How much was your bill for newborn hospital stay?

Katie, What state are you in? Most states have a 'waiting period' in which a mother must wait to sign paperwork to terminate her parental rights. That being the case, Medicaid usually covers the cost of the hospital bill, because the child is still in the custody of the birth parents upon discharge. That is how it worked in our case. I couldn't sign until 3 days post birth. I was discharged with my daughter 24 hours after birth. I did send my daughter home with her adoptive parents, although I had to carry her out of the hospital. Two days later, I went to the agency to sign the paperwork to terminate my parental rights. Medicaid covered M's medical costs up to the point that I terminated my rights -- three days post birth. She was already at home at that point and even if her parents had wanted to cover her on their medical insurance immediately after birth, they wouldn't have been able to, because they did not yet have legal custody of the child, as I had not yet relinquished my rights. It wasn't until that 3rd day, when I terminated, that C and S got 'temporary custody' of M for the purposes of adoption and they requested her covered on their insurance. I know things may be different now. You need to find out the requirements for your insurance regarding when coverage will start. In most cases there needs to be a 'legal' document, which you have to send them, in order to initiate coverage. In my case, that was well past any hospital stays. If that is the case in your situation (a multi-day wait) -- it could be that you won't need to worry about it, because the child should be out of the hospital by the time you need to obtain coverage. On a side note -- you can always call the hospital billing office to request the cost for cash payments. Most business offices will be familiar with adoption and should be able to give you a good ballpark for a healthy vaginal birth. Good luck!