Truth be told, I hate thinking about finances. Budgets, investments, retirement 401k’s, annuities, and college funds, OH MY! It all makes me cringe. I admire folks like Ryan, who are so on top of financial matters!

With Baby Champuru on the way, due to make her grand entrance in just about five months, facing the financial realities of being out on maternity leave without pay is a somewhat frightening prospect. Just getting to the point of being pregnant has taken much more effort and expense than most, having to undergo multiple procedures including surgeries and in vitro, depleting 95% of my paid leave and nearly $6000 in medical expenses. So, those of you who actually got pregnant by accident or with very little effort, be thankful! Some of us are not as fortunate.

By September, I expect to be pretty close to having zero sick/vacation leave hours since I have to take a few hours here and there every time I see the doctor. Some people are fortunate in that they have banked their leave for years and they’re able to take six months off for maternity with a steady paycheck. As for me, I will be on LWOP (leave without pay) and our financial situation will dictate how long I will be able to stay at home with the Snowflake.

Ever since I learned that I was pregnant, we have started paying off bills and saving aggressively. Honestly, I’m a spender by nature, not a saver. Nothing else has been able to motivate me to save with as much zeal as the prospect of bringing a little life into this world.
With the savings I am projecting, I should be able to stay home for over a year if we are extremely frugal. Six months if we want more leeway. I would love to be a stay-at-home mom for as long as possible (until the kid is 18 maybe?), but unless I can find a method of earning a modest income from home, I might find myself back at the office sooner rather than later.

As a result of a twitter comment I just made about working out my post-delivery budget being strained, a couple of friends mentioned TDI (temporary disability insurance). It’s something that I had heard about, but never inquired about. Apparently, TDI will give you up to 58% of your pay for six weeks for a normal delivery (eight weeks if you had a c-section). Every little bit counts and the extra 58% for a month and a half is better than nothing! (Thanks, @Roar and @rsuenaga for the info!)

We’re also thinking about starting a college fund for Baby Champuru. After a cursory search on Google, it looks like my initial thought about opening a Roth for that purpose isn’t the best option. Not a bad option, just not the best. I suppose that means more research will have to be done in the coming months. I just might turn into a financial guru yet! Okay, that might be reaching — but at least I’m trying to get smarter about these things for our family’s future.

With parenthood on the horizon and a good chance for multiples, Hubby and I recently added the Discovery Channel show Jon & Kate plus 8 to our DVR and we watched the first episode last night.

“I don’t know if I want to watch this,” Hubby said, before hitting the PLAY button on the remote. “I think it might scare me.”

Hubby braved the possible emotional trauma and watched the 30-minute episode with me. To see how Kate manages to keep sanity in a household of ten is just mind-boggling. I think I’d have issues with just two. Scratch that. It would be challenging enough with just ONE. But, man, oh man, that woman has EIGHT kids under the age of 10, six of them under 5. I don’t know how they do it. I’ll be watching every episode with particular interest.

But what I want to know is how she managed to carry sextuplets. Oh, my goodness. That is one strong woman!

As for me, I don’t think I can handle sextuplets. Or even quadruplets. Triplets, questionable. Twins, maybe. One would be just perfect. But, we’ll have to see what the Lord has in store for us. I just want the Snowflake(s), no matter how many, to be healthy and strong. Prayers still appreciated!