Modern Medicine, Traditional Care
“I think it is time,” Winnie said as she woke me
Adrenaline shot into my body, and I sprang into action like a headless chicken. Get dressed. Grab the bag of clothes we had prepared in advance. Fill a water bottle. Throw a bag of snacks into the backpack.
OK, we are all set to go to the hospital. What have I forgotten? There is something…. Oh, the wife!
We slowly walked the two blocks to the hospital, stopping every few minutes for the contractions to pass
My Mandarin isn’t very good, especially at 4 am, but I made out a few phrases… “…you walked here…?” “…probably too early…”
After a quick check the nurse sent us home with some clear instructions for when to return
18 hours of increasingly painful contractions later and amateur hour was over. There would be no walking this time.
Our taxi rolled up to the hospital around 11 pm, and the nurses quickly confirmed we would be admitted. But after nearly an hour of waiting, we were still waiting in the lobby and I started to get grumpy
“Oh, they said if we wait until after midnight to be admitted, then it saves us about $200,” Winnie explained. Frugality runs deep with this one
Things proceeded quickly from there. We were escorted to our private hospital room, contraction monitoring machines were connected to Winnie’s body, and an epidural was inserted to reduce pain.
A few hours later, we were wheeled into the delivery room. I’ll skip this part, because some things cannot be unread. And definitely no photos, because those same things can’t be unseen
At 6:13 am on April 11th, little Julian aka 聿安 aka GCCjr burst onto the scene, weighing 3013 grams (6 lbs 10 oz) and 51 cm (20 in) in length
I cried when I first saw him. Winnie did too, but probably for different reasons… one of which was the 200 lb nurse that pressed her full mass down upon Winnie’s belly during peak contractions. As GCCjr’s first act in this world, he promptly peed on her (that’s my boy!)
Strike a Pose
The Childbirth Experience in Taiwan
Everything about our experience giving birth in Taiwan was top notch. The hospital was modern and clean. The care was warm and friendly and efficient. The Doctor was as experienced as they come, having delivered thousands of babies during his long career
The standard stay in the hospital after childbirth is 3 days, during which we had a private room with a sofa, flat screen television, and nursing care that constantly provided for Winnie and Julian’s needs.
Hospital Room
All of this at a price that is hard to beat
| Childbirth Expenses | Paid by Insurance | Paid by Us |
|---|---|---|
| Private Hospital Room (3 nights) | $44 | $383 |
| Doctor's fee | $336 | |
| Epidural | $0.54 | $248 |
| Surgery | $436 | |
| Meals (3 days) | $127 | |
| Management fee | $173 | |
| Misc medicine | $14 | $1 |
| Test fees | $25 | |
| Exam fee | $29 | |
| Total | $722 | $1096 |
| Baby care expenses | Paid by Insurance | Paid by Us |
|---|---|---|
| Data processing | $91 | |
| Pediatrician fee | $46 | |
| Birth certificates (English and Chinese) | $23 | |
| Health check #1 | $1 | $19 |
| Health check #2 | $29 | |
| Pharmacy | $3 | $1 |
| Total | $33 | $182 |
Total (uninsured) expenses: $2,032
Total cost with insurance: $1,277
Additionally, the Taiwan Government has an incentive program to encourage increasing the countries’ population. For filling out some paperwork we received a cash bonus of 20,000 TWD (~$650)
Postpartum Center
As a part of Chinese culture, there is a nearly sacrosanct period of rest after childbirth. For 1 month, mother and child are forbidden to go outside, and the mother is not allowed to wash her hair or drink cold water, amongst other things. Winnie wrote a blog post a few months ago saying she thought this was odd and superstitious, and her inbox filled with angry emails.
When I recently went to the Taiwan Immigration Office to process my residency, it was mandatory that Winnie be present. But all I had to do was say, “She is on her month of rest after childbirth” and show a birth certificate, and this requirement was cast aside
An entire industry has been created around this month of rest in the form of Postpartum Centers aka Baby Hotels. During this month, nurses are available to provide baby care 24/7. They will feed your baby, change his diapers, bathe him, watch him over night so Mom can sleep, and attempt to meet any and all requests. In fact, if you were inclined to not see your child at all for 30 days, they would gladly support this
After our 3 days at the hospital, we also moved into a Postpartum Center that was on an upper floor of the same hospital. Some of the nurses were wonderful, and taught us how to change diapers and give the boy a bath, how to use a breast pump, and so on.
Baby Hotel (super tacky)
After 2 days, we were ready to move out and return home, but having paid for 7 days in advance we were in a bit of a bind. Since we had some scheduled Pediatrician check-ups, we stayed on.
(For $20 without insurance / $10 with, we had a detailed cardiac assessment from a respected pediatric cardiologist. All is well)
It is certainly convenient to have all of your medical needs a short elevator ride away
| Baby Hotel | Paid by Insurance | Paid by Us |
|---|---|---|
| Private Suite (7 days) | $1,306 | |
| Meals | $270 | |
| Checkup | $12 | |
| Misc fees | $3 | |
| Total | $1,589 |
At ~$225/day the price tag seems reasonable, albeit not the best or most comfortable solution
Home Care
After a week, we returned home. We’ve violated the taboos of outdoor air and shampoo, but resting at home is definitely superior to resting in the aseptic hospital environment.
GCCjr getting ready for his first ride
(As an aside, it is fairly normal in Taiwan for people to hold infants in their laps while riding in cars. I’ve even seen women riding scooters with infants strapped to their chests. Instead we got GCCjr this sweet ride
)
To continue the month of rest, we contracted help. For 2 weeks, Monday through Saturday, a friendly Grandmother comes to our home from 9 am to 6 pm
She buys groceries, cooks meals, helps with diapers and bathing and feeding, and helps with cleaning and laundry. Winnie definitely sleeps more as a result
For 13 days of service we pay $916, or about $75/day. After our Home Care service, we will have a few days to ourselves before my Mom and Grandma come to Taiwan for 3 weeks
Fun and Profit
We’ve only been parents for a few weeks now, but so far so good. There is definitely a lack of sleep and an abundance of diapers and ear piercing screams, but this has all been overshadowed by the smiles and snuggles
So far, we’ve introduced GCCjr to the joys of the spa day
Spa Day
…learned that he has inherited the gluttonous gene from his father
Too… much… milk…
…discovered that all of our Western friends think GCCjr looks Asian, and all our Asian friends think he looks Western. Either way, he is a handsome little devil #notbiasedatall (Eat your heart out #RoyalBaby)
He Gets His Good Looks From His Mother
And developed a new appreciation for nap time
Nap time!
It has also come to my attention that in Chinese culture, the eldest son is responsible for caring for his parents in their old age. That should provide an additional margin of safety in our little early retirement plan ;)
—
Some friends recently gave birth to their own bundle of joy in Seattle, and shared their own story to compare & contrast the price and experience in a future post. The price tag and quick return to home are a bit startling to me
Between our IVF procedure and childbirth, our total expenses will be a little less than $13k
Hi! You son is awesome! I just found your blog and am looking forward to catching up on your adventures. Please don’t be offended when I say you need to adjust the straps on your sons car seat. The buckle should be much higher (in between shoulders). I know, I know.. you don’t need advice on parenting and I promise to never say anything else, this one I just thought was worth pointing out. Crazy drivers are everywhere and you don’t want him flying out! <3
We had to introduce him to the car seat in stages, as he was none too happy with his new seating arrangement. I didn’t know it was possible for one little baby to sound like two cats fighting to the death
Hi Jeremy! Congrats to you and Winnie for precious little Julian! Babies are so infinitely cute even when one is sleep deprived. Our little one is a little over 4 months old so I remember these first free days clearly.
My mother (chinese) also would scold me for getting out of bed (yes, I was supposed to try and stay in bed for a month….which was not going to happen since we also have an active 4 yr old) and for taking showers!
The ridiculous thing was that on our previous insurance, my standard prenatal tests and 2 regular prenatal office visits totaled nearly $3000. We were amazed! And then we did everything we could to minimize all future pregnancy expense. We even considered moving out of state as a means to qualify for better insurance. In the end, we were able to get great insurance because of my husband’s employment and the rest of our pregnancy and out of pocket birth expense through insurance was over $1k. With our monthly premiums included though, the price was over 5 figures easily for my entire normal pregnancy and natural and unmedicated birth.
I remembered our first baby, the itemized list of procedure and prices were eye-opening with total cost of epidural natural delivery and 48 hrs of in hospital stay for mother and healthy baby was over $20k! But with good insurance we only paid a fraction of that cost.
Our medical system is definitely a mess in the states. which is reaĺly unortunate!
I’m glad you guys were able to have a great birthing experience at a reasonable cost in taiwan! We would consider being opened to living and traveling abroad more often if we didn’t have 2 sets of families living in the area. It’s worth a great deal to me that our kids are close to our family
This shows one of the big problems with US health insurance. When the system encourages you to do things like consider moving to a new State, it is broken.
Being close to family is definitely nice (except when they won’t let you shower), although with family spread across the US and around the globe it isn’t practical for us. But a bunch of our family is already planning to come visit us this winter
Husband is planning to go to taiwan in Oct. How is the pollution level and general air quality? Was thinking if sending our 5 yr old as well, but afraid of him getting sick while over there w/I me (mom) around.
Hi Lan
Millions of children live here. I’m sure yours would be just fine, and would benefit from the experience even if they caught a cold
Congrats!
Thanks Brian!
Wow! What a beautiful baby…Congratulations to you and Winnie1
Thank you Madeline
Congrats! He is beautiful.
We have three kids. Thankfully, we did not have any problems getting pregnant so all the conceptions were free, (and fun). The first one, my husband’s work insurance (which he didn’t have to pay into at all) paid 100% for maternity care, so prenatal visits, birth, and postnatal visits all free. Second one we had moved / changed jobs. Insurance wasn’t so great and the local hospital didn’t do epidurals, so we opted for a home birth with a midwife. Prenatal, birth and postnatal visits, 1500 ish, plus another couple hundred for a 20 week ultrasound at the hospital. Third one, job change with better insurance, and the hospital offered epidurals now, but we loved our homebirth experience with the second one so much we opted to do that again, at about the same cost as the second one.
That one month rest sounds heavenly though!
We are 3 weeks into the month of rest, and I think we are both ready for one more month
It is pretty amazing how much the insurance drives the overall decisions and experience, and just how varied the insurance options are
Oh he is so precious! Congratulations. You now don’t have to leave the house for entertainment. Having kids is the ultimate source of entertainment. Even though I live in the US, I stayed in the house with all my babies the first few weeks they were born. We went out when we needed to, but for the most part, kiddos were easier to manage from home. So when we had additional kids, my husband ran the older kids to their events and errand. However, by kid #3 and #4 we were out and about (even traveled with them) after 6 months.
We had our first outing yesterday, to the beef noodle soup restaurant on the corner. Winnie was going a little stir crazy after being inside so long, but that was about all of the adventure we could handle. It’s hard to do much when you are on a 2 hour feeding cycle
But… We’ve already booked our first flights for this October
Congrats to you and Winnie! He is adorable. It’s amazing the difference in the costs. Oh and the part about being sent back home from the hospital still gives me nightmares…we went to the hospital twice and both times they said that it was not time yet and to go home (for some reason I have a feeling this has to do with costs as well). Well the doctor was wrong and our son decided to enter the world at home…my wife basically gave birth herself (it actually says her name on the birth certificate under “attendant at birth.”) I made sure the hospital didn’t charge for delivering the baby…though it would have been covered by insurance anyway. The insurance covered the ambulance ride to the hospital (about $750 per person! mom and son). And here…it’s only a 2 day stay…though my son had a 3rd day because he was in the NICU due to the home birth. My wife was also told about the one month no shower/going outside superstition, but we broke…I mean bent those rules when our “elders” were not around.
Wow, that is both crazy and awesome! I can’t believe they charged for an ambulance ride for two
Wow, that’s some cheap childbirthing. We chose the gold plated insurance option the year our last was born. I think we paid $1800 to the hospital ($5200 paid by insurance), $300 to the anesthesiologist ($1200 paid by insurance), $400 for the OB’s services (insurance paid $1400, and the OB cost also included the prenatal checkups maybe 10-15 total). Then some random charges totally $100 or so.
We actually snuck out of the hospital after 1 night because who likes hospitals? and this was our 3rd kid. We also saved $200 or so (and saved our insurance $600) by skipping the second night.
I bet that 1 month period of rest is from the old days when post-partum hemorrhaging and lack of modern medical care was an issue. I can’t explain the don’t drink cold water thing though. Avoiding waterborne pathogens that might get expressed in mama’s milk? Strange stuff but no stranger than our western culture’s insistence on buying TONS. OF. STUFF.
The Washington State health exchange estimates the full price of birth at ~$7500, without the epidural. Your costs sound similar
A lot of the rules come from Traditional Chinese Medicine Theory, and cold water robs you of your qi (or something like that)
Who is Modern Medicine to argue with thousands of years of tradition?
A funny thing about the angry emails Winnie received… none of them provided data to support why these traditions were important, they all focused on “Don’t give our husbands an excuse to question paying for a month in the Baby Hotel!”
Congratulations to both of you!! The boy looks marvelous!
Congrats! He is adorable! Since my kids are young, I still remember roughly what I paid. Out of pocket, each kid was about $1100… although the hospital charges were $11,000 and $14,000 respectively. I found it ridiculous – especially since they were uncomplicated, and drug-free. I mean, for the $14,000 delivery – I was only in the hospital for 45 minutes before she was born! Anyways, in the end it doesn’t matter – I would’ve paid full price for them :)
The post-partum culture in Taiwan seems wonderful. That is one thing America has not figured out yet. I mean, Mr SSC was at work while I was in labor so he didn’t have to take a vacation day, and went back to work when our baby girl was 2 days old…
The US idea of dropping an infant at daycare so Mom can go back to work is completely mind boggling to me. I’m very happy we can focus 100% on Mom and Baby and getting everybody enough rest
Showers are mandatory though, especially in Taiwan’s hot and humid client
$14k just seems insane
Congrats! Being a parent is great. When your little one finally sleeps through the night it is amazing.
Both of our kids decided to be a little difficult upon arrival. Our little guy came 6 weeks early and spent 10 days in the NICU (he struggled to eat since he was early) and our little lady came 4 weeks early and then decided after a day, that she wanted to hang out in the NICU for 10 days too (she had some blood sugar issues and bradycadria issues).
Both are now perfectly healthy. As far as costs? Well we crushed our deductible and max out of pocket for both of them. The overall bills sent to the insurance were around $100K for him and $130K for her. Makes you realized how someone can be crushed by a major medical expense in the US if they don’t have insurance.
Wow, for $130k you could probably build your own ICU in Taiwan, complete with swimming pool and luxury penthouse with ocean view
This is why I would never be self-insured in the US, the prices are crazy
Congrats! He’s soooo cute! The first pose picture is a killer!…Best wishes to you and Winnie, and enjoy the parenthood!
Wow the costs are so varied. We paid 250 for the first child from beginning to end, and this was for a c section birth. The insurance here does two days if it’s normal childbirth and 3 days if it’s hospital. The actual cost is 20k I think? The second birth was home birth and that’s 4500. Not too bad considering a normal childbirth is way more than that out of pocket.
having someone live with you for a month as part of the sitting month in NorCal is 3000 I hear. You can also just pay for delivery of herbal food for a month. That’s obviously cheaper.
A friend of ours paid $3600 for a month in the Bay Area, which really is not too bad. At least when compared to the cost of childbirth
Congratulations, and best wishes for health and happiness to all three of you! Thank you for sharing so much with us, and enjoy this brief, precious time in your child’s life. (That time being “the part before the poop begins to be a health hazard” lol.)
We may have crossed that threshold :/
Congratulations! Reading this post brought me much joy. The birth of my child was hands down the most amazing experience I’ve had. I think the one month rest period is a great idea. Birth is no small feat! In the US I’ve seen mothers out and about 1-2 days after giving birth which both me and my wife thought was crazy.
I like the rest period as well, it makes a ton of sense. Winnie says compared to waking up every 90 minutes for breast feeding, childbirth is easy. It’s all exhausting, I can’t imagine how people go back to work shortly afterwards
Congratulations on your new arrival. We just had a daughter in January here in the states. I compared Obamacare plans knowing we would hopefully be having a child within 12 months and the cheapest all in price happened to be the highest Platinum Plan. Total out-of-pocket cost was $1,250 but with a monthly premium of $273 just for her. So, adding in the premiums, it was just over $4,500. That’s about as good as it gets here if you’re paying for insurance yourself.
I showed my wife your story and she drooled over the “hire a grandma” for the first two weeks. She thinks that should be mandated by law!
I think we might be addicted to the grandma plan. There might be a nanny in our future…
Sounds like both of you had a wonderful experience. Good luck with your little guy. I am sure he will learn early the benefits of being free from the chains of debt and follow in your footsteps to his FI. Good luck.
Keep cranking,
Robert the DividendDreamer
AKA — Seeking Dividends
Congrats on the beautiful new addition to your safety margin!
The birth of each of my two kids was fully covered by my employer-sponsored health insurance so I didn’t have enough visibility into the costs to be able to compare, but I’m sure the uninsured out-of-pocket costs would have been many multiples of your experience.
Our first-born made both my and my wife’s parents grandparents for the first time, which unleashed a fury of generosity that continues to this day (and which, if applicable, should not be discounted by those who run the financial cost/benefit analysis of having children).
Thanks brooklynguy!
There has definitely been a wave of generosity, mostly from friends
GCCjr already has more clothes than Winnie and me put together, and we’ve received enough of most everything from slings to breast pumps to provide for twins. The only real purchase we’ve made is the stroller and car seat
Congrats! For the record he definitely looks Asian. I’m not sure how well they’ll accommodate to your frequent travel lifestyle, but cloth diapers will save you many many $$$’s (if you can gut the cleaning).
First of all: Congratulations! Good luck and have fun with Julian. The little boy is lucky to have you as parents.
And “Oh, they said if we wait until after midnight to be admitted, then it saves us about $200,” Winnie explained. Frugality runs deep with this one” – Too funny!
There is a plus to living in in the great white north, cost of giving birth including follow ups doctor visits: $0 (well actually it was $12 …… parking at the hospital).
$12 for parking?! I guess that is how the hospital earns their profit, haha
The system in Canada definitely seems a lot more family and health focused
Congratulations! What a beautiful baby, and thanks for sharing. You had me laughing in some parts. I appreciate your sense of humor.
I do have a child, which I actually adopted from Russia, so total expenses for me (Summer of 2008) ran about 3.5 times more than what you paid. We did get about 1/4th back in tax breaks when we filed our taxes. She was worth every penny. :-)
Definitely worth every penny
A friend I used to work with also adopted their daughter from Russia. They now have 5 (or is it 6?) kids :-O
Congratulations Jeremy and Winnie! Julian (lovely name) is beautiful! We welcomed our first son in December and can relate all too well to your story. We were not quite prepared as his arrival was unexpected and early. I am on an HDHP ($0 premium costs as a result of employer HSA contribution) and the pregnancy and delivery cost us $5,300 (I met the out of pocket maximum). Under my plan, the newborn was covered under me for the first 36 hours, so his hospital stay and initial checkup were all covered as part of my plan (this took nearly 2 months to straighten out with the insurance plan!!!). We switched the little man onto my husband’s insurance and our premiums have increased ($120/month). 4 months in and we have spent a total of ~$400 on baby supplies to date. We do not live near family or friends with children, so we could not rely on hand me downs (nor did we get any gifts) so consignment sales and Craigslist were great for this. The biggest unknown right now is the cost of childcare later in the fall (when we both will most likely return to work). But so far we have been able to enjoy and raise our little man without making too much of a dent in our expenses! I am glad to hear Winnie relaxed that first week – it’s one thing I wish I had done more of! Enjoy parenthood :)
Congratulations Jeremy, Winnie, and beautiful baby Julian! Welcome to the mysterious and beautiful world of being alive. The best to all of you. Your lifestyle is perfect to maximize your complete and thorough enjoyment of every precious minute.
From Ila
Thanks Ila
We are really happy to be able to not have to make choices about career vs Mom and baby.
Yesterday we went for a Doctor consult about breast feeding, and the first question the Doctor asked was if Mom needed to get back to work. She had different advice for Winnie than what she normally provides
What a great story! Congrats to the the three of you, it sounds like you’re going to be a fantastic family with lots of experiences to share with him. Besides, he came into your lives at a bargain rate compared to what it might have been stateside. Like I should know. ;)
We look forward to the family updates in the future. He doesn’t look Asian or Western…he looks wonderful. Enjoy every minute.
Thanks Bob!
> OK, we are all set to go to the hospital. What have I forgotten? There is something…. Oh, the wife!
Ha ha….. This brought smile on my face :-)
Heartiest congratulations ! Welcome to the club :-) I have a 2 year old daughter !
Comparing with US the expenses mentioned by you are definitely inexpensive, but if I share the cost involved in my country you will be SHOCKED!
My wife had a C-sec at the time of my daughter and the whole operation end to end (including 3 days room rent) costed us ……….. volaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa……… USD 200 (To be precise, USD 127) and this was also reimbursed by my office medical insurance :-)
In India we have government hospitals. The doctors in government hospitals are the best but generally the hospitals are not very clean. But these hospitals also have VIP rooms – Quality, service and cleanliness in these rooms are comparable/better than what we have in US. Getting access to these VIP rooms are difficult but with proper planning everything is possible :-)
In government hospitals the delivery is free of cost but as we availed VIP room, the cost incurred was USD 127!!!
Once again, heartiest congratulations!!
Haha, I was a little caught up in the moment :)
$127 is a great price for some VIP treatment. The US health system could learn a lot from India
He’s a cutie, congrats Jeremy & Winnie! It was only 18 months ago but I still remember all the details the day Baby T was born. I’ll most likely remember all the details. Looks like Taiwan has great medical care system. Having used Taiwanese medical system I’m not surprised at all.
Thanks Tawcan! And congrats to you and the Mrs with Baby T
Life just changed for the better
Little GCCJr. is too adorable! Congrats to you and Winnie! I’m torn between whether he looks more Asian or Western though :). Will need more pictures for deliberation.
Thanks Jian! I’ll post photos on Twitter pretty regularly
Congrats! He’s adorable.
Thanks Ingrid! I’m one proud papa
Why did the insurance pay 54 cents for the epidural?
I’m not really sure, it is just listed as “materials”
Congrats on the arrival! Grandmas make the process a lot easier that is for sure!
We went home 48 hours after #1 and 24 hours after #2. The hospital wanted us to stay longer with #2, but it was for them to make more money, not for medical reasons.
We probably paid close to $2k for baby #2. It is amazing how many bills you get from people you don’t even remember seeing!
Thank you!
One great thing with the health system in Taiwan is that you get only 1 bill per procedure. I’ve heard horror stories of people receiving 5 or 6 bills in the US for one emergency room visit, with bills not arriving for 6 – 9 months later. Crazy
I’m Caucasian and my wife is Filipino. I can definitely relate to one part in particular. My family thinks our kids look more Asian and her family think our kids look more Caucasian.
Haha, it is pretty funny. But then I think he looks like Mom and she thinks he looks like me
Congrats! I was wondering about the costs of delivery. Sounds like you guys got a lot of service for a great price. I laughed at the Asian friends think he looks Western and Western friends thinks he looks Asian comment. Too funny. Thanks for baring the details and enjoy fatherhood!
Congrats! As Mrs. SSC pointed out our costs out of pocket were around $1100 per kid. The first kid I had a more understanding boss that let me use 2 weeks unpaid time to be with our first born and adapt to the new life. Yes, that was 2 weeks unpaid leave… My boss during the second child wasn’t as nice and was from the work first and family is something work pays for and the stay at home takes care of… So, yeah I was at work during the first part of labor, and then back at work 2 days later. No time off to bond, or anything. Can’t wait to hit our FFLC date and have more time to spend with family.
Ah, congrats! That’s so exciting.
I was laughing out loud after I read the holding the registration so we can save $200.
Congrats on the new edition.
It is good now that you both are retired. The kid is truely blessed having both of his parents tending for him. It’s unheard of in the modern days, as more and more Asian women are taking the bread winner role and become more prominent in the workforce. After the initial 1-month of rest, most of the women have to go back to work.
Anyhow, I hope that when we have a baby, we’ll able to stay home and take good care of the kids. Enjoy the first few years of their lives and do many things together.
Thanks for sharing your story. You guys are going to be great parents.
Congrats to you and your little family, Jeremy! I married my high school sweetheart nearly 17 years ago and we’ve got four kids (living in Snoqualmie – shutout from the PNW!).
Huge congratulations!!! He is adorable!!! So glad to hear that all went well and that you’re all safe and sound at home. The waiting until after midnight to save $200 cracked me up–sounds like something I would try to do!
Congratulations! I have been waiting for this post. He is adorable! Thanks so much for sharing. Love all the articles, especially about your new addition.
Welcome to the world, Julian! And for the record ALL newborns look Asian. ;)
Japan has very similar “baby hotels.’ I read an article about them and a woman said that for a month all she did was eat, sleep, pump and surf the web.
Big congrats to both of you! Look forward to seeing the updates (and the GCC spin on kid finances).
Congrats on becoming parents! You know, our boys share the same birthday :-) Although, my son was born 11:34pm (Kansas time) 4/11/14. We had a home birth and I think we spent approx. $1,400 (including pre&postnatal costs). I spent three weeks.”resting” (1wk in bed, 1wk on bed, 1wk near bed) and feel it did speed my recovery. The midwife likened the internal healing to having a dinner plate sized wound (in utero from the placenta site). The more it’s disturbed the longer it will take to heal. Glad to hear you’re a breastfeeding family! In my opinion, it takes a commitment from mom, baby, and dad to have a successful breastfeeding career. We’re going on 13 months and it’s been worth every minute ~
Have you guys looked into baby-wearing? We like the soft structured kind, a brand called “Tula”. We’re a family of travelers and quickly discovered how baby-wearing opened up many more experiences. Most recently, we visited New Zealand and left no stone uncovered;) Hiking to the center of New Zealand while nursing my napping son was the moment I realized breastfeeding didn’t mean being tethered to the couch at home.
Again, congratulations and welcome to parenthood!
Thank you Brittany
We were gifted a few different used baby carriers, including a Tula, and we’ve been experimenting with them. Taiwan is getting very hot and humid now, and some of the carriers are uncomfortably warm.
We are big fans of baby-wearing though, and will need to figure it out. I love the idea of hiking with the baby!
Congrats to you both. A beautiful little boy. We hope to experience parenthood pretty soon and I just told my wife that maybe we should head to Taiwan for a bit. We can both teach at a university there and receive top notch care. Congratulations again!
Thanks Jason, teaching abroad sounds awesome!
Ah, he looks like both of you! Congratulations on the latest addition to the GCC family.
Congratulations! Your son is just adorable.
Congratulations Jeremy and Winnie! GCCjr is darling. So glad you guys are doing so well.
Thanks Erin! Miss you!
Congratulation! The birthing experience sounds really nice. We stayed at the hospital for just one night and then went home. We had some problem feeding and it was hugely stressful for the first few weeks. Taiwan is doing it right.
Yeap, the first born is retirement insurance. :)
Have fun with the baby! He’ll grow up to be a little jerk soon. (kidding…. somewhat…)
He already has a temper and is a bit demanding… so yeah
Congratulations to you both! Our first child was born in the U.S. and the second one in Germany. My wife preferred the German experience better and it was cheaper! Win Win!
Congratulations! That’s a beautiful kid you got there.
Congratulations to you both!
I gave birth to my son while my husband and I were living in New Zealand. We didn’t pay for childbirth costs (provided a parent is either a citizen or a resident) including his vaccinations. That was awesome! We moved to Portland when the kid was 3 and have been paying for his vaccinations through insurance since. Funny you mentioned about your kid looking more Asian/Caucasian depending on whose perspective. We’re also an Asian/Caucasian family, and my kid is certainly a good mix. More Caucasian looking when with Asian kids, and more Asian looking when with Caucasian kids. :-) Nonetheless, your kid is so gorgeous! Congrats! Will you be raising him as bilingual?
Hi Cee, thanks so much
The NZ system sounds great. Paying for vaccines is no big deal as the prices are low enough.
We plan to raise GCCjr trilingual, English/Chinese/Spanish
Congrats on the baby. My wife and I just found out we are having twins last week. This was our 4th round of IVF and we are so happy. I am investing a lot and have very little debt. I was thinking of opening up a taxable vanguard acct for each baby and place 100-200$ a month until they are 18, in the total stock mark index fund. They can use that money for college, a house, or keep it rolling to retire early? I will have to put some clauses. What are your thoughts on this?
Thanks
Nick
Congrats Nick! Twins will be great
In a taxable vanguard (custodial) acct for each baby, there are no clauses… they can spend the funds as they wish at age 18. That could be good or bad
Funds would also be taxed annually, and there are strange tax laws on investment income for children. 529 plans would allow you to save for college tax deferred at least, with restrictions
Children’s assets are also considered when applying for financial aid, and these funds may reduce the amount they are eligible for
I’m not sure what the best system is yet for investing for children. Our plan is to just keep funds in our own brokerage account and pay as we go
Congratulations Jeremy and Winnie and your first child! My English isn’t very good, especially at 10 am. So, that’s all.
I miss reading your posts! Please come back soon and tell us about your new adventures with Julian!
Thanks Justine!
My Mom and Grandma were in town, and our sleep schedule is a little erratic, so I’ve been spending a lot less time on the computer and a lot more time with family
We just took Julian to the Doctor, and at 2 months old he has already doubled in size to 6 kg and is in the 90th percentile for length. He likes to eat and is a big boy
I just published a slightly sarcastic post today, I hope you like it! :)
Beautiful beautiful baby! Congratulations Jeremy and Winnie! Enjoy your new chapter of life…
Three boys born in ’02, ’05 and ’08. All c-sections (ouch), unfortunately, 2 of them had NICU stays. It was an interesting time. lol. My cost memory is slightly vague but I know these things: our premiums were covered by my husband’s employer, the OB was around $800 the first time and up to $1200 by the 3rd…but that includes separate trips to the high risk OB too, and numerous ultrasounds. You would have thought we were having aliens. Nope…just really enormous babies and no, I didn’t have gestational diabetes.
The births…ah…well the first one was ~5k with no NICU and I negotiated it down to 2800 by paying cash and, well, asking for a better deal. It helped that we were living on 28k at the time (quite comfortably but it doesn’t look impressive. Lol. The 2nd had a 3 week NICU stay and c section. I think the all in on that was around 9k….but my in laws helped with one of the bills because we only had about ~5k saved up, expecting it to be similar to the first birth. Oops. We prepared better fir the third but had better insurance then and it was only ~3k with a 4 day NICU stay and c section. So ..3 kids, 23-ish thousand OOP? It sounds like a ton now, but it seemed somewhat manageable at the time because we had no car payments, a tiny house payment ($700) and low key life. We had some consumer debt from a year when our little grandma house fell apart…windows that broke when open and then wouldn’t shut, an oven that shorted out and literally fell to pieces, a stove top that only did “barely simmering” or “scorched and smoking”…etc. And my husband had a fight with his dad and got fired..when we had a 3 year old and a one month old straight out of the NICU. Things got hairy there for a bit. We were young and learned a lot during those years…mainly the importance of loving each other through things, laughing a lot and an emergency fund. Emergency funds are major when you don’t make much. Lol!
belated congratulations to you and your family
Thank you for your post. This is really helpful. We’re planning on having our first child this November in Taipei and were wondering about the price breakdown, including the private room option.
Did that come with a shower? Wifi?
Shower, yes. Wifi, no.
The pure pleasure of watching a baby turn into a toddler into a child into a teen into an adult is indescribable.
From 2015 to 2019 you’ve already experienced some of that. Enjoy!
He is basically a miniature adult now