employer taxes. I did the research and we believe in doing things 100% legally or we wouldn’t consider it an option. She is looking to quit her job to stay home with her daughter and make a little income watching our son on the side. We will be meeting today and discussing details to see if it is a good fit logistics wise.

Now that that is out of the way, we are going to list the budget options as they get better for us financially. We know that some decisions can’t be made purely by looking at numbers since peace of mind is a strong factor and worth the money. We actually feel like we have options and that we could live with either budget now that SCB was blessed with such an amazing raise. It actually makes this a much more comfortable discussion to have because we feel like we have options and can make choices instead of just “making it work.” Opinions are welcome in the comments below. I’d love to know what you would do and why!

Option 2: Baby Budget – Family gets Kaiser “platinum” insurance & we pay for 4 days of infant care at a local Montessori school.

Spending: (Money that leaves the bank account each month)

• Tithe: $608.00 + $20.00 Fast Offering 
• Mortgage (P&I, Property Taxes): $771.80 
• Home Owners Association: $295.00 
• Groceries & Household Items: $300.00 
• Work cell phone allowance: $60.00 
• Electricity & Internet: $150.00 
• SCB’s Burner Cell or Land Line: $30.00 
• Gasoline: $250.00 
• Date Nights: $100.00 
• Pocket Money: $80.00 ($40 each) 
• Diapers/wipes: $118.00 
• Daycare: $1,081 (including the annual enrollment fees saved for monthly) 
• Discretionary money: $100.00

Savings: (Money for semiannual/annual bills that will eventually leave the bank account)

• Prescriptions & Dr. Visits: $47.60
•  Roxy: $47.60 
• Insurance (2 cars, earthquake & Homeowners): $155.00 
• Car Repair/Replacement Fund: $100.00 
• Car Registration and Smog Fund: $25.00 
• Christmas Fund: $50.00 
• Birthday Savings: $47.00 

Extra Checks: (received twice a year since SCB is paid bi-weekly but we budget 2 paychecks a month) 

• Total Tithe: $216.00 
• Emergency Fund: $1,000.00 
• Roth IRA: $384.00

Extra Checks: (received twice a year since I am paid bi-weekly but budget 2 paychecks a month)

• Total Tithe: $392.00 
• Clothing Replacement: $600.00 a year 
• Vacation: $804.00 (1 trip to visit SCB’s extended family in Utah) 
• Roth IRA: $1,404.00

Profit Share Check:

• SCB’s work pays profit sharing once a year. We don’t count on this money coming in to survive and will use it for large purchases, savings, retirement, or mortgage payments.

Retirement:

• My 8% contribution to my City Pension + $120 a year to a 457 deferred compensation account. 
• SCB’s 401 k gets 6% of his salary plus a 3% employer match. 
• We can save some money from our extra paychecks to add to a Roth IRA: $1,788.00 
• 10.62% to retirement

What we like about this plan:
$1,000 to savings every year, a monthly discretionary amount of $100 to help as a budget buffer, really good health insurance for baby, husband and me, a dependable daycare option (no worries if the “nanny” or her daughter gets sick), 10% of our income is going to retirement and our extra paychecks are going to savings (things like vacation, Retirement, & Emergency Fund savings).
 

Option 3: Baby Budget –Baby & SCB get High Deductible Plan (I keep Kaiser) with 4 days of infant care at a local Montessori school.

Spending: (Money that leaves the bank account each month)

• Tithe: $636.00 + $20.00 Fast Offering 
• Mortgage (P&I, Property Taxes): $771.80 
• Home Owners Association: $295.00 
• Groceries & Household Items: $300.00 
• Work cell phone allowance: $60.00 
• Electricity & Internet: $150.00 
• SCB’s Burner Cell or Land Line: $30.00 
• Gasoline: $250.00 
• Date Nights: $100.00 
• Pocket Money: $80.00 ($40 each) 
• Diapers/wipes: $118.00 
• Daycare: $1,081 (including the annual enrollment fees saved for monthly) 
• Discretionary money: $100.00 

Savings: (Money for semiannual/annual bills that will eventually leave the bank account) 

• Prescriptions & Dr. Visits: $100.00 
• Roxy: $50.00 
• Insurance (2 cars, earthquake & Homeowners): $155.00 
• Car Repair/Replacement Fund: $100.00 
• Car Registration and Smog Fund: $25.00 
• Christmas Fund: $50.00 
• Birthday Savings: $50.00 
• Vacation Savings: $100.00 
• Clothing: $57.00 
• Roth IRA: $53.00 

Extra Checks: (received twice a year since SCB is paid bi-weekly but we budget 2 paychecks a month) 

• Total Tithe: $216.00 
• Emergency Fund: $1,000.00 
• Roth IRA: $134.00 

Extra Checks: (received twice a year since I am paid bi-weekly but budget 2 paychecks a month) 

• Total Tithe: $392.00 
• Roth IRA: $2,808.00 

Profit Share Check: 

• SCB’s work pays profit sharing once a year. We don’t count on this money coming in to survive and will use it for large purchases, savings, retirement, or mortgage payments. 

Retirement: 

• My 8% contribution to my City Pension + $120 a year to a 457 deferred compensation account. 
• SCB’s 401 k gets 6% of his salary plus a 3% employer match. 
• We can save some money from our extra paychecks to add to a Roth IRA: $3,578.00 
• 12.91% to retirement

What we like about this plan:
$1,000 to savings every year, a monthly discretionary amount of $100 to help as a budget buffer, a dependable daycare option (no worries if the “nanny” or her daughter gets sick), a bit more going to retirement (12.91% of income), our vacation fund gets budgeted in on a monthly basis so we could add in some fun day trips since we get $400 more a year, clothing savings works its way in monthly and we see a small amount of money going to our Roth IRA each month with our extra paychecks covering just our emergency fund and retirement.
 

Emotional considerations:
By trading less health insurance coverage for Eli and SCB, we end up with an extra $2,190.00 a year, not factoring in the additional $600 more a year we have added to our monthly budget to cover the higher cost of doctors’ appointments and out of pocket medical fees. Eli will have a minimum of 5 doctor’s appointments in 2015 if he is healthy and if his visits are similarly priced to what SCB’s have been in the past with his insurance, those will cost us the $600 extra we are already budgeting in. The question becomes is saving $2 grand “worth” the gamble that everything goes okay?  
 

Option 4: Baby Budget – Family gets Kaiser insurance with a “Nanny” 4 days a week. 
Spending: (Money that leaves the bank account each month)

• Tithe: $608.00 + $20.00 Fast Offering 
• Mortgage (P&I, Property Taxes): $771.80 
• Home Owners Association: $295.00 
• Groceries & Household Items: $300.00 
• Work cell phone allowance: $60.00 
• Electricity & Internet: $150.00 
• SCB’s Burner Cell or Land Line: $30.00 
• Gasoline: $250.00 
• Date Nights: $100.00 
• Pocket Money: $80.00 ($40 each) 
• Diapers/wipes: $118.00 
• Daycare: $880 
• Discretionary money: $100.00 

Savings: (Money for semiannual/annual bills that will eventually leave the bank account) 

• Prescriptions & Dr. Visits: $47.60 
• Roxy: $47.60 
• Insurance (2 cars, earthquake & Homeowners): $155.00 
• Car Repair/Replacement Fund: $100.00 
• Car Registration and Smog Fund: $25.00 
• Christmas Fund: $50.00 
• Birthday Savings: $50.00 
• Vacation Savings: $100.00 
• Roth IRA: $51.00 
• Clothes: $57.00

Extra Checks: (received twice a year since SCB is paid bi-weekly but we budget 2 paychecks a month) 

• Total Tithe: $216.00 
• Emergency Fund: $1,000.00 
• Roth IRA: $384.00 

Extra Checks: (received twice a year since I am paid bi-weekly but budget 2 paychecks a month) 

• Total Tithe: $392.00 
• Roth IRA: $2,808.00 

Profit Share Check: 

• SCB’s work pays profit sharing once a year. We don’t count on this money coming in to survive and will use it for large purchases, savings, retirement, or mortgage payments. 

Retirement: 

• My 8% contribution to my City Pension + $120 a year to a 457 deferred compensation account. 
• SCB’s 401 k gets 6% of his salary plus a 3% employer match. 
• We can save some money from our extra paychecks to add to a Roth IRA: $3,804.00 
• 13.20% to retirement

What we like about this plan:
We get all the perks of option 2 health insurance wise with emergency fund savings, vacations, etc. AND we get more going to retirement (13.20% of income).
 

Emotional considerations:
We change daycare options with this budget and pay considerably less a month for infant care… but it does open up some additional things to consider. By having just one person watch him, he will get more individualized care and will get to be raised in a like-minded home… but it opens up the possibilities for some frustrations along the way.

• What if her daughter is ill (currently 10 months old)? Or what if she is under the weather for the day? Would I need to take a sick day for their illnesses to make sure my son doesn’t get sick… and would we pay her for that day ($55 a day)? What would we do about vacations? How much notice would they give me if they are planning a trip out of town and where would we place Eli during that time? Would we still pay them if we have a scheduled vacation? Or do we decide to coordinate time off together and pass up “last minute opportunities?”

Option 5: Baby Budget – I keep the Kaiser “platinum” insurance, Baby/SCB get High Deductible Plan, with “Nanny” 4 days a week. 
Spending: (Money that leaves the bank account each month)

• Tithe: $636.00 + $20.00 Fast Offering 
• Mortgage (P&I, Property Taxes): $771.80 
• Home Owners Association: $295.00 
• Groceries & Household Items: $300.00 
• Work cell phone allowance: $60.00 
• Electricity & Internet: $150.00 
• SCB’s Burner Cell or Land Line: $30.00 
• Gasoline: $250.00 
• Date Nights: $100.00 
• Pocket Money: $80.00 ($40 each) 
• Diapers/wipes: $118.00 
• Daycare: $880 
• Discretionary money: $100.00 

Savings: (Money for semiannual/annual bills that will eventually leave the bank account) 

• Prescriptions & Dr. Visits: $100.00 
• Roxy: $50.00 
• Insurance (2 cars, earthquake & Homeowners): $155.00 
• Car Repair/Replacement Fund: $100.00 
• Car Registration and Smog Fund: $25.00 
• Christmas Fund: $50.00 
• Birthday Savings: $50.00 
• Vacation Savings: $100.00 
• Roth IRA: $254.00 
• Clothes: $57.00

Extra Checks: (received twice a year since SCB is paid bi-weekly but we budget 2 paychecks a month)

• Total Tithe: $216.00
• Emergency Fund: $1,000.00 
• Roth IRA: $134.00

Extra Checks: (received twice a year since I am paid bi-weekly but budget 2 paychecks a month)

• Total Tithe: $392.00 
• Roth IRA: $2,808.00

Profit Share Check:

• SCB’s work pays profit sharing once a year. We don’t count on this money coming in to survive and will use it for large purchases, savings, retirement, or mortgage payments.

Retirement:

• My 8% contribution to my City Pension + $120 a year to a 457 deferred compensation account. 
• SCB’s 401 k gets 6% of his salary plus a 3% employer match. 
• We can save some money from our extra paychecks to add to a Roth IRA: $5,990.00 
• 15.99 % to retirement

What we like about this plan:
We put a full 15% away for retirement and have the most income at our disposal. 
 

Emotional considerations:
Again, we pay considerably less a month for infant care… but we have those nanny questions to consider…. And the health insurance considerations too.

Over all Choice:

If we look at our most expensive budget, the Kaiser insurance with the Montessori daycare and compare it to the three others options, we can potentially save $2,270 a year if we just switch insurance.... if we just switch daycare and keep the insurance, we save slightly more at $2,496 a year... if we switch both daycare and insurance, we could save $4,682.00

Our insurance decision will be based upon some interviews with some doctors and delivery. If he goes anywhere near the nic-u, we are putting him on Kaiser without question... but $2,200 a year is enough money to question how many visits our little guy might have with the doctor (since we are factoring more money in on a monthly basis that's not included in the savings)... 

Since I'm meeting with the potential nanny today, we hope to have that decision made by mid February so we can either pay to hold his space at Montessori, or move forward with nanny land.  

But what would you do?

We took our pup to the vet... plus baby updates

Our homemade poncho for the one day it
truly rained :)

Roxy needed to go into the vet for her 6 month shots and also for a check up so we could get her heart worm and flea medication renewed for January.

$172.50 later... we will still be paying another $120 for her medication next month but she's a healthy little girl, just slightly over weight since we haven't been walking her as much and hubby has been over treating her to make up for the lack of walks... so she needs to loose 2 lbs or so...Hopefully cutting back on treats and walking her more will do the trick since I don't want to cut her kibble because we already don't give her very much of that anyway.

She also needs to get her teeth cleaned, but they want to charge us $500 to knock her out to do it... so we will be looking around a price checking that one...My friend works at a vet so she's going to send me their price list so I can compare it because she's local.

But Roxy is her normal happy go-lucky self... Especially since we have been giving her more attention these last couple weeks. She had a small destructive streak going earlier in December between Christmas concerts, events, church stuff and a few early month gatherings that kept her at home alone more than we normally do... She got into South County Boys work bag and shredded some of his oatmeal packets... and my holiday headband bit the dust because she decided that it too needed to be shredded to make a point that we had, had too many things going on in a single week and she missed us too much.

After those incidents, we started leaving things out she could shred that wouldn't piss us off as much (tp rolls and empty soap boxes since she likes those... but she had made her point and we gave her the love she needed so those have remained on the bathroom floor just in case..) 

I also had to drink the orange bottle for my sugar test... It wasn't bad on the way down like everyone says, but waiting for my blood work to be drawn totally sucked because I started getting a little dizzy and light headed since I normally don't eat a whole lot of sugar at once... and it made me dehydrated...

But I passed... normal range is 70-129 and I got a 58 so I was well below...

Unfortunately the scale hasn't been my friend this pregnancy and i'm starting to measure 2 weeks early growth wise and because we are worried about a large baby because of my husband's stature and my weight gain, my doctor has asked me to try and keep an 1800 calorie diet until my next appointment so we can hopefully get me caught up where I need to be... So I'm cutting out treats this holiday season to make sure little Eli is getting the nutrition he needs and I don't gain anymore holiday extra.

Monday was my first day watching, and I started going back to counting calories on Tuesday and its really making me more mindful of what I'm eating and how many veggies I've been eating as well.  I'm still getting my 10,000 steps a day most days and I've worked myself up to a doing a cardio strength training program 3 days a week with my doctors approval and I've already seen myself get stronger as I've added more reps or time to the different activities so that makes me feel better knowing I am doing what I can to keep this little man happy.