PREGNANT IN JAPAN | HOW MUCH IT COST TO HAVE A BABY IN JAPAN PT. 1 | PRENATAL

Hello Everyone! Today I will be discussing the cost of having my baby here in Japan! Many of you are curious as to how much it cost, and luckily my husband and I take meticulous financial records, so I was able to go back and give you guys a pretty accurate idea of how much it cost for us to give birth in Japan!

This will be part one of two, and part one covers everything prenatal! I will be writing another blog covering the actual birthing and hospital costs at a later time because, actually, I'm still pregnant! 

As for some background information, I am currently 31 years old, fairly healthy, and am having my first child here in Yokohama, Japan. Unfortunately, due to the current pandemic, I will include loss of wages as one of the expenses because I did not work for two months.

Also, in Japan, pregnancy is not considered an illness, so, despite having health insurance, the cost of giving birth is not covered. So, health insurance is not a huge variable. However, the kind of facility you choose to go to, such as public hospital, private clinic, or birth center, will play a part in how much some things cost. I am giving birth and got all of my prenatal appointments done at a public hospital.

Without further ado, lets begin!

Moving

Finding out I was pregnant was a complete surprise. At the time, my husband and I were not living together and both of us lived in one room apartments, which are not suitable for families. Therefore, the first big expense we occurred was moving. Moving is notoriously expensive in Japan, but if we were to create a safe and welcoming environment for our growing family, we couldn't put off moving until after the birth. Therefore, we quickly moved into a two bedroom apartment in a family friendly area. Our upfront cost for moving was: 8,000$ USD

Prenatal Appointments

As I mentioned before, pregnancy is not covered under health insurance, but fortunately, the Japanese government subsidizes about 14 prenatal appointments at various price points. The only appointment that was not subsidized was my very first appointment to confirm pregnancy. I am currently 41 weeks pregnant, and I just had my 14th prenatal appointment, so I am crossing my fingers I go into labor soon because if I don't, I'll have to bear the cost 100%. Also, I did not request anything out of the routine, such as a NIPT test, 3D ultrasound, etc., etc. So, after 14 routine subsidized appointments, and one non-subsidized appointments my current prenatal appointment cost came to: 500$

Transportation

I do not live within walking distance of my hospital, and after moving, I actually moved further away and therefore, increasing the transportation cost! So, calculating round trip train fare to the hospital for the 41 weeks, our transportation cost came out to be: 240$

Lunch

My husband I always ate lunch near the hospital after each appointment because I was always too weak from waiting around to make it the 1 1/2 hour journey home on an empty stomach. So, at about 10.00$ a meal, per person, after each appointment came out to be: 300$

Maternity Clothes

Fortunately, I didn't need to buy a lot of Maternity clothes because I had actually lost a lot of weight when I came to Japan. So, a lot of of my older clothes fit me until about seven months into the pregnancy. I ended up buying two pairs of pajamas, a pair of pants, a pair of leggings, three packs of nursing bras, three packs of maternity underwear, a maternity belt, and three maternity dresses. I am not fashionable by all means, so I currently cycle through these clothes without a care in the world! All items were bought new, but all of them were from budget friendly shops, such as Uniqlo or Shimamura. The total cost of my maternity clothes came to: 200$

Prenatal Care

Your body will go through a lot of changes during pregnancy, and so I needed to buy a few maintenance items, such as prenatal pills, a maternity pillow, one maternity book, and body care items (I became a sweaty mess during my pregnancy and desperately needed wipes, fans, and pads, and ice packs.). These items came to roughly: 100$

Prescriptions

Although I am fairly healthy, I did need to be prescribed iron pills and heartburn pills during my pregnancy. I also suffered from headaches from time to time in the beginning, so I bought over the counter pain medication. My total came to: 50$

Baby Furniture

Fortunately we only needed to buy a crib, changing table, stroller, and baby carrier. My lovely co-workers donated  a baby bath, walker, and play gym. Our family bought the baby a swing. So, my husband I only spent: 600$ on baby furniture!

Baby Items

We were gifted about 500$ worth of items from family, and my job gave me a 250$ gift certificate to the baby store, so pretty much my husband and I only bought a few items, such as thermometer, baby soap, baby detergent, and some clothes we bought prior to the gifts. We only spent 200$ out of pocket.

Postpartum Care

In order to get a head start on postpartum care, I bought nipple pads, maternity pads, and a donut pillow. This came out to be 40$

Baby Moon

Due to having such a busy year, we decided to go on a short babymoon! It wasn't anything expensive or elaborate because we took advantage of the current travel campaign sponsored by the government and plus we planned the trip 3 days prior to leaving! We took the bullet train and stayed in a hotel for three days and two nights. The cost came out to be: 600$

Loss of Wages

Due to the current pandemic I received a reduced salary for two months, and as for maternity leave, I will not get paid until I essentially return back to work two months after giving birth. So, this year, I lost a total of about 5,000$ in wages. My husband, on the other hand, thank goodness, did not lose much in terms of wages.

Birth Class

One resource I recommend is birth classes, and most of them are free. The only dilemma is the pandemic, but there are many free birth classes offered online and many of them sent us free samples and coupons for attending! Cost: FREE

MISC.

These are not things I personally bought, but they are some costs you might want to take into consideration, such as a chiropractor, prenatal fitness class, doula, and acupuncture. If I knew I was going to be 42 weeks pregnant, I would have definitely invested in a nice massage!

And now for the grand total!

15,730$

Now, without moving, baby moon, and loss of wages (since these aren't typical expenses), the new total comes to: 

2,230$

That's more doable right? :D

Please stay tuned for the actual delivery and birth cost in a future post!