It’s a great idea although people who really don’t have money are probably already doing many of the things listed in this book-no offense Joy and Rebecca.

When my (then) boyfriend and I got pregnant back in 1996, we had no money at all. We were pretty much unemployed, and then underemployed. I was on WIC, and got a free car seat out of deal too. Our families did throw us some modest baby showers, but because the news of a baby out-off-wedlock was not exactly welcome, they were not large affairs. When we did marry (when our child was 9 months old) our first tax return showed that we made $10,500 in ’96-jointly.

We happened to get ‘jobs’ as thrift store pickers for a friend of ours who told us what to look for and then sold these finds to Chinese fashionistas. This turned out to be a blessing. We got everything for baby from these stores, and the nice ladies who ran the places were always happy to babysit while we combed the racks. We got cloth diapers (many brand-new), baby clothes, a changing table, a crib, bottles, blankets, towels, a swing, high chairs, toys and just about everything you could think of for our little man. We didn’t like plastic, and rarely bought anything that was. We gave new life to all these gently used items. We all slept in the same bed to save on heat at night. We also were members of a toy-exchange, where you give a toy, take a toy to keep the kids entertained.

We washed our own diapers. (cheaper than a service and better for the environment) and fed our son ground up versions of what we were eating. For babysitting needs, we formed a collective with a couple other families of young kids using ‘baby bucks’. You would earn this fake money each time you sat for another’s kid and pay it to someone each time they watched yours. (The bucks eventually went out the window and we just helped each other).
We didn’t have a lot of baby ‘stuff’. Just what we needed. We literally spent hardly anything in those first years….and I think we were ‘greener’ than we are now.

I’m sure the authors have lots more suggestions than what I mentioned here, and the point is that you really can raise a baby-for at least the first 3-4 years on a shoestring budget. So it might be worth the $19.95 to buy the book that will give you ideas that can save you big bucks later on.

Economically, hiring midwives makes sense. Generally speaking, a midwife who is employed by a hospital or birthing center earns anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 a year, (old stats) where as a family physician earns upwards of $120K and an obstetrician can earn $200K or more.  If an established practice or hospital is looking for a birth practitioner to join their group, it would make fiscal sense to consider hiring a nurse-midwife!

For many practices and hospitals, this could be a first.  Santa Fe just granted privileges to nurse-miwives for the first time just this year.  I have been trying to gather some more information about other institutions in other cities, and have been hard-pressed to find data, but I do know that the main reason why our hospital changed it’s ‘tune’ was due to economics (and new management).

For Santa Fe women, this is great news.  Up until now, we have had to have a home birth or go to Albuquerque or Espanola to receive obstetrical care from a midwife in a hospital setting.  Rumor has it that our hospital plans to expand their midwifery services in the future.  This means that (hopefully) I will have a job in my own town when I graduate in 2 years.  : )

By hiring more midwives, the hospital may be able to see a reduction in interventions and c-sections, which will also save them money.  Many of the clients we serve can’t pay, or pay very little.

If anyone knows of any other places where midwifery is being introduced because of the economy, I would love to hear your stories.