Anna Kathleen
On Tuesday the 18th of October, at 11:52am (JST) Anna Kathleen Orme entered the world! Her Japanese name is オルム 杏和（あんな）
If you are interested in our experience of giving birth here in Japan (from my point of view…) read on, if you aren’t bothered, you can skip ahead to the end!)
On Monday we went for a check up, the first beyond Anna’s due date, and after leaving and coming home Emily seemed to be struggling with things a bit more than normal (normal for an over-due pregnant mother that is!) and at around midnight she began to have contractions. As Emily is a first time mother we understood that it would take time for Anna to appear even once labour had begun. The hospital we’ve been going to also try to keep things as stress free as possible, and so their advice was to call them up once the contractions were serious enough and see what they think rather than panicking and getting ready to go to early. So we went to bed. At around 4am they were strong enough to wake Emily and we timed them to around 7 or 8 minute intervals. By 6am they were stronger still and around 5-6 mins between, so we called the clinic and headed in at 7am.
The hospital we went to uses sophrology to prepare and coach the mother through birthing and the key point is to try and keep everything as relaxing as possible. Part of this was being given a CD of relaxing music to exercise to (and to fall asleep to) that they then played in the room Emily gave birth in. I think the general idea is to be as relaxed as possible so that the natural processes involved can take place etc…
This also means that the birthing process that they use is pretty natural, there are no drugs involved (except oxygen and a hydration drip), Emily wasn’t moved from the bed she rested in to a special room or table for the birth, everything was actually a pretty homely experience (except the immense pain, blood and all that jazz!) I guess it was somewhere between a home-birth and having all the necessary equipment in a controlled environment
So Anna came along at 11:52am and weighed in at 3834g (8lb 7oz-ish), 50cms long and with a full head of hair already!
After the birth Emily and Anna stayed in the hospital for 5 days to keep an eye on them. This is fairly normal here in Japan and a great chance for us to ask all the questions we have and learn from the midwives and nurses there. Also a good chance for Emily to rest and recuperate after giving birth. On Saturday afternoon they arrived home safe and sound!
