When I was 18 weeks along, I started having back pain that started on the left side and eventually moved to the right side. My Dr. prescribed me Lortab and sent me home.
Around 23 weeks, the pain was just unbearable and not only was the Lortab not working, I didn't want to keep taking such a strong drug throughout my pregnancy. When I called my Dr. to tell him that I was still having pain, he told me to go straight to Labor & Delivery. So I did just that... only at the wrong hospital (thinking I would just go where my Dr. works). I didn't even think to check that the hospital I admitted myself to was out of network and my insurance wouldn't cover it. (You'll see in a second)
They hooked me up to an IV and started pumping saline water into my system (don't know what this was for)
BTW- baby is fine because I can feel her kicking in there but my back just hurt.
They thought I might have a kidney infection so they had me drink these two waters until my bladder was full and did an ultrasound on my back/kidneys and bladder.
Happy? Not really... I was scared because I didn't know what was going on and wanted some answers with my back pain!
Ouch - I hurt!
Well, after sitting in a hospital room for 4 hours, the tests came back and they said nothing was wrong with me. YEAH RIGHT. I was very upset. Later that night, I asked my dad for a blessing with the help of my husband Spencer. When I went to bed, I rolled over and looked at my prenatal vitamins and had the strong impression to stop taking them. So I did. About 3 days later, I pooped a bunch (sorry, TMI) and the pain went away. I actually think that my prenatals were causing constipation and the constipation was causing me horrible pain. Lortab can also cause constipation as well so the combo of the two made everything worse!
The next day, I got a call from the hospital saying that they don't accept my insurance and the bill wouldn't be covered at all. I cried because I knew this was going to be expensive. I was furious that the receptionist that checked me in didn't even tell me that I wouldn't be covered! I could have easily said "Oops" and gone to a different hospital. Apparently, they aren't allowed to turn away patients in case it is an emergency. Clearly, I wasn't in the ER room and having an emergency because I would have made that clear to her to hurry up and get me in her computer system. She typed as slow as a snail.
Well, this bill did eventually come and this was the amount.
LUCKILY - because I complained about how I felt like they should have said something to me before checking me in, they gave me a discount and I was able to get a little more than half off. I still feel like the medical billing system is really shady. I hate the fact that you get bills and they expect you to know what their coding means. Obviously, I can tell that U/S stands for ultra-sound but besides that! UGH. Plus - they didn't provide me with any answers after all the testing they did!
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