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Japanese Midwife Houses

I am back in Sydney after my whirlwind trip to Japan. It was very busy and although I had a little time to write up my experiences, it was difficult to upload them. Therefore, I will give you my impressions and notes over the coming days, along with some photos.

Here is the first instalment:

The oldest Midwife House in Tokyo was established in 1906 and is still going strong. It is a traditional Japanese house, tucked away in a small street, next to the other shops in this corner of the downtown area (Higashi-Mukoujima, Sumida-ku). Visiting it was a great privilege, and I shown around by Teruko Fukuoka, whose mother was the first midwife. She herself is 84 years old, although you would never know this as she nimbly moved about, proudly showing off her facilities and caring for the three new mothers in residence.

On the ground floor level is a lounge area for waiting and a consultation room. There is an ultrasound machine and other mod cons, tucked in and around the old style furnishings. Upstairs is the meeting and class room with a bathroom to the side. The small, deep bath is very popular, with around 50% of women giving birth in this tiny tub. There are 3 post-natal rooms, with traditional tatami matting, mattresses on the floor and all the other furniture one would expect in a home. Another room is equipped with a normal hospital bed and this is used for those rare cases when there is a problem and assistance might be required. There is even a small nursery with a humidicrib, although any really sick baby is transferred to the nearby hospital.

The meals are prepared by a cook and women generally stay 2 or 3 days after the birth.

This birth house has an annexe, where women who would have liked a home birth if they had the opportunity, can give birth in a traditional Japanese setting. The birth room (bedroom) has tatami matting, a futon on the floor, wood and paper screens that slide back to reveal a Japanese garden, and the rooms are decorated with Japanese woodcuts, soft lighting and appropriate colours and furnishings. The clothes for the new baby are set out on a cushion beside the duvet covered futon and the whole room exudes a peacefulness and serenity that is very welcoming and conducive to a spiritual experience. This was modern Japanese living with the old fashioned touch that seemed very much in keeping with the midwifery philosophy of care that underpins this service. It was wonderful.

While I was there, I learned two useful and interesting techniques: how the bind the woman’s belly after birth to help support her pelvic floor muscles as they return to normal (so that’s how they regain their sylph like figures!) and another use for Moxa. More about these ideas later.

When the Midwife House opened, there were 50 to 60 births each month, keeping the midwife and her team of five assistants very busy. These days the number of births each year is around 180, and when I visited there were three mothers who had given birth in the previous 24 hours. The women were up and active and proudly swapping stories and babies - I was handed two babies to cuddle which was delightful.

Even though there are around 350 midwife houses in Japan, this number is dwindling. Midwives today are less interested in the business side of running this kind of service and I was told that many of the younger generation of midwives didn’t have the same “passion” as their older sisters. These community birth centres are vital for preserving the essence of midwifery and for offering educational opportunities for trainee midwives. These are the only places where student midwives are likely to see a normal, natural birth with no drugs and women being actively involved in the process.

I will be visiting the newest Midwife House in the next couple of days and I am looking forward to learning more about this unique approach to midwifery care.

Posted by andrea at December 14, 2005 12:43 PM