surgery.  While medicine is fantastic.  A baby is natural (most of the time).  That means in general the following:

Basic monitoring is sufficient for most of the labor... pay a nurse $50 an hour for 24 hours and that is $1200  average labor is shorter.  Throw in $2K for 2 hours of highly specialized skills... rarely needed and you're breaking $3200 so far.  A hospital fee for space $1800 seems sufficient.

So that's how I break down general cost of labor and delivery.  I'm stunned that it is above $5K as a regular practice.

Don't get me wrong, I'm guessing there are time when it goes way over.  But as a standard?

Now if everyone gets an epidural and c-sections and those type of things, then it certainly can go a little higher.  I'm surprised by the answers that put it over 20K.

A "natural" birth with no complications seems to me would only cost 2K or so.