As we're approaching the big day I wanted to slide in one more (long) post about what it's been like to be an American pregnant in Japan. I've read a lot of other blogs, forum posts and websites about being a pregnant foreigner here (as well as ones about being pregnant in America) and want to add my experience to the mix. The topics/issues I'll cover here are ones that seem to come up the most often from others in a similar situation. Left to my own devices I wouldn't really know what to mention because, well, I've never been pregnant
anywhere before.
First, I want to say a little more about my OB and how we found him. When we learned I was pregnant we more or less knew, based on the experience of expats with our same company who had gone before us, that we would probably be able to make some kind of arrangements to be in Tokyo for the birth. In this, we are
extremely lucky. From my reading, most expats (many are English teachers in smaller towns) don't have the support of a large international company who make apartments in Tokyo magically appear for two months. They have to figure stuff out for themselves.
We were already seeing a family doctor here in the city because, for us, a 1 hour, 45 minute train ride was worth it to see an English-speaking doctor who did things the Western way in a medical clinic (
TMSC) that catered specifically to foreigners. But we like the trains. And we like the city. Others wouldn't consider it worth it, I know. Anyways, this family doctor initially confirmed the pregnancy for us and then directed us to the OB who worked in the same clinic. The OB was nice, Japanese and spoke almost (99%) perfect English. He also gives out epidurals like they're no big deal. Sign me up! I knew coming to see him for checkups every month might be difficult, but really only my very last train trip from Gunma (at about 32 weeks) was kinda rough. Again, worth it for me.
It was only afterwards that I learned how lucky we are to have a spot with this doctor. Apparently it makes a big difference to have a doctor who has studied and worked extensively outside of Japan and specifically in the US. Add to that the fact that he's Japanese (one foot in each world, so to speak) and specializes in handling foreign-baby births and, well, you've pretty much got the golden ticket. The only complaint I've ever heard about him is that he can get busy and overbooked, which is really a
good sign. However, I recently learned that his schedule has opened up some since all the foreigners left in droves after the big earthquake. So perhaps that helped us land in his lap so easily. For the record, I did make an actual appointment to see him every time and I always saw
him in person (although he did do a bit of unexpected appointment rescheduling throughout). Contact me for his info. if you need it.
Second, a little about the hospital. A few months in, the subject of hospitals came up and the doctor mentioned two, one of which he said was "foreigner-friendly". Sounded good to us. The friendly one we're going to is
Seibo International Catholic Hospital --- it's a smaller hospital somewhat known for it's maternity ward.
I'll stop here and say that a common place to give birth in Japan is a ladies/midwife clinic. Especially in the countryside. These clinics may or may not have a doctor in residence, sometimes they just have one on call for emergencies. A lot of women (American and Japanese) really like these types of clinics because they feel more comfortable than hospitals. However, I am not one of these women. I never considered a clinic when I also had a hospital as an option (again, very lucky to be in Tokyo). My personal idea of "comfort" is long antiseptic hallways, doctors in lab coats, machines that beep and big closets full of drugs. As for home births, I gather they aren't that popular here which is A-OK with me because the very idea gives me the willies. To each their own. But I digress....
We took a tour of the hospital several months ago and I was pleasantly surprised by how easy-going the place was. Japanese hospitals and clinics are a little notorious for having lots of rigid rules regarding labor and delivery. While I like hospitals, I don't want to veer into prison territory. But this hospital is (supposedly) OK with the following (some aren't):
- bringing outside food in (and they have Western food options on their menu);
- having dads hanging around the entire time, including during delivery;
- letting you walk around during labor or bounce on balls, sit on weird
torture birth chairs, shower etc.;
- letting the baby "room-in";
- letting the baby stay with you (and try to feed) for a while after delivery rather than immediately snatching him/her up and running off;
- the aforementioned pain medication;
- providing "lactation consultation" as well as other lessons on how to take care of baby.
So we pre-registered. And soon we will see how the reality lives up to my expectations. I'll definitely do an "after" post about the hospital as well.
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| the hospital, more photos later hopefully |
Third topic: weight gain. From all my reading I learned that Japanese doctors are infamous for harassing expectant mothers about their weight. Rumor has it that doctors try to limit a mother's weight gain to keep the baby small and thus ensure easier deliveries for tiny Japanese ladies. Afterwards, they fatten the baby up as quickly as possible. I tend to believe this because it explains a phenomenon I've noticed whereby skinny, tiny-hipped Japanese women are toting around these roly-poly baby sumo wrestlers.
The recommended weight gain in America for someone with a normal BMI is around 25-35 pounds. The recommended weight gain in Japan for someone with a normal BMI is 15-25 pounds, and sometimes even lower depending on the doctor. I am probably not the best example for this topic since I've gained a grand total of 16 pounds and most of that was packed on in the last four months. Which is on the lower end of even the more restrictive Japanese scale. But I'll tell you my experience anyway. My doctor has never once brought up weight gain of his own volition. In the beginning
I harassed
him a little because I wasn't gaining any weight. He kept telling me I was "fine". Around the third time I brought it up he finally sighed and said "Well, to be honest it's better if you
don't gain a lot of weight. So
really, you're
fine.". And after that I started to gain so I quit asking. In general, my doctor is a pretty chill kinda guy. I imagine I would've had to have some drastic weight gain for him to start bothering me about it. He's asked me if I have questions at every appointment (supposedly Japanese docs don't like questions) and has humored the ones I did have in a kindly manner (although I did get the slight impression that I was being humored).
As for nutritional guidelines he gave me some U.S.-made pamphlets and asked me once if I was taking my folic acid. That was it. I struggled to find prenatal vitamins here (I only found one kind in a drugstore which was a tiny $15 packet that I couldn't read) and ended up just ordering American ones from Amazon.
Fourth: registering the pregnancy at city hall. I don't know anything about all this. No one ever told us to go register the pregnancy. I've since heard that you can get some coupons for checkups and whatnot but I don't know about all that either. I never received any kind of official stamped "confirmation of pregnancy" paper from the doctor either. I did get the blue "Maternal and Child Health Handbook" (I believe the Japanese name is
Boshi Techo). This is given to all pregnant women here and is used to record all pregnancy details, baby vaccinations and other pertinent medical details until the child is six years old. I've heard that it's so important that we may even have to present it to get the baby's passport, visa, etc. at the US embassy. We also have to remember to get the hospital to give us a few English copies of the birth certificate for the embassy. And we will have to go to our city hall and get the baby an alien registration card soon after she's born. But again, that's
after she's born....hopefully the fact that we didn't register the
pregnancy isn't going to throw anyone for a loop. I'll do a follow up post about that too.
Fifth: One thing that's been really neat about being pregnant here is the amount of information I've received at each prenatal checkup. I've been kind of shocked to read about checkups in America and how nothing much happens at most of them. Every single time I've gone in the doctor has done an ultrasound, even the first time to confirm the pregnancy (and this is all covered by our insurance as it is standard practice in Japan). He has the machines in his office and does them himself. At around six months he started switching it to 4D video too. He measured heart rate every time as well as several of the baby's body parts to give me an estimate of the baby's weight. Plus occasionally pointing out random features like stomach, kidneys, hippocampus etc.
Every single time. I always get a printed off photo and the whole thing is put onto a CD that I keep. It's a long CD now, going from a picture of a bean all the way to a little face looking back at us. For the record, I also had all the standard tests one would have in the US such as glucose, group B strep etc.
And that's about it. I think I've had a much more "Western" experience than most, largely because I was able to come to Tokyo. No one has told me to keep my stomach warm or that I needed to eat
warm foods, both of which are traditional Japanese admonitions for pregnant women. At this point people tend to freak out a little if they see me carrying anything heavier than a water bottle, but I think that would happen in the US too. Japanese women
have been amused/slightly horrified when they learn that my husband will take a little time off work and be my main support person. And some American women have too actually. I'm not too worried about it but we'll see how it goes. :)
We'll also see how the blog goes from here on out. I hope to still post regularly over the next several weeks so keep checking back---even if I have to take a few weeks off I'll be back eventually!
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