and I haven't even had the baby yet

A few weeks ago I realized I hadn't pre-registered for the hospital so at my appointment two weeks ago I asked for a form to fill out and send in. I remember being told that pre-registering helps with the speed of checking in when you go to the hospital and when you are hurting the last thing you want to deal with is finding your insurance card (that is what the form said too). Anyways, I pre-registered a little later then they recommend, they told me with Lance to fill in the form at month six, so I was three months late, but I thought no big deal. After getting the mail Thursday I was glad that I pre-registered late because they sent me a bill! I haven't even had the baby yet!!!! There is a one in million chance I could end up delivering at home and not even make it the hospital!! yeah right, but that isn't the point. I can't believe I have to start paying the hospital for my stay that hasn't even happened and I want to finish paying off the doctor before we jump into the hospital bill. They calculated what the average cost of having a baby is and calculated what my insurance would cover and sent me a bill for the remaining amount and said it was due August 1, next week. Ouch!! This did not happen with Lance. With Lance, we went to the hospital had baby and a month later got the bill. This time, we are suppose to start paying before we even get there, I can't believe it, wait let me rephrase that, they want the bill paid before you go into labor. I called the number they had attached and found out that my doctor's office was suppose to tell me at the beginning of my second trimester to fill out the paperwork and begin making payments. The nice lady also told me that they no longer have a billing department at the hospital and have outsourced billing to a company that now charges interest to any amount of the bill that hasn't been paid by the time you enter the hospital and this went into effect in January. I am really angry that I have a week or two to pay over a thousand dollars or be charged interest especially when no one told me that this was even policy. I am also shocked that you pay for the delivery even before it happens, it seems a little weird to me. I guess this is just one more reason that Lily might be our last baby, it is way to expensive to have babies.