Pregnant in Japan: Full-Time Mama/Beauty Blogger?

When I first realized that I was pregnant, a huge part of the reason I panicked (a lot) was because I wasn't sure what was going to happen with my job. I had just entered a new company, two new schools, and was definitely NOT expecting to be leaving any time in the next 3 years. I was settling into the new environments and getting closer with my new co-workers.

I think you can already tell this post isn't about beauty products, but it will explain how I got back my passion for them after a long bout of extreme laziness.

I waited until I was about 14 weeks before I told my company that I was expecting. It seemed to be a good time to let them know that something was up since I was experiencing some pretty nasty morning sickness and was having trouble getting up some days. They needed to know why I was calling in sick and that it may continue.

There was no mention of maternity leave in my contract. At all. Another reason why I panicked a bit. If I had to keep working, how would I possibly get my kid into a daycare in Tokyo?! All the somewhat affordable daycare centers have 2 year waiting lists to get in and by the time my little one was even old enough to go to daycare, my contract would be up and I'd have to sign a new on anyway. Not to mention that child care workers in Japan tend to be underpaid and overworked, which doesn't create the most trustworthy environment to put my baby in. There's one worker for every 10 kids or so if I recall the facts correctly, which is not a good (or safe) ratio in my opinion. It is an ongoing issue in Japanese society and suddenly it was something that was on my mind more than ever. Let's face it: Japan just isn't a working mom-friendly society. When you get MARRIED here, you quit your job and if you don't quit then, you take whatever maternity leave pay you can and then never turn back.

My boyfriend and I decided that I would simply quit my job, as we are financially stable enough for me to stay home, there was really no way I could just take maternity leave (even if it had been an option), and then expect to find a place we would feel comfortable enough leaving our child all day. Not to mention I find the idea of having time to spend with my little one while he's little to be more rewarding and beneficial than going straight back to work. We wouldn't have to rush weaning him off the breast and onto the bottle and I wouldn't have to be a dairy cow strapped to an electric pump. Plus all that great bonding time and time to teach him English!

Getting through the last 2 months of teaching was exhausting (I was anemic the whole month of September), stressful, and infuriating but it has finally ended and here I am blogging about it.

So why am I telling you all of this? Well, because if I didn't have any time off before baby arrives, I may not have had a chance to rediscover my deep interest in skincare and makeup.

Through my first trimester, I was a wreck and looked it. I didn't take care of my skin or put on makeup due to fatigue and disinterest. I was just too damned tired to care. Getting into my second trimester and knowing that I would be leaving my job soon, I started getting excited about skincare again. I had forgotten how relaxing it can be to slather yourself with toners, emulsions, serums, and creams that smell heavenly and leave your skin feeling soft as a baby's bottom. And speaking of babies and their bottoms, it got me thinking about skincare for my baby. I was interested in finding out more about baby skincare products that would be gentle on a tiny human's delicate skin.

This led me to research more about skincare products that were safe for moms-to-be and which ingredients to look out for. Did you know that research has shown that exposure to parabens can affect the growth of boys in the fetal stage as well as in the early years of life? (Source) I'm having a boy so this is scary! Parabens aren't good for you anyway so we should all be on the look out. I now have more interest in natural/organic skincare and it has been fascinating to discover new brands available in Japan.

With my time off and in between preparing for Baby's world debut, I plan on exploring more of what Japan has to offer in affordable, fun, and paraben-free beauty products. That's it. That was the whole point of this article. But maybe you can understand after reading this why I will often mention that a product is paraben-free and why its such a good thing, or why I post so much about natural/organic brands that you may have never heard of or may not have access to.