It’s almost that time of the year! No, I’m not talking about Christmas–my wife is going to be full term in about 10 days! Seriously–holy smokes…
Seeing how my blogging might be restricted to a backlog very, very soon here, I’ve decided to wrap up my series on pregnancy expenses today with the post on the third and final trimester.
In previous posts, we’ve gone through the first trimester and second trimester expenses in detail, and I’ll review a lot of that information here today as well.
Of the three segments of pregnancy, the last trimester has been the most active, financially speaking. While the first and second trimesters were fairly low-key and limited to specific areas of spending, we’re now ramping up full-steam for birth and post-birth.
Continued Expenses
Of the things that I’ve mentioned in the two previous posts, here are a few updates:
- Pre-Natal Vitamins. The cost will continue through breastfeeding, although as I wrote about last time–we’ve been able to limit the expense using mail-order prescription services.
- Medical Services. Doctor’s visits, as previously explained, are being billed as a lump sum after birth, subject to the insurance deductible. Thank goodness for maternity coverage (more on that topic and a whole lot more next year). Some things we did have to add recently are pre-payments for anesthesia. Seems like everyone wants their money up-front lately.
- Increased Food Costs. Yes, although my wife is noticeably eating more to keep up with the growing baby, our food costs have not increased to a point where I have noticed the difference. We’re simply making good use of what we normally get.
- Maternity Clothing. Obviously, there’s no hiding the fact that there’s a giant basketball attached to my wife. That requires some interesting clothing adjustments, and the dresses we got for her in the first trimester work wonderfully. Among the other gear we took on is a pregnancy belt, which from what my wife tells me, is an absolute sanity-saver when you’re on your feet for more than 10 minutes.
New Expenses
On top of the expenses that have carried over, we obviously have a lot of new expenses over the last 2-3 months as we gear up for birth. Here are most of them:
- Furniture. Easily the biggest money-suck this trimester, furniture to outfit the nursery can bankrupt you if you’re not careful and/or frugal about it.
- Post-Birth Supplies: The last month of pregnancy is probably the earliest we’ve really started thinking about the day-to-day supplies we’ll need after birth, including diapers and lotions and all that jazz. We’re holding off on getting a whole lot of anything until we know what we need for sure and how the baby responds, but we have purchased a limited supply of the basics.
- Baby Shower Expenses. Although it’s unlikely that you’ll share in any major part of the baby shower expenses (typically, it’s someone else that’s throwing the party), you may get stuck with some incidentals here and there.
- Gear. That’s right–you need at least a car seat to take the baby home. A stroller will also be nice. Perhaps a carrying apparatus of some sort? Baby bath tub? The list goes on…a lot of the stuff is useless junk, but a lot of it will probably make our lives a lot easier. Time will tell…
- Hospital Supplies. When you put together your “hospital bag,” you’ll probably discover that you’re missing a lot of the recommended items from the “list.” Note that none of these are required, of course–but they do make the experience much more tolerable. Examples include robes and nursing bras.
As you can see, the items on the list have gotten more significant as we’ve progressed through the pregnancy. We’ve been expecting and saving for this throughout the other six months, so as not to be surprised.
More to Come
I hope this series has been of some use to you! We’ll continue reporting on our baby experience as we go through it, and I’m sure we’ll have many lessons to share with future parents on how to be most effective with your money.
Photo credit: Greencolander via CC2.0
Fiscal Fizzle 
When my wife was at this stage with her pregnancies, she stopped eating–there was no room in there for food. That problem solved. As far as clothing, sweat suits to the rescue. They expanded with her, and we didn’t need to buy anything special.
Some unsolicited advice here on the birth of your baby… go for 2nd hand where ever you can. Babies don’t stay babies for very long and they grow out of everything in a matter of weeks (not months). Everything for the first few years is a phase that they pass through so quickly, so don’t plan on camping out at any phase in particular. As soon as you do, they’ll be ready to move on!
.-= Kevin@OutOfYourRut´s last post: Fast Track to Frequent Flyer Miles =-.
Thanks Kevin. Yes, we are thinking along the same lines, and the majority (I would say 85%) of the “stuff” we have right now for baby are second-hand items or gifts. We’re truly holding off on buying anything except the legal and obvious necessities (i.e. car seat) until we can demonstrate a genuine need for it after birth.
Thanks for the advice!
Hi Wojciech,
Congratulations on the new baby! How exciting!!! Recommendation for the stroller: Just the simple umbrella stroller. The nice big pretty ones are just that…PRETTY! They are so big and bulky.
Also, you think you have expenses now? You haven’t seen the half of it. Children are a blessing and I love my two dearly, but once they started talking, my new name became – “Mama can I have” (LOL!). Congrats again!
Thanks for the recommendation. We are actually lucky enough to be getting a fairly nice stroller from a family friend, so hopefully that works out and it’s one that’s functional!
And I hear you on the upcoming expenses. Believe me, I’m scared and ready at the same time. 🙂
Just an FYI on the stroller, an umbrella stroller is great for a 2 year old, but a brand new baby should be in a stroller that FULLY reclines. We had a stroller we inherited and it turned out not to fully recline, and was only recommended for babies aged 4 months and up. Why? Because babies that young need to lay on a flat surface if they are not being held. Their spines are very delicate so make sure your stroller is fully reclining. On the other hand, we rarely used ours until the baby was well over a year. I prefer a pouch sling for the first 6 months to a year.
Thanks for the heads-up. I think we’ll end up getting another stroller that goes with our car seat, so it should be properly aligned (we hope). And we have a sling, too, so we’ll how the two compare. I’ve heard that babies will sometimes enjoy one thing and be completely fussy in another.
You are right Kelly. I guess I should have been more specific. I had two small babies so I didn’t really get out much when they were very small:-(. By the time we did venture out, the huge strollers were a headache and we found the umbrellas worked better. Thanks for clarifying and great advice:-).
.-= Patrenia´s last post: Weird Online Purchase! =-.
Thanks for the tips, my wife and I just found out that we’re pregnant a few weeks back, and we need all the help we can get! great series!
That is awesome news! It’s amazing how fast it flies by–try and enjoy every minute.
Wow, that was fast!
Wojo, can you actually provide the $ amount of the expenses as well? thnx!
.-= Financial Samurai´s last post: Federal Government Employees Raking It In =-.
Pre-natals are about $100 for a three-month supply. Doctor’s payments are so varied I won’t even attempt to pinpoint it. For us, it was the deductible amount of the insurance policy. Maternity clothing was a couple of hundred bucks.
Moving on, furniture will be somewhere in the $1000-$1500 range, supplies will be minimal, gear will depend on your situation as well, but for us was a couple of hundred bucks for now, and hospital supplies are still up in the air.
I think it’s so different for everyone I shied away from giving numbers. You have to look at your own situation and family and figure out what you can reasonably expect to have to buy yourself and what your insurance situation is, etc.
I hope that helps!
And the expenses go up from there! 😉
Actually, your expenses for a newborn depend on a lot of factors. We received most of our baby’s clothing as gifts or hand me downs for our daughter’s first 6 months, and we received most of the big items as gifts. We bought a crib and bedsheets, an Ergo (brand name sling), and a couple other small items. But those are one time costs.
As for ongoing costs, our health insurance premiums went up and we have a $20 copay for visits. But the biggest ongoing cost is diapers and wipes, which we mitigate by using cloth diapers and a washcloth half the time. We are primarily breastfeeding our daughter, but she recently started eating solids. We plan on reducing those costs by making our own baby food when feasible, which should be most of the time.
.-= Patrick´s last post: What Should You Do With Unwanted Christmas Gifts =-.
Thanks for the great input, Patrick. That’s very similar to our own situation, since we got most of our clothes and most big items as gifts, and only had to get a few things ourselves.
I think we’re set on disposable diapers though, but we will be trying to make our own food once that point comes.
I agree with Patrick, the older they get the more they cost!
They are little money pits but well worth the expense, congrats on the soon to arrive baby!
.-= Ben´s last post: Debt Denial Quiz =-.
Thanks so much! Any day now.