Poor Noa! Last night, as I was cooking dinner she came over to stand next to me put her hand on the outside of our very hot oven. I didn’t know it got THAT hot, but it burned her pretty bad 
I don’t think my heart has broken like it does when she is in pain and last night, she was in a LOT of pain. We quickly put her hand under cold water and then tried to get her to hold a cold towel with ice in it. She didn’t want anything to do with either, she just kept stiffening and relaxing her whole arm, trying to figure out why her hand felt like that, and crying so pathetically. Finally, after skipping dinner (you know something’s wrong when Noa doesn’t want to eat) and almost two hours of crying, she fell asleep in my arms with me holding her arm so she wouldn’t touch anything. Then, as she slept, we were able to put antibiotic cream on it and wrap it and put her to bed.
Praise the Lord, she slept all night and woke up happy this morning, though pretty annoyed by having her left hand all bandaged and useless. She had the bandage off before I even got her downstairs and we were able to inspect her hand. She has some blisters on her palm and on two fingertips and her hand is pretty red. We applied more ointment and Eric helped me rebandage it (hopefully Noa-proof this time) before he left for school. She’s done great, hasn’t really messed with it and is carrying on as normal. I’m so proud of her, and so thankful that its not worse. Please pray that she heals quickly and that her blisters wouldn’t be too irritated by her crawling around on them all the time. Also, pray for wisdom for us as we try to protect her hand but its hard with such an active little girl. Also, I don’t really know what to do about that oven. I guess I won’t be cooking when its just one-on-one me and Noa 
You can see her bandaged hand in these pictures. In the bottom one, she is “drawing” a picture (that was actually drawn by one of Eric’s students. Noa just goes over paper with her closed pen).
IT’S JUST DIFFERENT!”
That’s the Missionary Mantra when adjusting to a new culture. And let me tell you, there are some days more than others that I have to tell myself it over and over again… Like yesterday when I went to my third Japanese OB appointment. Where do I start?
First of all, there’s “the chair”. I had heard about the chair but I was pretty sure I wouldn’t have to use it because I came in almost halfway through my pregnancy. No such luck. A few weeks ago I visited a hospital that is one of the best in the country to check it out. They had the chair…and they put me in it. For our male readers, I won’t go into detail but I will just say that this chair has many mechanisms, all of which have the uncanny ability of making an expectant mother feel more like a car in mechanic shop rather than a person. For more reasons than that, I decided not to go with that hospital and instead have the baby at a small birth clinic where my mom had two of my brothers.
I went about 7 weeks ago to the birth clinic for the first time and have been to 2 other places since then, as I was trying to scope out my options. I do really like the birth clinic but was hesitant to commit there because they can only guarantee that Eric can be with me during the last minutes of delivery, not during labor. After hearing even stricter policies about husbands from other places, I’ve decided to take my chances that they’ll have pity while I’m in labor and let him in more than just the last seconds (though I don’t think Eric would mind missing most of labor… who would?).
So anyway, I went back again for my second appoinment at the birth clinic yesterday (after two phone calls all on my own MAKING the appointment in Japanese… one to make the appointment, one to make sure I understood correctly and had all the right information). When you walk in they give you a little number tag. For the next two hours I was number 34, not Sara-Beth Noll. They also take your “Mother Baby Book”. This book will hold all records for our daughter until she is 5 years old. It’s really important and I can’t forget to bring it to any appointments. Then the receptionist instucts me to take
my own blood pressure (on a machine) and go to the bathroom, write my name on a cup, pee in it, and then pass it through a curtained window (thats write, not a little door, a curtain). They take it right away too so you can watch the hand reach in and grab it. I learned this time, though. I waited til I was ready to leave the bathroom, THEN I put it in the window and bolted. Anyway, then you wait. The first time they call your number, you go over to the nurses table and they ask you questions. Eric was with me so he tried to come over with me. The nurse asked him, in Japanese, “do you speak better Japanese than your wife?” to which Eric said, “wakarimasen” (which means I don’t understand you) to which she said to both of us, “then we don’t need you back here.” Yesterday, the majority of their questions were concerned with where have I been? The nurse was pretty upset that I hadn’t been in for 7 weeks. I told her that I had gone to other doctors in between and they had examined me and the baby. But, you see, they didn’t record that in my book, and so in the book it looks like I’ve only been twice in 7 weeks and that is very bad. So after a good chastisement, she asked for my blood pressure and weight. Oops, I said. I haven’t weighed myself recently. I thought she was gonna kick me out. From now on, on mornings of my appointment I need to take my weight before I eat breakfast. Also, yesterday was time for my glucose test so she watched me drink the orange soda (at least it tasted the same nastiness that it did in America and told me to come back to her in one hour. I was not to leave the waiting room, or eat or drink anything.
So then Eric and I waited a little bit more. Then a nurse called my number to go into the examination room. Again, Eric tried to come with me. They do an ultrasound every time here so he wanted to come and see his daughter. The nurse looked panicked when she saw him coming with me and then said something to me that I didn’t understand and asked us to wait longer. A little bit later, they called my number again, and this time I asked her if it was ok for my husband to come with me. She then explained that during my entire pregnancy, my husband is allowed to come into the exam room once, and if I would like to use that privilegde this time, I could. Eric decided to save his special priviledge for another day. So then the nurse told me to please, when he wanted to come in with me, to tell the receptionist that when I make the appointment.
Anyway, I had a great appointment with the doctor. He spoke enough English and I enough Japanese that I felt like we communicated very well. I’m still not really confident enough to try to ask random questions, but he did his best to explain everything on the ultrasound and even asked me for some English pronunciation help. He is a really nice doctor so I’m thankful for that. Last time I was in there, I had asked so many questions about Eric and my mother being with me in labor. He was still very concerned about that, and apologized for the inconvenience of the policies and asked if I would be alright without my mom to translate for me.
The baby looks wonderful. He kept commmenting on how “genki” (active) she is. Also according to Japanese measurement standards, I’m about 2 weeks farther along than the 26 weeks I thought I was. But he and I agreed that its because this is an American, not a Japanese baby, so he kept the February 25th due date. I think he’s excited to have such a big baby coming through their clinic Also, this baby is in the breech position, and though we don’t have to worry about it yet, I did talk to him about having had an external version with Noa and he assured me that they do that here as well. I was thankful to hear that. But he assured me not to worry about it since we’re still early to think about that.
Anyway, then it was back to waiting room to wait to go get my blood glucose tested. They did the test right there, with one of the home diabetes blood testing kits, and I passed with flying colors (finally! the nurse thought I did something right. She smiled at me!)
Then we waited quite a bit longer for my number to be called up to the checkout desk. Finally, I went to pay and to make another appointment. They weren’t going to let me out of there without making my next appointment so that my book doesn’t have such a huge gap in it this time. And from now on, I have to go every two weeks. I don’t remember if its the same timing in America, but it seems like a lot to me, especially considering the entire appointment took over 2 hours! Oh well, its a great chance to practice Japanese and meet other mothers in the waiting room. Oh, thats the other thing. Both times we’ve been in there, it has been packed out! I’ve heard that there’s a shortage of OB’s in Japan these days so most places are very full with patients. I definiltey believe it after seeing all those pregnant ladies in that room.
So thats my incredibly long narrative about my experience so far with Japanese medical care. There are some things that really seem wrong to me and its tempting to think poorly of the people who make decisions and policies concerning OB care in this country. However, my mom was reminding me that Japan has the lowest prenatal and maternal mortality rate in the world. So they must be doing many things right. Even if its not as comfortable or as cozy as my experience with Noa in America, I am still very thankful to know that the baby and I will have excellent care and that, most of all, we are in the hands of the Lord who loves us.
Thanks for reading. Prego Mamas, don’t YOU want to come have your baby here????
Continue reading about "It’s not wrong, its not bad, its not weird…
Although Thanksgiving isn’t a Japanese holiday, and we had a normal school/English class day on Thursday, we were able to get together with our team on Wednesday night for a potluck Thanksgiving dinner and it was a really great time. Here are some pictures of all of us packed into the school building’s main meeting room.
Eric was pretty impressed with the mashed potatoes/gravy mountain that Tim was able to make.
And this photo is for Aunt Laura, who gave Noa most of these clothes for her birthday. What a blessing to have so many things to keep her warm in the winter!
Hope that each of you had a wonderful day, reflecting on many blessings. We certainly have a lot to be thankful for, and even without our normal Thanksgiving family extravaganzas, we were blessed to stop and reflect on the Lord’s goodness.
Yesterday, Noa started to say and sign “hot” at the same time. Her food at dinner was really hot so my brothers and I kept doing the sign and saying hot and she just started doing it. As she signs it she whispers, “hottttttt”. With all three of us making such a big fuss about it when she did it, she kept saying it all through dinner. And all day today she has been touching things to see if they are hot, and then telling me, “hottttttt” (whispered). It’s so funny.
Speaking of hot, how about Noa’s outfit today?
Because I can’t drive us anywhere right now, Noa and I walk everywhere. She and I have both been fighting colds so I’ve been getting us extra bundled when we leave the house to go anywhere. But a lot of places are heated pretty warmly in each room. Can anyone say layers? In all seriousness, though, that outfit is pretty posh as far Japanese little-girl styles go…
Here are Noa’s “Lion of Judah” and “Lamby” that sleep with her everytime she goes to bed. She doesn’t always want them, but most of the time we go through the ritual of me (mom) kissing them and then them giving those kisses to Noa all over her face. Then she hugs them real tight, like in this photo, while she listen to “Jesus loves me” on her music box pillow and falls asleep. I’ve decided I’m a big fan of bedtime ritual. Even when she’s a little fussy, once we start the kissing and hugging and music, she calms down and settles in to sleep. Thanks, Grandpa Noll, for these two favorite stuffed friends!
Yesterday I was playing with Noa when I realized she’s as tall as our table!! Can you believe it?!? She is getting so big and so I thought I’d take a minute to let you all know what she’s up to… especially for Grammy and Grandpa, and all her Aunts and Uncles across the ocean.
What she says in sign language: Please, More, All done, Drink, Hot, Down.
What she says verbally: Dada, Mama, Baba (for Ba-chan, which means Grandma in Japanese), Uh-oh, Wow, Shax (meaning thanks), Yes, Ball, Nana (for banana or any food that she wants to eat), Aaaah (for Amen after a prayer).
What she does: Hi and Bye-bye and night-night (all waves), kisses and hugs, blows kisses, raises her hands to say “Halleluiah”, barks like a dog, walks with her pushcart and cruises along furniture,
climbs almost anything and can get to pretty much anything she wants badly enough, does signs for “the eency weency spider” to most childrens songs, dances when music comes one, sings after the music stops, gets a diaper when she needs a new one, holds up one finger when asked “how old are you?”, pats her belly or mama’s belly when asked, “where’s the baby?”, blows on her food to cool it down… even when its not hot, click-clucks her tongue, folds her hands when its time to pray, cleans up her toys (or anything that she can put into a bin or box… and then take out again, and then put in again, etc.) plays hide and seek with her toys and/or passy, throws/rolls her balls to people and then “catches” them when they are rolled back – this is one of her favorite games.
These days, Noa especially loves to hold a pen or marker and pretend to “write” things, especially if Mom or Dad are doing just that. She gets very attached to her pens. She also loves to get into the kitchen cupboards and take out pots, pans, and tupperware, and use her pens to drum on them. She still loves to read books, especially ones that have textures or hidden pictures. Her favorite time of day is after dinner when Daddy and she spend time together playing all kinds of fun games that they make up as they go along. She’s still quite a cuddler and we three have been known to spend a good bit of time in bed on a quiet morning together, just playing and snuggling and laughing. Noa also loves to tell jokes. After she hears other people say things that are laughed at, she starts “talking” and then laughing. Its hilarious to watch.
Noa is also learning a lot about obeying. She is learning to not throw food on the floor, to not touch the oven, to not pull cords or wires, to not put her fingers in sockets, to come and when Daddy or Mommy ask her to, to not go somewhere that we tell her not to, and to be gentle when touching other people, especially other kids. She is learning and definitely has an understanding of when she does right and wrong. We were having a hard time at the dinner table, getting her to not throw her food, and so we started praising her when she would eat it instead of throw it. Now, whenever she does something that she knows is obedient, she claps for herself and smiles so big. How I pray that she will come to understand, as I still need to learn over and over again, that rules are for our good and there is great reward in obedience, a reward even better than the approval of her dad and mom. We can tell we are getting into a tougher stage of parenting and would covet your prayers. We long to be, more than anything, an example of Christ and his grace to Noa. However, we also desperately want to be good stewards of our role and responsibility as her parents to “train her up in the way she should go” as the Proverb says. Most of all, we need the grace of God to permeate our hearts and minds and overflow into our parenting of this precious little girl.
So there you have it. Our little girl is just growing so fast, and I am constantly thinking, I need to write this down so that I don’t forget when she learned this, and so that I can tell her grandparents back home all about it. It breaks my heart that those who love her so much can’t be here to witness the little things that she does as she changes and grows. I will try to do better about getting videos of her up and doing more regular updates on her small progressions. For now, hope you like these few pictures of her silliness and smiles.
