Hellu all lovely people! Me and the wife had recently moved to the south of Japan and are totally loving it here. My first time staying in this beautiful country for a longer duration but my wife has lived here on separate occasions.
We are expecting our first child(super happy!) But I have done the classic mistake of not looking up how it works regarding the whole birthing process in JP and my wife is terrified that I wont be able to be with her during the childbirth. So my question is, do any of you wonderful souls know of hospitals/clinic which actually lets the father be present during the birthing ( and preferably after) then please let me know! Trying my best to Google but with limitations to the language or proves quite hard.
Preferably somewhere close to Nabeoka but will gladly accept any tips that you might have. Much love to you all.
2 comments
Every hospital and clinic has their own rules. This is something you talk about during the first consultation.
Me and my wife went for a large hospital rather than a birth clinic for various reasons. The policy was:
1. All checkups were wife only.
2. Leading up to the birth, it was wife only, with me in another room.
3. The one hour surrounding the birth, I could join the room.
4. The week after was wife only but with a short window for visitors.
Keep in mind, this was two years ago and there were more COVID restrictions.
The first thing you should do is go to your city hall, the birth department.
You need to pick up your “boshi techou” (the book where you track all baby stuff, it’s always asked by doctors, even after birth) and your prenatal checkup coupons.
The prenatal checkups are monthly then weekly when it gets closer.
The term used for being present at the birth is “tachiai bunben” (立ち会い分娩). Here is a list of hospitals that are tagged as offering it in Miyazaki to get you started in case you don’t get any suggestions: https://byoinnavi.jp/miyazaki/k17 though of course this isn’t exhaustive, so if there’s a hospital near you that you’re interested in using you can call and ask them if they offer it.
Also be aware that even if they offer tachiai they may not let you into the OR if a c-section is needed. This was the case for us. My husband had to wait in the waiting room.