A Hospital Charged This Couple To Hold THEIR OWN BABY

Eye-popping bills are par for the course once you become a parent, but one dad's social media post about a particularly ridiculous charge has outraged mums and dads everywhere. Ryan Grassley shared the itemised bill that he and his wife Lidia received following the birth of their baby boy Samuel last month in the US town of Spanish Fork, Utah. The bill, shared on Reddit, totals $1,626 and includes all the usual charges. Bizarrely however, $39.35 was added on for 'skin-to-skin' contact after Lidia's C-section delivery.

"In the OR the nurse asked if we wanted to do skin to skin as soon as possible after he was born.  After the C-section our baby was cleaned up and ready for skin to skin. Later we both got a laugh about the itemized bill with a 39.35 charge for skin to skin time."

While Grassley is pleased the story has raised awareness of America's steep medical expenses, he says he didn't share the bill to cast the hospital in a negative light:

"I posted it on Reddit and it blew up. To be clear I wasn't complaining or trying to send people on a witch hunt for the hospital. We had a very positive experience during the birth of our son, and the hospital and staff were great throughout the entire process. I posted the bill to Reddit because I thought it was funny. It has been interesting to see the shock from people around the world at the cost of medical expenses in the USA."

The new dad has started a Go Fund Me page to raise the $40 incurred in the holding of his own child in the delivery room.

"If I reach my goal of $39.35 I will use it to pay off this "ridiculous" fee." he says. "Any money donated over the $39.35 will be put towards a vasectomy because I never want to go though these sleepless new baby nights again."

While most commenters (there were thousands of responses) expressed their shock at the charge, one Reddit member by the name of FiftySixer attenpted to explain the bill:

“As a labor and delivery nurse, I can kind of explain this. I didn’t know that hospitals charged for it, but doing ‘skin to skin’ in the operating room requires an additional staff member to be present just to watch the baby. We used to take all babies to the nursery once the NICU team made sure everything was okay. ‘Skin to skin’ in the OR is a relatively new thing and requires a second Labor and Delivery RN to come in to the OR and make sure the baby is safe.”

Have you ever received a questionable bill after delivery? Let us know about it: email katie.mythen@herfamily.ie.