Still Blogging Along....

This poor blog has really been left by the wayside in the midst of the pregnancy and move back to Australia. I do hope to come back to this blog at some point, but in the meantime, I continue to blog over at Kimono Reincarnate.

The big news in these parts is that two and a half weeks ago, I gave birth to a beautiful and healthy baby girl.

Nine Weeks and One Day

In nine weeks and one day, I'm leaving Japan.

In nine weeks and two days, I'll no longer be a gaijin. Well not technically at least, I think once a gaijin, there's always a bit of gaijin-ness that stays with us.

In nine weeks and two days, you'll find me on the Cairns waterfront eating fish and chips, possibly following that with a lamington for dessert.

In nine weeks and three days, I'll be picking up the keys for our new townhouse in Brisbane.

I'm not sure when I'll get to Japan next, after those nine weeks and one day. And when I do, I'm not sure for how long it will be. I'm so very sad about leaving Japan, but very happy about moving home. I'm excited and terrified about starting a new life.

Only nine weeks and one day left.

Japanese Ten Month Pregnancies

The first time I heard about ten month pregnancies, I was shocked and confused. I was talking to a student, incidentally, the same student that I had the "Cowfrog" conversation with. The student was quite heavily pregnant at the time.

"How many months along are you?" I asked.

"Nine months", she replied.

"Oh wow! So you could have the baby anytime now!"

"No, I still have a month to go."

"But you just said you were nine months pregnant....." I said to her with a confused expression.

"Yes, pregnancies are for ten months." She said, now returning my confused look.

"No.... they last for nine....."

"Really?? Japanese women are pregnant for ten months!"

At this point we both just agreed to be confused.

It does all make sense now. It's simply a matter of how you count.

So, in Japan, a pregnancy is considered to start at the beginning of the cycle, rather than from the actual conception date. This is how the English language pregnancy books and doctors count it as well. So that takes the gestation to 40 weeks. Divide that into LUNAR months, rather than calendar months and there you have it! Ten months!

This folks, concludes today's cultural and math lesson.