Scheduling my Japanese C-section

Yesterday I went to my 30th week prenatal appointment at Kaseki Hospital. Once I hit 30 weeks it was time for me to schedule my birth. Most Japanese moms schedule their births, even if they are not having a c-section. Japanese people tend to keep to very strict schedules at work, school, etc. and so it's normal for Japanese women to have their births induced on a certain day rather than to wait for labor to start naturally. Since I'm having a C-section the birth was scheduled for a couple weeks before the baby's due date (which was December 6th. The birth was scheduled for Nov. 24th) The hospital knew I would have quite a bit of paperwork to do that day and so they called for the English speaking midwife so that she could go over it with Braden and I. She had given me a brief summary of the paperwork before but she went over it again this time to refresh us on the content. This was a great time saver for us since all the paperwork was in Japanese, and even though my husband can read quite a bit of Japanese it would've taken him a long time to look up all the medical terminology. 

We had to fill out 4 forms. The first was a survey about what I wanted to have happen at the birth. The midwife circled the C-section option, but then she did ask me if that was what I actually wanted, adding that she strongly recommended it. I said that the Dr. had encouraged it as well (which he reiterated when I saw him again later during the same appt). I told her that I would do what the Dr. recommended. I had talked to my sister the other day about VBACS and C-sections, and she had mentioned to me that a friend of hers had recovered much easier after her 2nd birth, which was a planned C-section, than her 1st birth, which was an emergency C-section during labor. I felt a little better about having another C-section when I heard that, because I felt like it took me a long time to recover from my first C-section and that was one reason why I didn't want another one. I'm hoping that since this one is planned I'll recover quicker. 

The 2nd form was an application for the birth and birth room. I chose the cheaper option, which means my room won't have its own bathroom. I'll have to use a shared one (which doesn't really bother me). The 3rd form was an application for financial aid from the government. The Japanese government offers a 420,000 yen benefit to new mothers to help pay for birth costs (since a normal birth is not considered a sickness it is not covered by the national health insurance). The last form was an application for government benefits should the baby be born with Cerebral Palsy. (Our baby is not at high risk for this condition or anything, it was just one of the routine papers we needed to fill out). 

After filling out all the paperwork I went through the rest of the appt as normal. Ultrasound, Dr. consultation (during which we scheduled the day for the C-section), and then this time I also got my cervix checked. After that I scheduled the next appt with the midwife and also asked a couple questions about the C-section itself. She told me that I would receive an epidural as anesthesia, that my husband could be present, and that they would cut in the same place as my last cut (which was horizontal). The midwife also gave me a list of things to bring to the hospital for the birth. It was mostly the expected stuff; clothes, toiletries, etc. But it did include a specific request for a certain type of underwear. I didn't know what it meant so the midwife showed me one. It looked like regular maternity underwear except that it had a little button up flap in the front. She told me that I could buy it at a regular pharmacy. I told the midwife that I had never seen one like it before, mentioning that in America the hospital had given me special, lightweight, mesh underwear when my daughter was born, but that there was no flap. We chuckled a bit at the funny little differences between care here in Japan and back in America, but despite the differences there are a lot of similarities too. 

Lastly I had to pay a deposit for the birth. The midwife had explained to me before that since Kaseki was a private hospital it cost a little bit more than the amount I would receive from the government, and that I would need to pay a deposit in the amount of 150,000 yen. She also said that since I was having a C-section that the Dr. considered medically necessary that the insurance would likely pay all of it back (here's hoping!). Although the deposit was quite a bit of money (at least for us :P), the prenatal experience in Japan thus far has been very affordable. I paid about 4,000 yen for my very first appt, but then after that I had gone to the Public Health Office in our area of the city and was eligible for Prenatal Care Coupons that basically make every prenatal appt free. I occasionally have to pay for medicine or an extra blood test or two, but so far I've never had to pay the hospital more than about 2,000 yen for any visit, and I usually pay nothing.

So far the pregnancy itself is progressing smoothly and I haven't had any complications :). I'm at the point though where I'm tired of being pregnant and I'm just counting down the days to the birth! Here's hoping it all goes well!