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It Costs How Much To Have a Baby, Now?! · She's On The Money

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: She's on the Money.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: She's on the Money.
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  Speaker 3: My name's Tatasha Bamblet. I'm a proud First Nations woman
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  Speaker 3: and I'm here to acknowledge country. Hello, beautiful friends, we
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  Speaker 3: gather on the lands of the Aboriginal people. We thank
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: acknowledge and respect the Aboriginal people's land that we're gathering
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: on today. Take pleasure in all the land and respect
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  Speaker 3: all that you see. She's on the Money podcast acknowledges culture, country,
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  Speaker 3: community and connections, bringing you the tools, knowledge and resources
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: for you to thrive.
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  Speaker 4: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: where we discuss all issues affecting your personal wealth goals
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  Speaker 4: so that you can feel more in control of your
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  Speaker 4: financial future. My friends, I'm Victoria Devine and today's episode
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  Speaker 4: is a topic very close to my heart. Literally, we
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: are talking about babies, specifically my babies.
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  Speaker 2: They're adorable, they are life changing, they are really expensive.
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  Speaker 4: While so many of us have gone through the process
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  Speaker 4: of having kids, how many of us have actually stopped
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: to track every single cost that you've occurred along the way.
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  Speaker 4: I'm talking about the preconception care supplements and all of
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: those sneaky out of pocket costs that add up.
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  Speaker 3: In the end.
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: So I have brought in my very own receipts. Call
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: me delusional, but I tracked every single cost during my
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: pregnancy with Campbell, down to the fruit tingles that I
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: was having for my nausea. Plus I'm going to share
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: with you exactly what it cost me to have Campbell,
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  Speaker 4: plus some things that I would think that you probably
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: should consider for your own budget if you're thinking about
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: having your own kids. Because while people are very quick
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: to ask, oh my gosh, are you planning on having
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: kids or are you going to have them soon? Here
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: is my reminder that you need to do what is
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: right for you. So tune in at your own pace.
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: And if you need to skip this episode because you
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: just don't care about baby costs or it's a topic
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: that you just don't want to have in your ears.
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  Speaker 2: Right now, girlfriend, I will catch you on the next episode.
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: But before I pull out my calculator and add up
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  Speaker 4: all of the numbers, which honestly shocked me as well,
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: we're going to be taking a really quick break and
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: when we return, I'm going to give you a trimester
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: by trimester breakdown of my baby bill to the scent
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  Speaker 4: my friends, welcome back to our baby Crazed episode that
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: no one else in the She's on the Money team
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: agreed to be on. They were like, VI, this is
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: one that you've got to riff for yourself, because we
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: will just be shocked and in awe. I'm going to
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: share what is essentially an itemized breakdown of everything I
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: spent while having my most recent or my youngest child,
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: my daughter Campbell. Full disclosure, I do have private health
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: cover and I did go through the private health or
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: the private hospital system, right so my costs might actually
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: be significantly higher than if you went through the public system,
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: which honestly is a fact. We know it's going to
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: be more expensive because in Australia we do have an
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  Speaker 4: incredible public system, and I would implore people to definitely
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: lean on that. I also am currently working to get
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: a money diarist and a whole public system diary on
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  Speaker 4: for you guys, so that we can kind of compare
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: and contrast. And the reason I'm sharing this is honestly
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: in transparency. It's not because I think that you should
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: also spend this, but it's because I want you to
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  Speaker 4: feel really empowered about making decisions and know where things
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: could add up for you or areas that you might
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: go v I would never spend the money on that,
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: and that is totally okay. But please understand that this
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: is my experience. I'm not talking to the experience of everybody.
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: I'm talking to the experience that I had and the
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: costs that I have incurred. There's another caveat I want
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  Speaker 4: to point out as well that I have taken into consideration,
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  Speaker 4: and that is that you are also going to typically
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: need to have not you do need, but if you
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: want to go through the private system, you need you
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: need to have your private health coverage for at least
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: twelve months before you can even use the services that
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: you will need during pregnancy. So right off the bat,
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  Speaker 4: let's add monthly private health cover to the tally board.
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  Speaker 2: My private health cover is four.
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: Hundred and two dollars and sixty cents per month for
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  Speaker 4: twelve months plus the nine months during my pregnancy, which
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  Speaker 4: brings us up to a total of six nine hundred
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  Speaker 4: and five dollars and forty cents before we even start
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: talking about costs for pregnancy. So that's just my private
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: health cover. The other thing I want to point out
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  Speaker 4: is that most private health insurers will not let you
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  Speaker 4: have access to obstetric care with their base private health cover,
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  Speaker 4: so you have to have like usually their gold cover
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  Speaker 4: or usually their Gold Plus hospital or something along those lines.
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  Speaker 4: So the cover I have feels really expensive. But for
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: the mums who maybe have already looked into this, you
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: know that you have to have the top level of
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: cover get obstetric care. And the thing that I am
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: now questioning because my husband and I Campbell is now
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: nearly four months old or just over four months, actually terrifying.
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  Speaker 4: We've said, let's just leave the baby conversation until Campbell's
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: at least one, before we even talk about whether we
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: want three babies or not. And after I did this episode,
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: I am now seriously considering just getting rid of the
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: private health cover and paying for the base level and
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: just paying out of pocket potentially for my hospital stay
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: if we decided to go through the private system again. Anyway,
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: back on track, I did some research. In twenty twenty one,
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: Westpac reported that the average Australian family spends seven nine
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: hundred and eighteen dollars setting up for a new baby,
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: and then approximately six hundred dollars per month once that
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: baby arrives. Now I remember using that report back in
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: an article in twenty twenty four, but I've also almost
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: hit that threshold for my private health cover alone, So like,
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: let's see if that start whole.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: Up still in twenty twenty six.
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: Okay, let's go back to preconception, because one thing that
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: I think is important is to take the whole journey
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: into consideration when we're talking about finances. A lot of people,
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: especially when their wedding planning, they just look at the
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: budget for the wedding specifically and they don't add in
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: things like the bucks or the hen's party, or their
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: engagement party, or like incidental costs. And for me, those
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: definitely should be involved because you're going to have to
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: pay for them, and sometimes if you don't talk about this,
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: they fall out of the budget and then you don't
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: know why you're not able to afford things. So during
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: the month, and we're not going to talk about my
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: history too much, but during the month, even before receiving
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: a positive pregnancy test, I had actually spent almost three
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: hundred dollars on ovulation tests, medications, and supplements. So now,
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: because I have had a prior history of recurrent miscarriage.
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: One of these medications what's called utrogestrin, which was essentially
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: a progester owne pill that I had to take to
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: help me maintain a pregnancy from day one. So this
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: might not be on your list of mustabs, but it
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: was for me, and that roughly cost between ninety one
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: and one hundred and eighty two dollars per month throughout
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: the first trimester. The range exists because once I found
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: out I was pregnant, they doubled my cost, or they
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: doubled the medication that I was on, so really quick recap.
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: My preconception was two hundred and seventy two dollars and
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: seventy six cents, and that was made up of ovulation
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: tests which were about sixty dollars, Chase Tree supplements which
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: were thirty eight dollars and ninety nine cents. I was
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: taking aspirin and that was three dollars and eighty four
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: cents for the packet. Utrogestrine was ninety dollars and ninety
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: nine cents, and that's like a twenty one day supply.
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: And then I was taking my prenatal vitamins, which was
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: the Orthoplex Pure Natal ninety and that was seventy nine
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: ninety five, So we are up to a rolling total
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: of seven thousand, one hundred and seventy eight dollars and
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: sixteen cents before I have even gotten into my first
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: trimester of pregnancy. So as soon as I became pregnant,
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: things only started to ramp up, both figuratively and literally,
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: because I actually was diagnosed with HG, which is hyperamesis graviadem,
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: which is basically where you experience really horrific nausea and
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: vomiting so much so that you actually need medical intervention.
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: So on top of the pregnancy tests, the supplements, my
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: doctor's appointments, I had really specific medications to help me
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: address the nausea so that I could actually absorb nutrients
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: and actually eat and actually function. So, just running through
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: that list, some of the costs incurred during my first
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: trimester included in the first week's obviously pregnancy tests. From
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: week four to a week five, I was doing a
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: fair few of them because I was anxious, So I
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: had seven first response pregnancy tests at twenty one dollars
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: thirty and I had seven clear blue pregnancy tests at
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: thirty eight dollars ninety nine. Because if you've been in
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: a situation like mine, you do keep testing to make
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  Speaker 4: sure that that line gets bluer. I'm not saying that
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: you need to do that, but that's what I was doing.
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: Then week five, I had to have a GP appointment
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  Speaker 4: to get my obstetrician referral and some medication, and that
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  Speaker 4: came out of the wash at seventy two dollars and
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: forty two cents. Then there was some medications. Then by
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  Speaker 4: week six I was on a lot more medication for HG.
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: So I was on and I won't go through it all,
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: but that kind of came up to being at like
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: sixty dollars. The namely or the most expensive medication I
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: had during that period of time was on Danzetron, which
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: is an anti nausea medication, which is twenty two dollars
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: for ten tablets. I also had to pay for my
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: six week obstetric appointment, which was five hundred dollars. And
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: then I had some electrolytes I have been obsessed with
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: and was drinking Hydromama and that is thirty nine dollars
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: ninety nine a packet. And then because it's me, guys,
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: I have also included my hospital parking. So my hospital
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: parking in week six was nineteen dollars. So yeah, just
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: going through that, I'm looking at all of those costs
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: for the first trimester. Again, I'm just replicating more medications,
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: more hospital parking, etc. And then when I came to
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: week ten, there was some big costs there. I had
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: the NAPT test, which my husband and I wanted to do,
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: that was out of pocket and not covered by Medicare.
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: That was four hundred and forty nine dollars. And then
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: because I had a private obstetrician, which by the way,
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: you pay for outside of your private hospital and health cover.
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: And I'm not saying that his fees were bad, they
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: were fine, they were normal, but they were broken up
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: into three different installations. So I had my ten week
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: obstetric installation and that was two and a half thousand
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: dollars for the week eleven, week twelve. We're just looking
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: at hospital parking and medications. So with that in mind,
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: I had then spent a total of five thousand and
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: two dollars and eighty nine cents during my first trimester,
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: bringing our rolling total to twelve thousand, one hundred and
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: eighty one dollars. And five cents, well above the Westpac estimate,
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: mind you, So sitting here and me looking at that amount,
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: it kind of makes you wonder what else someone might
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: spend five thousand dollars on in three months. Like if
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: I gave five grand to any of my friends, I
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: think they'd be like five grand great, I could go
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: in a whole holiday, Like imagine what you could do
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: with twelve grand. I'm not saying it's not worth it,
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: It's just so much money, and I guess that's food
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: for thought. Now rolling on in, we're going to talk
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: about the second trimester. This is where I did start
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: to feel slightly better. I wasn't under the table rocking
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: back and forward, but I was definitely still not well.
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: So we have a lot of medical costs here.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Again.
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: Thankfully, when I did need to go into hospital to
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: do additional fluids or check ins, which I had a
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: lot of during that period of time, I was very
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: lucky that my obstetrician has rooms set up and is
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: kind of in the hospital, so that was never an
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: additional cost to go into hospital, but for some people
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: it could be. But from week thirteen I had to
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: do or didn't have to do it, was recommended to
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: do my thirteen week anatomy scan, and that wasn't done
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: at my obstetrician. That was done externally, and that was
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: four hundred and thirty dollars and I got one hundred
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: and fourteen dollars and sixty five cents back on my
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: Medicare rebate. Week fourteen was just a whole heap of medications.
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: That was the week that my utube gestrine doubled, so
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: it went to one hundred and eighty one dollars and
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: ninety eight cents Week fifteen no expenses money. Whin week sixteen,
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: I had my private ob management fee come out at
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: two and a half thousand dollars, and then again I
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: had to top up on my supplements, so my prenatals
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: I started taking Ultraflora, which is kind of like a probiotic,
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: which I wasn't having a very good time with all
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: the other medications, so I got something to support that
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: I'd done a blood test that was included, thankfully, so
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: that didn't cost me anything out of pocket. But I
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: was low in iron, so I started taking iron supplements,
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: a vitamin D supplement and C. I also needed to
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: take some B twelve so that was twenty one dollars,
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: twenty six dollars, thirty two dollars, and twenty eight dollars
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: for those rech respectively, and then I had some hospital parking.
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: I then, at about twenty weeks, which by the way,
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: this is really late in the game, I decided that
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: I really wanted to have a douller.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: And the reason I wanted to have a dollar was
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: because of past birth trauma.
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: I just really in my first berth didn't feel like
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: I was supported And this whole time I'd kind of
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: had it in the back of my mind that that
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: was something I wanted to do, but I also just
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: wasn't sure because I have a really supportive husband. So
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: I was like, no, we can do it, like anyway,
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: changed my mind on that and hired Steph, who was
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: my birth dollar and honestly the most incredible person in
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: the entire world. She has since changed her fees. I
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: did definitely tell her that they were too low for
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: what she was offering. But my DULA package I started
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: at twenty weeks, which if I was you and you
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: have decided that a doula is something that you want
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: to have as part of your birth experience, I would
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: be basically trying to set them up the second I
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: got a positive pregnancy test, because the good doulers get
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: booked out then, and I'm just lucky that I got
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: in with Steph. Anyway, that cost was split into four,
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: so my deposit for my dula birth package was eight
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: hundred and seventy five dollars. Then week twenty one, I
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: had another external anatomy scan at four hundred and seventy
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: five dollars with a one hundred and sixty five dollars
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: Medicare rebate, And at that point my rebate went up
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: a little bit because I hit my cap for the year.
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: I also have got a note here that I started
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: getting really bad acid reflux and heartburn, so we started
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: adding a prescription medication for acid reflux and heartburn, and
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: then things like Gavascon and my lanter in addition to
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: my nausea medications which I was still taking. So we're
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: speeding through that. In week twenty two, I spent seventy
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: eight dollars on medications. Then week twenty four I spent
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: three hundred and seventeen dollars and ninety eight cents because
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: I needed to have an iron infusion. Personally, I chose
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: to do that in a private setting as opposed to
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: going into hospital for that, absolutely acknowledging my privilege of
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: choice there, but wanted to do that. But that cost
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: me two hundred and fifty dollars and then it cost
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: me forty dollars for the script for that, and then
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: we had some gavascon and my lanter fee wi is
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: twenty five weeks. I spent sixteen dollars on hospital parking.
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: I did actually end up spending a lot on hospital
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: parking during miss pregnancy. As I mentioned before, I had
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: recurrent miscarriage, so I was actually seeing my obstetrician every
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: two weeks, which is something that I'm really grateful for,
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: because every two weeks I would go into his offices
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: and I would have an ultrasound. So that's something that
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: was one of the driving forces behind me going no, no, no,
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: I don't want to use the public system. Was that
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: additional support, that additional hand holding, because by the time
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: I was pregnant with Campbell, I had experienced for late
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: stage miscarriages and the anxiety from that was, I would say, horrific.
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: So the idea that I could have an obstetrician that
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: would hold my hand through that process and basically say
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: you just call me and you can come in and
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: you can see your baby whenever you would like. And
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: it didn't cost me anything extra, like I wasn't paying
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: out of pocket for those scans because he had an
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: ultrasound machine in his rooms. Like to me, that was
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: peace of mind. And it was one of the big
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: reasons that I genuinely went down the private path again
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: after Harvey. I had really reconsidered and been like, oh, well,
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: the public system is honestly just as good, but for me,
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: just the privilege of having somebody hold my hand was
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: really good. So shout out to doctor Scott Shema, you
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: are an icon. Anyway, we'll skip past. We are now
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: at week twenty seven, which was an expensive week again
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: nineteen dollars in hospital parking, but I had another private
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: obstetrician management fee of two and a half thousand dollars.
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: I also had my second installment of my DULA birth package,
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: which was eight hundred and seventy five dollars, bringing us
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: up to three thousand, three hundred and ninety four dollars
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: for that week, which brings us to the end of
• 17:58
  Speaker 4: trimester two. So in trimester two I'd spent around eight thousand,
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: four hundred and seventy two dollars and seven cents, which
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: brings us to a rolling total of twenty thousand, six
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: hundred and fifty three dollars and twelve cents all up,
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: which is almost now triple that initial figure supplied in
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: the research at the top of this episode. Again, while
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: private health Cover does definitely play into things, it is
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: only a third of that story. I don't know am
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: I going to crack the thirty thousand dollar mark? My friends,
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: you are going to have to stick around till after
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: the break to find out.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: Hello and welcome back.
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: And in case you need a little recab, we are
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: covering what it actually cost me personally to have a
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: baby in Australia in the private health system, with my
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: literal receipts to prove it. A little caveat for me
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: is that I obviously did have things like private health
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: Cover before and then throughout my pregnancy, but I also
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: experienced some very traumatic nausea. So, as I said before,
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: medications have played a really big role in my spend,
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: which I'm really hoping doesn't play a really big role
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: in yours. But if I'm going to be saying that
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: I'm putting all my receipts on the table, I should
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: be as transparent as possible and give you a dollar
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: by dollar breakdown.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: But we are finally here.
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: We're at the third trimester, and while I may have
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: spent the least during this trimester, a really good chunk
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: of my money actually went towards fighting heartburn and absolutely
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: smashing through m dual dates and Raspberry Leaf tea because
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: your girl is de Lulu and I was trying very
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: hard to have a v back. Now, I'm gonna just
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: preface that because not everyone listening is going to know
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: what a v back is. A v back is a
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: vaginal birth after a cesarean. And when I had Harvey,
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: I ended up having an emergency cesarean. And then when
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: I had Campbell, I really wanted to try for a
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: vaginal birth. Unfortunately that didn't end up happening. And I
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: will explain that later when we start talking about costs.
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: But when it comes to things like module dates and
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: your Raspberry Leaf tea, I mean, there is some research,
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: or there is some genuine research behind having madual dates
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: in your third trimester of pregnancy because side note, apparently
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: they help you soften your cervix so that you're in
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: the best possible position to give birth. But maybe you
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: aren't going to spend money on that, and that's fine.
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: I do stand by my decision because even if you
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: don't believe in the research, I guess they're really good
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: for regulating your sugar levels, and I guess they're packed
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: with fiber. And I'm telling you right now with nausea
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: medication running through my veins, basically at this point, fiber
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: is definitely necessary. And I'm not going to hear any
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: any module dates lander now when it comes to third
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: trimester between weeks twenty eight and forty and by the way,
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: is where it ends, because I ended up actually giving
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: birth to Campbell on my due date, so smack bang
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: on forty weeks, I spent a total of foury one
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: hundred and two dollars and ninety six cents. In week
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: twenty eight, I spent two hundred and eighty dollars. This
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: is definitely I would say, like nice to have. I
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: ended up buying a relatively expensive pregnancy pillow.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: I love her.
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: It's the bebe hug me it was two hundred and
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: ten dollars including delivery. I got it on Amazon. I
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: actually haven't seen it that cheap since. But at that
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: point I was getting uncomfortable and I was like, you
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: know what, putting the pillows from the spare bedroom between
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: my legs is no longer cutting the mustard. And the
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: rest of that week was nausea medications and other medications
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: like Gaviscon and my Lanter. We skipped a week thirty.
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: I spent two hundred and eighty nine dollars and seventeen
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: cents because I needed a big top up of all
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: of my supplements. Obviously that happened all at once, which
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: was quite frustrating. So again prenatals, my probiotics, vitamin D,
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: vitamin C, iron, and B twelve.
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: I then went a little bit d Lulu.
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: And this is where some people are going to say, Victoria, divine,
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: what are you doing? I saw a chiropractor, and you
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: know what, I don't want to hear it. This chiropractor
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: genuinely helped me spin my baby because at thirty one weeks,
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: I was told that my baby was breach and for
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: somebody hoping for a vback, that was not an ideal scenario.
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: So I spent sixteen dollars on hospital parking and I
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: did a Cairo initial appointment which was one hundred and
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: sixty dollars. Then in week thirty two, I spent one
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: hundred and ninety two dollars and ninety six cents. I
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: had updates of all of my vaccinations. I had hooping cough,
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: RSVP and my flu done at my GP all the
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: same time, and then medications. From this point onwards, I
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: start seeing that chiropractor every single week and that is
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: seventy dollars. Then in week thirty four, I have my
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: third installation of my dollar birth package, another eight hundred
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: and seventy five dollars, and then I had my thirty
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: four week anatomy scan which was four hundred and forty
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: five dollars, and then I got one hundred and sixty
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: three dollars back on Medicare. It's this week, at thirty
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: four weeks that I start smashing Moduel dates, like I'm
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: having a whole packet of modual dates a week. Because
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: the recommendation based on research, and you do your own,
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: but the recommendation is that you have at least four
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: modul dates a day to see any benefits, so that
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: was another thirteen dollars, and then my Raspberry Leaf tea
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: was costing me four dollars and ninety eight cents a week.
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: Wick thirty five I spent two hundred and forty four dollars.
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: I obviously had my Cairo my module dates my Raspberry
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: Leaf tea, but I also in that week went and
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: saw a pelvic floor physio, which I one thousand percent recommend,
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: and that cost me one hundred and forty five dollars
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: out of pocket. Week thirty six, again the dual dates
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: Raspbee leef Tee Cairo Hospital parking. At this point, I'm
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: seeing my obstetrition every single week for a little update
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: and scan, and then skipping to thirty eight weeks, I
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: start taking another supplement. So that week it costs me
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: one hundred and thirty seven dollars and ninety eight cents
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: because I've added magnesium glycinate powder at thirty three dollars
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: and ninety nine cents because I wasn't sleeping, and also
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: it helps relax you. I saw a natural path throughout
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: my entire pregnancy. In fact, I have seen Zoe and
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: I adore Zoea. I'll put her information in the show
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: notes just because she's a phenomenal human being. I have
• 24:41
  Speaker 4: seen Zoe for now years and during this pregnancy, she
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: supported me like none other. And so if you're hearing
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: me say supplements, they're not just because I've gone on
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: the internet and been like, oh, that sounds good, it's
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: because those were recommended by my natural path I don't
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: recommend them for you. I think you need to go
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: and see a natural and have someone recommend what makes
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: sense for your body. And she did all of my
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: blood work and all of these tests before even recommending
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: one thing that I ingest, so for me, that was
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: really good. Then thirty nine weeks, we're still just chilling.
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: I was really hoping that I would have a baby
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: this week. I did not, So again we're a dual dates.
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: We're Cairo, we are Raspberry Leaf Tea, and I had
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: to go to the hospital twice that week, so parking
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: was twelve dollars and then sixteen dollars week forty. We
• 25:30
  Speaker 4: have a baby this week, which is very very exciting.
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: Same week, I also have my fourth installation of my
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: Duler Birth Package, which is eight hundred and seventy five dollars,
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: so I ended up spending just over four thy one
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: hundred dollars in this trimester, bringing my total to twenty
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: four thousand, seven hundred and fifty six dollars and eight cents.
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: So what wasn't included there? So that was just my
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: pregnancy costs, like it didn't include the edition birth costs.
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: So I won't get too much into it because nobody
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: needs me trauma dumping my second traumatic pregnancy. I'll do
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: that over on Australian birth stories very soon. But I
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: ended up having an emergency cesarean because I had a
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: uterus or a uterine rupture, which if anyone has ever
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: experienced that, I am so sorry, but yes, you kind
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: of go running down the hallways and we have to
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: get the baby out asap. And when you have a cesarean,
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: you then incurse some additional costs. So I had fifteen
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: hundred dollars for an anithetist to be there, and then
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: I also spent a total of eight hundred and eight
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: dollars on a pediatrician because you have to pay for
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: a pediatrician to be in attendance to your cesarean. Honestly,
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: there were you know, some other out of pocket costs
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: associated with my hospital stay. I gave birth in Melbourne, Australia,
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: and the hospital that I gave birth at I gave
• 26:58
  Speaker 4: birth at Epworth Is anyway one is interested at Worth Freemasons,
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: they have a partnership with a local hotel and you
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: go to that hotel to recover, which was honestly phenomenal.
• 27:11
  Speaker 4: So I spent three nights in the hospital after my
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: cesarean and was deemed fit to go to the hotel
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: for two nights, and there are midwives there. They have
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: all of the bells and whistles that they had in hospital,
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: but it was just, honestly so much nicer to experience.
• 27:26
  Speaker 4: But during that period of time, food was only covered
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: for me, not for my husband, so we were paying
• 27:33
  Speaker 4: out of pocket kind of like room service costs for that.
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: And then thankfully that was my first hospital stay during
• 27:40
  Speaker 4: that pregnancy, so I had to pay my excess on
• 27:43
  Speaker 4: my private health insurance, which was seven hundred and fifty dollars,
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: which actually takes the total for my pregnancy and birth
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: well and truly to over twenty five thousand dollars. So
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: the conversation now is like why is it worth it
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: for me?
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: Yes? What would I do differently next time? I don't know.
• 28:07
  Speaker 4: I'm looking now at potentially getting rid of my private
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: health cover, not entirely because I need it at a
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: base level, but maybe dropping it down because ultimately, one
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: of the things that I've taken into consideration here is
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: that I have had to have the top hospital cover
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: for my pregnancy from once I finished having my first baby,
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: right because I didn't know. I knew truly that I
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: wanted a second baby, but I didn't know when that
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: baby would come. So from the day I gave birth
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: to Harvey to the day I gave birth to Campbell,
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: I needed to have private health insurance and so for me,
• 28:47
  Speaker 4: that cost if you added that up the entire time,
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: I think if I had just paid out of pocket
• 28:53
  Speaker 4: to stay in a private hospital, which you absolutely can do,
• 28:56
  Speaker 4: I actually think I would have saved money there. I mean,
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: it's completely going to change, and it's actually been standardized
• 29:04
  Speaker 4: in Australia that all gold level like tiers of coverage
• 29:08
  Speaker 4: in Australia must include pregnancy and birth, assisted reproductive services,
• 29:13
  Speaker 4: a neonatal intensive care. So I mean, if you're shopping around,
• 29:17
  Speaker 4: you're actually looking at the top tier between different insurers
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: if you want all of that covered, and then if
• 29:23
  Speaker 4: you were to, like me, be considering going without, you
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: might want to look at the out of pocket costs
• 29:27
  Speaker 4: for all of those insurances in comparison as well, because
• 29:31
  Speaker 4: it's not just covering some of your hospital stay right,
• 29:33
  Speaker 4: Like if something goes wrong and you need nick you
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: or you need you know, reproductive services, maybe that's something
• 29:39
  Speaker 4: to consider.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: I did a little bit of a comparison and humbled
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: myself as well.
• 29:43
  Speaker 4: So the most affordable open Gold policy with the same
• 29:48
  Speaker 4: excess that I had, which is seven hundred and fifty dollars,
• 29:52
  Speaker 4: is approximately two hundred and twenty dollars a month without
• 29:55
  Speaker 4: the health insurance rebate. Stupidly, I'm paying double that. Maybe
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: because I'm loyal to my health insurer. I don't know.
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: I don't think I should be loyal moving forward. But
• 30:06
  Speaker 4: for you, it might be very worth paying to shop around.
• 30:09
  Speaker 4: And then the type of coverage that you get, it
• 30:11
  Speaker 4: might actually be cheaper depending on where you are located
• 30:14
  Speaker 4: and which hospitals are in your area. So, for example,
• 30:17
  Speaker 4: some insurers offer more competitive rates if you live in Perth.
• 30:21
  Speaker 4: I was comparing what it was based on Melbourne and
• 30:25
  Speaker 4: Perth because we have someone in our team based in
• 30:27
  Speaker 4: Perth and I was shocked at how much cheaper it
• 30:30
  Speaker 4: was in Perth. So maybe you should also consider moving
• 30:34
  Speaker 4: states I kid, and then you might also want to
• 30:37
  Speaker 4: consider your Medicare limits because mine actually ran out halfway
• 30:41
  Speaker 4: through my pregnancy. As always, this is not financial advice.
• 30:45
  Speaker 4: Please make sure that you read whatever pds associated with
• 30:49
  Speaker 4: your health insurance and check for any gap fees if
• 30:51
  Speaker 4: you're preverred like private hospital is or isn't included.
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: But for me, all of.
• 30:57
  Speaker 4: This is added up. I don't regret it. But also
• 30:59
  Speaker 4: that does and include even one nappy. It doesn't include
• 31:03
  Speaker 4: the formula, it doesn't include you know, a bed, It
• 31:05
  Speaker 4: doesn't include any technical baby costs. That is just pregnancy
• 31:09
  Speaker 4: and birth. And you could definitely do it much cheaper
• 31:13
  Speaker 4: using the public system. And maybe this episode has like
• 31:16
  Speaker 4: really reiterated to you, like wow, I didn't realize that
• 31:19
  Speaker 4: if you go through the private system, you do have
• 31:22
  Speaker 4: to pay for your obstetrician out of pocket, you do
• 31:25
  Speaker 4: have to pay for external scans, And I didn't realize that.
• 31:28
  Speaker 4: I thought you just you know, claimed it on your
• 31:30
  Speaker 4: private health insurance, Like I spent seven and a half
• 31:33
  Speaker 4: thousand dollars total on a private obstetrician and that is
• 31:36
  Speaker 4: not covered by my private health insurance. So I think
• 31:39
  Speaker 4: that's definitely worthy of consideration as well. And to be honest,
• 31:43
  Speaker 4: if you I don't know, I don't want to give
• 31:45
  Speaker 4: advice because you do you, but if you have no
• 31:48
  Speaker 4: complications and you're okay to go through the public system,
• 31:52
  Speaker 4: like I don't know why anyone wouldn't like my anxiety
• 31:56
  Speaker 4: and my health anxiety and everything led me to the
• 31:59
  Speaker 4: private ceas And for me personally, I don't regret that,
• 32:02
  Speaker 4: but that doesn't mean that's what you should do anyway.
• 32:05
  Speaker 4: I'll be sharing all of their helpful insurance links in
• 32:08
  Speaker 4: the show notes and a very helpful baby budget tracker
• 32:12
  Speaker 4: which I used and I know a lot of people
• 32:14
  Speaker 4: in our community have used and loved so that you
• 32:16
  Speaker 4: can save and then you know, use that during your
• 32:19
  Speaker 4: own journeys. But if you loved this episode and hanging
• 32:22
  Speaker 4: out with me solo, I mean, please share it with
• 32:24
  Speaker 4: friend or someone who might you know, want to know
• 32:27
  Speaker 4: more about the finances of planning a baby, or maybe
• 32:29
  Speaker 4: even they want to laugh at me for how much
• 32:31
  Speaker 4: it costs me. I mean, we need to get something
• 32:33
  Speaker 4: out of the fact that it cost me well on
• 32:34
  Speaker 4: twenty five thousand dollars to be pregnant.
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: Anyway, Love you guys. Please subscribe so that.
• 32:39
  Speaker 4: You never miss the next episode and I'll see you
• 32:41
  Speaker 4: later in the week for Friday drinks.
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: Bye.
• 32:48
  Speaker 4: The advice shared on She's on the Money is general
• 32:50
  Speaker 4: in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's
• 32:54
  Speaker 4: on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should
• 32:58
  Speaker 4: not be relied upon to make an investment meant or
• 33:00
  Speaker 4: financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read.
• 33:04
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• 33:07
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