Money, Money, Money

One very lucky thing for GH and me is that we have excellent health insurance. We are covered by a major HMO through his work, and his work pays for close to 90% of the cost of the insurance. Even better, we live in a state with mandated infertility coverage, so the $11,000 that would have been out-of-pocket for us in nearly any other state of the union to create the twins (not including medication) turned out to be about $200 out-of-pocket INCLUDING the meds. With few exceptions, GH has been able to get approval for meds that require an insurance petition, including some that cost upwards of $2,000 a month. The surgery I had last year cost us nothing out-of-pocket. Once the twins arrive, they are already covered under our HMO with no additional cost to us. I am grateful every day that I don't have to worry about our medical bills dragging us into financial ruin.

What just might be the end of us, though, is daycare. Just for kicks, I looked at prices at the daycare coops at a local, very good university. $2,000 per child, per month. So for us, $4,000/month. HI. After taxes, that's basically what we're taking home. Forget the mortgage! Forget eating! But the twins will have good daycare.

That is, of course, one of the most expensive options, and one we certainly won't take because we just can't. But my searches are not turning anything up that will be under $2,000/month for the two of them, which is not particularly doable either.

Of course, I should have taken this into account before we decided to have kids. But given the time pressure we're under, what was I going to do? Not have them because of money? Argh. People who make way less money than us manage to do it.

We could get rid of one of our cars. Start clipping coupons. Sell our condo and move to a one-bedroom in a less-nice part of town. It's not that we don't have options, I just don't particularly like them. Honestly, though, you think that I'd be used to that situation by now.

I do plan to ask the woman who cleans our house (another expense we could cut!) if she knows anyone who might be looking for a childcare position; ideally, we'd like someone to come to the house to care for the twins to minimize the morning and evening drop-off/pick-up hassle. And while the kids are babies, I want someone who will love them, feed them, change their diapers, hold them, cuddle them, sing to them, etc. At four months, they mostly need love, not Baby Mozart and educational games.

This is a big stressor for me right now. But I did manage to cross one thing off my list yesterday: we're signed up for our baby training classes: Parenting Multiples in March, Breastfeeding in April, and "Infant Survival Training" in early May. All are just one-evening classes. I'm looking forward to meeting the other participants and to learning some stuff. As an only child, I don't have much baby experience, so it's certainly time well spent.

Chemo today. Power to the platelets! GH is picking me up at 11:30. Hopefully the oncologist will have some news for us about spleen treatment options.