Personal experience. How I came to give birth in the United States. Part of xnumx

The sunny city of Miami has long been turned into a Mecca of maternity tourism. More and more women from the CIS countries come here to present an American passport to their unborn child. ForumDaily spoke anonymously with a girl who came to the US to give birth on a tourist visa. She is planned delivery under the contract, but the financial problems that have arisen turned everything upside down. She had to look for an option on how to give birth for free, and she found him. Begin her stories read here. Next is a continuation from the first person.

Lack of money

A month before the birth, it turned out that we had nothing to pay our American doctor and hospital $7200 - dThe money that we expected from our last clients for a project in Moscow and for which I was supposed to give birth, we never received. In other words, they threw us. The deferred funds to pay all the costs would not be enough. We did not know if we could pull a contract for paid deliveries. To say that I was in shock is to say nothing.

Our doctor, an obstetrician-gynecologist, Matar Nabil safely went on vacation, which he honestly warned us about when we first met, and we continued to go to the ultrasound and tests to his office. Surprisingly, no one asked us about payment, and when we tried to contact the doctor to explain to him our difficult financial situation, the office employee flatly refused to give his personal number and told to wait. The doctor had to leave the holiday 10 days before the expected day of birth.

We hoped to agree with Matar on payment of his services by installments, but for the time he was not in the office, we decided to look for other options just in case. The husband remembered Medicaid emergency insurance, about which he was repeatedly told by his acquaintances who gave birth in Miami in this way. Without any problems for your visa after. I, as before, was categorically against, but I studied all the information about Medicaidthat I could find.

Medicaid Emergency fully or partially covers the costs associated with emergency medical cases, which include sudden deliveries. As I understand it, non-residents of the state and tourists in an emergency can also apply for insurance, but not the fact that it will be approved. By and large, there is no deception. And for the demand do not beat.

Three things confused me most about this event:

1. In order for the insurance to work, we had to arrive at the hospital at the time of birth (and if I switch more than the prescribed? How can I know that everything is in order with the baby?)
2. The need to submit to cover expenses with insurance after delivery. Give or not give - that is the question. Still, the contract would be much calmer.
3. It was unpleasant to “deceive the state” - for some reason I felt that way about this insurance.

Our doctor left the vacation and immediately upset us, saying that he does not accept Medicaid insurance, does not agree on installments, and will go with us only if we pay the $ 2500 that was due to him. The question of paying the remaining amount for the hospital services we had to decide for ourselves. For all previous observations, we had to him all 500 $. He did the last ultrasound, said that the cervix was already beginning to open, and asked us to decide faster. Because of this whole situation, he was very angry, but he tried to be polite.

By that moment, my mother flew in and waited for the birth with us. To speed up the process, we went shopping all day long, bought more clothes and toys for the future baby, and actively cleaned the apartment. However, the child did not want to be born.

Day and night of birth

When I passed the date of the alleged birth on the 3 of the day, we went to Matar, gave him money for observation and announced our desire to give birth without him. He looked at me in the chair and said that it was better for us to go to the hospital right now and ask to connect me to the sensors in order to monitor the condition of the child. He suggested that I have a very sore stomach.

My husband and I were very scared and, without going home, we went to the Memorial Regional Hospital. As you understand, I have not had contractions yet and in fact I did not give birth. Yes, my stomach ached a little, but I did not take it into account (or was so patient).

We went to the hospital and at the entrance said that I was giving birth. One of the medical workers quickly rolled the chair and they took me to the delivery room. Nearby were carrying a woman who screamed a good American mat, with bulging eyes. She had a process in full swing. It all happened like in the Dr. House series.

We were taken to a cold room and left to wait for 40 minutes. Then a nurse appeared and took me to the hall where the tiny rooms were separated by curtains. I put on a colorful shirt with drawstrings at the back and put me on the couch, hooked up to sensors that monitor the baby's heartbeat and the strength of contractions. The room was wildly cold. A woman screamed in the next room. The husband turned pale, but sat patiently beside him. During the 3 hours I spent, various medical workers came in - asked about my pregnancy and simply wondered if everything was normal. After some time, the doctor came to us and said that the contractions were very weak. She advised to take another hour and come again.

We understood that we want to give birth today, and even if we leave the hospital now, then in addition to the bill for childbirth we will receive a bill for the "evening rendezvous under the sensors." Knowing about the strange pricing for services in US hospitals, we understood that the bill might well be with three zeros. We spent this hour very actively - we walked up and down the stairs, eating sharp tacos.

When we returned, I was again placed in the same room and connected to the sensors. An hour later, the nurse summarized that we were left in the hospital and would be preparing the ancestral chamber. I was given a lot of papers to sign - information about epidural anesthesia (do I agree to it?), A document in which it says that I agree to natural childbirth (caesarean only in an emergency case at the discretion of the doctor) and some other ones I do not remember. Before moving to the ward I received an ultrasound.

An hour later, I was transported to a huge light chamber, where I was supposed to give birth. Shifting nurses were constantly doing something to me - they connected me to the sensors, put a drip with vitamins, installed a catheter, asked questions, took readings of the sensors, covered me. It was a great torment that I was not allowed to drink or eat. You could only suck the ice.

Three hours after moving to a new ward, I was put on a dropper with a solution that stimulated labor. In the middle of the night, the waters began to drift away and I felt the contractions in all their many-sided "beauty." 100 shades of pain and not otherwise.

Before the birth, my husband and I decided that I would give birth with epidural anesthesia. When it became impossible to endure, I called the nurse and asked for anesthesia. After 30 minutes, three young doctors arrived and brought a cart with a computer to my tent. Anesthesia was placed in the spine and it was important not to twitch when setting up a catheter. It was an almost impossible task, provided that I started having strong fights. While I was being prepared for the procedure, I mentally agreed with the high cost of this type of anesthesia ($ 1250), although I hadn’t understood how this injection can cost so much. Interestingly, third-party Sheridan provides painkillers, and the invoice for the manipulation comes separate.

Anesthesia started working almost instantly. I had the feeling that I was covered with my head with the warmest and softest blanket in the world. Surprisingly, I felt both the pelvis and the legs, only there was no pain, as if it had been rubbed with an eraser. I fell into a dream, but soon woke up again. Sensors showed strong contractions, but I almost did not feel anything. The pain "woke up" after 3 hours, as if the effect of anesthesia began to fade. They increased the dose, but I continued to feel contractions. Maybe half of what was in fact, but still felt.

Nurses constantly came into the ward and looked to see if everything was fine with me. At some point, the baby’s heartbeat sensor began to lash loudly - the baby’s heart began to beat more slowly and slowly. Suddenly a light came on in the ward and about ten people ran in with the doctor. I began to prepare for childbirth.

By this time I was exhausted and did not understand what to do. Attempts continued exactly 40 minutes. Despite the fact that I continued to drip anesthesia, I felt pain. Husband ran with a camera and tried to shoot the whole process. In the morning at 8: 49 was born our boy, and I sobbed like a beluga. The baby was taken away to wipe and measure, they were not immediately attached to the chest. In principle, the plan of childbirth can be discussed in advance with the doctor - to apply / not to apply, to give the child a vaccine against hepatitis B or not, and so on. All manipulations - the choice of the mother.

From the moment we spent two days in the hospital. In rare moments, I was left alone with the baby, because in the postpartum ward there was almost always medical staff who monitored our condition. Separately, a breastfeeding specialist and a pediatrician came.

Money question

On the second day after the birth, a woman from the finance department appeared in the ward with a question that we were waiting for - how do we pay? The husband explained the situation and said that we are applying for Medicaid Emergency insurance. An employee from the same finance department told us what documents we need to collect and where we need to submit them. In case we were denied insurance, the specialist advised us to purchase an after-the-fact contract for $ 5800, which included hospital stay and anesthesia.

If we could not pay the contract, then our bill could be paid by installments (which we were also informed about). In other words - pay as convenient and when it is convenient, just pay.

For the sake of interest, we looked at our hospital bill on the second day after delivery - it contained the amount of $ 8000 (not yet final at that time). It is still incomprehensible to me how the bill can be for one amount, and payment under the contract after delivery for another, even smaller.

In any case, we had to wait for the bill from the hospital, which arrives at the home address a few days after discharge, and apply for insurance.

By the way, the hospital administration is also handling the baby’s documents - they brought me a questionnaire in which we indicated the name of the newborn and other important information, and the specialist filled out an application for a birth certificate and a request for a social security number. The certificate we had to pick up at the Florida Department of Health at our place of residence, and the social security number should have come to us by mail.

Before being discharged, the nurses brought us a whole folder with recommendations and tips for caring for a child. I was discharged from the hospital with full awareness of my maternal role, and a few days later a nurse called me on my mobile and asked if everything was all right and if we needed help.

My husband applied for Medicaid online, and through 2 of the week we received a letter stating that the insurance was approved. We sent the bill from the hospital (which also came by that time) to Medicaid. By the way, the final check was for $ 5200 (not with the sum of the contract and not for $ 8000). Insurance fully covered our stay in the hospital. Hooray!

When we applied for Medicaid Emergency, we also applied for Medicaid insurance for our son. She was also approved, and since then all visits to the pediatrician are worth nothing to us.

The materials in the “Personal Experience” section are for informational purposes and do not constitute instructions for action. The editors may not share the position voiced by the heroes of the column.

See also:

Childbirth in Miami: how Russian-speaking people come to the United States for citizenship

One and a half thousand Russian-speaking clients are under investigation in the Medicaid case

Personal experience. How I moved to the USA

10 about honest ways to stay in the USA

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