Pregnancy Real Talk Part 2!

If you missed part one of this kind of life update on pregnancy and our backstory, make sure to check that out. I will say maybe it’s more the emotional and experiential side of the experience thus far. Today we are going to dive into more of the logistics, challenges and plans

* Cost & context* Insurance * Providers/birthing plan* Maternity leave/business plan

I will be talking a lot about personal decisions in today’s episode. And know that they are just that. Our personal decisions, or my personal decisions. And me sharing them in any capacity is a privilege. Because myself or anyone you follow online does not have to share anything with anyone. But like I mentioned in part one, I think that people sharing their experiences can be very powerful and letting other people know that they are not alone if maybe they don’t have a popular feeling or experience - in regards to anything. So let’s get into it!

Insurance

Insurance was actually another one of my reasons that I was scared of getting pregnant because we have not had insurance since early 2018. We are young and healthy, and had all the health insurance we would need through world nomads travel insurance when we were traveling in 2018 and 2019, and the first part of 2020. After we got back in 2020, we had no insurance. We made that decision after inquiring about it. And the costs that come with being self-employed just weren’t worth it to us. So we opted out.

In the back of my mind was always the fear of pregnancy and having to pay out of pocket. But I also knew people firsthand who had paid cash and were able to get close to half off prices because of paying in cash.

For the first three weeks to a month, it felt like Nate’s full-time job to call and research insurance options. It was a pretty massive headache if I’m being honest. Essentially we are outside of enrollment period, pregnancy is not a pre-qualifying factor, and we make too much to qualify for literally any insurance.

I got pretty mad at the system during that time. Because while we are affluent enough to be able to pay for this pregnancy if everything goes smoothly, someone making $3500 a month in the state of Washington would be in the same boat as us if they didn’t have insurance and that’s fucking insane.

Also, Nate doesn’t work, so he had the time to make all of these phone calls and be put on wait for three hours. I just made us think of all the people who don’t have time, or resources. I can be a super sucky an unfortunate situation for so many people. But that’s another conversation. Because today is about our experience.

We were able to get a first ultrasound at a women’s clinic here called Options 360. And that was completely free. So we got to see our little been at nine weeks. It was one or 1 1/2 inches long. And everything was right on schedule as far as growth to that point.

We finally ended up having a zoom call with a personal insurance broker who I found through my friend Paiger Major. She was awesome. Her name is Jackie and her company is called Translating Insurance. She was able to find us one single insurance plan that we could enroll in.

By the way this was after already looking into shared insurance plans, like medishare for instance. And a few other ones. All of which required you to get the insurance, or subscribe before knowing you were pregnant. Or before conception. The options for pregnant people are so limited. It literally infuriates me.