NATURAL SURPRISES

Well the big story on Pure Land Mountain is that very early on Wednesday morning Kasumi (whose architect husband Tatsuya is finishing a huge building up north) began feeling the uterine contractions, so I and Echo drove her and Kaya about 45 minutes along the Lakeside road to the midwife's clinic (Kaya was very eager to observe the birth of the new baby brother she wanted). We got there in good time, got Kasumi settled in, and I waited outside while she, Echo, the midwife and Kaya set about getting a birth into process.

Some time later I went back inside and Kaya was running in circles so I took her to visit the famous and beautiful lakeside site of the pine of Karasaki not far from the clinic, where she enjoyed running around barefoot picking up pine needles and looking at the boats going by. After about an hour we went back to the clinic for the latest news; Echo said the contractions were getting weaker so it would probably take some time (here history had its effect; this clinic was the very one where Kaya had tried to be born, over two years ago, but had taken much too long, preferring from the very start to do things her own way, necessitating her being brought into the world at the hospital in Otsu on the first day of the new millennium). We therefore concluded that history was about to repeat itself, and it would likely be a matter of many hours yet. So it was decided that I would take Kaya home for lunch; anyway, it was time for her nap; indeed, she fell asleep soon after we started back.

When we arrived home, about an hour later, planning to return to the clinic in 2~3 hours, Keech told me that Echo had called: the baby had been born! It was a girl, named Mitsuki. Keech then went to take a shower in prep for our immediate return to the clinic, when Echo called again, saying that after the baby was born they were waiting for the placenta, the midwife saying 'This is taking an awfully long time' (it sounded to me like bad news coming) and 'That looks like a very large placenta, but it doesn't seem to be progressing at all,' so the midwife gave a listen with the stethoscope and nearly fainted when she heard another heartbeat in there. There is nothing in the world as deep as a natural surprise.

Just last month, at the midwife's request, Kasumi had visited the gynecologist in the village down the road, and been given the all clear. The midwife assumed that an ultrasound scan had been included, and since Kasumi had said nothing, believed that all was as usual. Our family, however, has always avoided unnecessary medical procedures and drugs, so there was no ultrasound. Thus no one, not even Kasumi, knew she was carrying twins. Forty minutes after Mitsuki had come into the world, her identical twin sister Miyasa was born. (Fortunately, Kasumi and Tatsuya had wanted different names if the baby was a girl, so they both got their wish.)

If Kasumi had had an ultrasound scan, and thus found out she was carrying twins, the midwife would have had to refuse to attend the birth. By Japanese law [Later correction: not by law, but by general midwife clinic avoidance of many possible complications, insurance etc. One would have a hard time here finding a midwife clinic that would knowingly accept a multiple-birth client. RB.] all multiple births must be delivered in hospitals; but since no one knew until mid-way through, it was a first for the midwife too. Kasumi now had her arms full; Tatsuya would soon be holding his twin daughters; Kaya was all at once a double big sister, Echo and I new twin grandparents. When Keech came out of the shower, I told him the new news, that he was suddenly a triple uncle. By the time we got back to the clinic, Kasumi had sent the twins' pictures out to all her friends around the world via her cam-phone. The twins, who at the time looked and slept like a couple of umeboshi, didn't look like they knew how worldwide they already were at their age, which perhaps is just as well.