And the money will come from ... where?

So, today, I had my follow up OB appointment. Dr. C says the twins are both doing great. One is in the 96th percentile, the other in the 93rd. DH was concerned it was not perfect. At least I knew it was okay, but it was cute and sweet that he wanted his boys to be 100%!

Dr. C also said that I would for sure go early. First, he said 38 weeks, but then 35. Um, the earlier of those would be March 19. HOLY.FREAKING.OUT. I kind of needed the whole 40 weeks to get ready for them. So, reality has taken a major jump from yesterday.

I mean, I knew I could be on bed rest early. I knew there was a chance we could deliver early. But now the doctor is predicting it. He said it out loud, whereas before, he had said that he has had people go full term. And he's been totally spot on in all of his predictions with me so far. So, I'm planning on March 19 until I hear different.

So, I get back to the office and decide I need to get serious about calling all these daycare centers that I have had on a spreadsheet, but have never picked up the phone. My questions are kind of simple 1) do you take infants; 2) do you know whether or not you will have space for twin infants around May 1; and if yes to those, then 3) what is your fee schedule? and 4) what does that include?

HOLY.FREAKING.CRAP. The prices range from $190 - $230 per week, per child. Some places give a $5 discount per week for the second child. ARE.YOU.FREAKING.KIDDING.ME?

So, I don't want to skimp on childcare. I don't want this to be purely a money decision, but money is going to limit our options. If your math is like mine, then you can see that this would cost me a little over $1600/month. That's almost $20K a year! I forgot to ask if they offer a part time rate, so I will need to call them all back tomorrow to check, because if my DH changed his days off at work, or I worked from home at least one day, we might could get our need to 3 days which could save some serious dough. But I'm more than a little freaked out by the enormity of that dollar amount.

Nevertheless, because I do not want this decision to be solely based on dollars, I am going to visit the only one that I found that is open this Friday (most are closed for the Thanksgiving holiday). It also happens to be the most expensive, but its near our house, and I can visit during my day off and not take even more time off from work than I already do for my bi-weekly OB appointments. I will probably visit them all. All of the places our children will not be able to afford to go. And then I will call the in-home providers. Sigh.

In other, slightly less depressing news, my cold has progressed so that now I cannot leave a room without a Kleenex box attached to myself. Which means less pain in my throat, more pain on my nose. If I can just make it through tomorrow, then I will have the entire holiday weekend to recover. Which, while other people might feel their holiday is ruined, workaholic that I am, I feel this is a fortunate thing.