The only birth experiences that I have taken part in are my own.  I have given birth to two children.  I have a three year old and an 11 month old.  I can remember both clear as day as they took forever!  My daughter was my first.  She was 11 days late and I was induced.  I had planned to do it natural after taking the Bradley Method classes.  With an induction coming I knew that play may be slightly changed.  I went in Wednesday night at about 8pm and was hooked up and ballooned by 9pm.  Then the overnight wait for me to dilate.  My water was broken about 8am when I was 4cm and I had already been contracting.  Around noon they were heavy and by two pm I felt like I was dying.  I was bound and determined to do this without drugs.  My husband went home to let the dog out at about 4pm when they said I was still at 4cm.  I cried.  All day and I had made no progress.  I finally caved after being in pain for so long and exhausted and finally asked for drugs at about 5pm.  I got my epidural and it was glorious!  If I knew it worked that great I would have asked long before that! 

After that things picked up the pace.  I flew dilating.  By ten Thursday night I was ready to push and after ten minutes of that they made me stop and wait for the doctor.  It seemed like it took forever for her to get there.  She got there and four pushes later, Allie came flying into the world.  The doctor pretty much had to catch her coming out.  She scored low on her first APGAR and didn’t want to breathe very well and scared me.  Then on her five minute APGAR she scored a 9 so that was wonderful. 

The moment she was set on my chest is one that I will never forget.  My husband said “Welcome to Earth” and she turned her head right around to him.  She definitely knew the sound of her daddy’s voice.  We were all cracking up.  It really shows how well a fetus can hear in the womb and be able to recognize the voices they are familiar with when they come out. 

My son was kind of the same story but this time I had been diagnosed with Factor V Leiden a blood disorder.  My blood is thicker than normal.  When Allie was 6 months old I spent four days in ICU with massive blood clots in my leg and all over my lungs.  It was pretty scary.  I had to be very careful when I got pregnant because of the drugs I was on.  I was on Lovenox shots twice a day for my entire pregnancy and for 7 months after.  (Thus being the reason Tommy is probably our last baby)  I was induced a week early to help control my drugs and having to stop the Lovenox 48 hours before delivery just in case I had to have a C-section, that I wouldn’t have to be put all the way under, and I could get an epidural. 

I went in on Sunday morning about 8am, got hooked up and unfortunately I was not one of them that the second baby comes much faster.  He still took forever.  I didn’t wait so long for the epidural but that didn’t even help me progress and it took two different doctors to do it, then it only numbed half of me so they had to redo it.  That was rough.  Finally at 2am Monday morning I was ready to push and Tommy arrived at 2:32am.  Again that moment with him put on my chest is just amazing.  There really is no other feeling in the world and one that I will never forget. 

Now it’s a different story watching them grow up.  We have learned over our college careers about all the different stages of development and how they impact a child.  It is surreal to actually sit here watching your own children and see the stages play out in real life.  Then it becomes scary because you know what the next stage is going to be and you know you are in trouble!

I chose Japan to learn about their birth customs and ways of having a child.  I found a page written by a father on the birth of his twins.  He gave a personal experience through his eyes.  I found several other articles that aligned with his statements as well. 

Unlike pregnancies in the US, which encourage a minimum weight gain, in Japan doctors urge against weight gain?   Having a birth plan like many here in the United States doesn’t fit well with many Japanese doctors or hospitals.  Patients are most likely to go with the doctors schedule and policies rather than what the mother wants to happen. Obstetrician  see many, many patients a day and you do not receive much time to ask questions as the doctor has many other patients to get to.  Many of the hospitals work with midwifes and let the doctor handle the actually delivery. 

In Japan it seems customary for the hospital staff to care for the baby for the first three days that the mother is in the hospital and briefly see the baby.  The tradition of “rooming in” is not the norm.  It is customary to have natural births without the use of drugs and is seen as honor passage into motherhood.  (Schalken, 2012)Fathers must attend prenatal classes with the mother in order to be in the delivery room and they are not permitted in the operating room during a C-section and are to wait for the surgery to be finished.  The babies are to remain in an incubator for 24 hours with a C-Section.  The typical stay in the hospital for recovery with a vaginal delivery is minimum of five days, with a cesarean it is ten days.  Most stays in the US is 2-4.

Customs are that new mothers stay with the mother’s family for some time after the birth.  The new mom is to also stay in bed for 21 days to recover.  As opposed to the US where women are encouraged to move around and become active as their body lets them.  I went grocery shopping on the way home from the hospital with my son.  Some places in Japan also give a living subsidy for those families with small children until the age of five.  This is offered to all families as long as the area participates.  The only way this would happen in the US is if you are on state assistance and income qualify. 

There are many similarities and differences.  The main similarity is that in both countries most births occur in a hospital setting by an attending physician.  There are however many differences such as length of stay, using a birth play, the role of the father, and where the baby stays after delivery.  I do not think I would be comfortable having child in such an environment in which I was not in control of.  This is my body and my baby.  I should be the one mostly in charge of what is happening with us.  I also know I would never be able to spend the first month or two with my parents after giving birth.  I need the time and space with just my immediate family for bonding and our privacy.  I am very grateful that I had wonderful experiences and little issues or complications with either birth. 

Grey, Andy.  2008.  Giving Birth, Having a Baby in Japan http://www.globalcompassion.com/japan-birth.htm

Schalken, Laura.  (2012)  Birth Customs Around the World.  American Baby.  Meredith Corporation.  http://www.parents.com/pregnancy/giving-birth/vaginal/birth-customs-around-the-world/?page=4