Child Care - Open to Suggestions . . .

So . . . .

We applied for Supplemental Social Security and were denied on account of our millions that we have been hoarding in the crawl space under the house - go figure.

I did look into the home-nursing care. The program is through MediCal and they basically send you a babysitter for up to 40 hours a week who happens to be a registered nurse. The person I spoke to was very helpful and started running through the questions . . .

"Is your daughter on a respirator?"
"No"
"Does your daughter have a feeding tube?"
"No"
"Does your daughter have any mental developmental issues?"
"Not that we are aware"
"Tell me about the medications she is on."
"She isn't taking any"

Starting to see where this is going? It doesn't sound like we are going to qualify for in-home nursing care aside from the occasional consults with the developmental folks.

I briefly looked into seeing if there were any supplemental income programs that would pay the wife to stay home from work and I haven't found anything conclusive (other than the 6 weeks the EDD might pay for - which we have applied for).

We did tour the Together We Grow child care program yesterday and I was very impressed. This is also paid for through MediCal but even if your MediCal does not cover it, you can pay out of pocket to send your child there. Consequently, many of the children there do not have any medical needs. It seemed to me that the ratio was about 50/50 typical to extraordinary kids. I have no idea how much it costs.

Which brings up another issue. . . I called MediCal and asked them to send me an application. They sent me a stack of forms that amounts to doing your taxes while having a root canal. I finally got around to attempting to tackle it all last week and one of the forms mentioned that once we are approved, we would receive a Benefits Identification Card or "BIC" card.

"Wait a second . . . ." I thought to myself. I reached for my super-binder and sure enough, we had already received a BIC card - but I had never returned the paperwork. I have a vague recollection from the NICU that some medical conditions are automatically aproved through MediCal and I think the helpful staff at Mary Birch may have just submitted the paperwork for us.

All that to say, we are trying to confirm if we are approved by MediCal and, if so, at what level.

Which leads me to MY POINT. As any first time parent will tell you, the prospect of leaving your child in someone else's hands while you schlep off to a stoopid J.O.B. is a crummy one. You might as well tear your heart out and hand it to a stranger for safe keeping 8 hours a day.

Add to it the medical concerns surrounding Annie Lu and it's just a lousy situation.

So . . . . . If anyone has any input on how we can navigate these waters, we are all ears - especially if you have any info on any of the following:

- Any sort of supplemental income funding that will allow one of us to stay home with Annabelle

- Any sort of funding that might help defray the cost of child care (if that is route we must take)

- Any infant child care programs in the San Diego area that you would recommened (after my discussion with the home-nurse care coordinator, I am not so sure that Annabelle couldn't be put in a typical day care setting - provided the staff was attentive to her situation)

Annabelle will be six weeks old tomorrow and that is just about the minimum age most child care programs require before they will care for your wee one. So it seems to me that next week will be the first week that we do whatever needs to be done.

Please be praying with us for solutions!

Updates to follow . . .