More on hospital billing...

So I finally got the paperwork for my hospital stay in November. Um, wow. Thank goodness for insurance! From Novermber 26th to December 5th, 2008, my hospital stay came to $43,969.15 and the insurance company adjusted the amount to $27,591.00. (Krista you had asked about adjustments, basically this is the amount the insurance company has agreed to pay for these services as part of their pre-negotiated contracts with the health care providers.) The difference between the two is my portion.

For each of the three admissions, I incurred a bill of $300. (I'm going to fight the 2 hour admission on 2/4/09 and see if I can get them to reverse the charges, since I was admitted before my test results came in and before I could talk to my doctor...plus the fact that my doctor discharged me two hours later!) Anyway, I payed the first two installments of $300 since I had about $600 in my pre-tax flex account through my office...which in essense makes these free since I get the money back as soon as I show I've incurred the qualified medical expense. But then I got the 3rd request for payment related to my November stay. On the bill they say you can contact Sharp to make payment arrangements. I thought, well you know, they've billed me $900 in one month. I've already paid $600, surely they will let me make payments on the rest. This would help tramendously with our reduced income.

I was hoping to request to make payments of $100 over three months, or something like that. Well, it went even better than I expected. She said if I made a one time payment of $195, they would reduce the total due to that amount and I'd be done!! So with a simple phone call I saved $105! Now if only I'd know ahead of time, maybe I could have had the rest reduced as well! I guess this is a good lesson for next time...when they offer...take them up on it!!

Elliott's Birth Story

As you may remember, I was sent home from Mary Birch on Wednesday the 4th with strict orders for left-side only bedrest. Unfortunately, when I returned to the doctor's office on Friday, my blood pressure was even higher than it had been at the office on Wednesday. I was also 3 cm dilated and nearly 100% effaced, so the other OB in the office highly recommended that we get him out. She was very concerned that the pregnancy induced hypertention would develop into more serious complications over the weekend and given that I was already 39 weeks and my cervix was ready to go, she felt the induction would be a simple matter and something we shouldn't even be questioning. She also had a more personal interest in the safety of our little one as she had recently suffered a late stage pregnancy loss. And from that perspective, we had to agree. What was the most important thing here? Have an all natural hypno-birth or have a healthy baby and mom? While I never wanted medical intervention, we did feel that there was a time and a place for everything and this was the way we needed to go for our safety.

39 weeks and 1 day pregnant

We ate lunch and went home to grab a few last minute things since we didn't know how long we would be gone. Fortunately, the car was still mostly packed from Wednesday. We ended up back at the hospital around 3:30 and by the time we got checked in (they direct admitted me so we were able to skip the very long triage stage of the admission process) and my IV hooked up (I needed to start my strep B antibiotics as soon as possible, since I needed at least 2 doses, 4 hours apart), it was 4:30pm. I remembered this clearly because I knew I needed to get to at least 8:30 in order to get the second dose of my antibiotics.

We opted to induce labor using pitocin through my IV. The other option was to break my water, but that meant that I more or less had 24 hours to deliver once that happened. I didn't want to be put on a time clock from the beginning if at all possible, so we went the pitocin route. I knew that this would bring on fast strong contractions, which I wasn't looking forward to and I had to acknowledge to myself that getting an epidual might be necessary. However, we were still determined to do things as naturally as we could. So once the pitocin started, we proceeded with our labor preparation as if it was all happening on its own.

Things are a little blurry timewise from here on out and I know Brad remembers things happening differently. All I can do is recount what I remember as best I can. I know that I made it through the first of a two-part hypno-babies recording that you are only supposed to listen to on the day of delivery. This took at least 40 minutes. They also told me that my blood work had come back and things had looked good, so that was a plus as well. I remember not wanting to do the other recording and was just trying to relax. I still wasn't feeling any affects of the pitocin when I felt a really strange feeling, almost as if 'Lloyd' had done a complete backflip and then I felt a pop. My water had broken on its own. We let the nurse know and she came and confirmed that is what had happened.

Almost instantaneously the labor contractions started (I had been having about 8 an hour but wasn't feeling them up to this point). It seemed like they were about 2 minutes apart from the very begining and they were very intense but nothing like the contractions I had experienced in the hospital back in November. Those were like a wave that would start from one side of my belly, roll across to the other side and then come back when the contraction subsided. The contractions I was now experiencing were like severe menstrual cramps, almost as if my uterus was back to its normal size and place and someone was squeezing it really hard.

I breathed through many of these, but the pain was very intense and the became faster and faster. The nurses started to scale back the pitocin to see if my body would continue on its own...it did. Pretty soon I was pitocin-free but still experiencing very fast and intense contractions. I was starting to question if I could deal with the pushing phase if I couldn't even take these! I opted to try a pain mediciation to 'take the edge off' that was short acting and added directly to my IV. It was supposed to have very little effect on the baby since it was short lived and would be stopped prior to pushing. This stuff did nothing. I think maybe two contractions were easier to deal with, but then they were back to full strength. The nurse helped me change position into a sitting position which did help some with pain, but it soon became intense again.

I remember holding Brad's hands and telling him that I think I needed to get the epidural but I was also scared to get it as well. I also remember thinking that according to the Bradley Method if I was feeling I couldn't do anymore, I probably was almost ready to push. A few contractions latter, I started to feel like I wanted to push and that I had to (sorry) poop. The nurse was really happy to hear this because apparently this also means that I was almost ready. She checked me and sure enough I was 10 cm.

About this time by body just took over. The feeling to push was overwhelming and involuntary. Each contraction, which now felt like someone was squeezing my colon (again, sorry ;) , would announce one to three waves in which my body would bare down on its own. I was really loud. I remember groaning and almost screaming, but not in pain. Brad thought I was in the biggest pain of my life, but really it didn't hurt. The contractions didn't hurt either. It was just the most overwhelming physical activity I have ever experienced. Pretty soon the doctor was in and they started getting the room ready for the delivery. The doctor, who ended up being the same doctor who had admitted me to the hospital back in November, noticed that I had a small cervical lip and was concerned if I continued pushing that I would get really tired. I was already physically exhausted given my lack of activity of the last few months.

They repositioned the bed into a chair and had me lean forward to help gravity bring him down. It worked. I tried not to push, but it was hard to control my body and pretty soon I felt like I was sitting on 'Lloyd's' head. I kept sitting on one hip and I told the nurse I was sitting on him. She got the doctor back in and within what seemed like a couple minutes, what had previously been a normal hospital room was now all green and everyone was dressed in green scrubs with drop cloths and face shields.

Now, I have no idea how long it took to get to all of these points. I feel like the entire labor took about an hour. I do remember looking at the clock at one point and seeing that it was only 8:00pm and thinking things were going too fast and that there wasn't going to be time for my second dose of antibiotics. Fortuntely, things took exactly the right amount of time. And the next thing I knew there were something like 8 people in the room and the nurse, the doctor and Brad were coaching me through each push. Brad kept telling me how good I was doing and would hold me between contractions. I was also breathing really fast because of the physical effort. The doctor had me breathe oxygen from a mask between contractions but it was the most annoying thing EVER. I kept pushing the mask out of the way. I was also really annoyed by my hospital gown and I remember tugging on it and if there hadn't been so many people in there I probably would have just taken it off...although modesty in this situation? really?

I remember the last couple contractions starting to hurt as the doctor said his head was just crowning. And the next thing I knew I looked up and saw 'Lloyd' literally fly out of me. Not in two steps (head, then body) like we had seen in so many birthing videos, but all at once, so that the doctor actually had to catch him! Ha! I looked down and could see him and he was kinda blue, but after a little bit, I could see him moving, they took him back to the warmer and Brad went with them. After another little bit he started crying. I just remember saying 'oh, baby! oh, baby!' over and over and crying.

The placenta came out really quickly and was not nearly as disturbing looking as I was expecting (I asked to see it...I was so curious!) and then the doctor started stitching me up :( Yes, I tore and it wasn't until the next day that I found out that I had earned myself a partial 3rd degree tear (which goes into the muscle layer). I think the stitches hurt more than the actual labor! The doctor was just about done with me when they brought our little boy back over to me to hold for the first time.

The room slowly started getting back to normal and the people started leaving as they each finished their duties. Within just a few minutes they had brought me some food and it was just me, Brad and our nurse. We were able to call our parents fairly quickly and let them know. And then the nurse took 'Lloyd' back and she and Brad did all the measuring and weighing while I ate a turkey sandwich (perhaps the most sureal part of the whole experience ;)

Not all that long later, I had him back in my arms and we tried our first attempt at nursing, which was probably pretty comical to watch. And he was so alert! He just kept looking at everything! The nurses even commented on it and said it was probably because I hadn't had an epidural.

By about 11:00pm we were moved up to the recovery room that would be the room I had for the next couple days. I was so happy to see that they had given me a private room even though the insurance only guaranteed a semi-private. Both Brad and I were exhausted but totally wired at the same time. It took another couple hours before we could even contemplate sleeping. Luckily 'Lloyd' slept in a few good chunks that first night and we were able to get some rest.

Unforunately, we still had one difficult thing left to decide - his name! People kept asking and all I knew what that most of the names on our 'favorite' list just didn't seem to suit him. It wasn't until the next day that I remembered Elliott had been on our larger list and it just seemed to fit him. Brad was talking to his sister on the phone about names at the time and I mouthed - what about Elliott? And he was like - Yeah! So Elliott it was!

Elliott

Just a quick note to let you know that Elliott Lloyd arrived safe and sounds Friday at 9:00 pm. He was 6 lbs 1.5 oz and was 18.5 inches long.


I plan to write a complete birth story, but didn't want to wait to share our news. We are doing well and came home from the hospital this afternoon.

He is the most beautiful thing we have ever seen :)