My hospital experience

Attitudes about labor are very different in Japan. Before we came to Japan, we took some childbirth classes at a local San Antonio hospital. In it we learned that a woman in labor would have a nurse assigned to her to help her during labor, different labor and delivery positions, and different pain management options. After we arrived, we found another labor and delivery video course online and watched it, so we had some preconceived notions about how we would be treated.

My water broke in the middle of the night. We arrived at the hospital around 6:00 am and the first thing they asked us was if I wanted breakfast. We were surprised because in America, we knew I wouldn't be given anything to eat, only ice chips or water. I declined breakfast because I wasn't sure how long the labor would last, or if I would have to have a C-section or not. Although by the time lunch and dinner came around, I accepted the food.

My labor was long and slow. We were mostly left along in our hospital room, with few visits from different nurses throughout the day. Although we spent a lot of time walking the halls and climbing the stairs, after 8 hours I was only dilated at 1.5. At this point a nurse came to our room to show us some things we could do to help speed up the labor. I expected something involving gravity, more walking or squats or something. Instead, I was told to lay down and the nurse put a large wedge-shaped pillow under my hips and proceeded to show me various stretches and relaxation techniques. In my opinion, this did not help me at all. Every time I laid down, my contractions would slow down and this was no exception. But the Japanese seem to be into relaxation techniques more than drugs. In the delivery room they had a big, flat-screen TV that switched between dolphins or clouds with soothing music. They also did aroma therapy and I got to choose which scents they used. But I was never asked if I wanted pain medications. We practically had to beg for it, which we did around 8:00 pm. After that, things get blurry.

Sometime later that night we finally made it to the delivery room and were allowed to stay. We had gone there a couple of other times but not allowed to stay. This time I was in a wheelchair and my mouth was chattering uncontrollably. Mark had to pick me up and put me in the delivery bed too. I have no idea how long we were there. I know sometime around 1:00 am, Mark called a sister in our ward who knew English to help us with the nurses. We weren't sure what was going on or what their plan for me was. We couldn't get any information out of anyone. What we knew was that we were on time limit. My water had broken around 3:30 am on Thursday morning and if Emma hadn't been born within 24 hours of that, then the risk of infection went way up and it was now 1:00 am on Friday. We didn't know what the doctor had planned if we hit the 24 hour deadline and no one would tell us either. Luckily, by the time Sister T arrived, I was pushing and Emma was born shortly afterwards at 2:26 am.

Now if we had been in the States, we would have stayed for 2 days and been sent home. In Japan, for a normal birth, you stay for 5 days, not counting the birth day. So we arrived there on Thursday, she was born on Friday, and they wanted to keep us there until Wednesday. We managed to get out on Tuesday though.

We did get a lot more attention from the staff after Emma was born though. Every day we had nurses come in to check my vitals and ask me questions and check on Emma too. Mark was able to stay with me at night and we were allowed to keep Emma with us too. They took her away for a couple of hours each day for her vital checks and baths, and then brought her right back.

The oddest thing though was the facial. It was nice and completely unexpected, but a little odd. Have a baby, get a facial.