My Labor and Delivery Expenses

So many of you have asked for a Blog Post on the actual costs associated with Labor and Delivery.

To be honest with you, I have delayed publishing this Post because the cost of Labor and Delivery is something that is different every time. There are many factors that go into your total cost such as: location, insurance plan, type of birth, health of Mom, delivering Doctor and more.

I can't tell you what your Labor and Delivery experience is going to cost, or even what to expect. No amount of research you do will be able to give you an exact dollar amount. However, I can tell you what I spent. To the best of my ability, I can tell you the details of my Labor experience and I can share with you the out-of-pocket expenses we paid as a result of those experiences. So, that's what I'm going to do.

Some Background on My Insurance

I am not going to get into the details of my insurance plan with you, but I will say this: Haydn and I were blessed to conceive in 2020, allowing for us to do A LOT of insurance research for the 2021 year. Not everyone is blessed in this capacity, but if you do get the chance to wisely enroll in insurance, please don't rush the process! Do your research and make the best decision for your family. I was able to carry my own insurance plan in 2021. My deductible was $3,200 and my max out-of-pocket expense was under $7,000.

My Pregnancy

At all of my checkups, my son was in great health. Personally, I had some medical concerns which eventually led to an early induction. Other than these specific concerns, I was healthy. We were not classified as a high-risk pregnancy and there was no planned cesarean birth.

My Labor and Delivery Plan

By the time 36 weeks rolled around, I was SO DONE being pregnant. I hated not being able to sleep, breath, eat or relax. All I wanted was for the massive baby in my belly to GET OUT. Because of my historic medical concerns, my Doctor was keeping a close eye on me, but there was no immediate cause for concern.

Out of respect for my desire to be done with pregnancy and because my son was measuring on the larger side, my Doctor scheduled an induction for 39 weeks. The plan was for me and my husband to head to the hospital in Alliance, Texas on May 3rd and have a son born vaginally via planned induction on May 4th (we're big Star Wars fans, so this was perfect). We never made it to May 3rd.

My Actual Labor and Delivery Experience

On April 26th I woke up with contractions around 6:00am. After a couple of hours of worsening contractions and a conversation with my Doctor, we headed to the hospital around 9:00am. From there my pain got a little bit better, then suddenly a lot worse.

It was after noon on the 26th when I was informed that I had a bladder infection, which was causing the contractions. I was admitted to the hospital, given medication, had blood work drawn, and told to rest.

A few hours later, a Doctor came in to discuss my medical history and current condition. I had two options: go home on medication to beat the bladder infection and help my medical condition OR induce labor. We decided to go ahead and induce.

The induction process started sometime the evening of April 26th. On April 27th around 10:00am, I received an epidural (Thank You, Jesus).

My son was born vaginally around 8:00am on April 28th. We spent two nights in the post-delivery wing then were discharged from the hospital after 12:00pm on April 30th.

In total, we spent four nights in the hospital. I had contractions for 50 hours. We saw A LOT of hospital staff, we ate A LOT of hospital food, my husband slept A LOT in a hospital chair.

My Labor Billing Breakdown

It took several months for us to receive all of the Medical Bills associated with our labor and delivery experience. We did the best we could by combing through payments and old medical bills for the sake of this post. Based on our research, here's what we spent:

• Specific Care Related to Mom: $3,966

• Specific Care Related to Baby: $1,417

Total Amount Spent: $5,383

To Summarize

This may not help you AT ALL because you might be in Labor in a state outside of Texas, or maybe you have a Cesarean delivery, or maybe you deliver your baby in your bathtub at home. As I said at the beginning of this post, every experience is different, so every experience has a different price tag. I did not get into the details of our insurance policy, the type of hospital we were at, or the experience of our medical staff. Starting to see why this was something I wasn't thrilled about writing?

If it is at all possible for me to leave you with something positive after writing such a heavy and uneventful post, I would like to say this: The moment you hold that baby in your arms, you aren't going to care about the expenses. There was not a limit on what I would spend to have my son safely brought into this world, and there will not be a limit to what I will spend should we go down this path again. Their safety, your safety, it's priceless. So, save a lot and pay the bills when they come, you've got this!

Find this post helpful? Let me know in the comments! Have a different experience? Let me know in the comments so we can all get smarter together!