premmie babies, hospitals, trips and money??

[squidipa]

hi, well i woke up this morning doing figures in my head and worrying,

i know just cause i have a low pappa score it is not 100% positive that bub will be early.

now with that being said i was worried how will i afford to go to hospital, costs me 11.40 now to get their on train and same for hubbie now thats not including 2 school age kids. I heard on radio that from January public transport will increase by 40% and go cards by 20%.

how will i afford this even on weekly tickets i dont think i will. if bub is 4 weeks early how long will bub be in for?
what about 6 or 8 weeks early? 10 r 12 or more?how long will i be in with bub?

we will be feeling a serious pinch when its just these extra scans we have to for, driving in oh gosh that could be hell lol and then parking it could cost around the same. we NEVER have spare cash its always tight or on the card these days.

any advice tips. no we are about 3km's out for the hospitals to cover the trip its about 47km's there and back. No i cant go to a closer hospital. how should and when should i be budgeting for this and how much?

also when should i get a car seat and get it fitted? knowing i could go early?

[squidipa]

[melbel]

If you are low income/receiving centrelink income support you may be eligible for medical transport allowances.....my friend who has had a double organ transplant gets this as she lives outside the 'zone' for the hospital (lives about the same distance away as you would). I forget exactly how it works, I "think" she might get vouchers for the taxi or something like that. Doesnt hurt to ask at Centrelink if there is anythign they can do to help.

[Spring Angel]

I'm sorry hun but I don't know the solution. The best thing I can suggest is calling the hospital and asking them for suggestion. I'm sure you are not the first person in this situation and they may know some money saving tips (like concession tickets).

Sorry I couldn't be of more assistance.

Spring xx

[squidipa]

If you are low income/receiving centrelink income support you may be eligible for medical transport allowances.....my friend who has had a double organ transplant gets this as she lives outside the 'zone' for the hospital (lives about the same distance away as you would). I forget exactly how it works, I "think" she might get vouchers for the taxi or something like that. Doesnt hurt to ask at Centrelink if there is anythign they can do to help.

hrmm thanks i dont know how ppl do it so to them and thier families who help.
Distance: 45.5km is the distance we travel currently for scans that costs us 22.80 for me and hubbie.
doesn't seem like much to soem but for us is a big cost

[Shades]

I just had a look and it looks like an adult go card would work quite well for you and DH if you didn't go in together (for visits I mean), maybe one could go in the morning and the other in the arvo and whoever is home sorts out kids...

I think premmie bubs usually stay in hospy until they are equivalent to 37-40 weeks gestation... depending how well they do - little brother was born at 33 and home at equiv. 36 weeks. It can also sometimes be an option to get them transferred to a closer hospital to your home.

Time to get a car seat fitted shouldn't change that much given that even if early, baby will be in hospital until close to when he would have been full-term anyway - so getting a seat early is a bit redundant.

[Shades]

Have you posted elsewhere about why you have to go to this hospital and not a closer one? Just wondering if I've missed it...

[squidipa]

Time to get a car seat fitted shouldn't change that much given that even if early, baby will be in hospital until close to when he would have been full-term anyway - so getting a seat early is a bit redundant.

thanks shades

good point altho it would be me fitting it after a emergency c section and also fitting another seat to move joshies so more or less doing 2 seats after an emergency c section if bub came early. As for going into hospital i would like to go in with hubbie do to my ptsd i couldn't travel alone anyhow. Oh i forgot also i would eb movie ds's booster seat too to make room oops so 2 seats moved and 3 fitted after c section.

[squidipa]

Have you posted elsewhere about why you have to go to this hospital and not a closer one? Just wondering if I've missed it...

yep all the catch up is
here
and here

[Shades]

But you wouldn't have to move them immediately after, you'd have some time to heal before you needed to install it/move seats around. And I think the ambo service will fit seats for free?
I forgot about the travelling with hubby thing... still go-cards look like a much cheaper option... especially if you could get financial help as a previous poster suggested.

[BloominRoses]

Hey Sweetpea -

As I just went through this and relied initially on taxis until I was completely beyond broke, and then solely on public transport (which still required long bouts of walking on my part) and the extreme kindness of friends with cars, I couldn't read this and not post although I'm not sure I'll be of much help.

My hospital Social Worker had access to free full-day MetCards so I could ride public transport all day long for free. Also, I'm not sure about your hospital, but at mine the cost of parking was absolutely ridiculous and I was given basically a letter each week to allow me to purchase a parking pass for $35/wk which was a huge discount since parking there for a full day costs that alone. Although I obviously didn't use the pass myself, I passed it on to Seth's father and his family and they shared it amongst themselves.

Money is seriously one of the biggest worries when you find yourself in this situation. At first I was so exhausted both physically and mentally that I relied on meals purchased from the food court and easy transportation home until my money ran out. Rather quickly I may add. I did however have access to a Parent's Lounge on the SCN ward so once the fatigue subsided for a bit, I started to bring food from home that I had prepared the night before.

So my advice is to A. Not overly stress about what you're going to do in an 'IF' situation. Yes it's great to be prepared, but I find sometimes over-preparation can make you more anxious than anything else considering we really don't have much of a choice regarding timing when our babies decide to do a runner from our bellies.

B. If your hospital is equipped and advanced enough to properly care for Prem babies, then chances are there will be both a Social Worker and a Care Manager who are assigned to each Prem family. They'll have the information regardiing every single support and offer of assisance available, both from the hospital itself and from Centrelink and other Commonwealth agencies.

Don't fret darling - there are heaps of people thrust into this situation each day and no one will allow you to go any length of time without seeing your baby who needs you more than anything.

HTH in some small way -
S xo
OT but interesting: I had Low PAPPPA as well although this wasn't listed as a contributing factor to Seth's prematurity.

[squidipa]

hi bloomin roses,

thanks for that info for some reason reading you post pulled at my emotions i think cause you know how it will be if thats me. I know when my mother was in icu and i was there traveling 1.5 hours each way on public transport i spent my all and everything, let alone energy and walking and in this case i wont be up for walking previous to birth and not much immediately after. I was an absolute mess and then some, in the end she was in hospital for many months during my 8 week stay interstate i was utterly drianed living on black and gold 2 minute noodles 1 packet a day and think that the experience of making life decisions for my mother will be the same as for my child if it comes to it.

I know that i will beat myself up if i have not in prep dont everything i could have done to prepare for this possible event. Murphys law?! I am one of these ppl whom need to have some type of control over the area's i can control other wize i go mad. Rather be prepared than not. I have emailed the hospital and asked about travel allowance stuff as i will do 45km's there and back and i think the hospital travel system is for 50km's.

[BloominRoses]

I completely understand why you want to be as prepared as possible - especially after going through that painful ordeal with your mum. The fact that you may have to go through the same thing for the second time, and in this instance it'll be because of your child, breaks my heart a little for you but I know you will get through it once again.

I've been there with the no food, no money, no nothing all because of having to pay for things that we just shouldn't have to worry about when our baby is born under those circumstances. But I made it through - and you know exactly how . If anything, because you are an Aus citizen you will have so many more support services accessible to you that just weren't an option for me at all and I hope that provides just a little reassurance to you.

I promise you: the people at your hospital will do all they can to get you there every day. So much research has been done about how important Mummy contact is with prem babies, even when we can't physically touch them yet, and as your hospital is set up to deal with Coffee Bean's care, they will definitely be on top of how integral your presence is. Royal Women's here even has accommodation available for families who live a long distance away so I have to believe the medical profession in this field supports all of the research undertaken. In fact, I heard fellow mums get kindly told off for not getting in there every day so if you are wanting to go, and the only thing preventing you is a lack of funds for transport, they will bend over backwards to get you there. And if for some reason they don't, so many other community support services will.

When you're stressed about preparing and planning, etc... and want a bit of reassurance, just picture me being wheeled into Emergency wearing no pants or underwear, definitely no hospital bag and all alone, thinking I was constipated. Ninety minutes later Seth was here and 5 weeks and 6 days later he was at home. Yes the process sucked at times, really badly, but if we end up sharing similar experiences you will one day wake up and realise that although we can't control much of anything despite how much we try to, sometimes it's those things that surprise us out of the blue that matter the most.

S xo

[squidipa]

bloomin roses i just read your birth story and wow wow wow