The Cost of Being Born

Life milestones deserve celebration and here in the US, we love any reason to have a party. Graduating from high school or college, getting a new job, acceptance into a new program or organization, engagements, weddings, babies, and birthdays, we as a people love to celebrate. In the US, we celebrate some milestones a little more extravagantly than others, for example, the average US wedding in 2022 cost a couple $30,000.00. My wedding cost me somewhere around $20,000 in 2018 and while I wouldn’t change that evening for anything, sometimes I look back on that day and wonder, “What else could I have done with that money?”.

When I got pregnant that same year (a surprise to both me and my husband…and my entire family), I can tell you that I had absolutely zero intention of spending another $20k or anywhere near it on another celebration. I couldn’t tell you how much my baby-que cost or the shower that my loving childhood neighbors threw me cost, but I can guarantee you that both celebrations combined didn’t even come close to wedding-type costs.

It wasn’t until about a month after the birth of my first daughter that it hit me just how expensive it is to have a baby, as well…and how very little we are prepared for that cost. The trigger, of course, was the hospital bill. I am lucky enough to be one of the 64.3% of the population to have full insurance coverage. Even still, for a very intervention-heavy birth, the amount I owed after insurance for me alone was around $6,500. That didn’t include the money I still owed for my daughter. So I started wondering…what is a way that the average US person can lower that cost?

On average, the US National median charge value for a vaginal birth is $27,371.88. In Pennsylvania, the average cost for a vaginal birth is $25,988.06. For a cesarean section, the average cost in Pennsylvania is $35,667.48 and the national median is $35,907.33.

My first birth was an induction, pulling out all of the stops to get my girl out short of a cesarean, with a standard two-night stay and discharge. The total cost before insurance was around $35,000, give or take a few hundred. To add insult to injury, the epidural that I paid for…twice…didn’t work for me. It was basically like having an unmedicated labor without being able to move my legs.

For my subsequent birth, I knew I was going to do things differently. I wanted to go into labor spontaneously, and given that my first experience with an epidural left much to be desired, I knew I didn’t even want to bother with it. So I took some hypnobirthing courses, sought out help from a doula, told my husband want I wanted, made a birth plan, went into my birth with confidence, and had an unmedicated and mostly intervention-free birth (AROM at 6 CMs). I even caught my own baby! It was awesome. And then I awaited the bill. I was so curious how much money this one was going to cost me having been such a different experience than the first birth.

My unmedicated birth at the same local hospital was $10,298 simply to have my baby in a hospital room, where I caught my own baby, and labored intervention-free, plus the additional charges ($72.90 for Tylenol, $6,044.00 for room and board for two nights). I still paid almost $4k.

I’m not suggesting that you reconsider your hospital birth. I’m simply suggesting that, as hospitals often operate at a loss, it’s not a surprise that the costs of being born are so high. Add in the fact that we have gotten away from physiological birth as a society, and an intervention-heavy birth is what you can expect as your average parent headed into the hospital to bring new life into the world. The US cesarean rate is rising every year, and the out-of-pocket cost for a cesarean range anywhere from $3000 to $10,000 (all dependent on insurance coverage, of course).

So what can we do?

1.       Get educated. Learn about physiological birth and its process. Take out-of-hospital courses, and learn from professionals in your area or online. Learn what the cascade of interventions is and how it can apply to your situation.

2.       Put together a support team that can help you with decision-making in the moment. Make sure your partner is just as informed as you are and is clear on your preferences, and if you can swing it – hire a doula. With the money you save from an intervention-heavy birth you could hire a doula twice, not to mention having a doula can help to lower your risk of cesarean up to 56%.

3.       In spontaneous labor, labor at home for as long as possible. The less time you’re at the hospital, the less time for interventions there is.

While hospital births are not for everyone, 98% of the US opt for a hospital when choosing their birth location. With the cost of living rising, we should know what to expect and how much the average birth is costing us, and knowing how we can lower those costs is critical.

Understand, also, that when hiring support, the option for crowdfunding is available. Check out Be Her Village to register for support. The baby’s things are covered. Make sure you’re covering yourself, too.

XO, Lo

Sources:

Cost of Giving Birth: https://www.fairhealth.org/fh-trackers/cost-of-giving-birth

Doula v C-Section Rate: https://www.dona.org/cesarean-rates/#:~:text=Depending%20on%20the%20study%20or,)%20for%20full%2Dterm%20births.

Out of Pocket Rates: https://www.forbes.com/advisor/health-insurance/average-childbirth-cost/#:~:text=The%20average%20out%2Dof%2Dpocket%20spending%20for%20a%20vaginal%20delivery,the%20specifics%20of%20your%20plan.

2022 Average Wedding Costs: https://www.bankrate.com/personal-finance/average-wedding-cost/#key-insights

Cost of Caring: https://www.aha.org/costsofcaring#:~:text=Because%20of%20this%2C%20margins%20have,any%20sector%2C%20let%20alone%20hospitals.