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Of course most births go well enough that in retrospect, the $25k to the hospital and OB can be declared unecessary.
The risks are small when you are talking about absolutes. But we view it as totally unacceptable to lose a mom, and unacceptable to lose a baby, so we go to the hospital. Some women get a midwife or go to a birth center (which, depending on the ideology of your midwife, can be a great choice or courting disaster.)
So if you want your wife to go without pain relief (or if she sincerely wants to,) and can accept the statistically significant but small-in-absolutes risk of doing it yourself, go for it.
How far from a tertiary care center do you live? I ask because a small community hospital who gets a 911 call mom crash c-section dumped out of the ambulance isn't much better off than a CNM delivering a baby at home, if at all. No anesthesia, no OB in house, no surgery. No OB = no forceps or ventouse, either. Fetus is compromised or dead. Again... rare, but it happens every day when you consider the entire nation.
If you don't mind me asking, how could you have died giving birth if the issues were resolvable by an emergency C-section? I might see the baby dying... which is tragic enough... but why would it have killed you.
Long story, but during the pregnancy the docs found I had a genetic disorder, so If labor had been too long (which it was aiming at, hence the C-section) and if I hadn't been monitored, then I could have had a heart attack and massive hemorrhage.
Everyone is different. In some cases pregnancy is risky and in some cases not so much. Some people have good insurance policies and don't have to pay that much, or are on Medicaid and it is paid in full. As far as the birth, that also varies a lot. My first son was born by emergency c-section after 10 hours of labor, but my next 2 sons were born very quickly in a hospital with no drugs and no problems.
Everyone is different. In some cases pregnancy is risky and in some cases not so much. Some people have good insurance policies and don't have to pay that much, or are on Medicaid and it is paid in full. As far as the birth, that also varies a lot. My first son was born by emergency c-section after 10 hours of labor, but my next 2 sons were born very quickly in a hospital with no drugs and no problems.
Translation of the boldfaced statement: "or can't afford it but were irresponsible enough to do it anyway". Yeah. That's our America. A middle-class guy like me would get hit with $10,000+ in medical debt to pay for a childbirth. But a promiscuous woman who spreads her legs for anyone but hardly has two pennies to rub together because she spends it all on cigarettes and drugs will get the birth fully paid for, walk away with no medical debt, and head straight to the welfare office where she'll be approved in an instant so she can feed, clothe, and house her kid despite reeking of cigarettes and looking like someone I wouldn't even touch with a ten-foot pole.
If it was as easy as the OP is suggesting, you would have just popped that baby out during one of your bathroom breaks at work and then gone about your day, none of that 9 whole days off stuff.
I've actually done this. Well close. I did have a baby in my bathroom, in the shower, after 1 hour of painless labor. Alone, with only my husband and13 year old DD is the room. And I was carrying on with my life shortly there after.
However this is not typical. Still, most women can give birth naturally, without the screaming and terror we typically see in movies, and on TV. Even witnessing Hospital births and Home-births you can see a vast difference in how Birth is and how a women labors. Without fear, birth is much less painful. It's beautiful.
Translation of the boldfaced statement: "or can't afford it but were irresponsible enough to do it anyway". Yeah. That's our America. A middle-class guy like me would get hit with $10,000+ in medical debt to pay for a childbirth. But a promiscuous woman who spreads her legs for anyone but hardly has two pennies to rub together because she spends it all on cigarettes and drugs will get the birth fully paid for, walk away with no medical debt, and head straight to the welfare office where she'll be approved in an instant so she can feed, clothe, and house her kid despite reeking of cigarettes and looking like someone I wouldn't even touch with a ten-foot pole.
Medicaid in Alaska covers families who make up to $65,000 a year. Does not seem to fit with your description now does it? And we ALL pay taxes which in turn pays for medicaid. Including many of those people who qualify and use it.
...how is it that so many women are able to birth babies on their own, seemingly easily?
We all know it happens. A few years ago, there was an infamous case called "Prom Mom" where a teenage girl gave birth to a baby in the bathroom of the facility where her senior prom was being held, killed the baby and put its body in the trash, and then returned to dancing.
I recently read an article about "baby boxes" in European countries where women who don't want their babies can drop them off anonymously. I'm guessing that these women don't birth the babies in a hospital - if they did, they'd have no reason to use an outdoor "baby box" to drop the babies off.
I hear all of these stories about "you need all of this prenatal care and it costs $25,000 in hospital fees and it's SO PAINFUL that you'll be screaming for an epidural and blah blah blah blah"... how can this be even close to universally true if there are so many women who birth babies on their own with no help at all and then manage to go back to regular life quickly thereafter? Am I missing something?
I'd like to know these things such that, if my wife DOES get pregnant, I won't automatically think "crap, now I'm going to be another $25,000 in debt which will take at least another two years of slaving away in a situation I don't like, to pay off".
Are you suggesting that your wife should give birth alone at home so you can save money?
...how is it that so many women are able to birth babies on their own, seemingly easily?
We all know it happens. A few years ago, there was an infamous case called "Prom Mom" where a teenage girl gave birth to a baby in the bathroom of the facility where her senior prom was being held, killed the baby and put its body in the trash, and then returned to dancing.
I recently read an article about "baby boxes" in European countries where women who don't want their babies can drop them off anonymously. I'm guessing that these women don't birth the babies in a hospital - if they did, they'd have no reason to use an outdoor "baby box" to drop the babies off.
I hear all of these stories about "you need all of this prenatal care and it costs $25,000 in hospital fees and it's SO PAINFUL that you'll be screaming for an epidural and blah blah blah blah"... how can this be even close to universally true if there are so many women who birth babies on their own with no help at all and then manage to go back to regular life quickly thereafter? Am I missing something?
I'd like to know these things such that, if my wife DOES get pregnant, I won't automatically think "crap, now I'm going to be another $25,000 in debt which will take at least another two years of slaving away in a situation I don't like, to pay off".
Some don't need the help, others do. Look up the words "infant mortality rate" in google and do a country comparison and a demographic comparison. Medical intervention is why western nations have significantly lower infant mortality rates.
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