Sadly, I miscarried a couple days ago (I was five weeks along). My obgyn at Sanno Hospital said I might need a D&C. Can anyone tell me what this procedure is like in Japan, whether they use anesthesia, sedatives, etc.? Thanks so much.

Hello,
I am in a peculiar situation, and would like any kind of help I could get. I am 6 days late for my
period, I have a small baby who is 6 months old, I thought breastfeeding took care of birth control, but apparently not, as I have found out the hard way.

I am new to Japan, and would like to know how I can terminate the preganancy, is it done by medicine or operation? What to expect in either case? can anyone recommend any good English speaking doctor especially good at this procedure. You can also email me privately.

Janice

Hi Janice,

I`m sure many people have responded to your mail but to answer your questions I have two that I think everyone would like to know.

1. Have you done a home pregnancy test? They have them at any pharmacy and have instructions in English on some of them.

2. Where are you? I live in Yokohama so of course only know drs in this area.

Take care

Heather

No havent yet done HPT, can you tell me a brand with English instructions. I am looking for a doctor in Tokyo.

Janice

Janice
I am a Lactation Consultant in Tokyo and saw your post here.
Breastfeeding can actually make your periods go a bit irregular, so it would be worth confirming pregnancy with a home test first. The OTC tests are sold in the pharmacies and there is one called One Step. See http://www.pure-supli.com/T-OTR-007.html

Breastfeeding can be an effective method of birth control only until baby starts taking things other than breastmilk (food, formula) and/or until baby is sleeping longer stretches at night, and in some people it is not even effective for that long.

When you have resolved this situation, you can talk to a doctor here about alternative methods of contraception while breastfeeding. You could try Dr Symonds at The Tokyo British Clinic.
http://www.tokyobritishclinic.com/

Once you've confirmed that you are pregnant. Here is a non-invasive option that has helped out many in the past. It only works very early in the pregnancy, so it is very important that you decide quickly if you want to try it. I've heard up to 16 days after the first missed period is about the limit. But I know people who used it a bit later (say 20 days) with success.

If it doesn't work, you can still fall back on the establishment. It's the vitamin C method and you can find out about it by doing a search on the internet.

Related topic Fertility contains information in first post on buying pregnancy test and ovulation test kits in Japan.