Priceless!

[Trek]

Bus ride to the central hospital's women clinic - .80 cents

Cost of all maternity related care - $0

Seeing your first baby's heartbeat on the ultrasound monitor - PRICELESS!


Yep, I'm gonna be a daddy!

 

[F-One]

Congratulations

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Congrats! Now dont expect future expenses to be in the 80c range

 

[DangerMouse]

Congratulations Trek, I guess no-one will be asking what you do all day once your bambino is on the scene.

 

[Coach]

Trek, congratulations!

Coach

 

[Dreamer]

Congratulations Trek! IMHO, there is nothing like having a baby! Life will change and it will be in a good way

 

[bssc]

Congratulations.

 

[Sheryl]

Trek, Congratulations! What exciting news - I'm so happy for you!

 

[Trek]

Thanks for all the congrats and kind words everyone. We're really happy and excited.

 

[KB]

Congratulations Trek.

 

[wildcat]

Congrats on Trek Jr.!!

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

ooooh. another expense. good for you. (enjoy!)

 

[bright eyed]

someone didn't waste any time huh?!

now we know how you have been keepin warm in estonia?!

CONGRATS! how exciting!

get your sleep now while you can!

 

[Brat]

Congratulations.

From here on out your first job is to take care of the Mom. When you are parents take care of each other so that you can both take care of the babe.

 

[Bram]

How exciting! Best wishes to you & the Mama-to-be.

 

[samclem]

Trek,
Congratulations! So, how do things go in Estonia: "Natural childbirth" with breathing exercises and husband-as-coach, or Dad waits in another room while the pros handle things with Mom?

One note: Once your wife begins to "show," every other woman who has had a baby will want to stop and tell her about her own harrowing experience. Total strangers will stop her in the market and want to scare her to death with stories of her 30 hour labor, etc. These people are idiots, and you should feel entirely justified in abruptly telling them to shut up. I mean, it should be fairly obvious from looking at your wife that she's pretty well committed to a course of action, so maybe some kind words of encouragement would be a little more appropriate. Besides, every living human is proof that the system has worked.

It is a great experience and keeps getting better as they get older--until they become teenagers.

 

[Brat]

Some of us who have been there, done that, would like to talk to the structural engineer. The best part is after it is over.

 

[Trek]

Thanks for all the congrats and comments. We're really looking forward to this

ooooh. another expense. good for you. (enjoy!)

Actually, since we live in Estonia, the expenses are quite limited. Estonia literally PAYS you to have children to encourage the population growth. And like other European countries, they see the importance of children and parents being able to spend a maximum amount of time together with keeping stress levels to a minimum. So my fiancée will be able to stop working 3 months prior to the expected delivery date and then once the baby is actually born we will get a very generous childbirth payment from both the state and local government. Then my fiancée will receive 100% of her current wage for the next 15 months and her employer must keep her job for her when/if she returns. We will also receive a monthly family benefit payment until the child is 16 years old. And of course there are no medical bills to pay due to the national health care system and dental (including orthodontics) are free until the age of 19. So no paying for those braces if needed. So basically the family benefit payments will pay for all the things that would otherwise eat into my budget (like baby food, wipes, diapers, etc).

Brat says:

Congratulations.

From here on out your first job is to take care of the Mom. When you are parents take care of each other so that you can both take care of the babe.

Thanks Brat, you bet. Keeping mom and baby healthy and happy is job #1. We're quite fortunate that we will both be able to stay home with the baby and share all the tasks without having things like w*rk to interfere.

samclem says:

Trek,
Congratulations! So, how do things go in Estonia: "Natural childbirth" with breathing exercises and husband-as-coach, or Dad waits in another room while the pros handle things with Mom?

It's whatever we choose. They are more than happy to have dad there coaching mom during the delivery. They really encourage the fathers participation. Of course, if it's not your thing, you can opt to sit out, but I personally want to be there for every bit of it.

 

[dumpster56]

Actually, since we live in Estonia, the expenses are quite limited. Estonia literally PAYS you to have children to encourage the population growth. And like other European countries, they see the importance of children and parents being able to spend a maximum amount of time together with keeping stress levels to a minimum. So my fiancée will be able to stop working 3 months prior to the expected delivery date and then once the baby is actually born we will get a very generous childbirth payment from both the state and local government. Then my fiancée will receive 100% of her current wage for the next 15 months and her employer must keep her job for her when/if she returns. We will also receive a monthly family benefit payment until the child is 16 years old. And of course there are no medical bills to pay due to the national health care system and dental (including orthodontics) are free until the age of 19. So no paying for those braces if needed. So basically the family benefit payments will pay for all the things that would otherwise eat into my budget (like baby food, wipes, diapers, etc).


So we cannot do this in america??

Ok how about some kind of national coverage??

Nah those insurance companies.......

 

[Trek]

Ya know, I have to say that the Tallinn Central Hospital is the cleanest medical facility I've ever been in. Makes the ones back in central Florida look really bad.

 

[Nords]

Estonia literally PAYS you to have children to encourage the population growth.

So... when should we send you ours?

 

[Trek]

So... when should we send you ours?

I don't want to fix one that you messed up.

 

[bright eyed]

Actually, since we live in Estonia, the expenses are quite limited. Estonia literally PAYS you to have children to encourage the population growth. And like other European countries, they see the importance of children and parents being able to spend a maximum amount of time together with keeping stress levels to a minimum. So my fiancée will be able to stop working 3 months prior to the expected delivery date and then once the baby is actually born we will get a very generous childbirth payment from both the state and local government. Then my fiancée will receive 100% of her current wage for the next 15 months and her employer must keep her job for her when/if she returns. We will also receive a monthly family benefit payment until the child is 16 years old. And of course there are no medical bills to pay due to the national health care system and dental (including orthodontics) are free until the age of 19. So no paying for those braces if needed. So basically the family benefit payments will pay for all the things that would otherwise eat into my budget (like baby food, wipes, diapers, etc).


So we cannot do this in america??

Ok how about some kind of national coverage??

Nah those insurance companies.......

ok, they need to start using estonia and not sweden or canada in those comparative studies about health care/family support for women/families! you're not making that up?

3 months before the baby comes are there statistics/reasons why? reduce maternal stress? i've had friends ordered on bed rest for 3-4 months, usually toward the end of the pregnancy - and they still end up working via the laptop...

so people regularly take the full 15 months off? i took off 3 with each bambina and felt very stressed about being out of the office, and then stressed returning to bulk back up...

what about child care? who does it? do moms typically stay at home, or are grandparents prevalent? what is the cost? and i'm guessing preschool is universal too then?

 

[ladelfina]

Trek.. congratulations .. Yay!!

Don't get the word out or Michael Moore will be shepherding pregnant ladies to Estonia... shhhhhhh! ;-)

 

[Trek]

ok, they need to start using estonia and not sweden or canada in those comparative studies about health care/family support for women/families! you're not making that up?

3 months before the baby comes are there statistics/reasons why? reduce maternal stress? i've had friends ordered on bed rest for 3-4 months, usually toward the end of the pregnancy - and they still end up working via the laptop...

so people regularly take the full 15 months off? i took off 3 with each bambina and felt very stressed about being out of the office, and then stressed returning to bulk back up...

what about child care? who does it? do moms typically stay at home, or are grandparents prevalent? what is the cost? and i'm guessing preschool is universal too then?

I looked it up and it's actually 70 days or 2.3 months before your expected due date you can knock off work. The ob-gyn gives you a note to take to your employer and they have to let you go. I don't know the exact reason other than it must suck to be 7 months pregnant and working. I image it's healthier for the baby if the mommy isn't stressed out. They're really big on good maternity/pre-natal care.

Oh, and you don't have to worry about a back load of work piling up. The companies hire temps to cover for women while they are out, since they're out for so long. And yes, the women take advantage of being able to stay home with their children as long as possible.

After the moms go back to work, you can enroll the children in one of the municipal daycare centers which, of course, there is no fee for. I think the parents have to pay for the meals though.

The Estonian government has really worked hard to take all the stress and worry off having children, which leads to more people having babies, which leads to a happy government (more population), happy parents (less stress, more family time) and happy children (more time with mom and dad who aren't stressed about bills).