[log in to unmask] writes:

<< it only took one day for them to give up on taking him there, and
 to do the weighing etc. in the room.<snip> of course the
 hospital bill still included nearly a thousand dollars worth of "nursery"
 charges; i guess they were standing by just in case. >>

This one sounds familiar!  I had my son in a small town hospital (they had
*never* had a person room-in <gasp>) and though he never left my side I found
that the bill for my services included $700 for "nursery services".  I let the
hospital know quickly that the charges were in error and got the bill amended.
At the time, the lady on the other end of the phone said, "What do you mean he
didn't go to the nursery, dear?  Was your baby born alive or not?" (picture
this in a stupefyingly idiotic-sounding southern drawl--I have the drawl, too,
but I imagine it sounds much more cogent!)  As if nursery care was the logical
outcome of having a live birth.  Arrggh.

The lesson is, do check your hospital bills...I am imagining how much money
Medicaid could be saving if low-income mothers roomed in, and how many bills
Medicaid pays for nursery care among those who never even use it.

Joy Berry-Parks LLLL, central Arkansas
where I should be working on my breastfeeding duration study data
"Childhood decides."  --Jean Paul Sartre