Really? That’s All It Costs?
It is really quite interesting how shelling out for infertility treatments absolutely skews your perception of money. At least it does for me.
Now that I am used to seeing credit card statements (Yes, plural) In the 5-digit range, I am pretty unfazed about the costs of other things. That doesn’t mean I’ve stopped clipping my coupons, or shaking my fist as gas prices. It does mean I have 
a different perspective on other costs that could seem astronomical to others.
Like, raising a child.
I guess I have grown up with the “just wait until you have kids” mantra, as many of us have, and have been convinced that having kids equals no more life for you. No time, no energy, most importantly no money left over for anything other than their grooming and rearing.
But I just used this Cost of Raising Your Child Calculator and it’s really not so bad. If our costs in the first year equal about $16,000, then having a child will be much cheaper than trying to have a child.
And speaking of credit cards, here’s a question: If we are Yankees fans, does using a Boston Red Sox credit card (acquired so we could get a cool free t-shirt for my dad) to fund a portion of our fertility treatments, give our potential little one bad sports karma for life?
Gosh, I hope not. I’ll pay that one off first.
Image: Newscom.
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POSTED IN: FYI, babies, finances, infertility treatments, living with infertility
10 opinions for Really? That’s All It Costs?
sara
Jun 5, 2008 at 11:56 am
Thanks for the kind words and encouragement. Yes honestly, the open relationship I have with my OB is one of the only things that keep me sane with sh-t hits the fan. I have to laugh at your comments about the high costs of infertility treatments making things like gas prices a little less stressful. My friends complain about things like that a lot more than I do these days. Yes, you have to love 5 digit credit card bills, ugh! I hope you don’t have too many more of them in your future :-)
Seriously?
Jun 5, 2008 at 11:58 am
This was an interesting post to read. We are just starting on our journey and haven’t really shelled out any money yet. All of our consults and tests so far have been covered. Treatment is another story. We have much more time to wait before that will be covered. So far I have shelled out 9 bucks for clomid at Wal Mart. The point I am getting at is that I have no idea how we would handle things when we are forced to make decisions that have money tied to them. I FEAR credit card debt and worked like a fiend to pay off my husbands 16K as soon as we could (woo hoo for 14 months). Now I won’t buy anything unless we have the money. I am sure reading this post will cause me to stew about this and then bring it up with DH.
I don’t think it is bad karma, I think he will just have a better relationship with is grandpa.
Gabrielle
Jun 5, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Sara, thanks so much for your comment.
Seriously, the money piece of it, unfortunately, really is part of the many decisions that sometimes need to be made. In our case, we have decided to embrace the debt because if we made a list of things that we would want to do with that money (if we had it), nothing comes out above this. And I guess we’ve both had a track record of having to extend our credit to get where we need to be (i.e. university) with the idea that it is an investment.
I like your explanation of the Red Sox card much more than mine. Let’s go with that. Goddess knows, grumpy grandpa could use some new pals.
Becky
Jun 5, 2008 at 4:10 pm
This is such an interesting post. I’m here from NCLM, and I’ll be back.
Jamie
Jun 6, 2008 at 2:27 am
Thanks for the comment on my blog - the rose is in the trash by the way!
I used to worry about the cost of raising a child, but now you have kind of put it in perspective for me. Raising one will be far cheaper than conceiving one!
margalit
Jun 6, 2008 at 4:29 am
I’m very lucky that I live in a state with mandated IF insurance. My IVFs only cost the amount of my copays, which were $10 per doctor’s visit and $5 per prescription! I know, I am SO lucky! But as one who has raised twins who are almost 16, I can say that they have cost me more money than anyone could have ever predicted. Ever, in a million years. Kids are incredibly expensive. But worth it.
Here from NCLM.
A Soldier's Girl
Jun 7, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Hola from NCLM :)
Isn’t it crazy how expensive it is to just TRY to have a baby…and still nothing is guaranteed. Well, what’s thousands of dollars, right?
And I don’t think it will be bad karma…now if you were mixing the Cowboys and the Redskins, maybe :)
SAHW
Jun 7, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Hi Gabrielle,
I was thinking of this very thing today…and how I never factored in the cost of trying to have the kid, just the cost of raising the kid. :(
Savings plan needs to be reworked…
Naomi
Jun 13, 2008 at 10:07 pm
if you makes you feel any better, i have no clue where they get those numbers from…i spend a lot less now that i have my daughter. no more cute shoes, dinners out, or $10 a drink in the city…your priorities change. plus b/t my friends who kids are all grown and are dying to unload stuff and freecycle.org i haven’t bought my daughter anything but diapers! well…i do buy four gallons of milk a week but that’s a whole other thing…ever notice that a gallon of milk costs more than a gallon of gas…yeeesh.
Gabrielle
Jun 14, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Naomi, that does make me feel better. And it does seem that there is a beautiful cycle of cool kid’s things that continuously circulate among friends and family - a lot of my friends who are preggers or who have kids have assured me that diapers and formula are really the two major expenses in the first few years and that everything else tends to take care of itself. I don’t drink milk, but I have heard that its ridiculous.
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