"It’s not wrong, its not bad, its not weird…

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????

Tags: Japan, Martha, pregnancy, Thoughts