how much did your baby cost

[MrsK]

I'm not sure why renting would be an impediment to having children. Frankly, given the amount of relocating required for medical traning, the home I bought before I met DrK has been more of a liability than a benefit.

I felt financially prepared. But I was 35 and working FT when I had my first kid. Having a child changes your finances but, unless you are already living on the edge of poverty, that doesn't mean that you go broke. You just spend your money differently. I spend more money on babyfood, diapers, insurance, etc. but I spend less on eating out, movies, entertainment, clothes for myself, etc. It's not because I made a consious decision to forego eating out and movies so I can afford diapers and babyfood. It's because I'm too busy (and having too much fun) doing baby-oriented activities to eat out or go to the movies. Yes, children are expensive. I believe I read something that said that it costs $250k to raise a child to adulthood. But, that's not a realistic way to look at it because (1) it's highly variable, (2) you don't spend $250k in one lump sum, and (3) if you didn't have children, you'd likely spend $250k on something else during your lifetime. If you are debt free, you are ahead of the financial pack.

It's nice to have a nest-egg if you are planning a family. In fact, I'd recommend it regardless of whether you are planning a family because you never know what could happen. The amount of actual "start-up" expenses is highly variable but you may want to look into the amount of your insurance deductables (per person -- remember, you'll be paying the baby's deductable too). I moved mid-pregnancy and switched insurance but was lucky that DrK's program has super insurance.

[ladymoreta]

We had saved up $20,000 for having our baby. I am staying at home, so to calculate that amount, we looked at our current (pre-baby) expenses, and calculated the difference per month between DH's salary and the expenses. Basically, how much we were supplementing with my income. Then we took that amount and multiplied it by the number of months left until he finished residency. It was a rough estimate, but we counted on less entertainment (movies, expensive dinners) being similar to the baby's expenses (diapers, Dr. visits, etc).

But then when I was 2 months pregnant, I was laid off, and we had to use a little savings, then I got a temp job that paid about half of what I was making, so we didn't have to use savings, but we weren't able to contribute much. Then, about a month after DS was born, we found out we had to replace our home's entire air conditioning system for $10,000.

The best laid plans... Ah well. We know we'll have some credit card debt by the end of residency, but I'm breastfeeding, making homemade baby food, and cloth diapering, so that helps.

[Pollyanna]

You will never be financially prepared for children because you never know what you will need for that particular child. If you are emotional prepared then you are ready. Do you not have insurance now? Most medical insurance covers prenatal stuff and your delivery/doctor fees may be minimal. At the end of your life you are unlikely to say, "I wish I had saved an extra X amount of dollars before we had children". Consider the source of this reply though, 5 kids, fair amount of debt and 22 months left of training . Trust me when I say, you can make it work.

[Thirteen]

We were ready, and our insurance is amazing. That said, I don't think anyone would call us financially prepared. The first 6-8 weeks of baby's life, we will be finishing PGY-3 and living with my in-laws still. Yet, we believe everything will be whatever it needs to be, and that Bean won't know he or she is getting the shaft with the coolest baby gear anyway. In the end, I really wanted to go ahead and start trying earlier than we first planned: if this becomes your situation too, don't worry so much about broken plans.
(Also, consignment stores and co-ops are great for swapping items or purchasing gently-used baby gear).

[houseelf]

Financial advisors everywhere are cringing by what I'm about to say. Finances should be one of the lessor reasons in deciding if/when to have a child. Sure, it definitely is a consideration, but I don't know, you just make that part work.

I'll third the sentiment that they really do get more expensive as they get older. When my oldest was little, I used to calculate what I would do with all our excess funds once our daily childcare needs were gone. Now, weekly childcare seems inexpensive compared to extracurriculars, braces, cellphones, spending money, clothing, food (no really it is a gross amounts of food), summer camps at $500/pop. This is said by someone just barely getting into the first blush of tweendom.

Unless a kid has some special need (specific formula, health care issues) a baby is only as expensive as you make him or her. Most of the stuff is just superflous.

[Urowife]

We had saved up $20,000 for having our baby. I am staying at home, so to calculate that amount, we looked at our current (pre-baby) expenses, and calculated the difference per month between DH's salary and the expenses. Basically, how much we were supplementing with my income. Then we took that amount and multiplied it by the number of months left until he finished residency. It was a rough estimate, but we counted on less entertainment (movies, expensive dinners) being similar to the baby's expenses (diapers, Dr. visits, etc).

This is what we did as well. We saved up about $20,000 so I could stay home. And, we must have had really good insurance from DH's residency program because I didn't pay a dime out of pocket for any prenatal care, delivery, or postnatal care.

About a year before we started trying I investigated child care costs in our area, and we attempted to save that sum every month. It was good practice to try living without that income, and we built up a nice cushion. During pregnancy instead of saving that full amount we've been directing some of those funds towards the "start up costs" -- i.e., the crib, the car seat, the medical bills, etc.

I also started researching health care costs well in advance and had a very difficult time obtaining information. It took several calls to my health insurance company, OB, and insurance plan administrator to piece together what I hope is an accurate understanding of the total costs. I also found it helpful to talk to mothers in my office on my insurance plan to see how it had worked out for them. It's also hard to plan because all the quotes you'll get are for a "normal" pregnancy and delivery, but I'd say at least 1/4 of my friends have incurred some additional expense.

We haven't had ours yet, so I can't say whether we really are financially prepared, but I am really glad I stressed about finances and got us organized before the positive test. Pregnancy has provided many other opportunities for worry, and it has been nice that how we're going to pay for all this hasn't been one of them.

[moonlight]

Thanks for all of your info!
I guess I was more asking about delivery/dr fees. We wanted to have a chunk of money set aside just for that

I thought so! Does your DH's medical school offer a student insurance plan that allows for dependants to be added? Since you are working part time (you said that right?), can you look into state or federal provided pre natal care? In all honesty, if you qualify than you should take it. That's what it's there for!

[Ladybug]

I'm sorry for misunderstanding. I promise not to post anymore until I'm getting more sleep. A baby cost you more brain cells than money in the beginning.

A Csection runs about 5-6K total where we live (NE) and we haven't had any NICU stays or complications requiring extended hospital admissions (pre or post natal). In network insurance covers 90% and out of network runs you 20%

[diggitydot]

How much did my babies cost? I'll let you know when they're done with college and/or out of the house...

[scrub-jay]

At first I thought this was a philosophical question. My DD cost me everything I knew and in return gave me a whole new (and better) perspective.

[Michele]

D was born at Russ' hospital and he was free...8 week NICU stay and all. K was about 1000 and P is looking to be around there too. Maybe a bit more. If I would've chosen Russ' hospital again it would've been free....but I didn't want to do the teaching experience again unless I needed the specialist care again.

I'm amazed by how much hasn't been covered for so many of you. My first two were born during residency, and they only cost the initial co-pay at the OB/GYN ($20 or $30 I think?). M was born here (out of training) and we have insanely awesome insurance (but pricey, too), and cost nothing out of pocket.

[Thirteen]

Oops! I misunderstood this question - our first, with his insurance, will supposedly cost $100 total (prenatal, hospital stay, etc).
It used to be $75, but they made adjustments in the past 2-3 years.

I'm amazed by how much hasn't been covered for so many of you. My first two were born during residency, and they only cost the initial co-pay at the OB/GYN ($20 or $30 I think?). M was born here (out of training) and we have insanely awesome insurance (but pricey, too), and cost nothing out of pocket.

Same here. Even copays were waived with the twins. The following two kids probably cost around $100 each as well, with insurance. (DS#2 wasn't insured, but apparently all his in-hospital costs were covered under me, except the circumcision.)

As things turned out, we didn't have kids until DH could moonlight regularly. With that added income, I was able to quit my job and stay home. We would have made it work before then, but that timing ended up being good for us.

Our regular household expenses have more than doubled (possibly tripled), with 4 little ones of various ages.