Recession Babies
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A recession is a time to hunker down, work harder than ever and avoid extra expenses…oh like say maternity clothes and diapers. Or is it…? As I reported on Marketplace yesterday, some women are waiting out this economic downturn by getting pregnant.
A couple of cool notes about the reporting of this story. First, it was inspired by a couple of fellow reporters who tried to convince me that now was a great time for me to have a baby. I’ve been working as a temp reporter and freelancer for the last year. It’s the ultimate “between jobs” status, which they decided made this a perfect time to have a kid. I didn’t take the advice, but I decided there might just be a story there. With a kernel of an idea, I needed to find some real people actually bucking recession logic. I put a query out on Facebook, telling my “friends” that I was working on a piece about people having babies because of the recession. Amazingly, I got more than one response including the one that led me to Sara Steffens. See, Facebook is actually good for something other than procratination and publicly saying things you’ll regret.
Hi, what a nice website you have. I found it on Yahoo while looking for some newborn baby gear. Thanks and best wishes.
Thank you for the entertaining read! Alright playtime is over and back to school work.
I lost my job while I was pregnant. It was so depressing, until I got my tax return. I had my baby last year the week before my 40th birthday. Single and without a job. I had health insurance, but my baby didn’t. Since the only income I had was my $250 weekly unemployment checks, I qualified for food stamps and WIC. This really helped me and I actually ate healthier than I would have if I would have been working and saving money for the baby and all the hospital bills. My baby and I also qualified for medicaid during that time, so I was reimbursed all my medical bills that I had paid before I realized I qualified. I got the same good treatment from my doctor and delivered in a great hospital. The money I back in taxes went to pay off a few bills. I am still looking dilegently for a job and have taken on temp jobs when possible. I am no longer able to collect unemployment because of lack of funds from the state. I have been lucky to be at home with a baby for so long and was thinking it would be a great time to have another. I am of advanced maternal age and don’t want to wait any longer until I find that job with great insurance. But, alas, I will wait, because I’m not looking to leach off of the government. I think for many couples, this would be a great time to start a family, especially if you are a woman looking for a job and you live in an area where there are no jobs right now. The time would be well spent, with a new focus and maybe different outlook on your career or goals.