I think it would cost less to just buy a bento box rather than accidentally putting yourself into a semi-coma. #suggestingforacommenter ^_^

Not noteworthy? What does hospital food in your country look like? In my country, the breakfast and dinner is 1 slice of white bread and butter. Lunch is usually mashed potatoes (made from that instant powder thing not actual potatoes) and a thin slice of spam that looks green-ish like it's already gone bad. That's all you get. It looks disgusting, tastes disgusting, the propotions are way too small and the food has no nutritional value at all. If you actually eat the hospital food here, it will probably make you even sicker.

You havent spent much time in hospital, have you? I have a perfect record, after 16 surgeries and several other lengthy admissions......Im in heart failure, Im in hospital A LOT......and Ive NEVER once eaten a meal that was brought to me from the hospital kitchen. We have universal healthcare, which is just as well otherwise we would go broke because my family have to bring every meal to the hospital for me or I would starve to death. Recently Ive started refusing to even let them take the lid off the plate because the smell is enough to make me gag. Damn, Im allergic to fish and these photos still look appetising.

Most people stay in for at least five days after giving birth in Japan. Very good care and first class medical support. Mortality rates are the lowest in the world, and almost everybody gives birth in the hospital. however, it is horrendously expensive. If you have national insurance you get a lot of what you paid back later but you still have to come up with at least ¥500,000 up front. In some cases before you even have the baby. Also, not all hospitals provide such good food. Mine was awful. As Echo posted, this is pretty normal food for Japan, although well presented. It was probably a private hospital.

Oh please, in the U.S., not only do we NOT have free healthcare, the c**p they try to feed us in hospitals is barely edible even for dogs, much less humans.

Asian influence? This is Asian....

if we are in labor, all we get is some crushed ice if we are lucky

Stan, and that is still better food than what we get here in the US. What you described is just as much a luxury as what's in the photos as far as hospital food in the US goes.

Food like this is normal? Over here in M'sia, it's nothing like this. There's fish but some steamed chicken or white batter fried Mekong catfish, 2X boiled veggies, fresh fruit[honeydew/papaya], tea and some biscuits. It's decent but luxurious as this unless it's a private hospital.

With a c-section my friends all got a 48 hour recovery period before getting an rx for light pain meds and a follow-up appointment in a week. And even then the surgery was scheduled so it took only the first 4 hours and the other 44 were recovery. And they had epidurals!

Is that by choice? Do women prefer to stay longer, or shorter usually? Women can choose stay for a similar timeframe here (Australia), but in some places you have the option of a longer stay if they have the room. The hospital I had my first in let me stay for a week. My other two children were born in a hospital closer to the city, but I was able to stay 5 days for each of them; recommended longer for the middle child as she was 4 weeks early, but I was keen to get my routine happening, so they let me go as long as I agreed to at home glucose test for baby for the next few days.

Oh yes, the reason the night nurse and kitchen ordered and sent up a snack was because my blood sugar was too low. Unbelievable. Hospitals in Hawaii are second to none. They have a central fridge with juice, puddings, cake, pie, salad, etc. which you can have upon request without ordering up from the kitchen. When my sister was suffering from cancer, the only thing that staved off her nausea was tropical fruit juice. The nurses gave me free pass to take armfuls for both my sister and I. Nurses in Hawaii, can't say enough about how compassionate they are.

Uh yeah, I don't know why this thread is posting twice.