Of the tests, the alternative to amnio is a new blood test, non invasive… and about 20K. But beats having a needle inserted, with all its risks.
We had that. Yeah, much better for all concerned. My wife was 40 so it highly recommended though to be honest I have no idea what we would have done had the boy suffered from Down’s. I guess it would help you prepare for afterwards.
Milkybar, congrats.
[quote=“Milkybar_Kid”][quote=“rocky raccoon”]
Pregnancy costs
Pre-pregnancy checkups: $5k (visiting the doctor and ultrasounds)
Pregnancy medicine: $6k (some probiotics)
Pregnancy vitamins: $5k (evening primrose and others)
Aside from furniture and equipment, having a kid isn’t as expensive as I originally thought.
[/quote]
Are you sure about that?
My wife is only eight weeks pregnant and already the costs have amounted to somewhere in the region of NT$20k.[/quote]
Yeah I’m sure. I was under the impression that it would cost a lot more, but it has worked out to be OK. For context, I’ve been in Taiwan since 2004 (had my son when I was 35) and work at a tech company here in Taipei. If I were trying to have a child during my first 5 years on the island, it would be much tighter financially.
As others have mentioned, it sounds like perhaps there are additional voluntary checkups that are happening. My wife (as I’m sure most expecting mothers are) was very cautious and wanted to go through the regular procedure. I think we just followed that book that the government hands out. Not sure what the recommended visits to the doctor’s office works out to be but it wasn’t weekly or anything.
We don’t have a car at the moment, either. It’s something that I think I’ll need to plan for though. At the moment we take Uber or taxis everywhere, but as Tiare mentioned, our baby doesn’t go out much aside from visiting grandma or great-grandma’s house on the weekend. Having relatives to visit is indeed helpful. I don’t always agree with their over-protective tendencies, but it’s only for an afternoon here and there. Like any responsible parent, the rest of the time we just let him play with knives and lighters.
21 days in a post partum hospital and your yue zi a yi. Is not a tradition.
We stayed in the hospital for 2 or 3 nights. Can’t imagine someone would want to stay there 21 days.
The whole thing costs about 25k.
Are you sure about that? Ask any Taiwanese about how long a new mother should “zuo yue zi” and I’m confident the standard answer would be 30 days. It doesn’t matter how you split it up, the tradition is simply having the new mother get plenty of rest and eat healthy food so she can fully recover during the 30-day period. We chose 21 days because friends who’ve done it before said that was enough, and the a-yi stayed with us for 10 days to help us see the practice to the end.
My wife’s cousin actually did her yue zi down in Tainan with relatives for 90 days! The point I’m trying to make is that the yue zi tradition is 30 days (minimum) and it doesn’t matter how it’s done.
[quote=“dabomb_gent”]We stayed in the hospital for 2 or 3 nights. Can’t imagine someone would want to stay there 21 days.
The whole thing costs about 25k.[/quote]
It seems like there’s some confusion: the post partum hospital is separate from the hospital where the baby is born. No one would ever think of staying in a public hospital for 21 days! 
Agreed about the costs though, as our 2-night stay at the public hospital was also around $25K.
For anyone who’s unclear about the post partum hospital (月子中心), it’s really just a bunch of furnished studio apartments with a 24-hour nursery to care for the newborn babies. It also includes cooking/cleaning service for recovering mothers. (Laundry is included because the mothers all wear standard-issue pajamas for comfort and convenience.) There’s cable TV, Wi-Fi, and usually a camera above your baby’s spot in the nursery so you can see how he’s/she’s doing.
There are set visiting hours for friends and family to come and stare at the newborn babies through the nursery glass. Visitors aren’t allowed to hold the newborn babies, and they’re not usually allowed in the mother’s studio apartment. There’s a lobby with chairs or couches for mothers to visit with friends and family.