Hello all! Sorry for the long absence from the blog. Having a newborn and a toddler is busy work. Thankfully I have a very supportive husband who is a really good daddy. Clara loves it when her daddy comes home from work and gives her piggyback rides around the house and reads to her while mommy feeds the baby. I know a lot of Japanese moms whose husbands work until very late almost every day and they only get to play with their kids on weekends or holidays, and I'm really glad that Braden gets off work relatively early every day and can help me out at home.
So little Taran is almost two months old now! He had his one month appointment at Kaseki hospital (the same one I gave birth in) the day after Christmas. But before I talk about the actual appointment I want to talk a little bit about how that first month went.
The day I was released from the hospital Braden went to the local Ward office (Nagoya is a big city, so it is split up into "wards" and each ward has its own ward office. It's basically city hall for that part of the city). At the ward office Braden turned in the baby's birth form from the hospital and registered the baby as a resident of the city of Nagoya. He also applied for more child allowance from the government and enrolled the baby in the national health insurance program (Basic health care for children in Japan is free. The national health insurance pays 75% of health cost for all individuals, and then children get a special card that entitles them to coverage for the other 25%). Someone at our church had also given us a brochure from the city of Nagoya about a program for new moms that lets you hire a housekeeper from the city to help you with chores for up to 80 hours worth of work, which can be used until the baby is 6 months old. Braden inquired about the service while at the ward office, and they told him that he should have applied two weeks in advance (the English brochure had not mentioned this) and that they would not be able to send any helpers for a couple of weeks. Braden then explained that in two weeks his mother was coming and I wouldn't need helpers then, I needed help NOW, since I was still in pain from the surgery and had no one at home to help me (not for two more weeks anyway). They told Braden they would see what they could do, and, bless their hearts, they pulled some strings and got someone to come the VERY NEXT DAY. I gotta hand it to this city, they know how to treat new moms. The helpers were all very nice, though they were all older ladies who did seem to feel the need to offer me "advice" on occasion (I suppose that was to be expected...). Just little things like, "don't you have a blanket for his crib?" (which, nowadays, at least in the US, is very much discouraged, since it is said to increase the risk of accidental suffocation...), and "is bread all she's gonna eat?" (In reference to me giving Clara a peanut butter sandwich for lunch). Aside from this slight annoyance, I was very happy with my helpers, and they really were lifesavers (I say 'they' because three different ladies alternated days that they came to help. Perhaps because we requested the service last minute). Later that week Braden went to the local immigration office and applied for Taran's resident card and visa. It took several hours total to get all of Taran's paperwork done, and we have yet to do the American side of things, like getting his passport, social security card, and report of birth abroad, but all in all it went smoothly.
I breastfed Clara until she was a year old, and I knew I wanted to breastfeed Taran too, so while I was in the hospital I went to the nursing room every couple of hours to feed him. I mentioned this in my last post, but the nurses didn't wake me at night to feed him, and also fed him formula if he cried in the nursery (unless it was close to feeding time, in which case they would just call me down). As a result, my milk supply was rather low when we ended our stay at the hospital. The nurses were generally supportive of breastfeeding, and were always available in the nursing room to help the new moms, but they didn't seem too concerned with my lack of milk. This is probably because I had told them that I breastfed my daughter and so they may have guessed I could figure things out on my own, but I wonder how it would've been if I were a first time mom. I guess I'll never know. When I gave birth to Clara in the US I had also had a problem with a low milk supply (the nursery at the hospital in the US had also given Clara formula to drink) and my Dr. had recommended I use a breast pump to increase my supply and had prescribed one for me, making it free to rent for several weeks. I didn't think Kaseki hospital could rent me a pump, and I couldn't even find double electric pumps on Japan Amazon or Yahoo. There were single electric pumps, but they cost two to three times as much as a double electric pump in the US, so I didn't buy one. But I had seen small breast pumps in the local department store, so I asked Braden to get me one. At first I continued to supplement Taran's feedings with formula and I pumped between feedings to increase my supply. Then I started to cut back on Taran's formula and breastfed him more frequently. Within a couple of weeks Taran was off the formula completely. Around that time I got a call from the city saying they were going to send a midwife over for a home visit (The midwife at the hospital had mentioned this to me, I think it's standard procedure in Japan). The midwife came over, weighed Taran (his weight was great) and then let me know when his next health check would be, gave me info about immunizations, and then gave me a survey about postpartum depression. The visit was short and sweet and she said Taran looked healthy.
Now to the one month health appointment. I was also scheduled to have my post natal appointment the same day. Braden stayed on the 2nd floor with Taran and a room full of other babies and parents, and then I went to the 1st floor and had my cervix checked, got a blood draw, and then a flu shot. The Dr. said my body seemed to be healing nicely and told me I could return to my normal routine. I wasn't in too much pain anymore at this point, though I was still taking ibuprofen fairly regularly (I'm not anymore). After my visit I went upstairs, but the babies were all still waiting for the pediatrician. Taran was hungry and I asked if I could feed him, and for some odd reason the nurses told me to wait, even though it was another hour before the pediatrician finally saw him. I was really frustrated at this point, since Taran had been screaming much of the time and I didn't see any reason why I couldn't feed him. The pediatrician looked over him quickly, said he looked normal, filled out some paperwork, and by that time poor Taran had actually cried himself to sleep. I felt so bad for the poor little guy. In total we were at the hospital for three hours, much longer than I had anticipated. There were quite a few babies there getting checked, I wonder why they didn't stagger the appointments a least a little instead of having us all come in at once. It was one of the few instances where I was unhappy with the staff at Kaseki (in this case I suppose the ones in charge of scheduling should be to blame).
My awesome mother in law came to visit us over the Christmas holiday and it was a joy to have her here. Clara loved the extra attention and I had someone to help with diaper changes and dishes while I continued to recover from the c-section. We did go out with friends a couple of times, and it was the most activity I'd had since the birth, so it was a bit tiring, but still fun.
Taran will be getting his first immunizations soon, and we'll also be taking him to the American Consulate in Osaka for his American paperwork next month sometime. Braden's going to take some time off work so we can visit some friends too. I'll try to remember to take pictures!
