I had a friend who was billed $250 (I believe - it might have been different, but still....) for a teddy bear for the newborn to have.

It did. A social worker helped me work through the bills after I was flagged at my son’s pediatrician’s office as being high risk for post-partum depression.

I kept my first with me, but I learned my lesson and baby #2 was sent to the nursery at night and wheeled in to nurse. Having a baby is brutal and exhausting and babies aren’t exactly known to have sympathy for your post-partum recovery. Mamas, get your snooze on.

Was it a diamond bassinet with cashmere blankets!?

Actually not. Quite different. We have 13% sales tax - on everything. We can not use a mortgage as a tax deduction. Lots of differences. Upper bracket pays 40% income tax. Sin taxes attract major tax.

Mine is 6 now and due to a complicated c-section we did not get skin to skin for several hours. She’s well adjusted, incredibly loving, smart as fuck, and so funny it hurts me. Trust me it will be ok.

C-section here. Trust, my baby was zero percent deprived. We didn’t skin to skin immediately after birth because I was being sewn up, but did do it immediately after I got in the room with him (maybe 30 minutes after birth). Kid then nursed immediately. In fact, he got great time just him and his dad before I came in.…

two out of two of my babies were born in canada - for free, and with dual citizenship.

This is actually the most interesting comment I’ve seen, and I was moved to google it. Adjusted for inflation, it would be $714.04 in today’s dollars.

First, for the sake of your sanity stay away from that stuff. Those posts always end up with the sanctimommies ruining everything and making everyone else weep. I had a c-section with my youngest. It was a traumatic, emergency kind of deal and I will spare you the rest- but I did not get to actually see the kid let…

my ibuprofen given to me by a nurse after my car accident was billed as $40 per pill.

Not to mention (which you did not) the moral implications of a few companies and their CEOs getting stinking rich off the misery, and even deaths, of others as they are turned down for coverage or fucked with severely.

Agreed. Everything is fucking “billable”.

That has a real “Tom Sawyer white washing the picket fence” feel to it. :-)

I had an emergency c-section 7 months ago. When I got my completely insane hospital bill that my insurance refused to cover one penny of (close to $130k). I was questioning why the anesthesia wasn’t covered. Turns out I had neglected to ask which group the anesthesiologist was in. Silly me, being wheeled into surgery…

In 1952 in Mississippi, it cost less than $80 for the works. How much does this work out to be in today’s money?

This goes to show just how screwed up our health care/insurance system is in the U.S.

The best, the most luxurious...

America! Land of the free!*

Boy that must be a great baby if it’s worth forty bucks just to touch it.