This is ridiculous.

It's safe to say that having a baby is expensive, from hospital costs to everything that comes after. And while you can understand certain costs, there are some precious moments that should definitely come free, like the first time you hold your baby. This may seem obvious but one American parent shared a story on Reddit that has proven otherwise. The Reddit user who goes by the name of halfthrottle posted a picture of his bill from the hospital. It included an unexpected charge for 'skin to skin' contact. He posted the image below along with the caption: "I had to pay $39.35 (€35) to hold my baby after he was born." The new daddy said that of course, they wanted to hold their baby after the birth but that they didn't realise the charge until they got home.

"During the C-section the nurse asked my wife if she would like to do skin to skin after the baby was born. Which of course anyone would say yes too." I was able to hold the baby on my wife's chest. Her arms were tied to the table and the nurse was there to remind me not to let go so the baby didn't fall. She actually took my camera from me and started snapping pictures for me. It was a positive experience for sure. The nurse even borrowed my camera to take a few pictures for us. Everyone involved in the process was great, and we had a positive experience. We just got a chuckle out of seeing that on the bill."

He doesn't seem overly annoyed at the charge, choosing to have a sense of humour about it. The reason they were billed for the special experience was because it required an extra staff member to be present for safety reasons, still though it seems a bit unnecessary to charge for something that should be a given part of the birth experience.