[jacinda]

I had to stay in the hospital for 7 days because I was past my due date and needed monitoring. I had 4 rounds of a drug used overnight to help soften the cervix, one injection of Terbutaline (to stop one long contraction that had caused the baby's heart rate to drop prior to being in real labor), less than 1 bag of pitocin, a few bags of saline and an electronic monitor placed on the baby's head to monitor heart rate once they had descended far enough to make the normal telemetry ineffective.

I did not have an epidural or any pain medication during labor and had a relatively uneventful birth once things actually started moving. The doctor was great, but was only there intermittently until the very end. I needed some stitches but was walking unassisted within a few hours and was discharged early (after a week in the hospital, we really wanted to go home).

Total "bill": over $100,000, most of it covered by insurance. It did not cost them almost $15,000 per night for me to stay there. That's just what they send to the insurance company in this absurd game they play with each other.