Moxie Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 My MIL and I were talking about hospital stays after childbirth. I leave the hospital at 24 hours. She stayed in the hospital for 4 days. In fact, her doctor had a policy of giving Mom one extra day in the hospital for each child she had at home. When she had her 3rd child, she got the four days plus two extra since she had two kids at home. My question is, who paid for that? Did people have health insurance 40 years ago? Was a hospital stay just more affordable back then (they were a lower middle class family)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssavings Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 If the doc "perscribed" it, wouldn't insurance pay? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moxie Posted April 21, 2012 Author Share Posted April 21, 2012 If the doc "perscribed" it, wouldn't insurance pay? Did health insurance exist 40 years ago?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aelwydd Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 Yes, there was insurance 40 years ago. In the early 20th century, when physicians' groups were actively competing against midwives, one of the enticements they had for hospital birth was presenting it like a kind of posh vacation for tired mothers. It was not unusual for women at that time to stay for a week after giving birth. However, as more and more women chose hospitals rather than home, this has become increasingly unfeasible for many reasons. For myself, I could imagine little worse than being stuck in a public, noisy, and germ-infested hospital room for several days after giving birth. For as much as it costs to stay for two or three days in a hospital, I could hire a post-partum nurse, a maid, and a personal masseuse. For weeks. As it was, I opted for an out-of-hospital birth center. I gave birth in the morning, and was in my own bed that evening. I've never been admitted to a hospital, and I wouldn't want to be. Nurses, specialists, aides all coming into my room at all hours of the day, asking for my baby and arguing about tests, procedures, or even just what I want to eat for breakfast... ...NO, THANK YOU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4everHis Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 I have the receipt for my birth. No insurance. $293(or $363 can't remember which one off the top of my head but it was one of these) and a 4 day hospital stay. This was in 1963. That included EVERYthing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4everHis Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 Yes, there was insurance 40 years ago. In the early 20th century, when physicians' groups were actively competing against midwives, one of the enticements they had for hospital birth was presenting it like a kind of posh vacation for tired mothers. It was not unusual for women at that time to stay for a week after giving birth. However, as more and more women chose hospitals rather than home, this has become increasingly unfeasible for many reasons. For myself, I could imagine little worse than being stuck in a public, noisy, and germ-infested hospital room for several days after giving birth. For as much as it costs to stay for two or three days in a hospital, I could hire a post-partum nurse, a maid, and a personal masseuse. For weeks. As it was, I opted for an out-of-hospital birth center. I gave birth in the morning, and was in my own bed that evening. I've never been admitted to a hospital, and I wouldn't want to be. Nurses, specialists, aides all coming into my room at all hours of the day, asking for my baby and arguing about tests, procedures, or even just what I want to eat for breakfast... ...NO, THANK YOU. I had five hospital births and except for 1st, because I experienced pre-eclampsia and H.E.L.L.P. and almost died, I never once experienced what you are talking about. I could have as much or as little intervention, drugs, etc. as I chose and once I had the baby, the baby stayed in my room and I was left alone until a doctor visit the next day. The nurses even said they wanted me to get rest and call them when I wanted. I'm not against home births AT All. My dearest friend has birthed 6 at home. But after the problems with my first I was never comfortable at home. Maybe it's different in other places, but my hospital births were not what you described. As a matter of fact on my 2nd one I kind of felt neglected :), not in a bad way but just not seeing medical personnel unless I requested it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aelwydd Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 I had five hospital births and except for 1st, because I experienced pre-eclampsia and H.E.L.L.P. and almost died, I never once experienced what you are talking about. I could have as much or as little intervention, drugs, etc. as I chose and once I had the baby, the baby stayed in my room and I was left alone until a doctor visit the next day. The nurses even said they wanted me to get rest and call them when I wanted. I'm not against home births AT All. My dearest friend has birthed 6 at home. But after the problems with my first I was never comfortable at home. Maybe it's different in other places, but my hospital births were not what you described. As a matter of fact on my 2nd one I kind of felt neglected :), not in a bad way but just not seeing medical personnel unless I requested it. You had a medical reason to be a hospital. I'm not against hospital births. I'm against me being in them for anything less than a very good reason. Trying to sleep while people are coming in and out of the room, having tubes stuck into various orifices, eating hospital food, taking showers in a hospital bathroom (eww), and while people are talking and laughing, or crying or moaning (other women in labor) down the hallway, shutting doors loudly, and just otherwise being LOUD. Most annoying are the "beep...beep...beep" of the machines. I'm a light sleeper. I had a low intervention, vaginal birth, because I was low-risk. So I didn't have to have so much as an IV put in me, and the food I ate at the birth center was the food I brought with me. There was no nursery to take my son to. He slept with me, and the nurse gave him all this tests bedside. The point is, a hospital, even a very nice one, would have importuned me in many ways, just by being what it is, that the birth center did not. I don't consider a hospital a restful place, what with people coming in and out at will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissad2 Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 I'm actually in the hospital right now on my first day after c-section and I will probably go home in the morning. The only pushy person so far has been the picture lady who tried in vain to sell me $300 worth of hospital pictures :) YMMV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 Nurses, specialists, aides all coming into my room at all hours of the day, asking for my baby and arguing about tests, procedures, or even just what I want to eat for breakfast... That didn't happen to me. The pastor did stop by. Since I had a freebie moment with a pastor I asked how I might best cope with my husband's older girls, who were quite religious as well as bent over barfing over their dad having a baby at his age. The pastor was fresh out of helpful hints. I loved how stealthy the night nurse was. She just seemed to "know" when I needed her. If she heard too much rustling, she'd check on me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aelwydd Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 kalanamak, I'm not arguing that other people who stay in the hospital can't have had a nice time there. Or that they didn't have conflict-free experience. I'm arguing that the kind of labor, birth, and post-partum experience I had in the birth center would have necessitated at least a discussion in the majority of hospitals, if I'd sought to replicate the same conditions: -no IV, not even a heplock -no internal monitoring, no blasted beeping machines -ate and drank at will, when I wanted, what I wanted -no induction/augmentation drugs -labored in a jacuzzi -labored and delivered sans clothing -no nursing students, no medical assistants, PAs, no aides, no residents -no special forms needed to go home the same day, AMA, or permission needed from my midwife or OB -no nurses or anybody coming in and waking up in the 6 hour long nap after I delivered. DS slept next to me on the bed, and my dh as well. It was a King sized bed. -after delivery, my dh made me bacon, eggs, and potatoes in the kitchen, seasoned the way I like, made just the way I like -my baby was the only baby on the entire "floor" that day :D (which made him the priority for my CNM and my RN) I could go on. The point is, the hospital is the hospital. It's good for what it does, and there are some lovely ones out there. But, they're still a hospital, with hundreds of people in and out of labor floor, with intrusive policies, procedures, and so forth. Basically, it's a huge institution, and I didn't want to be locked up in one for even a day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moxie Posted April 21, 2012 Author Share Posted April 21, 2012 My, we have gone down a rabbit trail! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VeganCupcake Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 I know my mom spent a week in the hospital after I was born, and I would assume it was the same when she had my siblings. I think it was simply the standard procedure at the time. There was health insurance, but medical costs were a lot lower then, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindyg Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 My grandmother told me she looked forward to her week's vacation in the hospital with the birth of each child. This would have been Depression era, and she labored on a family farm 24/7. Also, this was an arranged marriage, first generation Americans, not native English speaker, came to this country without a cent, kept the whole extended family alive during the depression with produce from this family farm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmoe Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 I remember that when my mother had my brother part of her hospital experience was a romantic steak dinner! I was so impressed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 I stayed in hospital for 3 days or over for each of my children. I really enjoyed it, I didn't have to think what to cook each night. Just about everyone I know stays in hospital for around 2- 3 days. I remember having a conversation with a nurse about how some countries shove people out the door as soon as their baby is born and she said that women have less complications etc if they stay in hospital for 2 days after having their baby. of course you can leave earlier if you want. I know someone who left 2 hours after having her baby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.