Pregnancy in Japan:Part 2- Post baby

I am very thankful to have had a wonderful Doctor here in Japan. He works out of a clinic. We could have had Samuel at a hospital but Marcia found Dr. Noguchi who speaks English, so we went to his clinic. It was a great experience for us during the pre-natal visits. Everyone was very friendly. 

After Samuel was born, he was taken to a hospital down the street, Seisaikei, that has a NICU where he could receive more specialized care because of having fluid in his lungs when he was born. David was given the option to move me from Dr. Noguchi's clinic to the hospital that Samuel was in so I could be down the hall from him. I am glad that he chose for me to stay at the clinic even though I was away from Samuel. It was hard to be separated but I just tried to focus on resting and recovering so that when we could get Samuel, I would be rested and better able to care for him. 

After the labor, vacuum attempt, and finally ending with a c-section, when I had fully awoken, the Doctor from Seisakei had already assessed Samuel and taken him to the NICU.  I didn't get to see him in person or hold him until February 10.

 David would see him every afternoon and bring me photos that the nurses in the NICU would print out for us.

I had to wait until my IV was taken out and for Dr. Noguchi's approval before I could go see Samuel. They didn't even let David hold him until his feeding tube and IV was taken out. They let me hold him with the feeding tube and IV so that I could feed him.

February 10, our first family photo. 

David's first time holding Samuel when the feeding tube and IV was taken out and he was no longer in an enclosed bed but an open one. 

At the clinic I had my own private room and bathroom and David even stayed on a pull out bed the first few nights with me. In the hospital I would have shared a room with other mom's with only a sheet separating us and we would have had a shared bathroom.

At Dr. Noguchi's clinic we had the same nurses working with us the whole recovery process. The kitchen staff brought meals to our room and even a 3pm tea/snack time. Each morning Dr. Noguchi would come by the room to check in on me. 

For a regular, no problem, delivery the recovery stay is 4 days, however with a c-section I stayed for 5 days. At the end of my stay, I had a check out time with Dr. Noguchi and he released me. Normally Samuel would have been checked out and released also, but we had to wait until the next morning to get him from Seisakei. He got released on Valentine's Day, one week after his birth and one week before David's birthday. 

February 14, Samuel's release day!!

One of the kitchen staff ladies spoke very good English and we exchanged information. She meets occasionally with some friends who speak English to practice and they invited me to meet with them. Her name is Yoko. I am excited to have made this contact and hopefully we can become friends.  

The following are pictures of the clinic and some of my delicious meals:

When you walk into the room, a closet is on the left and the bathroom is on the right. 

The bathroom

The hospital bed was awesome!!

Each mom had a pink or blue baby tag on her door with her name and the birth date of her baby. 

This scale was outside of the rooms in the hallway. Before a mom feeds the baby she will weigh him/her and after she feeds she will weigh again to determine how much the baby ate. I thought that was a great way to know how much milk the baby is receiving. 

These cards are for when mom needs a break or is taking a shower, she will place this card in the front of the baby bed and roll the bed down to the nursery. It tells the nurses what mom is doing. That is very smart especially for change of shift in the nurses. 

Breakfast

Breakfast

Lunch

Supper

Lunch

The yummy rice

Besides not having Samuel with me, my stay and recovery in Dr. Noguchi's clinic was great. We are enjoying this parenthood journey so far and thankful for your thoughts, prayers, and encouragement during our pregnancy, delivery, and recovery. Samuel is doing great and growing before our very eyes. I can't express how thankful we are for him.