Epidurals

[Digit]

Not related to childbirth, but every time I see the show House, M.D. and that pack of expensive specialists puts hours upon hours of their time into a case, along with multiple expensive diagnostics, administrations of medicine, and the occasional unneeded major surgery or two, on top of the high daily cost of simply being in a hospital bed, all on an uninsured junkie or blue-collar worker, I imagine the looks on their faces when they get the bill.

[Dragon Lady]

One final con to epidurals:

- $$$$

Okay, someone help me out here: how much do medical bills cost, on average, to have a baby in the U.S. (assuming you have insurance)? We had our baby in Canada, so the idea of paying extra for an epidural just seems very wrong to me.

I did not have an epidural, but I did have Pitocin and Cervadil and Motrin after the birth. I was in labor for 24 hours and stayed the maximum length of time my insurance would let me, which I think was 3 days after birth. But maybe it was 2. Time is blurred during that first week. Everything hospital cost me $2000. Midwives cost me, I think $250. Everything else was covered by insurance.

Just to throw it out there, the birthing center I've been looking at would cost $2000 total (including the pre-natal and post-natal checks) if I did it there or $1800 if I birthed at home. And they say that many insurances will cover them as out-of-network if you do the proper paperwork and such. (Which they'll check your insurance to see if they'll cover anything for you for $25.)

[Whistler]

I have been reading the entire discussion. Fascinating.

[Imogen]

One final con to epidurals:

- $$$$

Ah, but don't forget that insurance is necessary before having children, so this probably isn't as big of a factor. (This is a joke. I just thought it would funny if these two highly-argumentative threads cross-pollinated.)

Not quite. Even with insurance my friend just paid 3600 in costs for his wife's impending birth. And that's not including any fees that may arise for epidurals or C-sections or other things. Without insurance it would cost much, much more.

[Tao]

Here's an interesting fact that wasn't really pertinent enough to the question for me to include in an answer:
One well-known study (Al-Mufti, 1997) found that 31% of female OBGYNs (in the UK, where they conducted the study) would choose an elective C-section for themselves, even if there were no pregnancy complications or medical indications for one. To be fair, in similar studies in some other countries around the same time period, that number was in the single digits, but really, one out of three would choose an elective c-section for themselves? That is no insignificant minority. And I wouldn't be surprised at all if that number was higher now.

I realize that my opinion on this may change as I go though med school and subsequent training, but I'm really fine with a well-educated patient choosing to have an elective c-section. Yes, it's a big-a surgery, but it's worth remembering that vaginal birth can have long-term, negative complications for mother or for baby.

Though somewhat tangential, I can say that C-sections have improved considerably in the past couple of decades. And electing to have one helps assure the quality of the surgery, whereas an emergency one tends to be much more traumatic.

[Dragon Lady]

Though somewhat tangential, I can say that C-sections have improved considerably in the past couple of decades. And electing to have one helps assure the quality of the surgery, whereas an emergency one tends to be much more traumatic.

And not having one at all is probably the least traumatic.

[Katya]

Though somewhat tangential, I can say that C-sections have improved considerably in the past couple of decades. And electing to have one helps assure the quality of the surgery, whereas an emergency one tends to be much more traumatic.

And not having one at all is probably the least traumatic.

Not having a C-section if you needed one (i.e., in an emergency situation) would be pretty traumatic.

[Marduk]

If we are presenting epidural cost as a con in that category, we need to compare specifically what an epidural costs, with and without insurance. The other costs aren't really relevant to that point (although I admit they still interest me. Having a kid is so expensive.)

[Dragon Lady]

Unassisted childbirth is free.

[Laser Jock]

Unassisted childbirth is free.

I dunno; what about water to fill your bathtub (or whatever) if you're doing a water birth? What about dirtying (or perhaps using and disposing of) cloths to clean up? What about to dispose of the afterbirth?

(Sorry, just trying to get into the spirit of the thread here. Hopefully my pedantry isn't too over-the-top. )

[C is for]

Unassisted childbirth is free.

I dunno; what about water to fill your bathtub (or whatever) if you're doing a water birth? What about dirtying (or perhaps using and disposing of) cloths to clean up? What about to dispose of the afterbirth?

(Sorry, just trying to get into the spirit of the thread here. Hopefully my pedantry isn't too over-the-top. )

Go back to the insurance thread. Sheesh, you guys are so snarky.

(Oh no, did I just prove Hypatia prophetic?)

[Dragon Lady]

Unassisted childbirth is free.

I dunno; what about water to fill your bathtub (or whatever) if you're doing a water birth? What about dirtying (or perhaps using and disposing of) cloths to clean up? What about to dispose of the afterbirth?

(Sorry, just trying to get into the spirit of the thread here. Hopefully my pedantry isn't too over-the-top. )

Go back to the insurance thread. Sheesh, you guys are so snarky.

(Oh no, did I just prove Hypatia prophetic?)

No, because you're not a writer. So you only proved her semi-prophetic.

[Yarjka]

Thanks for the information on cost. That's very informative (even if only anecdotal). It helps me plan for future children we may want to have after returning to the states (and maybe provides incentive to have as many kids as we can while we're still in Canada - I'll have to see how my wife feels about that, though ).

[Katya]

Thanks for the information on cost. That's very informative (even if only anecdotal). It helps me plan for future children we may want to have after returning to the states (and maybe provides incentive to have as many kids as we can while we're still in Canada - I'll have to see how my wife feels about that, though ).

Just don't plan on any of your kids running for president . . .

[SMP]

the idea of paying extra for an epidural just seems very wrong to me

The idea of someone making costly decision without assuming any of the extra cost seems wrong to me.

[Yarjka]

Thanks for the information on cost. That's very informative (even if only anecdotal). It helps me plan for future children we may want to have after returning to the states (and maybe provides incentive to have as many kids as we can while we're still in Canada - I'll have to see how my wife feels about that, though ).

Just don't plan on any of your kids running for president . . .

I actually looked into that. That's sort of a myth, it turns out. George Romney ran for President even though he was born in Mexico. As long as both parents are American citizens, there's really no reason the children can't be President.

[Katya]

Thanks for the information on cost. That's very informative (even if only anecdotal). It helps me plan for future children we may want to have after returning to the states (and maybe provides incentive to have as many kids as we can while we're still in Canada - I'll have to see how my wife feels about that, though ).

Just don't plan on any of your kids running for president . . .

I actually looked into that. That's sort of a myth, it turns out. George Romney ran for President even though he was born in Mexico. As long as both parents are American citizens, there's really no reason the children can't be President.

So the Obama "birther" issue only comes up because his dad wasn't a US citizen? (Also, Romney's eligibility to run for president was at least questioned: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_bo ... questioned )

[thebigcheese]

I think I'm a little late to the cost discussion, but I just want to point out that the cost of birth varies A TON, depending on your insurance provider. On the high end, I've heard of deductibles in the $7000-8000 range. On the low end, I've heard of 100% coverage for a normal birth. Amazing? Yes it is.

[Yarjka]

After telling my wife about the monetary incentive to have more children in Canada, she responded, "You really are a tightwad if you're going to push me to have more kids just because we'll save a few thousand bucks." I agreed with her and we've moved on

[Unit of Energy]

I plan on avoiding epidurals, simply because my aunt has chronic back pain caused by one being improperly administered. I realize this isn't really common, and she did go on to have more children and more epidurals, but it scares me enough not to want one. Granted, I'm still a few years off from actually having to make that decision and may change my mind by that point.