<Begin Segment 32>

TY: [Jpn.] By the way, did you ever reduce the amount of work since you found out you were pregnant?

MK: [Jpn.] What?

TY: [Jpn.] Did you reduce the amount of work? Or did you take a day off?

MK: [Jpn.] Even if you want to, there is no way to reduce. Impossible.

TY: [Jpn.] I understand.

MK: [Jpn.] But you cannot work fast. You become slow. Everything slows down.

TY: [Jpn.] Because you are heavy.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] But wasn't it hard to work in the hot greenhouse?

MK: [Jpn.] But...

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] My delivery was very easy because I was working.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] See. If you just stay home, your delivery will be very difficult. Because we have been moving around, because we could not stop working just because we were pregnant, our childbirths were easy.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] That was a great benefit. Uh-huh. True.

TY: [Jpn.] Then did you have easy births for all the seven children?

MK: [Jpn.] No. The last two were born at a hospital.

TY: [Jpn.] Oh, yes.

MK: [Jpn.] Uh-huh. Oh, the one was born in the camp.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] Well, one was born in the camp in Wyoming. So he is a Wyoming boy. Uh-huh.

TY: [Jpn.] So the first four were born in Sunnydale.

MK: [Eng.] Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] By the way, when you had your first child...

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. It was painful. Yeah. I cried. [Laughs]

TY: [Jpn.] Did you have somebody you can ask for help besides the midwife?

MK: [Jpn.] I had the midwife.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] You don't need others. Everybody does it just with a midwife.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Isn't it so in Japan, too? The midwife does everything.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] I never heard of two midwives. Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] Then, Lilly was born at home.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah.

TY: [Eng.] But then, did the midwife do everything without any help?

MK: [Jpn.] Yes.

TY: [Jpn.] By herself?

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. The midwife... this one was born in South Park.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Eng.] Uh-huh.

TY: [Jpn.] Then another year.

MK: [Jpn.] And...

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] Oh, when Roy was born...

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] I came here from Sunnydale to help.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] Because my uncle's business was very busy.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] So, I was pregnant, but I didn't have much to do at home. So I came here.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] Then I carried heavy bundles. You collect many flowers and make a bundle. Into one bundle. I was doing it. Suddenly I felt abdominal pain. As soon as I arrived in a hospital, I gave birth. So the baby weighed only three pounds.

TY: [Jpn.] Was that baby Roy?

MK: [Jpn.] Because he was born prematurely, he didn't weigh much. Because I did more than I could, he was born. Because I carried heavy bundles.

TY: [Jpn.] Oh, then the baby...

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. He is fine.

TY: [Jpn.] Which baby was it?

MK: [Jpn.] Yes, the baby was born at home. He was born at South Park. When I went to South Park to help.

TY: [Jpn.] That is...

MK: [Jpn.] Because I went to my uncle's to help, and carried heavy bundles, it came out suddenly. So he weighed only three pounds. I think.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] So, the baby's face was dark. It had a bad complexion. Because it was too small.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] So we took him to a hospital right away and he grew up in an incubator in a hospital.

TY: [Jpn.] Which one is he? Out of seven?

MK: [Jpn.] Well, it is Roy and so the first.

TY: [Jpn.] Oh, the second boy.

MK: [Jpn.] No. The first was a girl.

TY: [Jpn.] Lilly.

MK: [Jpn.] The second is Roy.

TY: [Jpn.] Roy.

MK: [Eng.] Uh-huh.

TY: [Jpn.] Then, Roy was born prematurely.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah, that's right.

TY: [Jpn.] Then, Lilly was born in South Park. No. Where was Lilly?

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. Both of them were in South Park. I went there to help and gave birth there. Because I carried too heavy things. Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] But I am glad he grew up healthy.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. And then...

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] And three months later...

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] Well, what do you say here, that one, which comes out? Hernia?

TY: [Jpn.] Yes. Hernia?

MK: [Jpn.] Hernia. The boy was small and cried hard.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] Because he cried so much, the intestine came out from here.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] So he had an operation. At that time. Though he was little.

TY: [Jpn.] He was so small.

MK: [Eng.] Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] Oh.

MK: [Jpn.] Since it was an operation, they must have given him stitches.

TY: [Jpn.] Oh.

MK: [Jpn.] I don't know what they did. They did some kind of operation. Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] I see. Where was that hospital?

MK: [Eng.] Huh?

TY: [Jpn.] Where was the hospital?

MK: [Jpn.] Oh, in Seattle.

TY: [Jpn.] It must have been difficult to go from Sunnydale.

MK: [Jpn.] No. No. I was in South Park. South Park is close to Seattle.

TY: [Jpn.] Oh, because you were helping them.

MK: [Eng.] Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] It was not Sunnydale. He was born in South Park. So it was close.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] So the hospital was close. Yeah. So my uncle and aunt took good care of us. Instead of my helping them, they had to help me a lot.

TY: [Jpn.] But when you have relatives nearby...

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] You feel safe and secure.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] Yeah.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah.

<End Segment 32> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.