My last OBGYN appointment was on Friday. We actually got there later than I had intended because our train was delayed, and we had to stop at the realtor beforehand to do a few more things for our apartment hunting.

We arrived about five p.m., right when the clinic was opening and starting to take patients for their evening shift. I handed over my card to the receptionist and was number 6. They were on number three when I got there, so I thought that it would be rather quick.

Then… they turned on this scrolling sign. And put another sign on the front desk. At first I didn’t notice, but then I tried reading the sign.  I could only read half of it and all I understood was “please wait a short while”, so I went back to studying my pregnancy terms in Japanese and waited. 20 minutes or so passed by and I began to wonder what was up, no body had gone in or out.I decided I had better look up the Kanji and figure out what exactly the sign said.

It basically read “Someone is currently in labor, please wait a short while”. I was sitting there thinking – if someone is in labor, how “short while” could this really be? But I had already waited for a while, and so I decided to try and wait it out. We’re still living in  Okazaki, so getting to Nagoya for an appointment is kind of a pain. If I understand correctly, there’s only one doctor at this hospital, so when someone’s in labor, the rest of us wait. It was nearly 7pm by the time we finally got in.  We had a party to go to at 7pm, so obviously we were late… but we weren’t in charge, so it was okay.

The appointment went surprisingly well. I wasn’t talked to about my weight at all. I had only gained one kilo (2.2 pounds) in the last four weeks, so I think they were pleased with that.  That, and going by myself (and William, of course) without my friend who speaks better Japanese, so they used easier Japanese and we were able to make it through the appointment just fine. It was still interesting and filled with lots of “umm” and checking words on my paper or in my dictionary, but we managed. I got some medicine for my low iron count, and so far I’ve been able to take them without getting sick, which is a blessing. In my first trimester, I couldn’t even take iron without getting terribly sick.

I can’t express just how much I love getting to have an ultrasound done every time. Its the part of my appointment that I look forward to the most. I love watching little Nora on the screen. At one point while the doctor was pointing out parts of the baby on the screen, he stopped to ask me what a certain female part was in English, but I realized I didn’t even know. lol.

So all went well, and Nora is looking fine and healthy. The doctor said she was 600g (about 21oz), she’s a little big for where we’re at now according to my application on my iphone (it says about 450g for week 23), but I wasn’t all that surprised. Her kicks are getting stronger all the time though. Sometimes I’m rather convinced she’s having some kind of dance party or something. I’m just not a fan of when that dance party is on my bladder… there’s been a few times when I’ve had to head to the bathroom in a quick fashion.

My last check up was about two weeks ago, but part of it involved finding a clinic in Nagoya to have little Elnora at. I ended up going with my friend Stephanie, to the hospital that she gave birth at last fall. Its a really nice clinic, and it seems to be quite popular.The one I went to in Okazaki rarely seemed to have many people waiting in line, and I hardly had to wait at all to get in to see the doctor. This time we waited about an hour before we got in. Next time I’ll make sure to get there early!

The only down side to this one is that the doctor doesn’t speak English. Of course, I’m learning Japanese, and so I figure this will be good practice for me. The doctor however, spoke really fast and mumbled quite a bit. I have to admit I understood almost nothing he said. My friend Stephanie was with me, and since the staff already knew her from her delivery last fall, they kept talking to her and asking questions. However, I wasn’t keeping up with the conversation very well, and I couldn’t always tell if they were talking to me or to her! Next time I’ll be by myself, so I hope that they get the clue and start talking slower and clearer… otherwise it’ll be interesting.

This clinic seemed to be much more thorough in their examination of me and the baby though. The doctor did the ultrasound for a solid seven minutes. I was surprised. A couple of times I thought he was done, but he just kept on going. Not that I minded in the slightest bit. Who doesn’t love watching their unborn baby on a screen? I loved seeing her little tummy move up and down and watching her kick.   At the clinic here in Okazaki, they do an ultrasound every time too, but its not usually for more than a minute. So when this one went on so long, I was surprised.

They also gave us a DVD with a copy of the ultrasound. Its so cool! Thus we posted it on facebook. If you haven’t seen it, feel free to check it out under my videos. Every time we go back, I ‘ll bring the DVD and they’ll keep adding all of the ultrasounds to it, right up until the very end. As they come, I’ll keep posting them on facebook.

The only other rough spot was the fact that this clinic is rather intense about only gaining 8 kilos (18 pounds), no matter who you are. Sadly I’m not doing so hot at abiding by their standards, so I got a little bit of a talking to. Here goes to getting lectured every time I go. Haha. Oh well. I’ve decided not to worry about it too much. I’ll try my best, tell them that I’m trying my best and we’ll see where I end up.

  Low and behold, I had to break the mold. Not all that surprising, is it? Especially for those of you who knew me in my teenage years.

Anna, my older sister, had two boys first, then a girl and will have another little girl in July.  Jessica, my younger sister, had her first, a boy, about a year ago. Amber, my brother’s wife, is expecting her first, a boy, in August. Amanda, William’s sister, has had two boys.

We’re having a girl.

This last appointment we had was the first time I let William come with. I figured we would find out the gender, and they started doing ultra sounds on my tummy at 12 weeks.

We got to the clinic and waited to go in. I was feeling a little nervous, but excited about finding out the gender.  I was nervous mostly because I had gained about two kilograms in the last month as opposed to the recommended 1 kilo, and I knew that I was going to be reprimanded by the nurse.

After they did the normal urine check and blood pressure, it was time to get weighed. I told the nurse I had gone on a trip the week before and had eaten too much and had gained too much and that I was sorry. She kind of laughed at me and weighed me. “Yep. You ate to too much.” she responded(my translation, since she spoke in Japanese). I told her I would keep trying and that I’d try to be more careful.

Onto the ultrasound. I always have to talk to the doctor first, but he usually just says two words “no change?”. When I say no, he ushers me over to the table where they do the ultrasound. He comes over and asks me if I want to know the gender (at this point William is sitting on a stool behind me). I tell him yes. Then he proceeds to do the ultrasound, pointing out the head, hands, heart beat, etc. Then he stops, finishes and returns to his office.  I was like… “wait!”. He forgot to tell us if it was a boy or a girl. 

The nurse handed William a piece of paper, and I heard her tell him to read it. I walked over to him as he opened it up. I thought perhaps the doctor had written the gender on a piece of paper. I had heard of doctors doing that in the states, so I thought perhaps they were doing that here too. Nope. It was a paper on how to open the ultrasound files they had placed on our flash drive.

So I walked into his office and asked again, boy or girl. He gave me a puzzled look. I asked him in Japanese, and then he said,” oh, girl.” Our conversations are always interesting, sometimes he doesn’t understand me at first.

So here we are. Its going to be a girl. I have to admit I was a little sad at first, I had really been hoping for a boy. I guess that was because when I was a child, especially in high school, I had always wanted an older brother, and I had hoped that my children would have that too. Plus everyone else around us seemed to be having boys first…

But, all in all, how can I complain? My baby is healthy and well. We’re going to have a little girl and I finally have a reason to buy some of those incredibly cute things I always see in the stores.

For inquiring minds, we don’t mind telling you that we plan to name her Elnora Lynn Ruck. Elnora is William’s great grandmother’s name (here’s a picture of her). She’s incredibly sweet, always happy to see you and a wonderful woman of God. We couldn’t imagine a better name for our child!

 So I told you all that I would write more about my experiences here in Japan at the doctor’s for my pregnancy check-ups… Well, here we go – round one

I went in to the doctor at about 6 weeks. At my first appointment I had to fill out this long medical form(well, really it was only two pages, but when its full of Kanji – Chinese Characters, it feels long as you look up tons of words). I felt like I did pretty well and understood most everything. I was quite proud of myself. It did take me a good half an hour to finish though.

After they called me in, one of the nurses sat me down and went over my form with me. She mentioned a specific spot that I had answered, which asked if I had relations with a man. I accidentally marked “no”. Oops. Other than that, it seemed I had answered most everything correctly.

I was quite nervous about the whole thing, but everything went pretty well. My doctor even speaks a bit of English (though none of the nurses do), though its quite simple. They did an ultrasound (which they actually do every time you go in here), and so I got to see the little gestational sack. It was kind of funny, but comforting to know I wasn’t crazy and that the test I had taken was right. The doctor asked if I had any questions, (which I did), but I felt too nervous to ask anything and so I said no, and that was it. I had expected him to give me more information – warnings, etc. But he didn’t. The whole thing took only about 15 minutes.

The other thing that is different here in Japan is that until you’re 12 weeks, you see the doctor about every week or two, rather than the monthly visits I’m told they have in America. So I went back in again at 8, 9, 10 and 12 weeks.

At my 8 week visit, I decided to ask if there was anything I should be careful of or make sure I didn’t eat, etc., while I was pregnant. He looked at me rather confused. So I used the example of how in America they tell us not to eat raw meats or fish while we are pregnant. He looked at me strangely again, and so I tried to say it in Japanese. Then he responded (in his broken English) with ” Japanese people like raw fish…” and I saw that he wasn’t getting it, so I tried to emphasize the idea of not doing so while I was pregnant. He then understood what I was saying and said “You are white. Do what your country says” and left it at that. I just about burst out laughing. I’m perfectly fine with doing so, but it was really hilarious at the moment.

Once I got to my 9 week appointment, I received a document confirming my pregnancy that  I had to take to the city hall to register my pregnancy. After doing so, I got a huge bunch of papers (that I still need to read… they’re just in Japanese so I tend to put it off. All that Kanji…) and a booklet that gives me discounts at the doctor’s office as well as a book that tracks my pregnancy and the baby’s health all the way to 6 years old.  Pretty neat stuff.

At my 10 week check up they took a blood test and discovered that I was anemic. Considering the fact that I tend to be anemic in general anyway, I wasn’t at all surprised. Plus, the prenatals I had been taking with iron had been making me sick so I had switched to ones without.  The doctor was about to prescribe iron tablets to me when I told him that taking the iron makes me sick, and he said no problem, they have a shot they can give me instead.

Well, after the appointment I got the shot. The nurse had me sit down and injected the iron directly into my vein in my arm. At the beginning she made a point to tell me that I should tell her if I feel like I’m going to throw up.  As she was giving me the shot, she continued to ask if I was okay. I felt fine at first, but then I felt a little dizzy. I tried to tell her that, but since I don’t know the word for dizzy, I just told her my head felt — and motioned with my hand. I don’t remember much after that because I passed out. It must have been for a little bit because I distinctly remember dreaming. When I woke up, I was confused. I felt like I should have been in my bed. Instead three women were speaking to me in Japanese. They kept asking me if I was okay and if I could stand. Without thinking at first I responded in English, then realized where I was and told them I need to sit for a little bit. Shortly thereafter they helped me stand up and I laid on the bed for a good 15 minutes. It was really weird. I was totally out of it, really hot, and for some reason, I couldn’t stop crying for a few minutes. Rather embarrassing.

I felt bad because it was really close to the time they were supposed to close, and I think I was keeping them there longer because I couldn’t get up yet. At one point the front desk lady even came back to get what I owed for the appointment because she was closing the register.  It definitely made for an interesting day!

And thus ends the chronicles up until this point. We don’t know if its a boy or girl yet. We hope to find out at my 16 week appointment in the beginning of April. So, until then, “mata”.

That’s right. We’re expecting. Finally, right? Well, its all in God’s timing, but I must admit that when I got married at 21, I didn’t expect to wait nearly 5 years before being pregnant. But that’s how it worked and God knows best! I’m currently 13 weeks (about 3 months) along, and our baby is due September 13th.

Yes. We’re planning on having the baby in Japan. I’ve been seeing a doctor here for a couple of months now, and feel comfortable doing so. Plus Japan has a few advantages over the States.

1. We have health insurance here and so when all is said and done, our out of pocket expense will most likely only be about 1,000 USD.

2. Japanese health care is actually quite good, and they have one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world!

3. After having the baby, I get to stay in the hospital 6 days, instead of being turned out after a day, like in the states. (though some people don’t like this idea, considering that we are far away from our families, I’m a fan)

With all that said, I’ve decided to begin chronicling my experiences of being pregnant in Japan, especially the doctors visits. It most certainly proves to be interesting, especially because there’s quite a different view of pregnancy between America and Japan. Hopefully you’ll get as much of a laugh out of it as I do!

I kind of wonder if my child will be embarrassed that I showed naked pictures of him/her on the web. Its pretty fuzzy though, so I figure its alright. I think I like seeing the baby’s feet the most though. They just make me smile.

Anyhow, that’s all for now, but soon I’ll post about my doctor’s visits. I know you can’t wait! lol.