Never again.
Well, we finally bought a stroller. Yes, it took us 6+ months. And I never want to do it again. Are you aware of how strollers are out there? Too many – and more of them are too expensive. Ours has some features that we love and some “features” that we can live with. We love the tires and the ease with which we can now traverse Boston’s oh so smooth sidewalks. We love that the seat can face out at the world or face mom & dad without (and this is key) having to be removed to change directions. (Yes, we can even swivel baby around mid walk if we want.) And it has the best break every – just step on it to lock, step on it again to unlock – so easy! When baby #2 comes along we may find we love that the seat converts to a bassinet, but for now it’s a feature we’re not using. The frame doesn’t fold up as small as we had hoped, meaning stroller + diaper bag fills the entire trunk of the Yaris, but really, pretty much any two items fill the trunk of the Yaris, so we’re not surprised. Our runner up stroller would have given us a bit more room (and it was a spiffy three wheeler) but would have been a lot bumpier ride. And our least favorite “feature” is the decent sized but still pretty useless basket. I was so excited thinking we’d found the only stroller on the market that wasn’t the size of a house and still had decent storage (that is, enough basket space for a diaper bag – did you know that only parents of double strollers need storage?), but alas, while the diaper bag fits in the basket, it is nearly impossible to get in and absolutely impossible to get out with a baby in the seat. And once the bag is stowed away, there’s no chance of quickly grabbing anything out of it. I guess I was spoiled by the huge basket (which I probably overstuffed) on our Push and Go (or whatever it’s called – you know, one of those frames with wheels for pushing your baby around in their car seat). I’m sure with some finagling I’ll make it work. And the pretty useless basket is no more useless than the one on our runner up stroller, so with the seat that can face both directions and the super duper wheels, I think we made the right choice. I’ll know for sure once we’ve done a few more commutes into the office. And have our new car. Did we mention we’re buying a new car? We hope… I bet it will be a lot like buying a stroller.
471819.49
That's Nathan's total hospital bill. Not doctors or ambulance rides (of which there were lots) because those statements came throughout Nathan's stay and we haven't totaled them up. Just hospital stuff.
$471819.49.
88 days in the NICU.
Plus all those doctors and ambulance chauffeur rides – whatever that comes to.
If we’re doing our high school algebra correctly, we paid about 0.0005% of the total bill. We are very thankful for health insurance.