Giving birth/hospital recommendations-DCC

5 comments

1. >Also I do not need an English speaking doctor or staff.

   Sorry I can’t be of help but if you have the ability to search and ask communities in the native language it would reach an infinitely wider audience than this group of mostly English speakers (many of whom seem to post about traveling/tourism too.)

   My Japanese sister in law recently had a baby and she also had a set of conditions for the birth so I imagine there must be a community of expecting mothers asking similar questions. She lives in Kanto though so her experience won’t be of much help to you. From my experience with other friends it also seems that young mothers are looking for hospitals with different standards of birthing procedures and are straying away from “traditional” methods.

2. I can’t help but having given birth at two wildly different hospitals/clinics in northern Japan, I would also take into consideration the hospital’s policy for baby-mother interaction/room sharing, and breastfeeding policies, depending on your own values. My first hospital explained themselves as breastfeeding friendly but failed to tell me that I wouldn’t be allowed to share a room with my daughter or even hold her outside of scheduled feeding times until they took her away for cleaning up; I only got to see her every 3hrs after that between 7am and 9pm, and they fed with formula overnight regardless of what I wanted. It was framed as being for the sake of my recovery/getting enough sleep, but I slept worse being separated. My second was incredibly positive and much more modern, and we stayed together from the moment she was born.

3. I’m going to adachi near Karasuma oike station.
   So far the nurses and doctors seem really nice and accommodating and they have a NICU on sight so if anything occurs baby boy won’t have to be transported to a big hospital. Around week 30 ish? I think they’ll have me set up a birth plan with them. Dad is allowed in the room with me during labor even if it ends up in c-section. Baby is in the room with me the whole time they actually promote this as they say it’s better for mom and baby to get used to routine etc. I think the stay is only 3-4 days which I prefer. I don’t want to be there too long. They have visiting hours. This is my first so I was really nervous. I also called around few places and asked some of my questions before making a final decision. Both of my sister in laws gave birth at Mihara and rave about it but their focus was more on the hotel vibes of the stay lol. How far along are you? If before 16 weeks you should have time to trial a few spots and get a feel for the doctors/ nurses etc! The first place I went to tried to pressure me into making a decision at 10 weeks cause places would fill up but I changed to adachi at 16 with no problem.

4. I gave birth in Japan Baptist Hospital in 2023. I had some complications at the end of my third trimester so I had to stay in the hospital for about 3 weeks before giving birth and an additional week after giving birth.

   The doctor listened to what I really wanted and since I was massive, I specifically asked for an epidural and c-section. She agreed but I had to try natural birth at first. In the end, I had to get a scheduled c-section bc the complications.

   My husband was allowed in the room when I gave birth. At the time, they still had COVID protocols so my husband could only visit for 30 minutes a day, both before and after giving birth. IDK about their visiting hours now.

   The doctor spoke English and some of the nurses, as well. If they didn’t, each of them brought a translator device.

5. My wife gave birth at Adachi Byouin. They were very accommodating however this was just before the pandemic and it was a planned c-section.