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there's a lot of stories / examples about this an item in the hospital bills .
You might be thinking of one story that went viral a few years ago, and was amplified by the media. It was successful at generating outrage and so became popular, but it was not correct.
Based on this, expect US hospital prices for that service to go up.
Do you have to pay to hold your newborn in the US? Land of the free indeed
In our case, the hospital my wife delivered in pushed skin to skin heavily, but after a minute or two, I ended up holding our son, skin to skin for the next 10-15 minutes becuase their policy didn’t allow mom to hold the baby while they sutured and did their thing. Once they were done in the OR, back to mom.
Usually this sort of absurdity on the billing front is based on ways to increase Medicaid reimbursements. Since Medicaid patients are usually less likely to have good primary and pre-natal care, they have a high complication rate and typically are a money loser for the hospital. In an extreme case, an opioid addicted baby costs >$1M to deliver and discharge, a tragic story all around.
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Medical is probably the single most regulated industry in the US. The US landed at the worst possible system where the government mostly only pays for medical for old people (where the returns on expenditures are very low), but simultaneously interferes a lot with hospitals and insurance in ways that make the process very punishing for everyone. You can get much better service for way less money if you avoid the red…
We’ve had 2 home births now. And the 1st birth was nearly a homebirth too. They’ve all gone well for us, so I recommend them from that point of view, but on the other hand, I don’t recommend them because I’d hate to have any hand in a situation that went wrong for someone else. Our last we actually delivered on our own because the midwifes didn’t get to us in time.
I will say this is something we've known for a while: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27885658/
Additionally, our doctor prescribed a certain quota of skin-to-skin contact daily for the first several weeks after birth.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you have to pay to hold your newborn in the US? Land of the free indeed
Medical is probably the single most regulated industry in the US. The US landed at the worst possible system where the government mostly only pays for medical for old people (where the returns on expenditures are very low), but simultaneously interferes a lot with hospitals and insurance in ways that make the process very punishing for everyone. You can get much better service for way less money if you avoid the red…
My wife had unexpected complications that would have been disastrous, possibly fatal if we had been at home rather than a hospital for delivery. I can’t imagine trying to rush her from home to the hospital mid-delivery.
I’m forever grateful for the medical care we received at the hospital during delivery. It’s simply not possible to deliver the same care at home.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
We’ve had 2 home births now. And the 1st birth was nearly a homebirth too. They’ve all gone well for us, so I recommend them from that point of view, but on the other hand, I don’t recommend them because I’d hate to have any hand in a situation that went wrong for someone else. Our last we actually delivered on our own because the midwifes didn’t get to us in time.
While home birth is certainly possible and apparently can be a very nice experience, I strongly suggest going into a hospital for birth (you should be able to choose a hospital of your liking after talking to the nurses/doctors/midwifes working there). Birth is safe in most cases, but complications do happen. While the probability is low, the possible damage is extreme. Please consider the availability of experienced…
Birth - a natural process - has been commercially medicalised, especially in Brasil (C-section rate >60%) and the US (>30%). If giving birth at home was normalised, we'd see a huge growth in natural birth and an increased availability for medical staff to support in emergencies if required. But the rates of emergencies would actually decline too.
I will say this is something we've known for a while: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27885658/
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Yes. For caesarean they do. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doula-explains-why-hospital-cha...
“During a caesarean, many people become shaky, nauseous, uncomfortable, even faint,” Grant explained. “These are normal physiological reactions. In order to facilitate skin to skin in the OR, an extra nurse needs to be available to assist.”
Interesting. Our baby arrived 10 weeks premature and although it wasn't immediately after birth (as I'll explain why below), the hospital strongly encouraged the kangaroo care as mentioned in the article, which mom did daily until we could take our baby home. In a week it will be a full year since birth and the baby is in no way behind developmentally compared to other 10 month olds (when adjusting age due to prematu…
My wife and I are weeks away from our first.
While very lucky—our close friends and family have not had serious encounters with covid, We’ve been most affected by regulations that have interrupted what would have been normal parts of a couple’s first pregnancy.
I’m sorry to hear you were not allowed to be with the mom during delivery. And that you were delayed in visiting the nicu by those tests.
That must have been very difficult.
I remember being told I wouldn’t be able to be there with my wife for the first ultrasound. I attended via FaceTime.
I was a little more accepting of the circumstances at the 28 week, but still not happy about it.
One of the bigger bummers has been having no I’m person social interaction with other new parents approaching the same life stage. It’s just not the same over zoom and it feels like a pretty big miss.
Always trying to keep these things in perspective. As of now I’ll be there for the birth, and really just want a good outcome after all.
Interesting. Our baby arrived 10 weeks premature and although it wasn't immediately after birth (as I'll explain why below), the hospital strongly encouraged the kangaroo care as mentioned in the article, which mom did daily until we could take our baby home. In a week it will be a full year since birth and the baby is in no way behind developmentally compared to other 10 month olds (when adjusting age due to prematu…
My kid was also a preemie and got kangaroo care alternating with being wrapped in a UV-emitting blanket. Now he is 8 and still blows me away every day with his kindness, smarts, skills and ... uh ... argumentation. :)
The benefits of kangaroo care are worth studying, but the results of the study are about as unexpected as the 'your cats love you back' study.