Baby Update (Or how towels can stop us living on cardboard)
March 31st, 2006 by quaisiIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
We went to the baby clinic today and came away with a few new ultrasound photos, definitive answers regarding the sex and a measurement of its feet (5cms.) It`s 100% assured that Reiko is giving birth to a girl. I`m not too happy posting pictures of my unborn child`s genitalia so you`ll have to trust me on this.
With each new picture I put up, the realisation grows that in the coming months my life is going to change. The realisation has grown from disbelief at the very start, “You can`t be pregnant! There must be something wrong with the test!”, to gradual acceptance when confronted with a printout of the foetus, to seeing other families out and about in Osaka and imagining myself in their place. Whoever said Japan`s birthrate is declining obviously hasn`t been to the baby factory that is Osaka.
The expense of it all is the largest worry at the moment, especially when confronted with the price of all the paraphernalia that go along with it - the pushchair, cot, baby car seat and clothes. Reiko is particularly susceptible to the latter, emitting screams of, “Kawaii!” (How cute!), when confronted with any items of baby clothing - seemingly the more expensive, the louder are her screams.
This has prompted me to put my foot down and decree as leader of the household that essential cost-saving decisions will be taken.
1: Until the baby is six, she will be clothed in towels held together with safety pins. After she is six, we will consider upgrading to different coloured ones and/or bath towels.
2: Until she is six or until supplies dry up, she will be breast-fed. Reiko is producing free nourishment, we might as well use it as long as we can.
3: In a similar vein, we will be using the milk to produce cheese and cream either for her consumption or for sale towards more towels.
4: Pushchairs, cots and baby car seats will be manufactured by myself out of wood and any towels we are able to buy via the above methods with no regard for any national or international safety standards.
5: Disposable nappies and cotton nappies will be shunned in favour of towels that have outlived their usefulness as clothes.
These five steps should enable us to survive without living on cardboard. Hopefully by the time she is six, we will have saved enough money to start thinking seriously about the expense needed to start a baby. Perhaps.
Posted in Baby, Life in Japan |
April 1st, 2006 at 1:08 am
She’s got your eyes, definitely ^_^
April 1st, 2006 at 2:47 am
I think I will buy some stock in the company that makes Cup Noodles. Also, only flush the toilet once a day and if you are really hard up, you can bathe in the Doutonbori
April 1st, 2006 at 4:57 am
Ha ha - your dry wit made me grin.
Good luck in the coming months - keep us updates - if your going to start looking for towels now i suggest http://www.towels.co.uk/ - i think they do international deliveries
April 1st, 2006 at 1:22 pm
Things that will sound disgusting or uncomfortable to you now that in a few months you won’t bat an eye at:
Drool, and lots of it. On you, possibly even in your mouth.
Being vomited upon. No alcohol involved, either.
Standing in a crowd of people you don’t know, bouncing up and down or possibly doing a silly dance. And laughing. And not caring who sees you.
Being accidentally tongue-kissed by a three-month-old. In public.
Going back to the restaurant and asking the host, “Has anyone turned in a lost Lily Leapfrog?”
Drool. Lots of drool. Dripping down your hand. And not jumping at the chance to wipe it off.
Eating a piece of wet, half-chewed bread offered by the hand of a seven-month-old who is hopefully learning to share.
Learning to regard the splash of baby puke on your sleeve as a “badge of honor” instead of something that has to be cleaned up immediately…
Changing your daughter’s overloaded diaper in the men’s room while other men do their thing around you.
Did I mention the drool…?
April 1st, 2006 at 9:58 pm
I had my daughter here in Japan, the hospital bill almost made me have a heart attack, thank god hoken covered about 80% of it.
You need to get yourself hooked up with other people who have kids and ask for recycled stuff. Half my daughters first months clothes were used by someone else first. Her bed and carseat were all donated. It was a blessing let me tell ya!!!
And I used all the monthly ultrasound pics to create an awsome scrapbook!!! nobody has anything like that back at home!!
April 2nd, 2006 at 12:53 am
“Whoever said Japan`s birthrate is declining obviously hasn`t been to the baby factory that is Osaka.”
A lot of the mothers I’ve seen round Osaka seem to be on the young side. Maybe Japan has looked to Britain and decided that teenage girls getting knocked up early are a sure-fire solution to its birth-rate problem.
April 2nd, 2006 at 12:40 pm
how exciting!
June 10th, 2006 at 2:01 pm
Congratulations on the pregnancy! I have 2 little girls and I can assure you that, yes, they are expensive. There is just so much more you can buy for a girl. Good luck!
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