Yep, that's right blog readers, I'm pregnant! I just finished up week 14 so I have some catching up to do on sharing some of the differences between Japan and the US. I was pregnant about this time last year in the US when unfortunately at my 12 week checkup the baby no longer had a heart beat so I think I have a decent idea of how the first couple of appointments go US for comparison.
I'll start with the crazy lady at the hiking club. Go back all the way to September and there is a post on the Japanese hiking club. A couple of days before Jeff and I took this hike, I took a home pregnancy test that very clearly said that I was not pregnant. I didn't think anything of it and continued on as normal. Jeff and I did the hike as documented in the blog but I omitted a story. There was one slightly crazy lady on the hike. She was a nice crazy lady and she spoke good English but she had a strange way of talking like a stream of consciousness. As an example, she asked where in America I was from. I said Idaho. She said "Ah! Idaho. Idaho potato. I like potatoes. I like to cook them in a pan with butter. My son like potatoes he likes them in Japanese curry all cut up with carrots and meat. I like potatoes more than sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are no good in curry but they are good..." And this continued on for about 40 minutes without a break just rolling from one subject to the next.
Why is this story part of the pregnancy blog, you are probably asking right about now? Well, when we stopped for lunch and crazy lady got quiet, really quiet. She looked at Jeff and then at me. Then she very clearly said "You don't have a baby yet? Don't worry you will soon." and then walked away. It struck both Jeff and I as very odd and the way it happened it sort of gave me goose bumps and I normally just blow stuff like this off. Jeff and I talked about it later that evening and it struck us both as really odd and a little creepy. That night the dreams started. Both Jeff and I had very vivid dreams that I was pregnant. This had never happened before (or since for that matter) and went on for a couple of days. At this point I decided to take another home pregnancy test, only this one was positive.
So we now had one negative and one positive tests and decided to get a doctor appointment as a tie breaker. The way our insurance works here, we call them to set up appointments with new doctors. So we explained what we needed the appointment for and that we needed a doctor that spoke English. They said that they had many options in Tokyo, which is like telling someone in San Francisco they have to go to LA to get a doctor appointment. After another phone call or two they found us "the only doctor that speaks English in Hiroshima". They came back a day later and said that doctor was no longer practicing in Hiroshima but they found "the only other doctor that speaks English in Hiroshima". So, I met with the guy in Hiroshima who spoke fantastic English and confirmed that I was in fact, pregnant. He suggested I set up an appointment for the following week because at that point the baby should have a heart beat that the ultrasound can pick up and then I can "register the pregnancy with the city office". I'll pick up at this point in a future blog. This part is pretty different from the American system and fairly interesting.
Stay tuned! And for those of you who are really not all that interested in the prego blogs, I'll still be having plenty of other types of stories, adventures and pretty pictures.
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