Read any pregnancy book and you are likely to get a hint at some of the costs. Aside from the medical care, there are clothing costs and usually some mention of extra food is made.

Unfortunately that is missing a large chunk of change every pregnant woman has to dish out, for things we don't like to mention.

First the most non acceptable topic, Bathroom breaks. Sure we joke about having to go 10 or more times in the morning alone, but does anyone point out the vast amounts of TP one goes through when visiting the John every half hour? So you think TP is fairly inexpensive... but then you are buying for 3-5 trips a day, not 10-20! Quadruple your TP expense for about 1 year (you will need to visit more after birth too, until your pelvic floor muscles recover..if they do.)

Then on to food. Everyone knows a pregnant woman needs to eat more, though surprisingly only about 300 calories more. But those 300 calories somewhere in the later months will have to be split into two or more meals, due to a cramped stomach! This means a major increase in dishes, one set washed for breakfast, one for second breakfast, one for elevensies, one for lunch, one for afternoon snack, one for afternoon tea, one for dinner, and one for second dinner, oh and of course the midnight snack. Going from 4 meals of dishes a day to 9 is almost double the dishes, needing water and soap paid for to keep them clean. (or a lot of take out)

Add to all that food the frequent, nausea and loss of food, and you have one major amount of cleaning to be done.

Then there is lost work time..not just in paid work, though many women work for pay every day of pregnancy, even making up time spent at Drs. Somewhere else in life some tasks are skipped. Maybe it is those dishes- leaving crusted on food for to long leads to more water needed to clean it. Or it could be filing- risking some bill going missing and unpaid. Or for most women the most common tasks ignored is..the spouse. Sorry Hunny we are busy with a baby and all the other tasks of life. - possibly leading up to marital distress, and that is the most expensive risk of pregnancy!

Men if you are reading, take heart, she wont be pregnant forever, so go buy some extra TP, wash the dishes, ask her what chore would most help, and you just might be bumped up her priority list. If she isn't too sick...