[Joan.of.the.Arch]

The neonatal intensive care units are full of babies born prematurely whose birth could could been delayed for the better health of both mom and baby if the mother gotten timely prenatal care. And it costs us (rarely is it the parents of the baby who directly pay) huge amounts of money to take care of those babies. It would have been much cheaper if we had just taken care of the mom's pregnancy. Many premature births in this country would have been preventable with medical care. For example, a simple infection that would have cleared with a visit to the OBGYN and a run of antibiotics can turn into a premature birth with very low birth weight, underdeveloped lungs, weeks in intensive care, many jabs with needles, dependency on artifical ventilation, artificial nutrients, etc. Life in ICU is not pretty for a little baby, nor can we count on it having a good outcome. Prenatal care is so much gentler, cheaper, and easier.