A Father-To-Be Arrives in Japan

8th October, 2006 - It was an uneventful flight on the way to Japan... unlike previous trips, we had planned to come and go from the Kansai International Airport (or more commonly referred to as KIX). This was quite different from Narita airport and I have to say that my first impression was that it was much better. Even though it was October however, the air outside was quite hot and humid. The entire airport is built upon re-claimed land in the middle of the bay, and it's a strange feeling to see this flat expanse of concrete island surrounded by water.

The flight over to Sapporo, a little longer now from KIX, was a nervous time for me. How do you greet your now pregnant wife at the airport?...What do you say? "Well done" just didn't quite seem to cut it. In the end there was only one thing to do - a giant-sized hug... and a proud "I love you". This was the first time for me to see my wife as a mum-to-be... it was just a little weird to think that there was a little life growing inside of her... of course, by this stage you couldn't really tell.

I still haven't quite got used to the Japanese reserve for showing affection in public... even under these circumstances T-chan didn't feel comfortable about getting too affectionate in public... and especially in front of her parents.

As you can see from below - I looked pretty chuffed and happy with myself. It was a huge relief to be back "home" with T-chan at long last. There was definitely a few things that would need to change in our lives. That's one of the unavoidable things about parenting - but they were going to be (excuse the pun) baby steps.

Whilst I was in Adelaide, we'd been speaking on Messenger and also over the phone... at least once per day. I knew pretty well what was happening in terms of T-chan's pregnancy, including T-chan's loss of taste and smell (this was a recurring thing all throughout her pregnancy) as well as her inability to feel satisfied whilst eating. A bad combination. As for myself, I was having to try and give up smoking... Japan was however the WRONG country to try and go cold-turkey in... Smoking is just so easy, fun and cheap.Yet I'd packed a carton of nicorette gums and tried my best. Being happy and content with the world is one good way of reducing.

That and the fact that my wife had given up smoking 100% immediately on finding out she was pregnant. Women are strong, but mothers are even stronger.