for preemies or twins? Find them at our favorite party goods website.
Posted by kim on March 20, 2009
This week CNN published Study: Average preemie costs $49,000 in first year.
The average cost of medical care for a premature or low birth-weight baby for its first year of life is about $49,000, according to a new report from the March of Dimes Foundation. By contrast, a newborn without complications costs $4,551 for care in its first year of life, the report said. Newborns with other kinds of complications, such as congenital defects, have medical expenses of $10,273 on average in the first year. Read Entire Article.
I think $49,000 seems like a low estimate. Considering by definition that a premature baby is one born before the 37th week of pregnancy, I can see how that can skew the results. My youngest daughter, Tatym, was born over 3 weeks early (thus before the 37th week), but was still happy and healthy and a bouncing 7 lb. 4 oz. I didn’t consider her a preemie at all.
Whereas my twins were born over 13 weeks premature, and they maxed out the $1 million lifetime benefits on our health insurance. See why I call Macy and Mallory my million dollar miracle babies?
I wonder how much the Octuplets‘ care is going to cost?! I think I’m going to dress up as Octomom for Halloween this year!
Posted by kim on February 5, 2009
If you read our NICU story, you know that both of my twin daughters were diagnosed with Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC) where the bowel become infected and dies. Macy had seventeen inches of her small intestines removed and a temporary colostomy. Mallory only had a few centimeters removed and was fortunate not to have to have a stoma put in. Back then (15 years ago), the mortality rate for infants infected with NEC was 77%. Thankfully my girls beat the odds.
I subscribed to TWINS Magazine when the twins were still babies, and met many new friends in similiar situations through their PenPal section. This is before we had the internet – imagine if I had access to all of the information online back then! I corresponded with several other moms of preemies, and I was especially interested in hearing from those who had experienced NEC firsthand.
I found some interesting trends among those that wrote to me, so when I started a website dedicated to my “Million Dollar Miracle Babies”, I made an online survey for others to participate so I could see if I got the same conclusions. Here are some statistics thus far…
NEC is more common among males than females
In twins/multiples, NEC is more common in the first born.
NEC is more common among formula fed infants than breast fed infants.
There is litigation that some PDA medicine may be linked to causing NEC.
Obviously my daughters skewed the stats being female. And usually in twins, only one (and usually the first born) has NEC. Whereas both of my daughters suffered from it, but Macy (Twin B) was worse off. My girls were formula fed and given meds for PDA, though.
If you or someone you know have had experiences with this deadly disease, I would love to hear your results by completing our NEC Survey. All of your answers will remain confidential.
I would also love to hear your NICU story! Share your story to be posted here on PreemieTwins.com!
