Yesterday Trav and I were listening to the Christian radio station. The dj's were talking about a woman who had a c-section (they didn't say why) and gave birth to a 8lb 10oz, 20.6" long baby girl. The female dj, after hearing the size of the child made some comment similar to:
"It's a good thing she had the c-section then!"
Travis and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes.
There are a lot of good reasons to have a c-section and to be thankful that there are skilled doctors who can perform the operation. But I am confident that recovering from major abdominal surgery is much, much worse than the pain of delivering a 9lb baby vaginally.
Not to mention the difference in cost. I was told by my ob/gyn office (before I switched to my homebirth midwife) that the average cost of a normal vaginal birth with one day in the hospital was $4,210 for the mother and $1,674 for the baby. The average cost of a c-section without complications was $10,199 for the mom and $4,400 for the baby. And that was just the hospital bills! That doesn't include what we would have paid our doctor for prenatal, postnatal and delivery.
And if you're curious, the total amount owed to Bernice for prenatal, delivery and postnatal care was $2,475.
4 comments:
Yes it would have been much cheaper and a much less painful recovery if I could have had Jonah vaginally, but I am very thankful he came out safe and healthy! Let's cross our fingers that baby #2 can be born with a smooth VBAC. :)
Did you insurance pay for any of the homebirth stuff? I know all are different but it would be cool if they picked up some of the cost. You would be saving them some serious money after all!
ugh. yes that is the worst "reason" to have a c section. mandy's second baby boy was nearly 10 lbs - and she did it without any meds.
yay for home births - i may try for one some day. with all our complications and hospital stays the week after, NICU, NICU ambulance rides, home health equipment for her jaundice, etc - plus all the prenatal stuff, it was nearly $20,000. yikes. thank goodness we had good insurance. i think we ended up paying less than 2,000 out of pocket.
My total bill for c-section, Avery, etc. was $27,000. I only paid $400. Thank goodness for insurance.
As for my c-section, I didn't have any problems with it; in fact, I didn't take any pain meds the morning after. I felt fine, but the reason I didn't want the pain meds is so that I'd be able to enjoy Avery more. The nurses said I was crazy.
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