So, as the third trimester rolled around the bend a few weeks ago, my mind is increasingly turning to the way that I am going to get this child out of my body. As I do have experience with this, I'm approaching this one with little of the fear of the unknown that I had with my first one, in particular.
Many of you know the history of how both of my kids were birthed, but as a refresher:
Baby #1 - water broke 2 days before my due date. No contractions. Hooked up to pitocin immediately upon entering the hospital about 2 hours later. Labored with the maximum amount of pitocin coursing through my body, strapped to the bed, unable to move around. 26 hours later, I was barely at 7 cm and delivered him via c-section.
Baby #2 - water broke 1 week before my due date. Contractions light & irregular. Went to the hospital about 6 hours after my water broke and walked around and tried to get labor going. They started with a minimal amount of pitocin (OB was knocking down the door -- midwives were trying to hold them off) 16 hours after my water broke. 26 hours later, I delivered my daughter via VBAC. She was then put in the NICU for the next 7 days with a possible infection due in part to the fact that my water had been broken for so long before delivery.
Delivery #2 sounds better, right? It was. But her week in the NICU was the most hellish week of my life. Unless you've been through it, you can't imagine (1) not being able to hold your baby because s/he is in an incubator, (2) being told your newborn has to have a spinal tap to rule out meningitis, and (3) leaving the hospital without your baby. If I had to do it again, honestly, I think I would have scheduled a repeat c-section.
And so, that makes me wonder about this baby. It appears that I have a history of, if not premature rupture of my bag of water, at least my body doesn't like to go into labor on its own. I don't particularly want a repeat c-section, but I can't bear the thought of another baby landing in the NICU again!
I've never had the experience of giving birth and then keeping my baby with me afterwards, which is my rather modest goal with this one. With #1, they also took out some ovarian cysts, so I was in the OR longer and obviously couldn't hold him. With #2, they let me hold her for about 3 minutes and then whisked her off to the NICU, where I wasn't able to hold her again until the following morning.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
saving money
We've been doing a bit of bill reduction in the past few months, not necessarily on purpose, but as we have looked at where our money is going, we are realizing that we could be using it more efficiently. At this same time as last year, January 2010, we are saving $88.34 per month, which breaks out to over $1,000 per year. By this time next year, we will be saving $115.84 per month over what we were paying in January 2010. Even with inflation, that is pretty good!
In case anyone else is interested, here is the breakdown (sorry there's so much space between -- not sure how to fix it):
By way of explanation -- the start up cost for the cell phone includes the cost of my new phone that I got in September, and the start up cost for getting rid of cable, which included the hardware that we purchased this month, which I will explain later. Both start up costs are amortized over 12 months, which I subtracted from our total cost savings.
#1. The biggest cost savings that we were able to realize was with our water and sewage bill. We were being charged almost $800 per year for water and sewage, with the amount going up every year. We received a flyer this summer with the water bill advertising that we should have our water metered instead of zoned (which is where they assume that you're using a certain amount of water based on how your property is zoned). So we signed up for the free program, two guys from the Water Dept came out and put a meter on and we even got a free rain barrel! I've been shocked at how much our water bill has come down because of this! We were paying on a semi-annual basis, but because we are using way less water than they were charging us for, we probably are paid up through the rest of this year just on what we paid last year.
#2. We were also able to save through replacing my cell phone service through AT&T with Virgin Wireless. I don't use that many minutes on my cell and we have a land line at home, so even the 450 minutes I was getting through AT&T were too many, plus a $5 texting plan. I switched to the 300 minute option through Virgin, which includes unlimited text and data for $25/month and I could not be happier with it! I haven't really noticed a drop off in coverage and the places where we travel the most (southeastern Michigan and the Cincinnati area) have fine coverage. Plus, Chris still has AT&T (through work), so if we're in an area where I don't get coverage, he will have it and we seldom travel without the other.
#3. As of today, we are a cable-free family. As we were examining what we actually watch on cable, it is fairly limited to ESPN and occasionally the Food Network. We mostly watch PBS when we do watch TV (which isn't that often, to be honest). The kids like the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon, but that's not a great reason to continue paying almost $50/month. Plus, with the rise of programming on the internet, and a subscription to Netflix (plus their instant access on many programs), there isn't much that we can't watch. The only catch (and it's a doozy) is that my husband has the expertise and know-how to set up the TV through the internet, as well as the resources through his work to be able to borrow a good computer that was not being used. We had to buy other things to make it work as well, which accounts for the $180 start up cost. But, there are distinct advantages to not having cable either -- I had been sad to not have access to WTTW Prime, which has a lot of shows that I enjoy watching (Masterpiece Theater, documentaries, etc.), and we now have an application called Boxee where we can download different apps like Pandora, Netflix, etc. I can also have my iTunes in the living room instead of connecting my iPod and having it drain the batteries.
These 3 things have been pretty painless switches to make and we will reap some significant savings from them!
In case anyone else is interested, here is the breakdown (sorry there's so much space between -- not sure how to fix it):
| Category | Were Paying (per month) | Now Paying | Start Up Cost | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| water | $65.24 | $14.92 | $0.00 | $50.32 |
| cell phone | $56.56 | $27.44 | $150.00 | $29.12 |
| cable | $47.19 | $10.79 | $180.00 | $36.40 |
| Totals | $115.84/per month after Jan 2012 | |||
| $103.34 after Sept 2011 | ||||
| $88.34/per month, currently |
By way of explanation -- the start up cost for the cell phone includes the cost of my new phone that I got in September, and the start up cost for getting rid of cable, which included the hardware that we purchased this month, which I will explain later. Both start up costs are amortized over 12 months, which I subtracted from our total cost savings.
#1. The biggest cost savings that we were able to realize was with our water and sewage bill. We were being charged almost $800 per year for water and sewage, with the amount going up every year. We received a flyer this summer with the water bill advertising that we should have our water metered instead of zoned (which is where they assume that you're using a certain amount of water based on how your property is zoned). So we signed up for the free program, two guys from the Water Dept came out and put a meter on and we even got a free rain barrel! I've been shocked at how much our water bill has come down because of this! We were paying on a semi-annual basis, but because we are using way less water than they were charging us for, we probably are paid up through the rest of this year just on what we paid last year.
#2. We were also able to save through replacing my cell phone service through AT&T with Virgin Wireless. I don't use that many minutes on my cell and we have a land line at home, so even the 450 minutes I was getting through AT&T were too many, plus a $5 texting plan. I switched to the 300 minute option through Virgin, which includes unlimited text and data for $25/month and I could not be happier with it! I haven't really noticed a drop off in coverage and the places where we travel the most (southeastern Michigan and the Cincinnati area) have fine coverage. Plus, Chris still has AT&T (through work), so if we're in an area where I don't get coverage, he will have it and we seldom travel without the other.
#3. As of today, we are a cable-free family. As we were examining what we actually watch on cable, it is fairly limited to ESPN and occasionally the Food Network. We mostly watch PBS when we do watch TV (which isn't that often, to be honest). The kids like the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon, but that's not a great reason to continue paying almost $50/month. Plus, with the rise of programming on the internet, and a subscription to Netflix (plus their instant access on many programs), there isn't much that we can't watch. The only catch (and it's a doozy) is that my husband has the expertise and know-how to set up the TV through the internet, as well as the resources through his work to be able to borrow a good computer that was not being used. We had to buy other things to make it work as well, which accounts for the $180 start up cost. But, there are distinct advantages to not having cable either -- I had been sad to not have access to WTTW Prime, which has a lot of shows that I enjoy watching (Masterpiece Theater, documentaries, etc.), and we now have an application called Boxee where we can download different apps like Pandora, Netflix, etc. I can also have my iTunes in the living room instead of connecting my iPod and having it drain the batteries.
These 3 things have been pretty painless switches to make and we will reap some significant savings from them!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Because I don't blog very much, I sometimes feel pressure to write only when I actually have something profound to talk about. Well, I don't really, but here's what's been on my mind lately (a random mishmash of things, I know):
pregnancy
Many of you know that I really don't like to be pregnant. I'm sick for the first 15 weeks (give or take a week), I feel out-of-sorts, I'm exhausted, I get huge, heartburn, as well as other maladies that I won't mention here. But I'm finding that I'm actually enjoying this pregnancy. It has been the easiest of the three for whatever reason, which isn't to say that it's not without it's irritations (can you say itchy, scratchy rash?), but perhaps knowing that it's most likely my last pregnancy is making me savor every little kick that I am feeling.
I think too that being pregnant over the winter is making this pregnancy more pleasant -- with my last pregnancy, I was enormous and it was one of the hottest summers on record (she was born the day before the Chicago Marathon that had to be called off early due to heat). I was so tired. I'm really excited to meet this little one and am fully intending on cherishing the time that I have with him/her (no, we aren't finding out the gender) because I have a renewed appreciation for how quickly they really do grow up...
compassion, or lack thereof
I had an epiphany the other night. I realized how uncompassionate I can sometimes be towards my children, which I think is a direct correlation to the fact that I stay home with them, which is completely counterintuitive! You'd think that I'd be more compassionate because I know them that much better. And in some situations I am. But I also think about the distinct advantages that my children have because we're in a position that I am able to stay at home, as well as having enough money and resources to more than take care of our wants and needs. My children have never really had another childcare provider other than me, so that makes me think that they should be more secure, more free, and less whiny than other children. But that isn't always the case, in fact, it seems like quite the opposite, which frustrates me!
And then I watch a film like God Grew Tired of Us about the Lost Boys of Sudan and the horrors that they have had to endure and it makes me even less sympathetic towards my own children. Boys as young as 5 years old had to leave their families and join with the rest of boys in a 1,000 mile trek through the deserts of Sudan! And my 5 year old son can't get off of his bum to pick up his jacket that he threw on the floor?!
My brother and I were in daycare and then afterschool care for just about our entire lives, until we were old enough to become "latchkey" kids. I believe that was one of the things that helped me become independent. It did have its drawbacks, but when I see my ultra-clingy children (i.e., I never have to worry about them darting off in a playground or in public, they are normally glued to my sides), I wish that they were more independent and I wonder if I have made them this way.
When I brought this idea up to my husband, he tells me that if I worked full-time, my emotion would be guilt, not compassion. He's probably right. But isn't there a fine line between guilt & compassion?
doc martin
Chris & I don't normally watch very much TV. We watch sports and Masterpiece Theater when we do watch, for the most part. However, our local PBS station started airing this British show called Doc Martin and we love it! So much so that I signed up for a hulu account just so we could watch and not be constrained by PBS. And then we signed up for Netflix so we could watch season 4! Yes, I am a bit of a self-professed anglophile, but even my husband who is not enjoyed it. Can't wait for season 5 coming out this year!
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