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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
I have some maternity questions...
I was just hoping to get a few other views on these things, I know they are probably silly questions...:
1-Did you take a birthing class? If so, where?
2-I dont defer money to flex spending account, should I start in December to help pay for my birth?
3-If so, How can I estimate how much I should put away?
4-My work schedule is really rouhg during March and April, and I"m due May 10th-when should I take the birthing/breastfeeding/parenting classes? Is it too early to take them in February?
ETA-5- How long did you take for maternity leave?
Re: I have some maternity questions...
1-Did you take a birthing class? If so, where? Yes. IMO, it was more for DH but it was something I don't regret doing. We also took a BFing class even though I was pretty sure I wanted to EP. We took everything through Methodist where DS was born. THis time we are just doing a tour of Bergan since we've never been there.
2-I dont defer money to flex spending account, should I start in December to help pay for my birth? If you can, I would. I didn't for this calendar year (I didn't plan on having another this soon) but will for sure next year. Any pretax money is a big savings.
3-If so, How can I estimate how much I should put away? Your doctor's office should be able to tell you their fee for prenatal services and delivery. Then calculate what your insurance covers. I am putting away the max I can ($5k) even though delivery should be much less than that. We'll still have almost a full year of well baby checks, apts for DS1, appts for me, etc. It's money that will not be wasted.
4-My work schedule is really rouhg during March and April, and I"m due May 10th-when should I take the birthing/breastfeeding/parenting classes? Is it too early to take them in February? While they recommend waiting to do them until closer to your EDD, I think your plan is reasonable. If you're already stressed and busy from work, the last thing you want to do is sit through a class.
ETA-5- How long did you take for maternity leave? I only took 6 week with DS and it sucked. I'm not sure if I'll be able to afford more this time but I'd like to take at least 8.
love is for every her, love is for every him, love is for everyone
1 - Yes, I took the birthing class at UNMC, as that's where I was planning to (and did) deliver. I had already read fairly extensively about some things, but it was helpful in some ways for DH to get the full picture of what the birth process could entail. I also took a breastfeeding class.
2 &3 - It probably depends a lot on your insurance plan and I'm not good at answering that stuff, lol...
4 - I don't think it's too early to take them in February at all, especially if it's not your sole source of information - you'll retain some from that, and some from what you've read separately as well.
5 - I took 12 weeks
1-Did you take a birthing class? If so, where? Yes. We took ours through Methodist, but I'd take them where you deliver if you can. I knew quite a bit going into it, but I still learned a ton. It helped DH as well.
2-I dont defer money to flex spending account, should I start in December to help pay for my birth? we did not
3-If so, How can I estimate how much I should put away? Ours after insurance was less than 1K. I would find out how much your insurance covers and go from there. They will be able to tell you.
4-My work schedule is really rouhg during March and April, and I"m due May 10th-when should I take the birthing/breastfeeding/parenting classes? Is it too early to take them in February? agree with pp... also there are options... one that you meet two saturdays or there are your weekly ones for like 6 weeks I think. we did the weekly and used that as our date night as well.
ETA-5- How long did you take for maternity leave? n/a stay at home with mine
1-Did you take a birthing class? If so, where? Took one through Bergan. It was helpful, but nothing that I didn't already know. I'm a control freak, so it just helped me feel like I was learning as much as possible to be prepared.
2-I dont defer money to flex spending account, should I start in December to help pay for my birth? Most companies won't let you start adding to flexible spending until the new fiscal year in January, but if you can add in December, I would definitely do so.
3-If so, How can I estimate how much I should put away? Find out what your insurance covers and you can get from a hospital estimated costs for c-section, vaginal birth, circumcision, etc. Depending on what your insurance covers, you should put as much into Flexible Spending as you think you will need to cover your bills or part of your bills.
4-My work schedule is really rouhg during March and April, and I"m due May 10th-when should I take the birthing/breastfeeding/parenting classes? Is it too early to take them in February? I think I would do closer to May, but February would be okay if you had to. There are some classes that are just one full day on a Saturday.
ETA-5- How long did you take for maternity leave? I took 12 weeks with both kids and was really ready to go back by 10 weeks with my second. But I figured it was a once in a lifetime chance to take 12 weeks off of work. I also had a supplemental insurance policy that paid out and helped cover what work didn't (about 4 weeks).
2-I dont defer money to flex spending account, should I start in December to help pay for my birth? I don't see why not.
3-If so, How can I estimate how much I should put away? Depending on your insurance, my total out of pocket for me and sawyer was $2,500. The hospital charges ended up being free because I met all my totals. Also, remember his doctor visits.
4-My work schedule is really rouhg during March and April, and I"m due May 10th-when should I take the birthing/breastfeeding/parenting classes? Is it too early to take them in February? I was due in Feb and took them starting December but with the weather, we didn't have 2 of our classes which was fine.
ETA-5- How long did you take for maternity leave? I took the full 12 but I hated my job and was happy to be gone for the 12 and when I started back, I was refreshed to deal with the crap. There are different opinions. If you take the full 12, you have no FMLA protection after that because it is a rolling calendar year so if baby would get really sick and need extensive care, you would hope your employer is understanding for your need to be away but they could fire you (while the child is sick) so some HR professionals will tell you take 10 to leave 2 weeks available for those types of scenarios.
Also, do you get paid for your maternity leave? I got paid 4-6 weeks and then had to go without an income for the rest. We had saved money to allow me to do that.
Another thing to think of regarding costs is if you do go into a no pay status at your work and insurance is through you, will have to continue to pay your insurance costs monthly through your employer.
And one last thing, remember you have 30 days to add baby onto insurance whether that is dad's or yours. This is crucial.
Thanks ladies!
I work at a great place, so I know they will help me get my paperwork ready and filled out for insurance, etc. As far as when I can take the baby class, I am pretty much unavailable from March until April 15th, so I can either take it right after the 15th (worries me just in case I had to go on bedrest or had baby early) or I can take it in the end february.