Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:53 — 43.9MB)

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | RSS

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.

So the limited insurance plan we can pay into is extremely limited. But it does cover the hospital stay up to seven days and actual labor. But it doesn’t cover the doctors fee. I personally wanted to go through a clinic here called Cascadia Women’s Clinic. Thus, we will likely pay out of pocket with them, and get the insurance just for the birthing portion and a C-section if that has to happen.

By the way, I have spoken to many of you on Instagram who straight up paid cash and gave birth at home because it was so much cheaper and you couldn’t afford more. That both infuriates me, and is amazing at the same time. I guess know that those options are out there. It just sucks that in a lot of cases, you can feel forced into them. But they exist nonetheless! And I am grateful for that.

I just got blood work done a week or two ago, and they couldn’t even tell me the cost when I tried to pay cash upfront. I had to have the blood drawn and then call the phone number that could tell me all of the cost for each test. Which was fine but it’s just such a crazy system to me.

And we are finding out the sex of the baby via a 20 or 21 week anatomy scan. We have no preference. I would say that I used to only want girls because that’s all I know. I coached girls for 10 years, was on teams with girls all my life, and only ever had a sister. So I feel like I just know females. Nate has always wanted a little boy. But in this process both of us have become much more open to the joys of either a boy or a girl.

Cost & context of pregnancy

That wraps up insurance for the most part. It was a headache, but I do feel blessed that we have options, and can make it work either way. I will totally link Jackie’s information in the show notes for anyone who is in a similar situation. Now let’s get into context and cost. Because let me tell you you can feel very well off one second, and then very not well off the next second given a life situation.

For those of you that don’t know, we acquired 5 acres of land back in September 2020. And we started building on that land via a construction loan that will turn into a 30 year mortgage. Praise Jesus that we locked in our rate in 2021. We broke ground in November 2021, and our house should be complete in September 2022.

I am not going to say how much more we will have to pay out of pocket on top of our original loan amount, but I will say that it is over six figures. And obviously we are full ass grown adults, and that’s a decision we are making. That decision was also made before knowing that we may have to pay for a pregnancy and labor out of pocket.

So just the stress of the amount of cash we need to have on hand increased.

I have to say the nice thing about that situation is that it might be tight for a bit, it might be very tight for a bit. But because we locked in our loan and rate, or monthly payment won’t change once we are actually in the house. So that is somewhat refreshing to think about.

Maternity leave & business

That undoubtedly leads us into the business side of things, as I am the breadwinner.

It’s funny, I told my assistant immediately, because this would absolutely affect her. And she immediately texted me about maternity leave. Which I appreciate her for. But I straight up did not have the brain space to think about maternity leave until I hit my second trimester.

I like to think I know myself pretty well. And I hope that I am overestimating the challenges of the newborn stage, but I’m probably underestimating them. Either way I want to take 12 weeks 80% off work.

That was my goal after talking to a few of my entrepreneur friends who had recently had babies. One of my one-on-one business clients is also in the thick of it with a three month newborn. So having her as another reference point has been a blessing. I can see her first hand in the process of being an entrepreneur and mom.

Some thing I want to make very clear to all of you is that literally no one is being a full-time stay at home mom, and a full-time entrepreneur at the same time. And if it looks like they are, they have help. Either a spouse or partner is helping them take care of the baby, or they have a family member or a nanny or someone else who is helping. Do not be fooled. This is a reason that I plan to be extremely transparent with my experience of having a newborn and a business. Because I have so appreciated my friends who have been transparent with the help that they have in order to do both.

And there is this very weird dichotomy that happens when you’re a new mom but you also work from home. Because you aren’t a stay at home mom. You’re a working mom. You simply work from home and you have a newborn. Those aren’t the same thing. So please do not feel shame for how you’re doing, or if you need help. Needing help as expected in my mind.

My current plan is to take maternity leave starting the first week of November which is a week before my due date, and continuing that through the month of January with a gradual increase in workflow maybe starting in mid January.

It’s honestly hard to make these plans because you just don’t know anything until you’re in the thick of it. My theory is that I might want to go back to work sooner on certain things but I want to let that be a choice rather than an actual need.

Aside from maternity leave, I started stressing out about my business and what portions of my business needed to stay go, or be delegated once the baby comes. I certainly don’t have all of that figured out because I know that I always have options if I find some thing is or isn’t working once the baby is actually here. But if you listened to part one, you know that running a business was I’m pretty big portion of the fear I had around having a child.

Luckily in the second trimester I have had the brain space and time to reevaluate some things. As of now I’m not actually getting rid of any of my offerings. But I am attempting to optimize the backend of a few of them from a sales standpoint. And I changed the structure of another one after deciding that I did want to keep it but it needed to change a bit realistically.

Oh, I guess another logistics that came to mind during part one but I will share it here

Was that we will be in our house at least a month before the baby comes. Which isn’t as much time as I would like, but it’s pretty freaking good timing if you ask me. I’m also 32 at the time of giving birth. Unless baby decides to stay in me for an additional 10 days and steal my 33rd birthday from me. For us, we never wanted an only child. So if we were to have any children we would shoot for two. Somehow someway. 

Being 32 allows me time to have another child or even two if we so decide. I was honestly hoping for twins even though they don’t genetically run in my maternal side. One pregnancy and two babies doesn’t sound that bad. But I’m sure mothers of twins would have an argument against that. Maybe not.

We are the most financially affluent, and stable that we’ve ever been. So for both of us, being believers, it all felt pretty divine and was hard to argue from a timing standpoint. It felt as though Jesus was saying to me, OK Annie, you’ve got all your ducks in the cleanest row they’re ever going to be in. It’s now or never.

And we would have been fine and figured it out if it happened at any point. But it’s my pleasure to share this pregnancy journey and how it’s going from multiple different points of you with all of you.

Leave the FitsPRO Podcast a review

If you find value here, on The FitsPRO Podcast, then pretty please head over to iTunes, subscribe, rate and review the show. It means the world to me when you spread my message to more humans.

Want more podcasts? Click here to skim the archives.

P.S. Save this value packed episode for later over on Pinterest!

---

ALL THE LINKS YOU NEED:

Free On Demand Workshop: 3 Steps To Build a Profitable Online Health and Fitness Business

Free Resources

Supplements: Legion Athletics Code ANNIE for 20% off

Skincare: Fré Skincare Code FDBA for at least 15% off

Bags: Vooray Code ANNIE for 20% off

Shop Annie Miller Concepts Apparel HERE!