Elaine

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  • I was actually wondering about interacting with other parents and kids outside of hoikuen b/c my kid has two kids that he is very nakayoshi with and I have no idea if it’d be weird to be like “do they want to hang out outside of hoikuen?” especially when it’d would probably be my wife and not me going to any park outings or whatever b/c I work mostly during the days? Or if it’s okay that he just has his other kid interactions at hoikuen? GAH I wish my brain wasn’t so slow with Japanese >__< I can understand okay, but I get really stumbly when I speak ^_^;;

    Yeah, the only reason we were able to actually have our kid was because we were living here ^_^;; I am very nervous for the future, but at least I don’t live in a country where schools get shot up every week and healthcare is a privilege not a right >__<

    My one thought is that I hope I will raise a kid who will be a good person and, in doing so, offset the bad of the world, if that makes sense? It’s hard to explain ahah ^_^;;

    Yeah, I find that an uncomfortable amount of strangers, especially older ladies, really want to touch our kid, especially his hair and especially in a pandemic it’s very HNGNNGNG b/c I don’t want to be the foreigner in the neighborhood who tells off people when they touch kids, but it really seems to be a Thing especially in the country, I see Japanese kids getting similar treatment. But yeah, I’ve gotta come up with some set phrases that encourage no touching ahah ^_^;;

    We tried a variety of things, each kid has their own taste I think, but it really helped to do formula after breakfast, so they’d eat as much as they were comfortable, and then supplement with formula. We still have food some food issues, but there are a few things on the list that’ll always get eaten now ^_^

    I have a related worry, though from the other side of things. Kiddo doesn’t get out much b/c of the virus and also limited days at hoikuen, so he doesn’t get as much Japanese exposure as I’d like him to. Our plan initially was to speak Japanese outside the home, and English inside the home, but that was in the Before Times lol. Now, we basically speak English to him most of the time, with some Japanese when we do go out, and I’m worried he will be too behind in Japanese when he eventually goes to school.
    Also, he’s still babbling and not really using words in any language, so I’m worried that we’re doing the two language teaching bad, and that he’s gonna have issues speaking >_< He does seem to understand a fair bit of English and some Japanese at least though.

    Mine was really good in some ways, but also really tough in others. The clinic had a policy of no outside people b/c of the pandemic, so I was all alone in a room with no one to help me deal with the contractions which I didn’t know how to handle b/c all classes had been canceled due to the pandemic.

    Eventually, I got my sister on the phone, and her husband is a midwife, so they gave me a few coping things to hold out until I was dilated enough for an epidural, and my spouse called and asked the nurse to stay with me b/c I was starting to have a panic attack due to the pain and fear and loneliness. From then on, it got much better. The nurse sat in the room with me and did her nightly work, and would talk me down from each contraction. They actually had to give me the meds early because I was having nightmarish contractions that were causing me to shake violently and that wasn’t good.

    The epidural was probably the most painful part of the whole thing and I’m amazed I got through it with how long they had it take (being very careful and I was shaking a lot) and also I’m TERRIFIED of needles. Once the meds kicked in tho, it was GREAT lol. I ended up even falling asleep a bit and woke up to then being all like “good lord you have dilated SUPER fast, let’s do this”. Also they had this super comfy chair that I gave birth in, it was awesome. The Midwives delivered my kiddo, and the doctor only came in to stitch things up. Later, I found out, I’d lost a lot of blood (a not safe amount) so it’s no surprise I passed out right after and slept in the birthing room for a bit.

    All in all, I went in at about 10:30 at night, and kiddo was out by 11am or so. They treated me amazingly after, gave me classes on washing baby, fed me AMAZING food, sent me home with a care package, answered any questions I had, and even let my spouse come visit a few times to learn some of the important stuff. Even tho it was really hard, I think in the end, the fujinka clinic I went do made the experience as comfortable and as painless as they could.

    My issues more came after the birth and from recovering from pregnancy, but that’s not related to the actual birth story ahah.

    And it’s great to hear more about you as well! Yeah, the pandemic has been rough. My family was supposed to come help us with kiddo in his first month, but everything had shut down by then, so we got dropped RIGHT into parenthood ^_^;;

    Ahah we did use a little of that, but we were lucky enough that docomo was having a sale on Google phones at the time, and got those to start with XD

    It’s a lot of fun! Though the pandemic has set back my training a lot, sadly. Oh well if you have game genres you like, I could suggest some in those areas! I play a variety, but I’m mostly a PC or Switch gamer.

    Oh, he either spins in circles until he gets too dizzy, or he does this rocking from foot to foot, it’s so cute lol XD Ahah yeah, his kitty is one of those that is the head and arms and then the body is a blanket, and he’s really into the tag on the blanket for some reason.