Constant lurker - Has question about expenses - got really long. Sorry.

CheezeFace · June 2011

Hi All,

I've been lurking over here since I got my BFP and I have a fairly significant decision to make about my L&D. I think this might be the best group to help give some advice b/c everything is so fresh in your minds.

My DH's aboriginal benefits can be applied to me and LO on the way. Essentially, I can have prenatal care, L&D, etc... for free. Aftercare for myself (I don't qualify for benefits) would be covered under my insurance. My concern is that I am an older 1st time mommy (36) and there are issues that go along with that. I have been monitored very closely up to this point by my RE and my OB/GyN. I feel like I may get "lost in the shuffle" in this hospital experience, I will have no idea who will be delivering my baby (it just depends on who is there when LO decides to show up) and you don't actually see an MD unless there is a major issue - most normal babies are born with midwives.

I've been with my OB/Gyn since I was 15 and I absolutely love her.

My question is:

Is the endearment/trust I have for my OB worth the hospital bills that will follow?

How much did your L&D cost in total? What type of birth did you have?

Feel free to ask me questions if I've just confused you. TIA

BeetleLinz1125 · June 2011

Honestly, I would go where you felt you got the best care. It would be great to get free prenatal care, but if the prenatal care isn't adequate then I would probably blame myself if something went wrong.

To answer your question about cost, I had a vaginal delivery with an epi, no complications although I was induced. Delivered on Thursday left on Saturday. Bill: $20k. Insurance paid everything but $800, which was our deductible.

Hospitals will work with you on payments...I say go where you get the care that you are comfortable with. You don't want to keep asking yourself "what if" for the rest of your life if something (God forbid) doesn't go as planned.

srs5624 · June 2011

BeetleLinz1125:

Honestly, I would go where you felt you got the best care. It would be great to get free prenatal care, but if the prenatal care isn't adequate then I would probably blame myself if something went wrong.

Hospitals will work with you on payments...I say go where you get the care that you are comfortable with. You don't want to keep asking yourself "what if" for the rest of your life if something (God forbid) doesn't go as planned.

Ditto this.

I had a vaginal delivery with no real complications. I had antibiotics, pitocin, stadol, and an epidural. Went in on Wednesday afternoon, delivered at 1:35 am on Thursday, went home on Saturday afternoon.

My delivery was handled by a midwife. She was great and my delivery went very well. She knew what she was doing. It's hard to explain, but it was more like having a friend in the room helping you out than a big medical production. I didn't intend to use a midwife, it's just how it worked out. DH and I aren't sure if we're having any more kids, but if we do I'd probably try to get Emily to do my delivery again.

My DH was with me the whole time in the hospital and he got three meals a day for no extra charge.

I never saw a hospital bill so I don't know what the total was, but I only paid $500. $250 deductible for me, $250 deductible for DS.

CheezeFace · June 2011

BeetleLinz1125:

Honestly, I would go where you felt you got the best care. It would be great to get free prenatal care, but if the prenatal care isn't adequate then I would probably blame myself if something went wrong.

To answer your question about cost, I had a vaginal delivery with an epi, no complications although I was induced. Delivered on Thursday left on Saturday. Bill: $20k. Insurance paid everything but $800, which was our deductible.

Hospitals will work with you on payments...I say go where you get the care that you are comfortable with. You don't want to keep asking yourself "what if" for the rest of your life if something (God forbid) doesn't go as planned.

Thanks. This is the way I'm leaning. The prenatal care from what I've gathered is great if you are perfectly healthy and have easy deliveries. thanks for your opinion and honesty. 20k. Wow!

MommaA117 · June 2011

If you will see a qualified MD either way (should complications arise) I would just go the more affordable route (only if you are totally comportable with that). I had complications that were totally unexpected starting at 19 weeks and more later on when I had to be induced. I was a low risk pregnancy up until that point with the belief that things like that would not happen to me. Ha! Proper care was essential! As long as you know you will be taken care of and by a qualified person I see no problem with not forking out loads of cash. A pregnancy with complications can be VERY expensive.

MommaA117 · June 2011

20k is on the low/normal end. With just a few complications it can go up dramatically. I had to be seen by a specialist every other week on top of my regular OB visits. Luckily my baby was not a preemie but if that had happened preemie expenses can go up into the 100's of thousands +.

srs5624 · June 2011

CheezeFace:

20k. Wow!

Whenever you settle on what you want to do, have your doctor do a pre-determination with your insurance company. It's basically a hypothetical best-case scenario treatment plan that details approximately what you'd have to pay if you meet that scenario. It's in no way iron clad and almost definitely will change, but at least it'll give you something to start with.

My OB office sends in two for all of their pregnant patients, one for a vaginal delivery and one for a c-section.

BeetleLinz1125 · June 2011

Another thing-check to see if your insurance has an out of pocket maximum. That can also give you a good idea what you can expect.

TMILLER45 · June 2011

I loved my hospital experience...I had an awesome L&D nurse (who happened to be an older man...not what I was expecting!) I think he did most of the work...he coached me on pushing, breathing, etc. My OB only came in for the grand finale. But for me I didn't really like my OB so it was fine by me that he wasn't really there.

I had a vaginal birth and my L&D cost about $8,000. I only have to pay $300.

MidwestGidget · June 2011

Just got my first hospital bill today actually. Anesthesiologist won the deductible claim race, so we're out 1500 and we've met our deductible. Everything else is covered. I wondered what that ended up being so went to my insurance website and looked it up. For my pregnancy (a planned vaginal, with epidural, complications arose and I had an emergency C-section with 3 day stay at hospital):

8,000 for care of LO

3,000 OB/gyn fee

32,000 hospital bill

various specialists who's claim was in differing degrees of hundreds.

When all was said and done, Just my L/D/immediate costs came out to over $46,000. Thank goodness for insurance.

Take the free care. As long as you're not delivering in a place with incompetent doctors and dirty scalpels, take the free care.

KimL84 · June 2011

Total cost around $15k. $5k went to the Ob, $10k for the hospital stay.I paid around $1500. My Ob was in the room for delivery for a whole 15 minutes. He literally came to catch the baby, sew me up, and like that, he was gone. Good prenatal care was my top priority. I didn't want any potential issue to get looked over. Also, I choose the hospital that could provide the best care for my newborn and myself. GL

Reagan1010 · June 2011

DS decided he was ready to come a month early. There were no major complications, but because he was early, he spent the first 3 days in the NICU. Our total hospital bill was close to 60K with the tests they ran and the NICU stay. I was very grateful our insurance covered all but the deductible (5k).

CheezeFace · June 2011

AprilLynn09:
20k is on the low/normal end. With just a few complications it can go up dramatically. I had to be seen by a specialist every other week on top of my regular OB visits. Luckily my baby was not a preemie but if that had happened preemie expenses can go up into the 100's of thousands +.

Eek. This is where I get concerned. I would feel foolish if I started our little family out with piles of debt but I would never forgive myself if something awful happened that I thought I could have been avoided at another hospital.

CheezeFace · June 2011

srs5624:

CheezeFace:

20k. Wow!

Whenever you settle on what you want to do, have your doctor do a pre-determination with your insurance company. It's basically a hypothetical best-case scenario treatment plan that details approximately what you'd have to pay if you meet that scenario. It's in no way iron clad and almost definitely will change, but at least it'll give you something to start with.

My OB office sends in two for all of their pregnant patients, one for a vaginal delivery and one for a c-section.

Thanks. I didn't even know they could do this. I have seen my specialist much more often than my regular Dr. and the RE bill is 100% OOP. It has taken a HUGE chunk of money to get this little bean to this point so I really waffle on where to do L&D.

CheezeFace · June 2011

MidwestGidget:

When all was said and done, Just my L/D/immediate costs came out to over $46,000. Thank goodness for insurance.

Take the free care. As long as you're not delivering in a place with incompetent doctors and dirty scalpels, take the free care.

Holy cow. i don't know why this is all so shocking to me.

The hospital itself is very nice - the newest hospital in the State, actually. And the staff seems good. Initially, I was planning on doing L&D there until I spoke w/ my DH's closest cousin - she has 3 kids - only had her 1st one there. Short version: she was in labor for 9+ hours, only dialiated a little bit. Get to the pushing...can't make any progress. Still no MD. Been 12 hours now. Still trying to push. 14 hours. No MD. The midwives just kept telling her, "your body knows what to do..." Anyway, baby's heart stops. Emergency C-section - the 1st time she saw an MD was in the OR. Turns out the cord was wrapped around his neck - twice. baby is fine today.

I know there can be awful stories anywhere but I think it says a lot that she had her next 2 at a private hospital. Oh. Did I also mention that she works at this hospital? She also told me all of this stuff having no idea that I'm PG.

MidwestGidget · June 2011

CheezeFace:
Initially, I was planning on doing L&D there until I spoke w/ my DH's closest cousin - she has 3 kids - only had her 1st one there. Short version: she was in labor for 9+ hours, only dialiated a little bit. Get to the pushing...can't make any progress. Still no MD. Been 12 hours now. Still trying to push. 14 hours. No MD. The midwives just kept telling her, "your body knows what to do..." Anyway, baby's heart stops. Emergency C-section - the 1st time she saw an MD was in the OR. Turns out the cord was wrapped around his neck - twice. baby is fine today.
I know there can be awful stories anywhere but I think it says a lot that she had her next 2 at a private hospital. Oh. Did I also mention that she works at this hospital? She also told me all of this stuff having no idea that I'm PG.

Yikes. I think you should mention this story to your OB and see what she says about the lack of an MD and how it will be different for you. I had a somewhat similar issue in terms of complications/trying to find the OB, although the support staff was great, keeping a close eye on everything.

Also, when in L & D, be upfront about what you want. In your post you mention your cousin had midwives. Did she want a more natural birth and the midwives were trying to give her that? The nurses asked us some preliminary questions and we told them our preferences but our overwhelming desire to trust medical opinion and change to a C-section the minute it looked like it wasn't going to happen.

Have you taken a tour of this hospital yet? This is the kind of thing you can also bring up on your tour and see how they respond.

NothingLikeBarbie · June 2011

I had an all natural, drug free hospital birth, with no complications, and it cost me around 11k before insurance.

That being said, it goes up quick if something happens or you get drugs.

CheezeFace · June 2011

MidwestGidget:

CheezeFace:

Yikes. I think you should mention this story to your OB and see what she says about the lack of an MD and how it will be different for you. I

Also, when in L & D, be upfront about what you want. In your post you mention your cousin had midwives. Did she want a more natural birth and the midwives were trying to give her that?

Have you taken a tour of this hospital yet? This is the kind of thing you can also bring up on your tour and see how they respond.

I actually told my OB the last time I was there that I was sure I wanted to L&D with her. I could just tell she was holding her tongue but she kept it professional and said, "I have a lot of patients that have come from other hospital".

I truly have NO idea what I want - this is a huge part of the problem. The cousin had midwives because that is all you get in this hospital unless there is an emergency. You don't see an MD at all if everything is fine. I don't know why this makes me so nervous.

I have toured the hospital. It is beautiful. The staff seems competent and responsible and most were very nice. My DH uses these services when he needs to - mostly for dental now - but he used to go there when he was a kid as well.

Want a personalized experience?

Constant lurker - Has question about expenses - got really long. Sorry.

Re: Constant lurker - Has question about expenses - got really long. Sorry.

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