<Begin Segment 30>

TY: [Jpn.] Yes. Then, well, when you were pregnant with Lillian...

MK: [Jpn.] Yes.

TY: [Jpn.] Then...

MK: [Jpn.] And then...

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] Well, South Park...

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] Well, we often went to my uncle Araki's place.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] They, they loved Lillian most. Wherever we went, Lillian was loved most.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] The younger children were not loved as much. How strange!

TY: [Jpn.] I see. I hear your husband loved Lillian most.

MK: [Jpn.] Yes. He loved her. Also Aunt Araki did.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] My uncle also loved only Lillian. How strange!

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. They loved her very much.

TY: [Jpn.] By the way, did you go see a doctor during the pregnancy? For a check-up?

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. You mean at birth?

TY: [Jpn.] Before the birth. During the pregnancy.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. That's right.

TY: [Jpn.] People go to see doctors for check-ups.

MK: [Eng.] Uh-huh.

TY: [Jpn.] Did you see a Japanese doctor for that?

MK: [Jpn.] At that time...

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] We had a midwife.

TY: [Jpn.] Oh.

MK: [Jpn.] Just like in Japan.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] You have midwives in Japan. Well, maybe she doesn't know. [points to AI]

TY: [Jpn.] I see. What is a "midwife"?

MK: [Jpn.] A midwife is a person who helps with childbirth.

TY: [Jpn.] At the house of a pregnant woman?

MK: [Jpn.] No. No. Yeah. Yeah. That's right.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] She comes to your house and helps with childbirth.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] That's called "midwife". Midwife.

TY: [Jpn.] Then, did she live in Sunnydale?

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. A Japanese person.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] There was one.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] A midwife came from Japan...

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] A woman with that job was going around the area.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. She did. But the last of my children... the last two were born at a hospital. Uh-huh.

TY: [Jpn.] Then the first five were born with the midwife.

MK: [Jpn.] One, two, three, four. That's right. Four. About five.

TY: [Jpn.] That's four, isn't it?

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] I see. Then you call up a midwife and ask her to come when you are ready to give birth.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. That's right.

TY: [Jpn.] I see. Then...

MK: [Jpn.] I am allowed to give birth at home. In Japan, too, a child was born at home, right?

TY: [Jpn.] They did in the old days.

MK: [Jpn.] It was that way in the old days. Well, but if you are in the military, it's different. You can go to a hospital and then give birth at a hospital. If your husband is in the military. But most of us who are farmers have no such chance. So we use a midwife. Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] Then when you notice your pregnancy...

MK: [Jpn.] The midwife comes around the neighborhood and checks on you.

TY: [Jpn.] Oh, I see.

MK: [Jpn.] See? The midwife does everything for you.

TY: [Jpn.] Then the midwife visits you regularly to check on you.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. That's right. She touches your belly to check.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Well, I don't know much, but they say some babies are in the wrong position or such. Something like that. So she goes around to check.

<End Segment 30> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.