The final bill is in – giving birth to a baby, a human baby, will cost us almost exactly 11,500 american dollars when all is said and done. I have a few things to say.
First of all – thank you doctors and hospital for giving me a healthy, beautiful son – but oh wait – I DID THAT. So, thanks for watching. But oh wait – AARON DID THAT! Um … so thanks for raping my wallet? Yes, yes – that sounds better.
The epidural cost more than the $185 we were originally told, oh did it ever – more like $2,185 or something along those perverted lines. I’m pretty sure I would have bitten on a leather belt for 2 more hours had I known that an extra TWO GRAND was going to creep up. Because even though I HAD the epidural – there was still more sensation than I remember having with Jessica’s birth, like the burning and the shaking and THE FEELING A BABY COME OUT OF SOUTH-TOWN! But thanks for that also – because I still have a sore spot on my back where you stuck me with the needle that I have to deal with.
At least now I have 2,000 more reasons to remember how you never talked to me while administering the epidural – no, you found out what my husband did for a living and proceeded to ask him STUPID questions about why your Mac wouldn’t do this, and how could you get it to do that? YOU WERE GIVING A LABORING WOMAN AND EPIDURAL FOR A REASON – PAIN, YOU LAMEN. So yes, please PLEASE ask my husband about your damn computer. I’d love to pay YOU for that service.
Lets not forget about the construction that was going on outside my labor and delivery room the morning after Oliver was born. Which makes him about 9 hours old and Aaron and I stupid on sleep deprivation. Who ever thought we needed those extra few minutes of sleep? Not the maintenance crew! No!! New parents want the mind numbing sound of construction for hours and hours when they’ve just given birth. Drills? YES, PLEASE!
We aren’t John Q, but we’re pretty much the middle class catch-22 of all insurance/medical situations. We’ll make it, we do have a plan, but not one that includes not paying our bills for 5 months so they cut them in half or forgive us the debt entirely. Oh yes, we know this happens – has happened to people we know. We personally think it’s unethical to play that game knowing full well that we’re not being responsible for our debts. You can ask Aaron about this if you want more detail, his passion for this is stronger than mine, but I do agree. We should pay these bills no matter how long it takes us.
There are days I’d like to be 19 again, living on my own – without a huge responsibility load and a pantry full of Ding-Dongs. But then I wouldn’t get to see Jessica’s crazy hair every morning and smell her sweet baby neck full of sleep fragrance and I wouldn’t know the joy of looking into my baby boy’s very blue eyes to see him recognize me and smile with utter glee that I’m the one holding him.
This is hard, very hard – but worth it.
jodimichelle
i tell stories
I agree with you on paying for what you’re responsible for…… however, you may be unpleasantly surprised to find out that you may be being billed for more that your fair shair. You may want to ask for itemized bills for the birth and stay, as well as find out if the amounts that you are being billed are the same that an insurance company would get billed for. We were fortunate to have awesome insurance for Bella’s c-section birth but I did find out that the insurance company negotiates 9 out of 10 bills and typically gets them reduced to what is really a fair fee. We – like you, figured a way to pay the remaining portions that we were responsible for, but some of the bills had not been correctly coded and that meant that we were being billed for something more than we actually got or used. Just a few thoughts……… best of luck.
I’m frustrated for you that you have to go through this. Definitely not trying to say I know what you’re going through, but very frustrated for you nonetheless. What Amanda wrote is very true, though … I’ve seen the way my insurance company negotiates for discounts with the hospital (which angers me since we pay a very stupid amount of tens of thousands of dollars a year for insurance and then they just negotiate our bills down, but that’s neither here nor there), and I think it’s probably worth your while to do some checking around … not to try to shirk responsibility, but in an attempt to be very sure that you’re being treated fairly. Like I’ve said before, I have a great deal of admiration for how you’ve handled this entire situation over the past year.
Thank you guys!! We have done some checking and negotiating already and feel pretty stuck with the process as of right now, but we’re willing to keep trying – I’ll keep you updated.
For me, I just want this to be over and am glad that at least we’re on our way to the avenue of freedom. Part of me is tired of trying and just doesn’t have the energy to keep going/trying – but I know it’s worth it. I do want to make sure we’re being billed fairly and since the epidural cost was SO much more than we had anticipated I do know that I have to look in to a few more things to make sure we got the services we’re supposed to be paying through the nose for.