Tongans in Japan

My doctor just informed me of some bittersweet news today. The sweet part is that my placenta has migrated/moved up a bit away from the cervix, now to what is called a MARGINAL stage - only at the very edge of the cervix. That is def progress from what I was before which was TOTAL/COMPLETE coverage of the cervix. Yaaaay!   That brings the bitter part: since this is progress and less risky than a COMPLETE coverage, my medical team has decided to extend my c-section for another week, that way baby can be born at full term. Okay, so that isn’t really bitter news - THATS FREAKING GREAT NEWS! Just that I am bitter to stay another week away from my family. That’s all.  So they have now moved me to the MFICU where the nurses are just steps away from tending to my every beckoning call (jk I promise I am the lowest maintenance patient here lol). I get my own spacious, private room; as much as I love the bigger space that I am in, and that I have my own toilet and shower, and that I can...

As I mentioned before, I share a room with 3 other mamas here. This was also the case after I gave birth to Lupe - I stayed 7 days with 3 other mamas in the same room. We learned to feed and bathe and take care of our newborns together. It probably sounds like you have zero privacy in this space, but the rooms are pretty spacious and you can close up your entire personal space with these huge curtain separators.   I don’t know if they do this in the states (from what I know, everyone pretty much can have their personal, private room) but Mama San told me when she gave birth 30 + years ago, she also shared a room with other mamas... and they’re all still good friends to this day. I don’t have contact with the mamas from before, but I thought that communal support and bond with others who are going through similar experiences was pretty awesome. I officially met my roomies a few days ago while we were waiting for our laundry to be done in the wash room. I learned two of them, who bot...

Sharing more details of the situation of this pregnancy. Warning: it's a mouthful. At my 21 week scan, everything with baby looked normal but my doctor mentioned there was something that she wanted to bring up to me - my placenta was lying low near my cervix area. She didn’t want to worry me but she wanted me to be aware that this happens one in every 200 pregnancies. Nine out of ten times, the placenta will naturally move itself to the top and away from the cervix, allowing me to have a vaginal birth. She went on to say that in the case that my placenta doesn’t move, she will want to transfer me to another hospital that specializes in cases like this. Weeks went by, and by the time I reached 31 weeks, my placenta still had not moved and was completely covering my cervix, therefore I was diagnosed with complete placenta-previa which requires a c-section, and advised to transfer to another hospital where they could monitor my pregnancy more closely.  I asked my doctor so many questi...

I am currently on Day 4 in the hospital on bed rest. “Bed rest” can mean different things for different patients - for me it isn’t super strict, stuck to the bed 24/7; I’m allowed to get up and walk around every now and then, up and down the halls (sounds like an adventure, huh) but ultimately, I should be resting. There is a lounge down the hall with free (but weak) Wifi, a vending machine, free tea/water machine, and a washer + dryer. Down that same hall, I can see all the newborn premie babies thru a glass window. Omg, it’s my favorite part of walking down that hall. I’ll talk more about that later. The hospital I am checked-in at is basically like a NICU but also where mamas who have high-risk pregnancies stay until birth. In my situation, because my placenta is low in the cervix area, it is super risky if I get into early labor. I will also talk more about this another time. There is a lot going on and I’m still trying to get used to the daily “hospital life” schedule here with bl...