My Birth Experience: Japan Vs. US

One more post about births, since I couldn't be more proud of my little girls.
Labor in Japan (Zack is indicating 5 cm dialated):


Labor in the US:


After the baby is born in Japan, we got to hold her for a second...

...and then she went with her Daddy to another room to be cleaned.


In the US (at least where we were), the baby was weighed, measured, and cleaned all right in the same room:


In Japan, security consisted of our name written on the baby's feet:


In the US, what the nurses called "Baby Lo-Jack":


My post-delivery room in Japan:


My post-delivery room in the US:

Draw your own conclusions. :-)

A Parade

Last Saturday, we braved the slightly cold weather and the enormous crowds of tourists to take Ela to the National Cherry Blossom Parade. We took the metro down to the center of town, because my walking range has been reduced of late, and managed to find ourselves a pretty good spot near the beginning of the route. When the parade started, we were in the front row. There were lots of the usual parade participants: bands, dance groups, and what not, but there were also a few groups that made the whole thing feel more Japanese. Ela liked the baloons a lot.

Personally, I really liked the Taiko Drummers, who were from Japan.

Of course there was a queen of the parade.

And there was an American drumming group as well.

Ela's very favorite was the horsies that occasionally came through. She lit up whenever they passed by.

By about halfway through the parade, the front row had become the back, as the police caved to the inevitable and let people sit in front of the ropes. Ela was soon not going to be able to see anything, my feet were hurting from standing, and Zack was hungry, so we decided that on hour of parade was enough for us. We got back on the metro to go get a nice lunch out, beating the crowds out of the center of town. I had kind of forgotten how much busier everything is in the spring and summer when the tourists start coming back to town. It's a little exhausting being around so many people who are just passing through. I'm glad we live here full time and can enjoy some of the attractions when no one else is there. Despite the crowds, though, the parade was a lot of fun, and it's always good to get out of the house and see something new.

Hanami 2011

One of my favorite things about Japan was the cherry blossom viewing, and we're lucky to have moved to a place where we can continue to go and enjoy the trees in the spring. The National Cherry Blossom Festival opened this week, and we went to check it out, despite the very cold weather, on Saturday. Here's what we saw:

Did I mention it was cold?

Of course, we've been following the news about Japan since the earthquake. I joke that I've been keeping track of the news via facebook instead of a major provider. At first, this was true because I was out of town when the earthquake occurred and I also was a little afraid of what I'd see. I was able to use the articles posted by NPR and friends to find out generally what was happening, and also to confirm that the people I know there, who thankfully are mostly in the south of Japan, away from the really scary stuff, are completely fine. I pray for those who are not so lucky.

So the Hanami this year has a kind of bittersweet feel to it, wondering how much anyone in Japan can celebrate the beautiful season. The flowers are lovely, but they do make me a little homesick for the country where we had such wonderful adventures. The people there are what made the trip so delightful for us, and I grieve for them in this time of crisis. It does my heart good to hear of all the ways that the world is helping out now, offering support in a variety of forms. We, too, have done our part as best we could, and I enjoyed the trip down memory lane that seeing the cherry blossoms allows. There is something soothing about all those pink and white blossoms. Also, it wasn't nearly as crowded as last year, when Hanami coincided with Easter. There were lots of people, but it wasn't just a mob, so that was nice. We might try to head back again next weekend.

The next day, it snowed, so spring is not quite here yet, but at least we know it'll be here soon.

Hanami in DC

One of the things I am going to miss about Japan is the cherry blossoms in the spring. They are just beautiful. There are parks filled with the cherry trees, and when they bloom it’s like having warm snow in seventy degree weather. I will miss seeing them all, and I will miss the lovely Hanami (Flower Viewing) picnics that take place there every year.
Luckily, we moved to a place that has cherry blossoms, so this year we decided to have a Hanami party just like we would have in Japan. Mom, Dad, my sister Minjee and her boyfriend Tristan came up for Easter, and on Saturday we got together a nice little crowd for our picnic.
I spent the morning making rice and onigiri (rice balls). Mom and Minjee made sushi. We also put together some raw vegetables and edamame and fruit and packed it all up to go to eat under a blossoming tree with a few cousins.
Our original plan was to have the picnic actually down at the tidal basin where the most trees are. Thankfully, we decided that it would be a long way to go with all our food, so we went to a park nearer to our house where we knew there were cherry trees. Unfortunately, only one was still in bloom, but it was enough.

Our cousins brought mochi (sweet rice paste) and the food was all delicious. We had a good time chatting.

Ela decided that it was a good day for a walk. At first, she only wanted to walk on the sidewalk, and she took off around the park without the slightest concern for whether anyone was following. Then she set to work learning to walk on the uneven terrain of the grass. This is still a work in progress,but she got to the point where she didn’t need a finger for moral support.

After our picnic, we sent the blankets and food home with our cousins and headed out on a very ambitious walk to the tidal basin to see a few more blossoms. We quickly discovered just how good it was that we didn’t try to picnic there. It was super crowded. All the same the flowers were beautiful.

It wasn’t quite Japan, but it felt great to be out and see the flowers. We were exhausted by the time we made it home, but it was worth it.

Bon Odori

Man I have a lot of blogging to catch up on, but now that Ela can push buttons on the computer from my lap, it'll take awhile. First on the agenda: Ela and I went to the Bon Odori dance put on by the JMSDF for the Americans. At this event, they display the Japanese version of line dancing (to oversimplify), help us learn a few dances, and do some taiko drumming. There's also a few games and lots of fair food. Since it was an event put on by the Japanese, I thought it would be a good time to try on Elly's Japanese baby-yukata:

Since it was also super hot, I thought it'd be a good time to not use the car seat in the stroller. Instead, we slathered on the sun screen and got out a hat. On the way to the park, a kind Japanese lady told me how Ela was watching the cars from her stroller. When we go there, they were passing out fans, which helped a tiny bit in the crazy July heat.

So we met up with some friends, watched some dancing, and I got a hamburger. The whole time I kept remembering how last year I was just pregnant enough to be really uncomfortable in the heat. I also realized that everyone who I hung out with last year except like two people are gone now. I'm just lucky the new folks are so cool. :-) Here's a picture of the dancing:

So we watched for awhile, while Ela had a snack, and then she conked out and we headed home.

I'd say a good time was had by all.
Coming soon: a visit to the new aquarium...

Ela goes to Junior College

This year, Ela and I went to the cultural festival at the Junior College where I used to work. I went to this festival my first year here, but couldn't take any pictures. This year, that was not the case. The festival celebrates all cultures, though Japanese culture is most promienent (since there's more Japanese people there). There were displays from China, Kora, Japan, and even a bit of Americna culture.

The college must have special ordered the weather. It poured down rain all morning, stopping right as we left the house to go to the festival, and as we left at the end, it started raining again. It was quite something.

First up on the agenda was the eating of somen, which is a summer dish in Japan. Noodles are sent down a bamboo trough in a flood of cold water. You scoop the noodles out using chopsticks as they come by, and then you eat them with a mixture of soy sauce and onion, and may be wasabi for flavor. Here's what the process looks like:


After we had eaten that, the school also provided some traditional Japanese fair, including sushi makings (no raw fish, though), Japanese curry, Yakisoba (stir-fried noodles), takoyaki (fried octopus) and french fries and fried chicken for the kids and less adventurous Americans.

During lunch, there were several activity stations set up for visitors to enjoy. You could try caligraphy, make a wish for tanabata, or play with traditional Japanese games. A kind teacher who remembered me wrote out my name and Ela's using Kanji. Then there were several demonstrations to watch.

First a girl performed some sort of martial arts:


Then there was a group of Okinawan drummers:


And then Chinese tai chi...


... and a traditional Chinese dance:

Some older ladies came to perform Japanese fan dance and the hula.

The final event of the afternoon was the Japanese version of a pinata: a watermelon was placed on a mat and people were blindfolded and attempted to break it open with a bamboo stick:

Then we got to eat the watermelon. The students all thought Ela was adorable:

And I enjoyed being back at school and seeing some familar faces.

Cinco de Mayo with ILC

While Dad was here visiting, it was the American's turn to host an ILC event. So I saved up a bunch of milk and boldly left the house without the baby! It was quite a big step for everyone involved since I had never been away from her for more than half an hour and she had never taken more than one or two ounces of milk in a bottle. All in all, though, it was a successful experience.
The theme the Americans chose for this event was Cinco de Mayo. It turned out to be a really fun theme to run with. First, we had a marachi group from the high school come to perform with us. I didn't get video, but they sounded great!

We also had a giant pinata that the ladies took turns banging away at. It was really fun to watch them, and they're all so supportive, the cheers every time someone made contact were also a lot of fun to listen to. However, when it finally broke, I guess they missed the part about running up to get the candy, so there was more cheering, but no mad rush for candy. We passed it out in a far more orderly manner after the fact...

The food was, of course, Mexican, and I took this picture because I was amazed that anyone would try to eat a taco with chopsticks, but there they are (sorry they're a bit hard to see). The woman eating from this plate was in a lovely kimono and I shudder to think about what salsa would do to it if it dripped...

Finally, we got a dance instructor to come teach us some salsa, chacha and tango moves. It was highly entertaining to watch the lovely ladies strutting their stuff on the dance floor!

So we all had a really great time. When I got home, Ela and her grandpa were out walking doing some shopping on the Ginza. She had milk to spare, and it sounded like their day was just as fun. We'll both be ready next time we get a chance to have a babysitter.

Hanami with ILC

The cherry blossoms are here again! They always kind of sneak up on me, like one minute the trees are all wintery and brown, then the next the whole world is full of blossoms flying around. That's what happened the last week or so. It's enough to make anyone want to spend some time outside, even if it's not really super warm yet.
To celebrate, ILC took us to Omura to a park to see the blossoms. Ela decided that eating was more important than walking in the cherry trees, but we did manage to see a little bit:


And of course, the Japanese ladies wanted to get in on the picture action:

Then we went to a very nice hotel for a very nice lunch. Another reason I love Japan: the staff there found out there were two infants (Ela and a 6 month old) in the group, and produced a crib for each of them:

So a good time was had by all, and in a few weeks, we get to do it again with OSC. In the mean time, I see a good bit of walking in our future...

The Higashijima Experience

Having given birth in a private clinic in Japan, I'm convinced I will never be satisfied anywhere else. They totally spoil you. Even with the lack of room that first night, I felt like we had it really good. Our third morning in the clinic, the morning after Ela was born, was spent primarily outside the nursery looking at all the babies, since we couldn't bring Ela to our room until we had a real room. Aside from the five from the day before, and Ela, there was at least one more born in the early morning, so there was plenty to see:

They brought Ela out into the hall for us to hold her, and finally a room on that floor opened up and we moved in. This was one of the tiny rooms I mentioned in the previous post:

Ela and I stayed there for the next day. Mom hung out with us. We rested, ate, practiced feeding, and generally just relaxed. Zack came and went. He had a short time in Sasebo before he'd have to join his ship, so he was trying desparately to accomplish as much of the paperwork as possible to get Ela her passport and social security. The room was small, so it was better to have one visitor at a time anyway.
The next day, we spent the morning in that same room. That morning, I was given responsibility for tracking my health and Ela's. They had already given me a pink envelope with medicines for me to take daily, and now they also put me in charge of taking my temperature and Ela's 3 times a day, and writing down how often and how long she ate, as well as how many times a day she dirtied her diapers. The little chart was actually useful in helping me keept track of things as we got used to breastfeeding. Ela was a good eater from the start, but she's still hard to wake up if she wants to sleep through a meal.
I got another shampoo from the shampoo lady since it was Friday, and when I got back, the nurses were gathering our stuff to move us to the post-labor room that had become available. Whenever we switched rooms, the nurses insisted on carrying EVERYTHING (and we had a lot of stuff), not letting Mom or Zack so much as hold a pillow. So by afternoon on Friday, we were here:

The room was bigger, with a couch, chair and desk, so it was much more comfortable. AND I got a shower, which was a major relief. It's amazing what a simple thing like bathing can do for my perceptions of life. So Zack continued to run around with the various paperwork we needed, and Mom hung out with me and Ela in the room. More relaxation ensued.
But probably the best thing about staying at the clinic was the food. Every single meal came with enough dishes to feed me and one of my visitors easy. To make life easy on the cooking staff, I had told them that I was okay with Japanese food (if you request it, they'll give you American stuff, but who wants that?). The breakfast was generally a little too Japanese for me (whole bonito fish first thing in the morning is beyond my ability to stomach), but lunch and dinner were always excellent, and I got two snacks a day too... Here's a picture of my last dinner:



And, since it was my last night, they added one dish to what is normally served:

Yes, that really is lobster. Try getting that in an American hospital!

Anyway, since we were now in a bigger room, Zack stayed with Ela and me at the clinic Friday night, having successfully gotten everything done he could do before the Japanese Birth Certificate was ready. Saturday morning, they came to give Ela one last bath (this was a daily process). They also removed her umbilical stump and returned with a whole bunch of gifts for us: diapers, wipes, Ela's footprints that they had stamped, her umbilical stump (that's a Japanese thing, they hang onto it), a bib, some burp cloths, and a CD of her first cry! The doctor had taken some blood from me and found me to be waaaaay low on iron, so he gave me a shot of iron in the morning and sent me home with more vitamins and iron to take at home. He also showed us how to take care of Ela's belly button. Around 2 in the afternoon, after one last excellent lunch, we were ready to go. The nurses took the picture that I'm using as my profile picture until I load up a good one of all three of us. It'll hang on a special bulletin board in the clinic for awhile. Then the doctor and two of the nurses personally escorted us to the car, the nurses carrying all our stuff as usual:

The nurses helped us get out onto the road, and before we knew it, we were home and introducing Ela to Dory (who loved her from the start). It was seriously a really great stay.
So now we're home and adjusting to the new routine, which seems to change daily. We'll keep you posted with new pictures and stories!