He is a healthy baby boy

I gave birth to him.
I want you to imagine a radiant expression like that of a producer on a package of organic vegetables.

There is a mother who feels proud looking at her child sleeping peacefully and comfortably right next to her.
I will be discharged soon, so I decided to leave this as a memorandum.
This is a childbirth report from a mahjong pro who went through the major event of giving birth.

I am not someone who is good with pain.
I am scared of injections and they hurt, so I always try not to look at the needle tip.
Even before I got pregnant, I had decided that I would give birth using an "epidural".
It is said that epidurals have not yet permeated Japan and account for only about 8% of all births.
Epidurals cost more than natural childbirth, and it seems there is still a kind of aesthetic to giving birth naturally.
My brain has a simple structure, so"I'll just pay to take the pain away"with that kind of light attitude, I booked a clinic for an epidural without ever hesitating.
It seems that in Tokyo, they started subsidizing the cost of epidurals from October 2025.
I thought it would have been nice if it had been decided a little earlier, but there is nothing I can do about that.
I can only hope that the increase in the option of epidurals due to this subsidy will improve the declining birthrate even a little.
Or maybe I will benefit from it with my second child.
That will surely be a story for the distant future.

Going back in time, this was one week before the planned birth.
The clinic I booked recommended planned epidural childbirth, and the flow was to decide the day of birth after the full-term period (37 weeks), be hospitalized in the morning, and give birth using labor-inducing drugs.
As the due date approached, my catchphrase while suffering every day with a big belly was "I want to give birth soon".
However, although I say I want to give birth soon, it is also my true feeling that I don't want the baby to be born too soon.
It seems necessary for the fetus to be safely supplied with nutrients in the womb for as long as possible and to grow properly.
I am not wishing for a premature birth.
"I want to give birth soon" was used to mean "I want to end these painful days soon".

I feel like this was not good.

While I was sleeping, I woke up with the sensation that my underwear had suddenly become damp.
It seems that it is common to have urinary incontinence due to a large belly in the late stages of pregnancy, so I headed to the toilet while half-asleep, thinking I would just go there.
When I pulled down my underwear and wiped with tissue,

it was undoubtedly blood.

And it wasn't a small amount, but a decent amount, and it was just starting to drip and dye the water in the toilet bowl red.
My brain woke up in an instant and turned into impatience.

"Blood came out, what should I do?"

I wake up my sleeping husband.
My husband, who sensed an unusual atmosphere, kept his eyes closed and
"Call the hospital"
he gave me that very calm advice.

I felt a mysterious sense of shame that if I called the hospital just because of some blood, I would be brushed off with something like "This is common, haha," so I decided to search on my smartphone for the time being.
I learned that while bleeding is common, a large amount of thin blood requires an emergency.
While thinking that it was good to be in this modern age where I can search immediately with my smartphone if something happens, I decided to call the hospital and head there by taxi.

When I arrived at the hospital, I had an examination and a pelvic exam, and the doctor told me,"Your water has broken, you are hospitalized."I was told.

Eh, can I give birth already? Yay!! Wait, it's good that the fetus is okay, but isn't that premature? It's a week early, is it okay?? Eh?? Also, can I do it with an epidural??
I feel like I was spinning around thinking that.
(I am writing it as it is on purpose.)

After that, I wrote documents and had my husband bring my luggage, and the time of birth was approaching busily.
When I got on the table in the room called LDR and the doctor's examination started, it seems that although my water had broken,my cervix had only opened 0.5 centimeters.
When it opens 10 centimeters, it will finally be time for birth.
Since labor had not started yet, I was told to return to my room for a while and wait for labor.
If labor did not come, they would give me labor-inducing drugs the next morning to give birth.
I was told that if labor started from now on, they would administer anesthesia, so I should contact them again.
Let me know if it hurts even a little., the doctor said and left.

When I returned to the room and was restless, my husband finished work and rushed over.
I was afraid that I would have to give birth alone, but I remember feeling relieved when I saw my husband's face.
Since eating was prohibited after 24:00, I had him buy me a light meal and I spent time eating it until the last minute.

Without realizing that I was going to give birth, while I was talking about how I was going to give birth tomorrow while eating ice cream, I felt like my stomach was throbbing with pain.
Isn't it hard to say it hurts when it's at a level where you feel like it might hurt but it might just be your imagination? Is it just me?

When I was feeling uneasy like that, my stomach hurt in an ambiguous way, feeling like the pain was getting stronger.
Is this labor? What is it?
Someone tell me this pain is labor──

The doctor said to let him know if it hurts even a little...
I didn't know, so I decided to ask via the nurse call.


Ring... click

"This is H (midwife's name). Yes, what's wrong?"

"Excuse me, I feel like it hurts, what should I do?"

"When did it start hurting before that?"

...I don't remember!!!
I mean, tell me if you want me to count labor!!!

"...Maybe about 15 minutes ago."
I remember saying this quite randomly.

"If so, is it still early? It shouldn't be unless the interval is less than 10 minutes. If it hurts too much, I can administer anesthesia, though."

...That's different from what I heard!!!
The doctor said to let him know if it hurts even a little!!!
Totoro is here!!!!!!

"...Yes, I understand."
I couldn't think of this pain as something classified as "hurts too much," so I decided to give up.

About 10 minutes after the nurse call, H called me.
During that time, the ambiguous pain continued.
"This is H. How is the pain? If it really hurts, tell me."
"I'm still okay."

30 minutes later
"This is H. Since you are having an epidural, you shouldn't endure it."
"Yes, I will watch the situation a little more."

No, you definitely think you made a mistake at first!!
You are reflecting that you made me endure it because of you!!
I mean, why have you been speaking casually since a while ago?!!!

I had various thoughts, but I didn't have any desire to punish H.
It was simply pain that I could endure, and I thought that childbirth would start in the morning anyway, so I had a stronger feeling that I should just sleep.

Before I knew it, the clock hand was pointing at 4 AM.
I couldn't fall asleep easily because I had periodic abdominal pain and I was excited.
At that time

Knock knock
A knocking sound suddenly echoed in the room.

"This is H."

Finally, she forced her way in!!! It's hot~~~!

"How is the pain? The pain can be removed with anesthesia, what will you do?"

Well then, I understand.
If you say that much, let's take it, the pain.

So, the pregnant woman decided to be taken away quietly.
In the meantime, when I looked at the bed, my husband was sleeping with a peaceful breath.
He has such a carefree face even though I am fighting with the midwife.
While grinding my teeth, the pregnant woman left the room.

When I arrived at the LDR, the doctor appeared briskly even though it was late at night.

"You were in pain, I will take it away with anesthesia immediately, so don't worry."

Are you God?
I wanted to say that I had pain from earlier, but H made me endure it, but I couldn't say it as a person.
I cannot show such an unsightly figure to God.

It seems my cervix was 3 centimeters open, and that ambiguous pain was the beginning of labor.
If I had endured it as it was, it must have become more painful.
H, you did well to take me out.

According to God, they will insert anesthesia near the spine with something called epidural anesthesia from now on.
After the anesthetic injection was inserted, they were working efficiently while making clattering sounds.
I felt relieved by the smooth progress, feeling many achievements and trust.
I don't know what was being done at all, but I had a strange ticklish feeling as if several hard things were entering around my spine.
I feel like I've become a cyborg, and I feel like I've become mentally stronger.

It seems the procedure was finished, and it seems I will be left alone except for having anesthesia added periodically and checking the opening of the cervix.
During that time, as expected of an epidural, there was almost no pain at all.
Before I knew it, I couldn't move my lower body with my own will, and I had no sensation even if I touched it.
Two lumps of meat are just lying miserably on the table.
I couldn't even change my posture.
I could only play with my smartphone on the hard table, and I repeated sleeping and waking up while dozing off.
It seems that from 3 centimeters of cervix, it takes 10 hours for a first-time mother to give birth, Google's AI told me.

The time is 9 AM.

It's still a long way off~ while I was thinking that, the doctor who appeared briskly again
"It's time for birth soon."
I was told.

Eh!?! Why?! Why!!
It's only been about 5 hours, doctor!!!

While being bewildered by the suddenness, I sent a LINE message to my husband who was waiting in the room, saying that the baby is about to be born!
By the way, it seems he ate the hospital breakfast earlier.
I was hungry, so I was angry.

I was excited that the time of birth had finally come.
It's a feeling like a movie that I thought would take a long time has suddenly approached its climax.
It's lonely, but the excitement won over that.
This can also be said to be a merit of having no labor pain.
If I had been fighting the pain, I might have been exhausted and not felt this way.
I was waiting for that moment with excitement.

10 o'clock, still not called.
11 o'clock, still not called.
12 o'clock, still not called.

What do you mean 'any minute now'?!!?

I sent a LINE message to my husband.
It seems he had already eaten the hospital lunch.
I was incredibly angry.

Just as I was getting tired of waiting, the midwife and the doctor finally arrived, and preparations moved forward all at once.
I flinched for a second when they said they would use a catheter to drain my urine, but there was no pain at all.
Thank you, epidural anesthesia.

Just as I was feeling impressed by the anesthesia, it seemed everything was ready.
They told me, 'Call your husband.'
I sent a LINE message saying, 'Come now!'
'Did you call your husband? Okay. Now, grab here and push, now! Push!'

I tried pushing as I was told, but I had no idea how to put in the effort.
After all, my lower body felt like a lump of meat.
I pushed, relying only on the sensations I had experienced in my 34 years of life.

'Good, good, that's the way!'

Even though I couldn't feel a thing, I was being praised.
I didn't really understand what was happening, but apparently, I was doing it right.

More than that,
(My husband isn't here yet, is that okay?!)
was all I could think about.

I was told to push again.

As before, I felt absolutely nothing.
My husband still hadn't arrived.

(Hurry up and get here!! It's going to be born!!!)

I started to feel impatient.

And why wouldn't the doctors wait for my husband to arrive...
I was starting to feel sad that this feeling of mine wasn't getting through.

Then, as I started my third push, my husband finally appeared.
I don't remember if I said it or not, but I thought, 'You were just lounging around in the room, so you sure took your time.'

'Hurry up and record a video!'
I remember saying that.
My husband was being instructed by the midwife to attach his smartphone here.
'This is hard to attach... I wonder if it's recording...' he muttered while fumbling with it.

And then I started the third push.
It seems the birth was progressing smoothly.

'Husband, please lift her up from the pillows to support her!'

He was told that and was lifting me, buthe was really just lifting the pillows, so it wasn't any support at all.
It would have been more helpful if he had supported my back instead.

And he just became a parrot, repeating whatever the doctor said.
Doesn't he have any words of his own?

And after pushing a few more times, the baby was born safely.
He is a 3032g baby boy.
I think it must have been a very easy birth.
The moment he came out, I felt like I was going to cry, but I felt embarrassed and held it back.
Thinking about it now, I think I should have just cried properly.
The composure of not feeling any pain calmly stopped my tears.
I suppose that could be called a disadvantage.
It means that an epidural birth provides that much composure.

While I was holding back my tears, my husband said,'He has hair.'He said it two or three times.
That must have been what impressed him the most.
He must have thought that all babies were bald.

And so, I was able to finish my first childbirth event safely.

I am truly, from the bottom of my heart, glad that both mother and child are healthy.
We will just do our best to support this child so that he can continue to live a healthy and happy life from here on out.

I just hope that when that time comes,
he will properly support my back.