After one Reddit user returned home with his wife and newborn son, he took a closer look at the hospital bill and noticed something strange.
The hospital had charged them for engaging in skin-to-skin contact after the mother's C-section birth.
In the delivery room, the father recalled one of the nurses asking him and his wife if they wanted to do skin-to-skin contact as a way of further bonding with their child, particularly since the mother hadn't had a natural, vaginal birth. There didn't seem to be any reason for them to say no.
The father later recalled, "The nurse let me hold the baby on my wife's neck/chest. Even borrowed my camera to take a few pictures for us. Everyone involved in the process was great, and we had a positive experience."
Until they saw the hospital bill.
The hospital had charged the family an extra $39.95 for wanting to bond with their child in skin-to-skin contact after birth.
Once the father shared a picture of their hospital bill online, it quickly collected a wide variety of responses, including an explanation from another labor and delivery nurse.
In order for new parents to safely engage in skin-to-skin contact with their child, another labor and delivery nurse needs to be present in the room, to ensure that the baby is safe during this time. Especially because skin-to-skin contact is a relatively new trend during birth, not many hospitals have had time to incorporate this practice into their usual routine, with the nurses already present.
The extra $39.95 charge was simply to pay for an extra nurse to be in the room, ensuring that the family's new son was being safely held during this time.
The new father who posted his medical bill isn't mad about the charge; he and his wife "just got a chuckle out of seeing that on the bill."
You can visit the original Reddit thread to read about other outrageous medical bills others have received in their lives.
