Meeting the Midwives and our April 7 doc appointment

Well that “class” that wasn’t on our official “class list” for the hospital wasn’t actually a class at all. It was an opportunity for us to meet with the midwives, ask any questions, squeeze in a doctor appointment, get the finances sorted out and get us organized for our “big” arrival at the hospital when the time comes.

As I had mentioned before I was a little cheesed about the lack of notice for this meeting. Jess was away in Kyoto and Tokyo so Sean and I asked our friend Eiko to join us. She did an awesome job translating and we are so grateful that she could come along. We showed up at 9:15 am and were there until 2 pm. This was by far the best meeting/appointment/class that we’ve attended at our hospital. It was very organized and no stone was left unturned.

First of all Eiko and I went in to meet with the lactation consultant. She was fan-friggin-tastic, super genki and knowledgeable. Our hospital has a “mother’s milk is best” policy and this woman is really committed to helping us through what can be the most frustrating part of breast-feeding…the first week. She prescribed more nipple exercises (I haven’t mentioned this before but ya, there’s nipple exercises) that involve pulling and pinching. Must toughen those babies up! Then we discussed our expectations of the hospital during the first hours of the baby’s life on the outside, rooming in, frequency of feedings, formula, sugar water and the different cultural expectations during this time between Japanese women and myself.

Then I had my usual doctor appointment, which I wasn’t expecting but was no biggie. The greatest news was that the baby finally decided to present itself in a head down position. Our doctor was so pleased and we were pleased for him. Honestly, Sean and I weren’t too concerned about it. We figured we had nothing to get excited about as long as the Kid is head down for Launch Day. It was really nice to have Sean there. He hasn’t been able to come to many appointments so he got to see the baby in the sonogram again. Of course the Kid is growing like a frickin’ weed so we mentioned that Sean was nearly 10 lbs at birth and I think Pat weighed a little over 100 lbs before she got pregnant. Nervous laughs all around with that one! So here are the details…

Apr 7
-baby weight: approx. 3214 grams (approx. 7 lbs.)
-head is down
-baby packing on weight
-my last blood test!
-internal exam showed that I am 1.5 cm dilated
-cervix is softening

Yes, that’s right, 1.5 cm dilated and sporting a softening cervix! My immediate thought when the doctor told me this was “guess I should stop riding my bike!” This was followed by the news that my doctor was leaving for a diving trip to Malaysia on April 15 and returning on April 23. Oh joy! I’ve taken that flight from Hokkaido to Malaysia. It’s a good 12 hours away but he did promise me he’d come back if I went into labor. Ok, well, I’ll try to hang on!

So the next segment of our visit was dedicated to the full on tour of the hospital. Right from the front door to the delivery room. We were given a tour of the rooms, which range in price from free for 4 moms to a room to about $80 a day for a private room with shower, toilet, washer dryer and enough beds for the entire family. We’ve decided on a private room with just 1 bed, TV, fridge, DVD player and phone but without a washroom or washer and dryer (they’re right across the hall). The cost is about $30 a day but it’s totally worth it considering I’ll be there for 5-6 nights. Yech! And there’s the whole staring thing. Being the only “gaijin” or foreigners in our hospital we draw a lot of attention to ourselves. I really don’t want that kind of attention while I’m trying to get a screaming infant to latch!

Then we were shown upstairs to the cafeteria where we finally got to sit down, have some juice and then we had a meeting with another midwife. She was also wonderful and Sean and her took a shine to each other instantly. When she got up to get us more juice she made a friendly gesture towards Sean by putting both of her hands on his shoulders. It was the first time a Japanese person ever touched him. He was very pleased! Now down to business. We discussed exactly what kind of stuff the hospital would be supplying…toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, soap, underwear, nightgown, a limited supply of baby and nursing care stuff. Then we went over the list of things we have to bring…my own blanket for me (weird, I know), clothing for me and the babe, the balance of the baby care and nursing stuff etc. We got to chose cloth over disposable diapers for the baby during our stay in the hospital which was really nice I think. We went over when to call the hospital, what number to call, how to time the contractions, emergency procedures, the details of the meeting with the lactation consultant, visiting hours, how soon I can possibly manage to get my ass out of the hospital (no less than 5 nights, damn!) more questions and lastly the finances. The cost of the delivery and care over my 7-day stay without private room is 297000 yen. That’s about $3000 Canuck bucks. The good news is we get a refund from Japan’s national health insurance plan for 300000 yen about 4 to 8 weeks after the baby is born. So we pretty much just end up paying for the private room and the doctor’s visits up until the birth (a little less than $500 CDN). So it’s a pretty good deal since we get 24 hour nursing care and a lactaction consultant for the first 7 days and 6 nights of the baby’s life on the outside.

By the end of this marathon hospital visit the 3 of us were feeling pretty pooped and totally starving. So we made our way to a sushi restaurant and Sean, Eiko and myself ate ourselves into near oblivion!

Later that night when I had got myself all snug in bed I had an overwhelming sense of being “ready”. All of our questions were answered, we had seen the entire hospital, the staff are awesome and both sides know the expectations of the other. Now we just wait out these last few weeks. Wow. What a day.