Pregnancy Help; Not Enough $$$; What to do?

[dstrausser83 14]

I would advise you to not seek advice from people on Vj because instead of people saying they don't know or looking over they will give you advice on something that have no idea what they are talking about. Assistance is dependent by state. What you can do is contact your Health and Human Services explain your situation and they can tell you what you can or can not do. I'm also anemic and pregnant but she can get on iron supplements, and make sure to eat iron rich foods. I know a lot of women who are pregnant and have Anemia. Again don't take advice from people who are in shape of form able to speak on this matter. Why they think they should I have no idea. Congratulations on the baby and hope everything works out.

See we are in a unique situation, as I would think a lot of VJers are. That's why I felt that this is the best place to get ideas from. I am not one that likes public assistance aka welfare aka entitlement programs. I am thinking of these as a last resort and seeking some better options.

Some great ideas I got (in random order) from VJers:

Midwife

AIM in CA - I DO NOT QUALIFY, I make $3,000 a month. We need a minimum monthly income of $3,800 to qualify.

MediCal - AIM says she does qualify for this because I'm American. We are calling to find out.

[rika60607 215]

If you are making roughly 3K a month, getting married (and assuming your wife does not work) will reduce your tax liability by much more than $100 a month. Your federal bill would be about $1700 in the year you get married. Not that it helps with the pregnancy care

...Like I can pay a few bucks out of pocket, I don't want a free ride by anymeans, but I am capped off at maybe $75 or $100 a month MAX only after we get married because I'll be paying that much less in taxes.

[dstrausser83 14]

If you are making roughly 3K a month, getting married (and assuming your wife does not work) will reduce your tax liability by much more than $100 a month. Your federal bill would be about $1700 in the year you get married. Not that it helps with the pregnancy care

Taxes are also scheduled to go up on Jan 1st don't forget... lol But I did an income calc and it told me that once married I would save about $100 a month in taxes.... I was just going off of that.

[ceadsearc 515]

Does your wife already have her visa?

A midwife probably won't take her because she is high risk.

She may qualify for emergency Medicaid but that is labor and delivery only. That won't cover her prenatal care. Does she have family in Peru to stay with?

[Darnell 8,478]

she is pregnant, its a pre-existing condition. When we called we were told we would be denied coverage due to being pregnant. Please remember in all of this.... she was on birth control and when she switched brands due to availability in Mexico is when she got pregnant... We were trying to avoid this situation.

huh ?

i said 'medical care', not 'medical insurance', in Mexico.

'pre-existing condition' smacks of something insurance-related.

I not speak of insurance. Do not get 'stuck' with insurance, in Mexico.

Instead, price out the cost of having the baby in Mexico. Get quotes from various places, with different levels of service.

[Xanax 349]

Does your wife already have her visa?

midwife probably won't take her because she is high risk.

She may qualify for emergency Medicaid but that is labor and delivery only. That won't cover her prenatal care. Does she have family in Peru to stay with?

I said this about 3 times, apparently OP disregarded my medical experience and personal advice from my own experiences.

Maybe he will listen to you...

[Moomin 292]

The problem isn't emergency medicaid. I looked into it, and in the state of Indiana, you have to apply for medicaid when applying for emergency medicaid which kinda puts the immigrant in a catch22 - and thereby the sponsor, too.

Anyways, I'd advise to giving birth in home country. Moving, trying to settle down and adapting to all this might stressful. While it's neat to have the run-for-president-through in mind, it even neater to have a healthy mom and kiddo, especially when there could be complications, or you know that she will have a c-section.

And yes, pregnancy/births are considered emergency. I used to work for a professor in gynecology/surgeon and a midwife with a master's in public health. So many times both of them came home late because of unforseen complications. At one time, the upcoming father knew only one was going to make it so he had to choose between his wife or kid. Don't put yourself through anything remotely like that, and don't put the future mother of your child and child through that either. If you want to be with them, go there and offer your support. When everything is fine, you can start thinking about settling down in the US, IMO.

The child inherits your citizenship(you just apply for it), and is eligible to receive public benefits. Your future wife isn't.

Good luck, and congrats on pregnancy.

Edited August 14, 2012 by moomin

[ceadsearc 515]

I said this about 3 times, apparently OP disregarded my medical experience and personal advice from my own experiences.

Maybe he will listen to you...

It bears repeating! CNMs work under a doctor, at least indirectly, whom they refer to for high risk cases. CPMs do home births and sometimes birth center and wouldn't touch a high risk pregnant with a ten foot pole. Someone needing a section is automatically high risk.

I said this about 3 times, apparently OP disregarded my medical experience and personal advice from my own experiences.

Maybe he will listen to you...

It bears repeating! CNMs work under a doctor, at least indirectly, whom they refer to for high risk cases. CPMs do home births and sometimes birth center and wouldn't touch a high risk pregnant with a ten foot pole. Someone needing a section is automatically high risk.

[Mike B. 231]

Yep, a person has to be born on US soil. McCain was born on a US military installation which is considered (although open to debate) as US soil. Even my daughter who was born in a German hospital to two US parents cannot ever become president because she was not born on US soil.

You are simply factually incorrect about this. If your daughter was NOT naturalized but rather attained her citizenship simply by being born, i.e. is a "natural born citizen," then she may indeed be the President of the United States. McCain was eligible because his parents were citizens and he thus attained citizenship at birth. Same goes for Barry Goldwater, who was born in Arizona Territory before it was admitted to the Union. Somewhat-similarly, Al Gore was born in the District of Columbia, which is not one of the 50 United States. No one serious ever questioned their eligibility to run because they were all citizens upon birth.

The problem here is that the Constitution doesn't actually define "natural-born citizen" and that phrase is not evenly used in federal law. But pretty much all serious scholars agree that if you naturally attain citizenship by being born, then you are, quite logically, a natural-born citizen.

Tell your daughter to run.

[LIFE'SJOURNEY 970]

As most medical doctors would say, don't practice medicine on an internet board, and don't try to makr a medical decision for someone whom you have no qualification to base a decision on.

If the OP would take the time to go visit and have a medical consult with a CNW or a medical practice, they would be his best source of information. None of us knows for a fact if she is high risk, or if her pregnancy may just be normal. OP everyone here is just basing decisions on very little information and facts.

[Mike B. 231]

Wrong. First off, US military installations overseas are not US soil. After thirty years in the military, and seventeen of them overseas, I was briefed that at every installation. For example, american air bases in germany have a German base commander. Granted he does not get in the way of operations but it is a reminder that the base is a German air base on German soil. Same for Korea and other countries.

Second, you daughter is a Natural Born citizen. If you feel like it, read the text by the Congressional Research Service on the issue. Here is a cut and paste from their research.

The weight of more recent federal cases, as well as the majority of scholarship on the subject,

also indicates that the term “natural born citizen” would most likely include, as well as native

born citizens, those born abroad to U.S. citizen-parents, at least one of whom had previously

resided in the United States, or those born abroad to one U.S. citizen parent who, prior to the

birth, had met the requirements of federal law for physical presence in the country.

You can read the entire thing here.

Study of what is a Natural Born Citizen

Now I see that you already responded to this. You are right, of course: if OP's wife gives birth to her child in Mexico, that child will be a natural born citizen, and thus eligible to be the President of the United States. More importantly and realistically, it also means that the child will not have to undergo the entire naturalization process from scratch as if he or she did not have an American parent.

One minor issue with what you wrote, though, is this: military bases in Germany and Korea aren't really analogous to Canal Zone, which wasn't really a military base on foreign soil as much as it was a territory of the United States over which the federal government exercised sovereignty. So really being born in Canal Zone, which of course no longer exists, really was like being born in the United States.

In any event, children who naturally receive their citizenship upon birth by virtue of being born to American citizens are themselves natural born citizens of the United States.

[DaveE 178]

Now I see that you already responded to this. You are right, of course: if OP's wife gives birth to her child in Mexico, that child will be a natural born citizen, and thus eligible to be the President of the United States. More importantly and realistically, it also means that the child will not have to undergo the entire naturalization process from scratch as if he or she did not have an American parent.

One minor issue with what you wrote, though, is this: military bases in Germany and Korea aren't really analogous to Canal Zone, which wasn't really a military base on foreign soil as much as it was a territory of the United States over which the federal government exercised sovereignty. So really being born in Canal Zone, which of course no longer exists, really was like being born in the United States.

In any event, children who naturally receive their citizenship upon birth by virtue of being born to American citizens are themselves natural born citizens of the United States.

You are correct, thats why I didn't mention the Canal Zone. There are often posts here from folks who believe that a child born on an overseas US military base is born on US soil.

[ceadsearc 515]

As most medical doctors would say, don't practice medicine on an internet board, and don't try to makr a medical decision for someone whom you have no qualification to base a decision on.

If the OP would take the time to go visit and have a medical consult with a CNW or a medical practice, they would be his best source of information. None of us knows for a fact if she is high risk, or if her pregnancy may just be normal. OP everyone here is just basing decisions on very little information and facts.

Of course he should do his own consultation. The point is he shouldn't count on a midwife. I did a ton of research with my kids. There is no midwife in this country allowed to do c-sections and I have never heard of one that would take someone who they knew would need a c-section because of the risk of uterine rupture as is apparently his wife's condition. That said, maybe they're out there but these much cheaper than normal midwives are the ones practicing out of birthing centers and home, not in offices with expensive OBs.

Regardless, this is getting totally off topic. Does his wife even have the visa yet? They may not even grant it to her if she is pregnant and has no way to pay for it in the US.

[dstrausser83 14]

I said this about 3 times, apparently OP disregarded my medical experience and personal advice from my own experiences.

Maybe he will listen to you...

A lot of posts. I didn't intentionally do it. Don't trip. I understand why your name is Xanax now...

Edited August 15, 2012 by dstrausser83

[dstrausser83 14]

As most medical doctors would say, don't practice medicine on an internet board, and don't try to makr a medical decision for someone whom you have no qualification to base a decision on.

If the OP would take the time to go visit and have a medical consult with a CNW or a medical practice, they would be his best source of information. None of us knows for a fact if she is high risk, or if her pregnancy may just be normal. OP everyone here is just basing decisions on very little information and facts.

The point of this post was not to debate medical advice or how to have the baby or where. The point of this post is what options are available in the USA (as you suggested a midwife) for us, looking for people on the board who may have lived through this situation. Somewhere somebody got pregnant within 5 years of a fiancee visa that wasn't planned and I was trying to find out how they handled their case in lieu of having health insurance.