Early Pregnancy in Japan, Part 1

It may seem crazy for someone like me, a busty, size 12 Texas girl, to choose to be pregnant in Japan, and some of it is crazy, but some of it is works out really well.

One Good Thing
Regular Sonograms – The first thing they did when we went to the hospital to have our pregnancy validated by a trained professional with take sonograms of the uterus to identify the tiny, 6 mm long bean shaped growth causing my body changes and increase in human growth hormone.
At our next visit, two weeks later, we had another sonograms to see the teeny tiny heartbeat that had developed in our 1 cm long offspring.
Keep in mind that when I was an embryo, my mom didn't have any sonograms. At all. Really. Nothing. It just wasn't common where she was at that time.

One Bad Thing
Prenatal Vitamins – One problem with the service at the hospital is, aside from don't drink or smoke, they didn't give us much advice in the way of vitamins, minerals, etc. in fact, prenatal vitamins are not that easy to find here, at least in my experience. When I had my husband ask at a pharmacy, all they could tell us was "Take normal vitamins." Which meant I got to do some homework. I looked around online and found out what types of vitamins are most necessary and paid the exorbitant fees for calcium, iron, and folic acid supplements. Then, in hunting through one maternity department at a department store, I managed to find one small bottle of actual prenatal vitamins. By then, I'd already contacted friends and family back home to send me whatever they could find. Honestly, I'd rather have supplements I can read the back of easily. Playing match that kanji isn't so fun in this case.

Next week, we go back to the hospital for another checkup. At this one, they will give us are expected due date, and apparently a lot more information, which may or may not include warnings about weight gain. That is a story for next time.