Welcome back to the blog everyone!

It's been a while since I last wrote an entry here. We moved from Nagoya, Japan to Federal Way, Washington in the summer of 2017 and now, fall of 2021, we're back in Japan! Braden applied for the JET program again, the same program he was in while working in Nagoya, and once again he was accepted! This time, he has been assigned to work in Urasoe City Hall in Okinawa, Japan. 

It's been a wild ride getting here. We're currently in our 11th day of our 14 day quarantine at a hotel in Shinjuku, Tokyo. We flew to Tokyo on the 16th (arrived on the 17th) and after a long and grueling walk through the airport presenting our negative covid tests, getting another covid test, and navigating various checkpoints (I have since dubbed this journey 'the trek through the nine circles of bureaucratic hell'), we finally made it to Immigration. The kids were real troopers, but we were all very tired by the time we got there. Thankfully, since we had kids with us, we were permitted to skip the regular line and use the Priority line (thank goodness for small favors). After getting through immigration, then getting our bags and getting through customs, we were ushered onto a shuttle to the hotel. The Japanese Consulate in Seattle, the Nippon Travel Agency, and representatives from JET and CLAIR (Council of Local Authorities for International Relations) were all extremely helpful when it came to helping us get the right paperwork ready and arranging everything, it all would've been much more difficult without them.

Life in quarantine is pretty boring, but we've got a schedule figured out and we haven't gone crazy yet. The kids do school work in the morning, we exercise, call family, watch music videos, and then in the afternoon/evenings we play video games or watch TV. Braden has been doing online orientations and classes in the morning while I help the kids with their school work, and it helps the time go by.

The room we've got is nice, and very spacious (by Japanese standards). Probably the most unpleasant thing we've had to put up with is the food...

We aren't getting hotel room service. Instead, CLAIR has arranged for meals to be brought to all the JETS three times a day. The meals are typical convenience store style bentos. They aren't completely awful, and honestly I think that Japanese convenience store food is better than your average American convenience store meal, but the meals they bring us are cold, and there is not a microwave in the room to heat the food up. So yeah, stuff like cold fish and rice with cold cooked vegetables gets REALLY old after a couple days. There is a small store in an upstairs lounge that was set up especially for the JETS in quarantine and we can buy small pastries and instant ramen there to supplement the meals they bring us, but the kids complain a lot about being hungry (unlike us adults, they haven't quite honed the skill of eating something when you're hungry even if it's not that tasty). Good thing they like instant ramen.

But it's only for a few more days! On Monday we'll be boarding another plane, this one bound for Naha, Okinawa. We already have an apartment picked out and should be able to move in that day. The good people working at the Urasoe City Hall have arranged to take us to the Real Estate Agent's office as soon as we get off the plane to sign the necessary paperwork. We're very excited and can't wait to show you all pictures of our new home!

Here's some pics of the kids eating so you don't feel TOO sorry for them. But we're all very excited to get out of here and eat fresh food again. 

Check back in next week for my next installment. Goodnight!

3 Year Old Health Check in Japan

My little girl turned three this month (goodbye terrible twos, hello terrible threes!) and that meant that it was time for another trip to the local health office for a well-child visit. Here in Nagoya, as far as I can tell, it is required to bring your child to the municipal health office for their 3 month, 18 month, and 3 year well-child appointments.

It's generally expected for all people in Japan, children and adults, to get a health check done once a year. My husband had one done recently at his office (most offices and schools hold mandatory health checks once a year for their employees or students). His blood pressure was high and so he was required to take a couple hours off to go to a meeting about how to manage one's blood pressure through a healthy diet and exercise. I've been asked by friends if I've had MY yearly health check done yet (I haven't), but I just tell them I'm not accustomed to going to the doctor unless I'm sick. In America it's just too expensive to visit the doctor unless you have a problem or are at risk for something :P.

Anywho, so I put Taran in his trusty baby carrier, buckled Clara into her bike seat, and off we went. It went fairly smoothly, even though it was 1 pm in the afternoon (Clara's nap time). We biked to the North Ward Office (Basically the branch of City Hall that serves North Nagoya) and took the elevator up to the Public Health Office. The office was full of feisty three year olds and their moms, a couple dads were there too, and since it was, as I said, prime nap time, not all the children were happy to be there. We got a number, and then I handed over the paperwork I had received in the mail a couple weeks ago. It was all in Japanese, but I got the gist of it, and was able to fill out the health surveys with only a little help from my husband (he's way better at Japanese than me, but I'm getting better :P). I then got a cup for Clara to pee in. I was surprised that they expected three year olds to pee in a cup, and was even more surprised at the number of moms who came out of the bathroom with those little cups full. As for me, I couldn't even get Clara into the bathroom stall, let alone get her to pee in that cup... But the staff said it was okay if I couldn't get a sample. They said if I wanted a sample done (I don't), I could get her to pee in a cup at home and bring it in at a later date (no thanks..). Once that was done we waited for our turn in the waiting area. It was a pretty big room so Clara was able to run around a bit with the other kids, so waiting wasn't so bad.

First up was the dentist. Clara screamed while he looked in her mouth, but he said that her teeth looked fine and she was free (I was a little worried about her teeth because even though she brushes everyday she doesn't let me help her, but it turns out they were ok, phew!). I had the option of getting a flouride treatment done but I had forgotten to bring the payment with me (it was about 800 yen), so we had to skip it for now (I can always take her in at a later date for that if I want). Up next was the developmental specialist. She showed Clara some books and pictures, asked for her name (which she did in English when I told her we only speak English at home), to which Clara replied, "No!" (typical three year old...) and then asked her age, also met with an emphatic "No!". The specialist just chuckled and when I said it was her nap time she said she understood, and asked if she knows her name and age and can say it at home (she can). She said everything seemed fine and we were off again, this time to the examination room. They asked me to strip her down to her underwear, which made Clara think it was bath time (unfortunately, no...) and once she saw the doctor she recognized that he was a doctor and started bawling. He checked her heart, looked in her mouth while she screamed, and then said she looked fine and told her bye bye. Once she heard bye bye she knew it was over and happily said bye bye through her little tears, and then we were off to our final destination, the nutritionist. By the way, all of these professionals were in the same area, but in separate rooms. The nutritionist asked me if she regularly gets protein and calcium in her diet (she does) and noted that I had written on her survey her reluctance to eat vegetables. She said that it was normal at that age for kids to be a bit picky but encouraged me to try harder to incorporate veggies into her food. Nothing like a health check to make one feel like a bad parent, eh?

After all was said and done I took Clara for an ice cream cone which she happily and sleepily ate (she seriously almost nodded off mid lick. It was funny to watch).

So that's what a health check is like for a three year old. Clara did well, I thought, aside from a couple short screaming episodes, but they were over quickly, and the staff seemed pretty used to it.

Clara is getting to be such a big girl now, and next month she's starting preschool! I'm going to write about that in my next post. Until then!

Visit to the US Consulate in Osaka and more

Sorry for the long wait (Again). I can't believe Taran is over four months old now. He's a big, healthy boy, and he loves to smile and roll over. His big sister Clara is a sweetheart who loves to give him hugs and kisses (though mommy often has to remind her to be more gentle since her hugs can be a bit, well, enthusiastic).

When Taran was about two months old we decided to make an appointment at the consulate to apply for his passport, report of birth abroad, and social security number. The consulate website was very organized and told us basically everything we needed to know and had all the links to the applications on one page for easy access. We printed and filled out the three applications, and then checked the list of necessary ID's, documents, etc. that we needed to bring. We brought our passports, the three applications (passport, report of birth, social security number) with copies of each, a certified copy of our marriage certificate that we had brought with us from the US, along with a copy (if you're not married but want dad's name on the birth certificate the consulate asks you to bring some kind of proof of relationship, like emails or something), a certified copy of the birth certificate (which Braden requested from the local ward office, I think it cost him a couple hundred yen), and a translation of the birth certificate. The consulate website had a simple English template you could fill out with information from the birth certificate. It didn't need to be done professionally and didn't require much Japanese skill at all, since it basically required information you would already know, like the birth date, time, place, parent's names, etc. The website also said to bring a large envelope (the specific type and dimensions are on the site) which we actually forgot. The staff at the consulate seemed used to that oversight though, because they just asked Braden to go to a convenience store next door to buy it and come back. Security seemed used to it to. Braden said that when he approached security to leave the building they were like, "Going to buy an envelope?" They let Braden leave and come back in without waiting in line and we got the envelope to the secretary without much trouble.

But let me back up a little. So our appointment was in the morning, and I was reluctant to wake up super early to catch the shinkansen (Both Clara and I are not morning people) so I booked a hotel near the consulate for the night before. So the day before the appointment we took the shinkansen to Osaka and checked into our hotel. (We live in Nagoya, and although there is a US consulate here, it is very small and no longer provides citizenship services. Darn it all.) The next morning we checked out and walked about ten minutes to the consulate. We waited in a short line in front of the building and had our ID's checked and left our water bottles in a little bin they had by the door (apparently the same no liquid rule when going through airport security applies to the consulate as well). After that we entered the building and had our bags and electronics checked (including cell phones) and walked through a metal detector. Then we showed our IDs again and got badges and were directed to take the elevator up a few flights.

We got off the elevator and entered a small office area with a counter and customer windows. There was a big sign directing people to window three but there was no one on the other side. We waited a few minutes before we started noticing people getting helped a few windows down so we got in line behind them and asked if we were in the right window. We were. (They really should've covered up the other sign. It was a tad confusing.) The secretary was Japanese (actually all the staff and security up to this point seemed Japanese. The security guards didn't speak English very well. The secretary did well enough, though it was a bit hard to understand her through the glass...). She asked for our paperwork and we handed it all over. There was one part of the application of report of birth abroad that we had not filled out completely (it wanted to know all the states we had ever lived in and what months, but I honestly couldn't remember what months I had moved in or out in some instances). The secretary said we had to put something there, so I made as good a guess as I could and finished the application. There was also a section that asked about previous marriages and included a field that said: "If you have never been married, write 'none'", or something to that affect. Well, seeing as how I am currently married (and thus I can't really say I've never been married) I decided that 'no' wasn't the right answer and left that field blank, but then the secretary said that it was referring to marriages before my current one, and told me to write 'none'. A little confusing, but oh well. Then she asked for our envelope, which we had forgotten, but like I wrote above, that was resolved quickly. Lastly, we had to pay. At first I was worried that they wouldn't accept a credit card and I had forgotten to bring cash with us, but as it turned out credit cards were okay. There was a list of prices on the wall, and online too, I think, and at first we thought it would amount to almost $300 for everything (the social security application is free, but the sign said that a report of birth was about $200 and it was another $100 or so for passport) but in the end we were only charged about $200. Maybe they waive the passport fee if you're also getting a report of birth? I actually don't know. I should've asked.

So after that we had to wait. Clara, unfortunately, had a cold. She had a bad runny nose, a slight fever, and was REALLY cranky. We tried as hard as we could to comfort her and entertain her but it was really hard. There was even a bin of toys in the room but Clara didn't want to play with them since there were a couple other kids playing with them and she was feeling shy. After about a half hour of waiting (which feels a lot longer when you've got a cranky toddler. Taran, thankfully, was asleep in his baby carrier) we were called over to another window where an American asked us to raise our right hand and we swore that everything we had written was true (Okay, so technically I guessed on some of the months we moved from one state to another when I was younger, but don't tell on me, k? Haha). The woman who witnessed our oath then checked our papers one last time, looked at Taran to make sure he wasn't a doll and we weren't trying to create a false identity for some future mischief, (At least I think that's what she was doing when she looked at him XD), then she said everything looked good and we should receive Taran's documents in the mail in a few weeks.

By the time we were leaving Clara was crying in earnest and I really wanted to get out of there. As we were getting into the elevator another mom in the office who was getting her kids' passports renewed stopped me and told us that we were doing a great job and that it gets easier. I thought it was a really nice gesture on her part and it really cheered me up after a stressful morning.

So we left the embassy and were getting ready to go to the station to take the shinkansen home when a fellow American walks out, complaining and cursing about his difficulties in renewing something or other, and then he gestured at the long line of Japanese people waiting to get into the consulate to apply for visas and loudly told us that he hoped America would stop letting f***ing immigrants in. I almost pointed out to him that the five of us standing there (the four in my family and him) were currently immigrants in another country, but decided it wasn't worth it. He walked with us a ways to the station, complaining all the while, before finally bidding us farewell to stop at a convenience store. I wasn't sad to see him go. I, for one, think it's great to live in a world where people are able to travel and visit, or even live, in other countries relatively easily (compared to, you know, the days when going to another country meant risking your life on the open seas and probably never seeing your homeland again). I really love Japan, and I love my home country too, and the people that are in both places. It seems like a lot of people these days have a very 'us vs them' attitude when it comes to immigration, and while I do consider myself an American, I consider myself a human being first and foremost. Anywho, sorry for the short political blurb...

We got all of Taran's documents, as promised, with the passport and report of birth coming first and the Social Security card coming a little later. The report of birth form sure is fancy, I gotta say. They reaaally don't wanna make it easy to forge one of those things. Just looking at it is like looking at one of those "Magic Eye" stereogram images that look 3-D if you stare at them long enough.

Well, I'm gonna finish this up for now, since Clara just woke up from her nap. I only have free time on those lucky days when she and Taran nap at the same time, but most of the time I end up taking a nap too! Oh well :P.

Postnatal care and 1 month baby check up in Japan

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!

My Japanese C-section

Thanks for your patience everyone. It's been a couple weeks since my C-Section and I'm starting to feel a little more energetic. I'm still taking painkillers everyday, but I hope to be back to *almost* my normal self before Christmas (We'll see...).

Now I'd like to share my experience giving birth in Japan. I'll try not to bore you all too much and focus on the things that seem most important or that stand out to me as being different from my experience giving birth in the US. Keep in mind, though, that there are a lot of hospitals in Japan and I'm sure they have their own ways of doing things, so I don't know which things were different because it was the Japanese way of doing things, or if they were different because it was Kaseki Hospital's way of doing things. Also, Kaseki Hospital is much smaller and older than the hospital I gave birth in when I was in the US (a large, Catholic hospital in Tacoma, Washington), so some things may have been different because of the difference in size and age. Anywho, onward!

I was admitted the day before the surgery and got settled in a private room. There was no Wifi available for me to use, and I didn't have a prepaid card to watch the hospital TV with (Braden bought one for me from the hospital the following day), but I had brought some embroidery and my tablet with some ebooks with me and they kept me entertained well enough. Here are a couple pics of my room:

Finally, pictures! I'm a *very* lazy photographer and hardly ever take pictures, so sorry for the lack of interesting visuals, but I did manage to get a few during my stay. Also, since some of my friends asked for it, here is a pic of my belly before the birth:

My room didn't have a bathroom (there were rooms with bathrooms but this option was cheaper, and being the thrifty person I am I went for it). There was a bathroom directly across the hall from me though, so it wasn't very inconvenient.

The food was pretty good. For the first couple days after the surgery I was fed a very simple diet of rice gruel and miso soup (in the US it was weak chicken broth, jello, and other simple liquids). I didn't get a pic of my rice gruel (I was always really hungry when they brought it and couldn't think of anything other than eating, let alone taking pictures...) but I did pull a pic from the internet (mine did not include the pickled plum on the side. It was also more watery.)

The day they brought me real rice instead of gruel was a happy day indeed. Most of the meals were Japanese, with rice and miso soup on the side, with the occasional western style breakfast. Here are a couple of examples of the meals that I ate (these pics I actually took myself instead of swiping them from google).

The last day of my stay Braden, Clara, and I were treated to a free steak dinner that included sashimi, stuffed tomatoes, rolls, soup, a fruit dessert, and salad. It was REALLY yummy :D. And it was free (For us. We also had the option of inviting other family/friends if we wanted, but they would've had to pay for the meal). My friend Asuka told me that most hospitals in Japan offer a special meal to celebrate the birth (she got one too when her son was born). Here's a couple pics of the meal:

This flower was made of thinly sliced sashimi (raw fish). Fancy, huh?

It was nice staying in a smaller hospital. I felt like the staff were very personable and friendly, and I think that being a smaller establishment contributed to that. I still felt very lonely at times, since Braden and Clara could only visit a couple hours a day (Visiting hours for family were 9am to 9pm, but Clara would get restless after a couple hours so they would only stay for a little while each evening). I spent most of my time reading and doing embroidery. Here's a pic of my little project:

You can't really tell from the pic, but it's a cute little blue bird.

The nurses at Kaseki Hospital were all very nice, and very patient with my limited Japanese (which at times felt barely sufficient in a hospital setting, but I got by alright). Before I went home I received a beautiful little photo album with three or four pics of little Taran already inside, along with his footprints and little notes from the nurses and midwives, a very sweet gesture, and probably only possible in a smaller setting like Kaseki. Braden and I also received a small wooden box with very fancy Japanese calligraphy on the lid, which Braden had a hard time reading, but we figured out it said that the box contained a small piece of Taran's umbilical cord. When I opened the box there was a small piece of paper inside, folded around the piece of cord.

Now I guess I'll talk about the surgery itself. It was, in many ways, like my C Section in the states. The main difference was that I actually got *two* epidurals. One went into my lower back and numbed the lower half of my body completely, the other went higher in my back and partially numbed my upper body and face. My face felt like I was at the dentist, and although the anesthesiologist stayed nearby during the surgery and made small talk with me (something that was done in the States too), I had a hard time replying because of the numbness in my face. The two Drs who did the surgery were my main Dr who I had seen during most of the pregnancy, and the main surgeon who I had met only a couple weeks previously (he did the actual cutting). They pulled Taran out and announced the time and then he was shown to me briefly before being whisked away to the nursery. I had told the midwife a few weeks before that I had wanted to nurse the baby after the surgery, which I had done with Clara when she was born, and the midwife said that although mothers usually rest after the surgery, she would try to make it possible. She didn't tell me, however, and maybe she just took for granted that they do things a little differently at Kaseki, that I would get a shot after the surgery that would make me sleepy. So sleepy, in fact, that nursing was impossible. I was too groggy to even ask to hold the baby, let alone nurse him. I also got a med that made my throat incredibly dry. After getting stitched up I was moved to a recovery room where I spent the night. Braden and Clara visited only briefly, as Clara was very upset at the time. She seemed disturbed by seeing me hooked up to the IV and epidural, with monitors on my arm and finger, and she cried so much Braden had to take her home.

Here's a pic of Taran with me still on the operating table, and one of him right after he was taken to the nursery:

Despite the sleepy meds I kept waking up during the night because of pain and my dry throat. The nurses gave me a slightly damp cloth to suck on, since I couldn't drink any liquids still, and finally around 5 am I asked for pain killers, since I felt that the epidural (which was still hooked up but had been decreased so that I could move my legs a little) wasn't enough. They gave me painkillers without hesitation, which made me wish that I had asked for some earlier (I had thought that since the epidural was still in I wouldn't be allowed to have any.) It was a long and rather torturous night, but I survived and was given something to drink in the morning. I was able to see Taran and breastfeed him that morning too, which made me happy after a long night. The nurses gave me more painkillers, and although they helped, they didn't seem as strong as the narcotics I had received after Clara's birth. (After Clara was born the epidural was removed very shortly after and I was given narcotics for pain relief). Still, I was able to move around, and the next couple days were spent staying in bed reading or going down to the nursery to feed Taran (rooming in with the baby wasn't an option most of the time I was there).

Unlike St. Joseph's in the US, I didn't get called down in the middle of the night to feed the baby, the nurses instead insisted that I rest at night and said they would feed the baby formula (Though by the third night my milk had come in and I needed to go to the nursery at least once a night because of the pain from being too full of milk). The nurses also encouraged me to feed him formula during the day if they felt he wasn't getting enough breastmilk (which was something they did at the nursery at St. Joseph's too).

The other main difference from giving birth in the US, and I may have mentioned this before, was that the hospital stay was a week instead of the three days I stayed after the C-section in the US. The longer hospital stay was good for me since I didn't have my family nearby to help after I got home (when I gave birth to Clara my mom came to help out afterwards), but it did get lonely and I was glad when it was time to go home.

Lastly, I wanted to talk about the cost of the birth. A couple months before the birth Braden and I had paid the hospital a deposit of 150,000 Yen (about $1,500). We also applied for the government benefit of 420,000 Yen that is offered to parents because a normal birth in Japan isn't normally covered by insurance. My birth was a medically necessary C-Section, so it was covered by insurance, but we were still eligible for the government benefit (The Japanese National Health Insurance covers 70% of the bill, so the benefit helped us pay the other 30%). I was afraid at first that we would have to pay the hospital first and get paid back by the government later, but that turned out not to be the case. When we got the bill, the hospital had already credited the insurance payment and the government benefit. That, along with our deposit, was more than enough, so we actually got most of our deposit back. The day I checked out, the hospital gave us back 110,000 Yen from our deposit, which meant that we paid, out of pocket, about 40,000 Yen for the birth (somewhere around $400). Not bad if I do say so myself.

And to end with, here is a pic of Clara meeting her little brother Taran up close for the first time. Aren't they precious?!

All in all I'd say that even though having a C-Section isn't easy, I had a generally positive experience at Kaseki Hospital here in Nagoya. My post-natal experience has been good so far as well, since the city of Nagoya offers some nice perks and helps to new moms, like letting your child go to daycare everyday for two weeks at very little cost and also providing home helpers to help you with chores at home if you feel you need it (which I felt like I did since I don't have my family nearby to help).

I do plan on adding some more pictures to this post in the near future, so feel free to come back in a day or two to see them.

My Last Prenatal Appointment (in Japan)

Last Friday was my last official prenatal appointment before my C Section. I'm getting pretty excited, and only a little nervous. So far my experiences with prenatal care in Japan have been good. The main difference I've noticed between my experiences here and back home in the US is that the prenatal appointments here have been generally longer and with more tests and procedures (like having an ultrasound every time, getting an ECG, having my cervix checked more frequently, and also giving a urine sample at every visit, for example). My Dr has been very nice though, and I've really liked all the nurses. I hope the nurses upstairs in the birthing part of the hospital are as good as the ones in the prenatal department.

For my last visit I had another ultrasound (last one I hope!) and this time I also had to lay down and wear a fetal monitor for half an hour (which wasn't very comfortable since I had to lay on my back :P). The nurse checked the baby's heart rate and checked to see if I was having any contractions. I had two little ones and one bigger one (probably a Braxton Hicks contraction, not a true labor contraction). I ended the appointment with a consultation with the nurse. I didn't see the surgeon except for the brief time he was with me doing the ultrasound. While I was with the nurse I tried to think of any last minute questions I wanted answered before checking into the hospital on Monday. I asked if I could bring my own snacks (yes), if Braden could bring me dinner on Thursday so that I could eat something that at least resembles Thanksgiving (she said she didn't know but she would ask, and told me to ask again when I check in), and I asked about breastfeeding, and circumcision. She said that typically the moms rest the first day or two and don't start breastfeeding until the second day, which surprised me. I told her that I had started breastfeeding Clara right away, even though she was a C Section too, and I said I wanted to start breastfeeding my son right away too. She said that she thought it would be okay and made a note of it in my file. The last question about circumcision, I didn't know the Japanese word for it and couldn't describe it very well, and she seemed to have no idea what it was (I had previously read that it is very uncommon in Japan) but she said she would ask the Dr about it. I actually got a call today from the midwife to answer the questions I had asked the nurse. She said that Braden could bring me dinner on Thursday as long as it was a light, easy to digest type of meal. I told her it would be chicken (no turkey in Japan unfortunately), potatoes, corn, bread, cranberries, and stuff like that, and she said she thought it would be okay. She reiterated what the nurse had said about breastfeeding, that moms typically rest the first day, but she said she would advocate my desire to start breastfeeding sooner. She did know what circumcision was (even based on my poor Japanese explanation of it to the nurse) and said that they don't do it at Kaseki Hospital (No surprise, really) and apologized too (I told her it was fine). Anywho, I thought it was very nice of the midwife to call me personally to answer my questions. She said that she would not be on duty the day I have my C Section, but that she would see me some time after (She, along with the Dr, are the only ones at Kaseki Hospital that speak English, that I know of).

Well, that's all I can think of to write this time around. I'll have lots to write about in the coming days though, so stay tuned!

Getting Ready For My C-section in Japan

One week left folks! I had my 37 week appointment last Friday and the nurses went over the basic schedule of the C Section with me and my Dr. introduced me to the surgeon who will be doing the procedure. My main Dr. is the director of the hospital and used to do the C Sections, but a nurse told me that since he is older now (he looks like he's probably in his 60s or 70s) he no longer does the surgeries. The surgeon is a friendly, middle aged man who seems pretty quiet. He doesn't speak English as far as I know, but we didn't have much trouble talking to each other in Japanese during the brief consultation I had with him.

This time around I had to have an electrocardiogram done. I've never had one done before. When I was pregnant with Clara in the US I didn't get one. The calendar of prenatal appointments I got from a nurse near the beginning of the pregnancy does mention it, so I guess it's normal procedure for all pregnant moms, at least at this hospital. It's a painless and relatively quick procedure. A nurse put sensors on my ankles, wrists, and several on my chest, and then the nurse watched my heartbeat. She kept telling me to relax, saying that my heart rate was kind of fast. I told her that I had taken the Utemerin that morning and it always made my heart beat kind of fast. She didn't say much about it and finished the test. I wasn't sure she understood what I said. I have to have the same test again next week and I imagine the result will be the same, so maybe I'll have to try explaining again.

I also had a blood test done, (I hope that it's the last time I have to give blood in a while, I hate needles XP) and the routine ultrasound. The surgeon did the ultrasound this time. It was pretty quick, just measuring the baby's head and femur bone to check his growth. I've been told that my baby is pretty big, but I think that maybe he's just big compared to Japanese babies? I think he'll probably be the same size as Clara was when she was born. Both with Clara's pregnancy and with this one my belly has stuck out a lot and a lot of women comment on how big my belly seems XD. I was talking to a woman at the daycare just yesterday who is giving birth today, and her belly looked quite a bit smaller than mine, so I guess I really do have an unusually large belly!

After all the tests/consultation were done I had a meeting with two nurses to talk about the C Section. Apparently I'll be checking into the hospital the day before (which kind of surprised me, I thought I'd be going in the morning of). They said they could arrange for a translator to be there to help me check in, but I told them that my husband could come with me that day. That day happens to be a national holiday, not sure which one, and even though Braden hadn't requested that day off, thinking that I'd be admitted the day of the surgery, he doesn't work that day anyway, so it all worked out. The nurses went over the list of things I'd need to bring, gave me some permission forms to fill out, and gave me a rundown of the schedule. Check in Monday at 3 pm. Anyone I invite to see the surgery (just Braden in my case) needs to come in Tuesday at noon, and the surgery will take place in the early afternoon. They said I could have Clara brought over in the evening to meet the baby, and then Braden and Clara will return home that evening. They said that it is permissible for my husband to stay the night with me for a small fee (just 500 yen, about 5 dollars) but since Braden will be with Clara they are just going to go home to sleep.

I asked the nurses if I would owe the hospital any money when I check out (the government will give me a lump sum to help with child birth, but it doesn't come until later, so I may need to pay the hospital before that). They said that it's hard to say. The deposit I paid before the birth may pay for everything, or it might not, depending on how things go. I asked if there was any chance it would be a lot, and they said it probably wouldn't be more than paying the deposit again (which was 150,000 yen) if it ended up that I did owe them. They also said that the insurance would pay for 70 percent of the bill. The Japanese National Health Insurance doesn't pay anything for a normal birth, but since I'm having a C Section requested by the Dr. they will pay 70 percent.) As I was getting ready to check out, another nurse gave me an insurance form to fill out. She tried to explain it to me but I really didn't understand anything except that I should fill it out and take it to the Insurance Office as soon as possible (All the nurses only speak Japanese, and although I'm getting better at understanding basic medical stuff, insurance stuff is way over my head 0_o). Over the weekend one of my English students (I teach a couple of private English and Spanish conversation classes on the side) told me that the form will lower the maximum amount I would have to pay if a medical bill becomes very high. So if there are problems and the bill skyrockets, I would normally pay 30 percent of the bill (which can end up being quite a lot), but now I won't have to pay more than a certain amount (There was some sort of equation on the form based on your monthly income that I didn't really understand, but I guess it determines the cap). Anywho, Braden filled it out and turned it into the Insurance Office yesterday, and they gave him a card that they said I need to give the hospital when I check in. I guess I'll have to wait until after the birth to see how much everything ends of costing in the end, and how much insurance ends up paying.

Anywho, sorry for the long drawn out post XD. I want to include lots of details just in case there's someone out there giving birth in Nagoya that could benefit from my information. I hope it's not too much or too little :P.