Shake that Rattle and Roll!

Everyone was stoked to see Xavier today at church. Not that he noticed, considering he slept through the whole thing, cuddled up cozily with me in the sling. But hey, I’m not complaining. It made things a breeze.

I’ve been amazed at how much he’s changing from day to day. While Xavier has long held onto hair and shirts with an iron grip (and acquires a remarkable amount of lint in the creases of his hands) only recently has he started to hold objects that we put in his hand. We captured some rattle action earlier this week.

From November

Tonight we went to a welcome party for some neighbors who just moved in a few houses down. They have a 14-month-old named Javier and seem like great people. Actually, our whole block is filled with fabulous people, a number of whom have kids of various ages. We have so many people offering to pass on the things their kids have grown out of, or who will find clothes or toys at local rummage or garage sales and will just buy them for us and bring them over. Sometimes it pays to be the youngest on the block! Once again, no complaints here!

Xavier’s eight weeks old today and after the party he had another first: rolling from front to back over his left side! We caught his first roll on camera half-way through.

From November

Could he do it again? Like a pro!

From November

"No!"

My parents have been in town visiting us for the last few days. Monday night we played a quiz game--sort of an LDS version of Family Feud, only their were no teams, just my mom vs. my dad. I read the questions and hosted. Spencer sat next to Xavier and me on the couch, but was did his own thing. Anyway, after one question was asked my mom's response was immediately followed by what sounded like a very distinct "No!" coming from Xavier. Surprised, all four of us turned our heads toward Xavier in disbelief. Yet, it was true. Xavier had seemingly indicated to his grandma that her answer was incorrect and we all burst out laughing!

So... does this mean that I have a bright boy? I mean, he is one and a half months old and already spewing his first word. On the other hand, Xavier was wrong, my mom's answer had been right.

...but then again, does anyone what their baby's first word to be "NO!"? NO! - so let's call it a coo.

The Art of Baby Massage

I have been wanting to do baby massage ever since I read about it in Dr. Sears's "The Baby Book"--long before Xavier was born. However, there never seemed to be a good time to do it. I attempted it once when Xavier was about a week old, but it didn't really work too well. Xavier was way too upset and I just couldn't get past the beginning "Relax" cue.

Today, after getting the book out to read about other things, I again came across the section on Baby Massage. After reading through it again I decided to give it a try, this time making a few modifications from how I had attempted it previously.

I sat on the floor up against the coach and cradled Xavier on my lap lengthwise, on top of a warm towel, while Hypnobabies music played in the background. I used coconut oil from the small tub of oil I had received from a friend to use while I was pregnant. I began by asking Xavier for permission to massage him. I then gave a cue to relax by bicycling his legs and repeating the word "Relax" 3 or 4 times. I then proceeded to massage.

I began with his legs, as Dr. Sears instructs. Xavier responded with an approving smile. He seamed to be enjoying himself. I moved on to his abdomen. He began to get cranky. I debated whether to keep going in the same spot, move to another area, or simply stop and save the rest of the message for later. Well, I chose the second option. I quickly moved to his chest and then hands and arms, all the while he kept getting fussier and fussier. During the fussiness he even peed, soaking through the towel and my PJ pants.

I decided to stop the massage, wrap him up in the towel and just hold him for awhile, thinking that this would calm him down. However, wrong again! the fussiness turned into a total meltdown!

In the midst of taking care of Xavier during the melt down (diapering, clothing, rocking him, etc...) I managed to knock over the tub of coconut oil, which I didn't discover until several minutes later.

So, our first massage experience did not yield my planned result, but all in all not too bad. Perhaps next time I will stop after the legs and feet.

As for the oil, I managed to soak up some of it with a towel. Luckily, the remaining spot isn't so noticeable... well, let's see if Spencer notices when he gets home. ;)

Adventures in the Finances of Birth - or - Medical Absurdity

How many people actually look much at their Explanations of Benefits? With a new baby in the house, we've racked up quite a number of them in the filing drawer, so I thought I'd do a quick tally. (Thank goodness for Excel!)

Without question, this has been the most expensive year for healthcare that we've ever had. Since all this pre-natal care began right at the start of the year, it actually gives us a great year-to-date look, with two months left to go. So what have we seen so far?

Patient	Charges	Insurance	Co-pay	%Allowed	Paid
Cherry	$11,249.36	$4,993.40	$  65.00	44.97%	$5,058.40
Spencer	$  1,070.00	$   319.70	$200.00	48.57%	$   519.70
Xavier	$  1,408.10	$   736.72	$100.00	59.42%	$   836.72
TOTAL	$13,727.46	$6,049.82	$365.00	46.73%	$6,414.82

All told, pre-natal care, birth and the first two weeks of newborn care cost $5,895.12. The cost was higher because we had a more than a handful of ultrasounds, but lower because we gave birth at a birth center, not a hospital.

How does that compare? Based on a 2004 study of 43,000 births, we're actually on the low end thanks to our natural childbirthing ways (and despite our sonogram-happy OBs at the start, who we've discovered seem to diagnose a lot of those rare bicornuate uteruses). Nationally, the 9 months of prenatal care, the birth and 3 months of  newborn care average $7,737 for a vaginal delivery and about $11,000 for C-sections. Throw in 5 years of medical cost inflation and we look even better.

Clearly, we're grateful to have good insurance. The submitted charges were astronomical, and the negotiated insurance rate cut those down to by over 50% on average. My favorite example though was a lab test, which made me laugh when I saw the EOB: They charged $109. Insurance paid $5.50. Certainly health care providers inflate their charges deliberately because they know insurers are going to negotiate them down. This makes it all the more unfair for those without insurance however, who can get stuck with a ridiculous bill. Consider, if we had paid all submitted charges out of pocket, our childbirth costs would be running upwards of $13,000.

But fortunately, we didn't and so all things considered we got our money's worth, right? Let's take a closer look:

	Total	Employer	Self
Premiums	$10,391.16	$7,793.50	$2,597.66
Claims Paid	$6,049.82	$     -	$   365.00
Insurance Revenue	$ 4,341.34	$     -	$       -

Not counting Zipcar for those many trips out to the birth center, we actually paid very little out of pocket for birth-related care. Indeed, over half our co-pay amount for the year was for my two ENT visits, which were (again, ridiculously) categorized as "surgery". But we do pay 25% of the premiums, which adds up to a pretty penny, about $2,600 over the year. (Or 260,000 pennies.)

But BlueCross isn't hurting either: Even with another well-baby visit or two, they're still $4,000 ahead for the year off of us. You'd think that with margins like that (and the C-section rate unnecessarily moving north of 32%) they'd be encouraging tons of people toward birth centers and home births! What an easy way to fatten their bottom line!

Ahh, not so fast. As a labor & delivery nurse recently reminded me: "Spencer, you're forgetting who is in charge of insurance companies: doctors." The medical model of childbirth exploded after WWII alongside the expansion in health insurance coverage, and they have to keep their own in business too. Most of us would call it short-sighted to not pay for the cheap stuff, but cover the expensive. But it happens all over the medical world because lined up in front of the buffet of whatever the doctor orders, I have no incentive to question charges. After all, I don't see them unless I actually read through my EOBs, and most of my costs are already sunk. The only reason I even know that my salary is $8,000 lower than it might otherwise be due to the health benefit is because my employer actually clearly outlines how much they pay for me. (And not just for health insurance, but payroll taxes and retirement too, which add up to quite a substantial sum.)

For all the good that insurance and modern medicine have done, they've also created an industry almost wholly unaccountable to market forces. It's bad economics, but for those of us lucky enough to still have decent coverage, it's easy to forget or overlook how much it's truly costing us, and that in some ways, it's a curse.

My neighborhood may teem with conspicuous consumption, but I'm quite happy with my $6,000 baby. After all, he's priceless. (And he wasn't a flea market find nor a blue light special at K-Mart!)