Babies Abound

Babies are everywhere this year. Ishii, Summer [in the states], an expecting friend in the states, and Jamila. Since Jamila's here in Japan, and an Eng speaker, Aaron n I learned loads about Japan and babies...

Firstly, mothers aren't encouraged to gain much weight. Jamila [and a few other foreigners I've met who've had babies here] were often reprimanded for gaining too much. The ideal is to put on 2x the weight of the baby. This does make it easier to lose the post-pregnancy weight, but Jamila said many Japanese mothers have difficulty breastfeeding as they don't put on enough weight.

Secondly, Japanese men seem to absent themselves from a lot of it. Typically, the husbands aren't in the room when the baby is born. [Oh, yeah, and women are told not to yell or be too loud when in labor] Most men don't have paternity leave [I don't think it's super common in the states, either]. Ishii's baby was born on a Sunday. He was at school as normal Monday morning. The mother is usually in the hospital for a week after birth to rest and learn how to breast-feed and bathe the baby-- Jamila said she really liked this, as she was so tired after the birth. Fathers might visit once or twice, but rarely more than that. Jamila said she was so happy to see one husband come every single day to visit.

Thirdly, Japanese women go to their parents' house for a month after having a baby. This is to receive more help and instruction from the new grandmother, as well as resting up. Depending on the distance, the husband might visit on the weekends.

Jamila and many foreigners frequent the Hidaka hospital, which is very flexible and allows frequent visitors, husbands in the delivery room, noise- you know, things we take for granted.

Interesting random notes..
*Babies are "akachan" in Japanese. "Aka" is red and "chan" is a diminutive for something cute or friendly. "Cute little red thing!"

*Pregnancy is counted in lunar months, with 1 month being exactly 28 days. So they say "10 months and 10 days." It means that the last month of a pregnancy only has ten days, that is, there are nine 30 day months, and then the last month is just ten days (9*30+10=280 days, a regular pregnancy).