Pregnancy

Pregnancy Attorney Offers Tips to Help
Expectant Parents Prepare

Pregnancy is a time of great change. Watching the belly grow and getting the nursery ready are exciting milestones. However, "Pregnancy is about more than doctor's appointments and layettes," says Brette McWhorter Sember, retired attorney and author of Your Practical Pregnancy Planner: Everything
You Need to Know About the Legal and Financial Aspects of Preparing
for Your New Baby (McGraw- Hill, 2005, ISBN 0-07-143877-7, $14.95).
"Pregnancy is a time of new responsibilities and choices, legally,
financially, and practically. Expectant parents have a lot to prepare
for and many parents are simply unaware of the many decisions they
need to make. My goal is to help pregnant moms and dad get organized
during pregnancy and make informed decisions."

Sember offers these tips for expectant parents:

    1. Know your rights. New and expectant parents need to
    educate themselves about informed consent, the right to refuse
    treatment, the right to a second opinion, the right to ask for
    additional newborn tests not required by your state, emergency
    leave during pregnancy, maternity and paternity leave options,
    The Pregnancy Discrimination Act, newborn screening choices,
    and your rights with regard to your own and your child's
    medical records. Pregnant women have a whole host of rights
    that they are probably not aware of.

    2. Create budgets. Pregnancy is an expensive time. Not only
    are you purchasing an entire new wardrobe for yourself and
    paying for frequent medical care, but you're also buying
    pregnancy books, paying for childbirth classes, and buying
    everything you need for your baby. Creating a pregnancy
    budget will help you plan for these expenses. It's also
    essential that parents create a parenting budget, so they can
    see how much they are going to spending each month when they
    add in the cost of diapers, wipes, formula, baby clothes, and
    more once they are parents. In addition to this, parents need
    to carefully compare their health insurance policies so that
    they can choose the one that is most beneficial to them to use
    as a family plan. Flexible spending accounts (FSAs) are an
    important tool that can help expectant parents manage medical
    costs.

    3. Plan for the future. Pregnancy is the doorway into your
    future as a parent. Take the time now to think about things
    such as wills, guardians, life insurance, and college savings
    accounts. It can be difficult to think about things that seem
    unpleasant or far away, but taking a few minutes now to create
    plans for the future will allow you to feel comfortable and
    know that everything is in place and your family is protected.

    4. Ask questions. This is a time in your life when you're
    making major changes, so don’t take anything for granted.
    Parents need to understand their right to question their
    health care providers about treatment and get real answers. If
    you're going to be using child care, you need to start
    planning before your baby is born. Interview day care
    providers using the questionnaires in "Your Practical
    Pregnancy Planner". It's also essential to ask questions of
    your insurance agent to find out what kind of coverage exists
    for a sitter or nanny using your car. Some parents are
    unpleasantly surprised to learn that if they don't add the
    nanny as a driver, she’s not covered.

    5. Get organized. While you're waiting (and waiting and
    waiting) for your baby to be born, use this time to get
    organized. Do a safety check of your home, including tests
    for lead paint and radon. Try different layouts for the
    nursery using graph paper and to scale drawings before you
    start moving furniture back and forth. Sign up for free
    newsletters and magazines so you'll have an ongoing source of
    information. Stock your pantry and freezer so you don't run
    out of things the first few weeks the baby is home.

Your Practical Pregnancy Planner: Everything You Need to Know About
the Legal and Financial Aspects of Planning for Your New Baby is
filled with legal, financial, and practical information from pre-
conception to early parenting. It is published by McGraw-Hill and is
available at all bookstores as well as online. For more information
or to arrange an interview, contact Brette@BretteSember.com.