Hi, I’m in Tokyo. I just learned a week back that I will be a second time mom and with that I will need to schedule a screening appointment soon. I do although have mixed feelings about returning to the hospital I had birth the first time.
My previous OB is a nice woman, and the nurses at the hospital were kind, the issue isn’t the staff, but rather the hospital rules which were just kind of weird. To me at least lol.
Here are where I got a few icks:
They were not welcoming to my husband during labor and he couldn’t visit the baby after the birth. I had a room to myself but my husband wasn’t allowed to enter the hospital after the birth. They also kind of guilted me (was the only nurse I didn’t like) because I wanted the assistance of my husband during labor. This was when they were still testing for Covid before entering the hospital but also the pandemic was pretty much over and it was four months shy of not having to wear a mask in public anymore. I understood where she was coming from but I picked the hospital specifically because they told me I was allowed one person to assist at birth which from my understanding is not common practice in Japan.
4-5 days being hospitalized after birth as a rule. I had natural, no epidural birth with no complications, even walked after getting my episiotomy stitched. Baby had amniotic fluid in his lungs so they took care of that and gave him an extra dose of oxygen and then he was all good. When I tell you I wanted to go home so bad the day after! But couldn’t. Although it was useful as a first time mom because they showed us many things, as a soon to be second time mom I already know the deal and would like to go home as soon as possible. I know the reason behind is because they monitor the baby’s growth but I’d still rather go back to the hospital in a week for check ups.
Time with baby was limited. They had this weird schedule where they made you return the baby at the nursery in the middle of the day for like several hours and between 8pm to 6am. Just wasn’t natural to me. They’d call if the baby wanted to breastfeed but I’d just rather have my newborn baby around at all time unless they have to go through medical examination. This is something I realized when I got home with newborn and he wanted to breastfeed at all hours of the day and was crying if he wasn’t. Like does that mean they let him cry in the nursery? Just a freaky thought as a mother who just gave birth you know. I don’t think I’d be comfortable with that the second time around.
I’d like to add that as an inexperienced first time mom, there are many questions I didn’t ask because I didn’t know or thought it was common sense. So I didn’t complain much either but in retrospect there are just many things that I think were odd, especially not having my newborn around me at all times especially during the night.
So yeah, I’d like to know your experience as a mother or even a father that had a child in a hospital in Japan. If you have recommendations, etc.
My more ideal condition would be father visits allowed if that’s even a thing?? , like 2-3MAX (even the day after if good for me lol) hospital stays if all good to go, and having my newborn around at all time. Language barrier is not an issue.
Thanks for reading.
by sumbodycomegither