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Naoko had her usual bi-weekly check-up today, and I brought the video camera along as well as the digital still, and took some shots. Each time Naoko goes in, the doctor performs an abdominal ultrasound, and so by this point she’s had many of these performed on her. (In the first and second trimesters, she visited the doctor once a month; now in the third trimester, she visits bi-weekly). Each time she goes, the doctor records the ultrasound onto a videotape compilation (he actually appends each new ultrasound record to the end of one existing tape), so we now have what is in effect a 30-minute plus abstract film documenting the prenatal growth of our child. It’s fascinating and mysterious to watch.

Naoko’s pregnancy has to date been my only experience with the Japan National Healthcare system (not including a trip to the dentist which I must say did not leave me impressed), and so far I have been more or less impressed, and feeling reasonably comfortable about Naoko giving birth under such a system (obviously I’m in a good position to be comfortable, not being the one pregnant). And certainly one can’t complain about the price. Take these ultrasounds, for example. I don’t have direct knowledge, but from some web reading and information from one of Naoko’s friends who lives in the States, these ultrasound procedures can run anywhere between $200 to $300 per scan, and generally are performed only two or three times during a pregnancy. On average, Naoko pays ¥3,800 (around $31USD) for each visit, which automatically includes the scan (and the scan photos and video recording). (To be fair, obviously those with health insurance in the States would have some of that $200 to $300 reimbursed, so I’m not making the best comparison here).

In addition to detecting birth defects or abnormalities, these scans are primarily used by expectant families to determine the baby’s gender. Naoko and I have made the decision that we don’t want to know until the baby is born, but of course the doctor has known now for some time, and I always think he’s going to accidentally spit it out on one of these visits. It’s interesting, most folks I mention this too express surprise at us not wanting to know. I don’t know exactly why, but for some reason I always imagined (in those brief moments when I allowed myself the fantasy that I might one day have children) that not knowing was somehow how it “should be”, that somehow that was the natural order of things and that I wasn’t going to let modern technology disrupt that way of thinking. At any rate, I haven’t heard any compelling arguments for why it would be better to know. Naoko and I are not the type of people who believe in pink-for-girls, blue-for-boys anyway, so arguments about it being easier to buy clothes, for example, don’t cut much mustard with me. I think however that we’re in the minority on this. A “Do you want to know your baby’s sex?” poll on BabyCenter.com shows that out of 149, 469 responses so far, a whopping 71% want to know, compared to only 21% who don’t want to know (8% undecided).

Of course, one perhaps good reason to know is to stop all the mind-racing and dreaming and fantasizing that my mind has been going through all these months. It’s interesting how, despite all efforts to the contrary, my mind gets invariably locked in to certain preconceived notions (pardon the pun) about the baby’s sex. For the longest time, whenever I thought of the child-to-be, I envisioned a girl, probably because I want a girl more than a boy (Naoko has the opposite hope, by the way). So try as I might not to, when I thought about the child, had hopes for it, worries about supporting it and about a million other things, wondered how i would talk to it, and play with it, I did so with near-conviction that a girl would be coming out of the womb. But a couple of weeks ago, during one of Naoko’s hospital visits, the doctor told us that the baby is bigger than normal, perhaps around a week bigger (in other words, it’s size now at the 32nd week is what it should be at the 33rd week). Not abnormally so, but bigger than average. Not terribly surprising, given both Naoko and I’s body types (let’s be honest, “slim” and “slender” are not going to be the first words that pop into your head should you meet either of us). But now, with this mention about size from the doctor, my mind has done a complete 180° reversal, and I’m now dead sure in my mind that Naoko will be giving birth to a boy (and perhaps the next Takanohana at that!). Of course being slightly bigger than normal is not a trait exclusive to the male species, but damned if I can’t now shake my newfound conviction that in less than two months time, Naoko and I will be smiling upon a newborn boy. In any event, we’ve made our bed and we’re going to sleep in it, and are not about to ask the doctor at this stage. So stay tuned, as they say…. Click on the link below for a few more photos from today’s visit.
Continue reading “Anticipation continues to build…”