Rants Being Pregnant in Japan

Being Pregnant in Japan made me realised there are many differences between my home country (Singapore) and here. Let me rant about the woes I have encountered so far.

• Severe Weight control (Peer pressure from looks of skinny preg Japanese women & clinic)

 As we all know, Japanese ladies are incredibly slim.... why do they still look as skinny (if you looked from behind, even from the front if they hide the bump) even when they are pregnant?! From the beginning of my pregnancy, the nurse sat with me and calculated my bmi and told me how much I can gain towards end of term. I was borderline towards obese hence I was only allowed to gain maximum 6-7 kg. I was gaining slowly until I entered around 6 months (weather getting colder so I started snacking unhealthy stuff). It also did not helped that I had bento and sweet red bean dango (rice mochi) that fateful day just before my checkup ;p. My blood sugar level was 5 times the normal level and by then I had gained 5kg in total in my pregnancy term. 

Reprimanded by the smiling nurse and other nurses and the last punch was given by my gyane. Out of nowhere, he handed two 2kg dumbbells to me and asked if it was heavy. I replied yes and he said that's the amount of weight on my body now...!! 

Such a heavy heart when I finished my check up that day that I had no appetite and ate only salad lol! Usually after check up, I would treat myself to KFC lol!

• Lack of XL size onwards
  
  Since the preg Japanese ladies are still so slim, the maternity wear sold in normal stores were range from S, M and L.... sometimes XL but very rare you can see it. My size before even pregnancy was L to XL (I have big hip), so I ended up buying maternity undies online. Even then it was restricted to certain brands and limited choices. All the cute maternity wear/undies its only up to L size....!!  So tough to survive as a plus size woman in Japan :<
  
• House bound (restricted by S while I see my preg friends (non Japanese) travelling all around the world!
  
  Want to go Tokyo cannot.... Are we going back Aomori to spend Japanese New Year with my parents in law (like we did annually)... No.... Reason: Dangerous to drive back to Aomori in icy and snowy condition. Hello!! Pregnant lady is not suffering from sickness! Why go travelling cannot?!! S did explained that most cities in Japan would reject pregnant women in the event there's any emergency as we are supposed to ask for help from our regular clinic/hospital. Im pretty sceptical about that, or at least Tokyo would have private hospital that would take in anyone with money isn't it? (Not that we are rich but just saying...)
  
• Lack of gynaecologist in rural areas (specifically referring to Misawa lol)
  
  Actually the nearest hospital near my house is Misawa Hospital only 5 minutes drive away. However, its not foreigner friendly at all. We need to make appointment so that they would arrange hospital English translator (probably scared of lawsuits) even though S is able to translate. In other words, in the event of emergency the hospital will reject admitting me because their translator is not around. Furthermore, the gyane in Misawa hospital refused to allow any male (even husband) to enter the room. No exceptions even though I would not understand Japanese and needed S. The hospital is the only place in Misawa for pregnant ladies to go to. Thats why we need to travel to Hachinohe (45 minutes drive) as that's the only clinic that welcome me sob sob..... Thankful for that as their services are good and everyone are so helpful and friendly.