Comments on: Getting Pregnant in Japan – Part One: Becoming a Gaijin Daddy in Your Home Away From Home

By: fwpkyl

fwpkyl — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:40:40 +0000

By: Puss

Puss — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 06:38:50 +0000

You’ve really captured all the esestianls in this subject area, haven’t you?

By: TPL

TPL — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 13:10:47 +0000

Premature I’, in a similar shoes and ‘ve been searching to see anybody delibrately not taking utemerin and still fine. I noted that even with the medicine my uterus still contracted, so i stopped. It’s been 10 days since I stopped and I’m a bit scared, although there’s very few contracts now and then.
My situation is more severe than your wife I guess because I had very painful contraction on 23/12 and had to hospitalized for 2 days.
Please keep me updated with how you’re doing and how many weeks you’ve reached till now. I’m just 27 weeks. my email is gettinginfo161@gmail.com so please get me updated if anything goes with you.

By: premature

premature — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:24:19 +0000

Well that’s part of the problem, hills zoku.
For a start it is hard to get into the room with my wife at the OB/GYN because men aren’t allowed to participate in most processes. Then when I finally got in, he was clearly not used to dealing with people with questions as he suddenly got defensive and was pretty useless. At the end of the day he admitted that there was research out there suggesting that previous research supporting the use of Utemerin in stopping premature births may not have been statistically significant. He quickly followed up with the usual scare tactics. If there is even a small chance that Utemerin is the difference between a premature baby and a term birth then why take the risk? That is why he regularly prescribes it.
In the end my wife decided to stop taking it after a week. She didn’t notice any benefits from it while she was taking it (ie contractions continued). Ironically, she decided to just take it easy the next week and not exert herself very much instead of taking the medicine. The doctor (not realizing she wasn’t taking the medicine) was thrilled at how effective the “medicine” had been as her risk of being premature suddenly dropped that week.
Oh, and all of that was a month ago and she still hasn’t given birth yet! Everyone has to make these decisions for themselves but I am happy with the decision that we made this time.

By: hills zoku

hills zoku — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:14:28 +0000

Premature,
I know this may sound too obvious, but have you asked your doctor what he thinks about the drugs risks and why it is only prescribed in Japan?

By: premature

premature — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:24:47 +0000

I’ve done some more research but I still don’t know the answer to the question “is it safe for my wife to take.” Let me share with you what I found just in case there is someone else out there wondering the same thing.

Some interesting blog entries in Japanese about Utemerin:

http://ameblo.jp/obgyn0331/entry-10000356951.html
http://demidemico.blog100.fc2.com/blog-entry-193.html
http://www.e-pharma.jp/dirbook/contents/data/prt/2590004F1192.html

Apparently the main ingredient is ritodrine hydrochloride (塩酸リトドリン). Here are a few English links that talk about how effective it isn’t in halting pre-term pregnancies:

http://www.drugs.com/mmx/ritodrine-hydrochloride.html
http://www.faqs.org/abstracts/Health/The-national-impact-of-ritodrine-hydrochloride-for-inhibition-of-preterm-labor.html
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=18257754

The general message seems to be that Utemerin is used as an intravenous drug in 50 countries around the world for serious cases but Japan is the only country who administers it as an oral drug for less serious cases. Main reason seems to be that the jury seems to be
out on its efficiacy and the side effects are pretty awful for the Mother. Food for thought.

Kissei Pharma has been selling it in Japan since 1986: “UTEMERIN, a drug for threatened premature labor and threatened abortion”

They sell about $50 million worth of it every year and it is their third biggest selling drug although back in 2001 they were selling 70% (in yen terms) more than they expect to sell this year. Sounds a bit fishy to me…
2001 8.4 bln JPY
2002 7.5 bln JPY
2003 7.3 bln JPY
2004 6.4 bln JPY
2005 6.2 bln JPY
2006 5.7 bln JPY
2007 5.5 bln JPY
2008 5.5 bln JPY
2009 4.9 bln JPY (estimate)

By: premature

premature — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:18:45 +0000

Can anyone tell me about the drug Utemerin and how safe it is for my wife to take?
She’s in her third trimester and her Doctor suddenly told her that she has the risk of giving birth prematurely and so has been given a prescription of 5mg Utemerin (ウテメリン) and told not to exert herself.
My wife tells me that it is a very common medicine to be issued in Japan because many people are at risk of a premature delivery. (Just because it is common in Japan isn’t enough to convince me.) I know that her sister was also told to stay at home for nearly two months in her final trimester and given some sort of drug to supposedly hold the baby in for longer. She claims that many of her friends from maternity classes were also taking medicine for the same reason. Just to add another data point, the wife of a colleague at work was forced to lie down in a hospital bed for the last 3-4 months of her pregnancy because she was supposedly at risk (meaning she even had to attend her wedding with a drip and a doctor). Is it really that common? Or is it just something that Japanese doctors are paranoid about?
Worse yet, is it just a drug that is easy to prescribe and has a high rebate fee? How many pregnant mothers are going to take the risk and not take medicine when their doctor tells them that they might give birth to a premature baby. My wife’s doctor was apparently quite vague about the whole thing and how he had come to his conclusion. (I would go along too if I was welcome at the clinic – like the guy who wrote the first comment above).

By: tassie

tassie — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:09:31 +0000

Papa-san,
I can relate somewhat to your story. My wife gave birth last week. We chose a respected hospital in our local area which was famous for being a great place to give birth. I guess my wife only asked females what their opinion was. I wouldn’t know. After our lovely little daughter came out into the big wide world I was allowed to hug her once and then she was taken into the new bubbies room. Only Mum’s are allowed into the room where the new babies are kept and babies aren’t brought outside of that room for a week. What does that mean? The only way I could see my baby was from the other side of the big glass window of the room. I felt like a stranger looking at my own little girl.

By: Anru

Anru — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:10:59 +0000

Hi all you newbie gaijin dads.

Sorry to be the bringer of bad news, but cast your eyes over this thread if you haven’t already.

http://www.stippy.com/japan-culture/is-japan-really-sexless/#comments

Call me all the names under the sun, tell me she’s different from the average Japanese woman, but just mark my words…

By: SupeMorgan

SupeMorgan — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 04:02:59 +0000

BK.
Whats your job? how free are you for travel? is the two year waiting period a legal matter or can the process be hurried depending on circumstances? Do you have a work visa in Japan already?

If you are the biological father of the child, and the mother ackowledges it or you take a DNA test, your name will be on the birth certificate. However, Japan can be rather harsh on foreign parents if they are not there at time of birth or if the mother does not have your name put on the birth certificate. BUT being that she is Japanese and the whole single mother thing isnt the best option for a woman, she will probably have you on there regardless.

if you can legally be in japan or she can legally be in ireland, just wait for the divorce to go through and enjoy your time with your new family.

————————

Aside from that… i have a comment. I travel japan and the rest of asia in sports competition (snowboarding) but i have known the japanese language for many many years and use japan as like a home base really. ive been basically stationed here for years but am always on a kankou visa. This makes certain things for me kinda difficult. Since i spend most of my time in Japan, obviously I have grown close to someone. We’re going to have a child and what is most important to me is family. This child is mine, I will be there for it until the day i die. 今から、先も、ずっと。i will always take care of that child the best i possibly can.

What i have to look at now is marriage. where to do it, where to raise the child, how to raise the child. i am looking forward to being a gaijin dad here though, especially cause i live in tohoku haha, im inaka’ed out up here. nanimo nai yo… gaijin ga zenzen inai.

I want to say thanks for writing all this, its good for me to read when i get nervous or scared. I can honestly say its definitely calmed me down a bit or brightened my outlook on this whole concept and situation. oh god and where to work… eeeesh, i gotta make good money to support a family! Thanks again though, and keep on writing!