Deliverying at Red Cross Hospital, Private Midwife

Open system

Hello Lara and all,

Well Lara I know I talked to you a bit about my fantastic birth
experience here in Japan but thought I`d post to let everyone know a
bit about it. I used a relatively new system here called `Open
System`. What it mean`t was that I had a private self-employed midwife
who took care of me all through my pregnancy, birth and aftercare. It
was basically the same principal as preparing for a home birth except
this midwife has a special arrangment with the hospital where I
actually went to the hospital and `borrowed` a room to give birth in.
None of the hospital staff were directly involved in my delivery,
though it was a quiet night and a nurse came in to help out a little
from time to time. What was reasurring about it was that in the case
of anything going wrong there were hospital doctors there who would
take over. It was fantastic, she was fantastic and I wouldn`t dream
about using anyone else but...

..big downside is location. She lives out my neck of the woods (Adachi-
Ku) and is based in Katsushika ward. I gave birth in a room at
Katsushika Ninnseki-byoin (Red Cross hospital)..so it might be an idea
to check out Hiroo Ninnseki in case they have a similar arrangment
going on there. I`m going to contact her this weekend to see if she
can recommend anyone over your side of Tokyo.

On the plus sides..
...continuity of care. She used to come to my house on Saturdays so my
hubby was home to help translate. Her fee for a visit was 5000yen but
she would stay as long as I wanted to talk things through, give
advice, and sometimes even massage me!! Sometimes she stayed 2 hours!!
She also attended all my appointments at the hospital..for blood
tests, scans etc..she even went to the hospital early and picked up a
ticket so I never had to wait in line. She doesn`t speak much English
but seemed to understand a lot of what I was saying..but you`d
probably need to speak some Japanese of have a Japanese partner to
help out. It was wonderful to see the same person everytiem and I
really build a bond with her..in short, I love this woman!!!!

...great with birth plan..she forced me to write one and spent a whole
session going through it..a believe me ANYTHIng goes. Right down to
the track lisitings for the CDs... My sister-in-law gave birth two
months after me with her and was allowed and I`d say encouraged to
have her toddler present during the birth..very cute..she was fanning
her Mummy down to help out. I should probably mention now that she
doesn`t do pain relief..when I asked about gas and air she just said I
wouldN`t need it and at first I was sceptical but went with it and her
confidence and was reasured. She also doesn`t cut. When I asked her
she simply said 90 per cent of her mothers don`t tear again I was
sceptical but went with it and came out unscathed. Don`t know how much
this was down to my lucky fluke with an easy birth or with her
expertise but she did apply counter pressure to my prenieum (forgot
how to spell that!) the whole time with her fingers...she`s very hands
on by the way..a lot of massage, aroma and even breast massage to get
the milk flowing..a bit weird for us gaijin but supposedly standard
practise here in Japan.

..she`s also a qualified breast-feeding consultant like Iona and put
babs to me tummy immediately without cutting the cord and let her
crawl up to my breast to latch on..babies CAN do it themselves..it
toook about 40 mins. She`s also relly flexy with who does what..hubbys
are welcome to be as involved as they wish..

...it was cheap...I think we paid about 280000 but her fee for the
birth and afteracre visiting me at home was about 110000 and the rest
went to the hospital ..so with the 350000 back from the gov we cut it
about even..but I didn`t stay in the hospital at all..I came home the
same morning (crazyfool!) Of course a stay would have bumped up the
price a bit. The hospital was lovely and I gave birth on a futon bed
in a tatami room with shoji and a sofa..very nice.

Anyway, enough of my gushing...I let you know what she says when I
speak to her this weekend
and if anyone is interested in her details just get in touch. Her name
is Mika Yanagisawa.
Cheers, Helenxx