Those Chatty June 06 Mamas! We chatted out the July06 mamas in a week!! - Page 5

[sehbub]

Mearaina - My HS was actually very AGAINST props. Thought of them as cheating. If we couldn't come up with a cool enough show without props, we didn't deserve to be there. This is mostly after our new drill instructor was hired, as he works with drum corp and is a purest. I just liked being a part of Group 4 because it was really cool to watch the video and see 200something teenagers all moving together and basically working together to accomplish something.

Plus, it was fun to watch the Group 1 and Group 2 bands react when we marched on the field, and hear the comments like "They.just.keep.coming."

I loved those years. They were some of the best of my life, and I actually hope I get to be a band parent someday. With 4 kids, odds are pretty good, right?

[eco_mama]

I got on Medicaid with Marley so her birth was free and Elijah was born at home. We paid a total of around, I wanna say $3500-$4000 including supplies and everything. We would've paid much less but we ended up switching mw's a couple weeks before he was born and so only got half refunded by the 1st mw. The new mw's only charged $2000. We choose not to have insurance though.

[Amys1st]

Maggie's bill at the nicu was 308K for 71 days.
The Drs bill seperatly and that was about 150K.
My c section and the 2 hours Maggie was there was about 35K.
She stayed at that hospital after the nicu in the Special Care Nursery for 3 weeks- 78K.
Follow up- about 5K,
rsv shots 7K.
so a bit over 1/2 mill.

my out of pocket: $141.35 for her hearing test the insurance would not pay.

Having my dd home with me 24/7 PRICELESS

Any questions?

For everything else I have my mastercard.

[BelgianSheepDog]

We got a "bargain" from our NICU, only $8000 for the 24 hours she was there plus about $1500 for doctors fees. Most of the $8000 was the echo, eeeeek.

[Megs_BK]

Originally Posted by The4OfUs

We are definitely a TV household, but "House" is really the only network show I watch regularly. We watch a lot of FoodTV, HGTV, History Channel, Discovery, and Cartoon Network for "Adult Swim". Oh, and DH and I are both secretly and embarrassingly addicted to the Disney channel lineup for tweens (we both *reeeally* enjoy "Phil of the Future" ).
[. . .]
The constant state of chaos is really starting to get to me. Maybe I'm finally grossed out enough to at least have the kitchen, dining room and attic (where I work and he plays all day) tidied up every day. I DO have a gigantic slob gene though, and it may be too overpowering for the teeny tiny clean gene that is rearing its head.

Parallel lives? Holy cats, Heather, I'm starting to think we're pretty much the same person. You've just described my TV and cleanliness habits (and guilt re: the latter).

Just add Scrubs and Gilmore Girls to your TV list...

[chiromama]

HOLY COW AMY!!! now that IS priceless.

[papayapetunia]

So, I'm applying for a part-time job at Legal Aid, which would be great experience for what I ultimately want to do with my law degree. I want to eventually open a Law Center for Women & Children that handles policy cases and assists women in starting businesses and does family and juvenile law, etc.

Anyway, I had a total breakdown about leaving Talula. I mean, I was crying like a crazy person. She'd stay with Joey, but still...how do you working mamas deal? Is it like, sad for a day or two then you get used to it? Will I cry my whole first day? I would wait until January, maybe even later, since I take the bar in Feb., but I am so distraught over this. I want to throw up and run away and hide with Talula where reality can't find us. In a perfect world, I'd be able to bring my girls with me to work. I keep getting so angry that nature makes me want to be with my baby, but circumstances make me have to leave her.

: :Puke

[Megs_BK]

Candice, I just noticed your senior member title. That is FREAKIN' HILARIOUS.

Your Legal Aid plans sound wonderful... I'm curious how the out-of-home mamas do it, too. I know it can be done. I've seen plenty of it in the military (to include lengthy deployments away from babes), but curious about the emotional process.

Assuming I get into PT school the first time out of the gate, I'll be back in school full-time when Nevie is 15 months. I'm kind of looking forward to it -- for her sake, even... what a perfect age to start socializing with other kids. And she'll be down to a few nursings/day probably, if she hasn't weaned herself by then. I hope not! I don't know if I'll be ready.

[Selesai]

My hospital bills were a lot I thought (c-section, in hospital for 4 days) but nothing compared to your's, Amy! I only had to pay a $25 copay for the entire maternity/birth costs, on top of my $200/mo for premiums.
Now I pay $600 a month for premiums. I wonder what would happen if I didn't have insurance at all, surely it couldn't cost more than I pay now just in premiums? Oh well.

Band-- Sarah, I was at Severna Park, also a group 4. I have heard we suck now though.

Candice, your Legal Aid plan sounds great.
Candice and Meg, about working out of the home. At first it is really hard. I really agree with you, Candice-- my feeling was that it was natural for me to stay at home, why did i have to go work and do something "unnatural?" I didn't take public transportation to work because I wanted to rush home. And the entire adjustment of DH taking care of Philip so much was big for him, too. But you get used to it, and really, at least it's your co-parent watching the kid.
Now I find that the time at work isn't so bad, and my time with Philip is very precious. I will admit I get sad sometimes, especially if I don't get to see much of Philip at night, and it still feels a bit unnatural. It's hard because I want/need time to myself, but also need time with Philip, and I haven't figured out how to balance those things.
I totally rambled and didn't answer your question, so if you want more thoughts, let me know.

[Selesai]

Oh! About weaning. It will make me sad!
Last night Philip was SO hilarious. I got home and he immediately wanted to nurse. He would suck, suck, then pull off, look at me, smile and laugh, and snuggle back onto the breast. It was so so cute and precious.

[Amys1st]

Originally Posted by BelgianSheepDog

We got a "bargain" from our NICU, only $8000 for the 24 hours she was there plus about $1500 for doctors fees. Most of the $8000 was the echo, eeeeek.

Ours worked out to average about 4K a day. But it was more at the beginning.

The bill was detailed out what cost what. They charged 2K to take MY breastmilk and add human fortifyer to it :

When I had Liz, the hospital has a "room in policy" So the baby stays w mama the whole time which is awesome. You can send the baby to the special care nursery at night if you want but daytime the baby is with you. The funny thing- the hospital charges a "rooming in" charge of $250 daily. So basically I have to pay $250 a day to watch my own baby. WTF??

[eco_mama]

Amy - don't ya just love the system?!

Anyone here planning to CLW?

[Paddington]

oy amy! that's good. i like how they charged you for the milk your body produced. must be like that corking fee at the restauraunts, right? :

working out of home.... yes, the first week is extremely difficult. the first day, you will cry most likely all day long. you will have days you feel like your child loves your caregiver--husband or other--more than they love you. but you know what? they don't. and nursing is such an awesome bond that it will always bring you back together. and when they are older and wean, the bond you have established will still be there. co-sleeping helps a lot too. truly, many of the ap tricks are what make it work. yes, there will be days that you feel as if you missed something monumental, but my boys are great and wait to do their best tricks when i am home ds2 got his first tooth on the weekend ds1 crawled for me first: . i know my kids very well and am still ususally the one who can get them to calm down/listen before anyone else can.

i find the hardest thing for my IRL friends/family who stay home is that their work is not valued and they NEVER seem to get a break. the spouse tends to look at them and say, well, you stayed home all day, what do you need a break from? and i think that totally sucks. : in a lot of ways b/c both dh and i work, i feel as if we try to make sure each of us has our alone time (though some weeks i do notice he gets more of it than i do...: ) and i feel as if ds1 is learning so much! my dcp is really awesome and i am sure ds1 will be reading very shortly. i don't think he would be where he is if i had stayed home; i don't think i have the patience to teach... well, i know i don't or i would find a job closer to home TEACHING.

anywho, that went slightly off topic but, you know, that's the way of our chats...

[Amys1st]

Originally Posted by EcoMama7

Anyone here planning to CLW?

I have already done it so I didnt think anything of it. I am hoping Maggie makes it to at least 18 mos before she decides to wean.

[Amys1st]

Originally Posted by Paddington

i find the hardest thing for my IRL friends/family who stay home is that their work is not valued and they NEVER seem to get a break. the spouse tends to look at them and say, well, you stayed home all day, what do you need a break from? and i think that totally sucks. :

I can see how that would be. A lot of my sahm friends have just that issue. I think when Liz was first born, dh sort of did that. I can remember him saying- "get this done, you're home all day..." whatever that might be= whether making a red tape call, paying a bill, dropping something off etc. Then he could not understand why I wanted to get household things done over the weekend. Until one day when Liz was about 9 mos old. I was out one morning during the weekend and he was going to "show me how its done". I came home around 10:30 am and he had all kinds of things out and was holding the vacumn cleaner and Liz in the other hand.
He looked frazzled. He said- " OK I now know why you want to wait until I am home on the weekend, sorry I ever gave you any grief." He looked a bit odd so I said whats wrong? He answered "I havent eaten, havent showered, I need to pee......." I just ROFL. He sometimes says in the morning he is glad he is leaving to work since its easier.

But OTH, I dont know how the heck you wahmamas do it. I remember when I worked out of my house in BC (before children) the office is always there. So I could work when I wanted. Sometimes it was around the clock. So now you have the kids, house etc and the office all in front of you.

One thing we do to balence: We each take months. Like last month was my month. My get out of the house activities took priority like my late night crops, girls night out etc. This month is dh's month. His activities get priority. He installed two windows on Sat, got his favorite meals cooked, will work in his shop in the garage.

[Amys1st]

BTW- dont forget to vote today if you live in the states.....

[Paddington]

Originally Posted by EcoMama7

Amy - don't ya just love the system?!

Anyone here planning to CLW?

ooh, not sure... i weaned ds1 at 16 months as i was getting bit to all and was always in pain and stopped enjoying my nursing experience, you know? but even as i weaned, it was still sad... i still missed nursing... (you know, the times i wasn't bit )

so, as long as we are both still enjoying our nursing experience, i suppose i will let ds2 keep nursing....

[Paddington]

Originally Posted by Amys1st

BTW- dont forget to vote today if you live in the states.....

going right after work....

[*guest]

CLW for us. My mom did CLW with me and my sister, so I'm just doing what I know.

Funny you mention WAH. I HATE IT. It's like having 2 full time jobs. I started taking projects again, and it's awful. I'm an information architect, and some of the designs get pretty complex and have a lot of money riding on them for the client. I can't get my brain engaged, and I feel like I'm always dropping a ball. Either the work is not perfect, or the baby is not being played with, or the house is filthy, or all of it at the same time is more like it. I need to figure out a better solution.

[Paddington]

Originally Posted by mommitola

CLW for us. My mom did CLW with me and my sister, so I'm just doing what I know.

Funny you mention WAH. I HATE IT. It's like having 2 full time jobs. I started taking projects again, and it's awful. I'm an information architect, and some of the designs get pretty complex and have a lot of money riding on them for the client. I can't get my brain engaged, and I feel like I'm always dropping a ball. Either the work is not perfect, or the baby is not being played with, or the house is filthy, or all of it at the same time is more like it. I need to figure out a better solution.

yeah, i could see how you would feel as if you don't have time for any of it... i don't think it is just have 2 FT jobs, but having them simultaneously... the thing about my job is i already tell them, i don't do overtime. i have to leave at this time, there is no room for debate. and i do not work from home, not even to just check my work email. period. thankfully, i have a great boss...who is currently on maternity leave...