In India, there are small boutique hospitals that solve this very problem (e.g. https://www.cloudninecare.com/; https://www.cloudninecare.com/; https://www.moth

In India, there are small boutique hospitals that solve this very problem (e.g. https://www.cloudninecare.com/; https://www.cloudninecare.com/; https://www.motherhoodindia.com/; https://www.motherhoodindia.com/; http://ovumhospitals.com/ http://ovumhospitals.com/ and hundreds more in every city). I have always been so surprised by how "broken" maternity is in the U.S. and just how overtly "scammy" some of the things are e.g. if one needed breast-pumps, there is a 'company representative' that would deliver it to your hospital room and you get charged separately - by the company - and nurses get a kick-back; There is a nexus of private practitioners roaming the hospital wards helping mom's with early care - most of them looking for 'repeat business', after one is discharged. This is from experience in San Francisco. Not to mention the 'baby-product-industrial-complex' where one is convinced that highly special, safe and pink or blue colored equipment is needed for baby care. So there is a LOT of money made in the U.S. from every birth by a vast nexus of companies. Just the product choices one is forced to make drives millions of panicked google searches a year (with 'listicle-focused-SEO-hog-blogs' feeding off of this) -- just to search for the "right" equipment. Why can't just one company consolidate this -- and offer a one-stop-solution? Naked Capitalism is on its full-show during the birth process in America. It is indeed very strange. Finland has 'baby boxes' delivered by the govt: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22751415 http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22751415 Sweden has a govt sponsored program for end-to-end support for new parents: https://sweden.se/society/10-things-that-make-sweden-family-friendly/ https://sweden.se/society/10-things-that-make-sweden-family-... The reason for this comment is that HN has a 'startup' bent to it, so I hope some entrepreneur just Warby-Parkers (is it a verb?) the baby birth process. There is definitely room for massive simplification. Make each decision simple -- that alone is a giant opportunity.