So good news, I went to the Dr. at the Red Cross Hospital here in Nagoya like my Dr. at Kaseki asked me too and he said everything seems fine. My Dr. at Kaseki was worried that I might be at risk for a uterine rupture before the scheduled c-section and wanted me to get a second opinion to see if I should transfer to Red Cross or not.
My first impression of the Red Cross Hospital was that it was VERY large (It's the biggest hospital in Nagoya according to my Dr). It was also quite new looking. One of my friends told me that a very old Red Cross Hospital used to be on the same site, but it was recently completely rebuilt. It took me a while to find out where to go, but the staff I stopped to ask directions from were helpful and pointed me in the right directions. I first had to go to the New Patient desk and give them my Health Insurance Card. They had a survey form for me but when I told them I couldn't read Japanese very well they said it wasn't necessary for me to fill out. The rest of my info they must have received from Kaseki Hospital because they didn't ask me to fill out any registration forms or anything. After that I was sent to the Outpatient Obstetrics and Gynecology section (Luckily all the major desks had the section name written in English as well as Japanese). Once there I checked in and then waited... and waited... and waited a little more. I wasn't very surprised. It's a big hospital after all and the waiting room had quite a few patients in it. My appointment was scheduled for 3pm and my name was called at around 4pm. The Dr. and I spoke mostly Japanese, but he did know the English names for some more technical terms (Like uterine rupture, which I still don't know how to say in Japanese, mostly because my other Dr. always says it in English). The consultation room, unlike the one at Kaseki Hospital, was a private one. Just me, the Dr, and a couple of nurses. Similar to Kaseki Hospital the consultation room had its own ultrasound machine and area for cervical checks. I had an ultrasound done and then the Dr checked my cervix. Unlike your typical chair with stirrups, however, this chair was more high tech and fancy, and comfortable! Instead of stirrups it was just like sitting in a recliner, but it had moving parts that just kind of moved you into position. It was much more comfortable than any other Drs chair I've ever sat in. Just like Kaseki Hospital, though, there was a curtain obscuring my view of the Dr. and nurses. I had a hard time moving it aside, but the Dr. saw me messing with it and asked if I wanted it out of the way. I said yes and he kindly removed it for me. Again, I have no idea if that's typical behavior for Japanese patients, but I just can't stand having it there. After getting checked the Dr. asked me if I wanted to transfer to Red Cross. I explained to him what my Dr. had said, which was that I only needed to transfer if there was a problem. The Dr. said he didn't think there were any problems and I could return to Kaseki Hospital if I wanted too. I told him I did. I'm already familiar with it (and I've already paid my deposit too!) so I didn't want to transfer if it wasn't really necessary. He said that was fine but he did advise me to keep taking the Utemerin (a medicine prescribed to discourage early labor). I'm not thrilled about taking it for the next two weeks (I still get bad jitters from it) but I'm willing to put up with it for everyone's peace of mind.
I had asked a friend to watch Clara for me during the appointment and so when it was done I took the train to her house to meet up. She invited me to stay for dinner too, which was super nice since it was getting late and I was really quite hungry (I hadn't had any snacks after lunch like I usually do). I called Kaseki Hospital the next business day and scheduled my next appointment, just a short one to get a refill of my meds, and then I have another regular appointment this Friday.
Well, that was my experience at Red Cross. Aside from the long wait it was a good day overall. Now I just gotta hang in there for two more weeks! Stay in there baby until then!
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