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USO Baby Shower delivers for Okinawa military community

  • Published
  • By Tim Flack
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  Nearly 200 women from the military community across Okinawa gathered in the Kadena Officer's Club earlier this month for Special Delivery Baby Showers, co-hosted by the USO and the What to Expect Foundation.

Heidi Murkoff, author of the New York Times bestselling "What to Expect When You're Expecting," series of books, served as guest speaker for the June 3-4 showers.

This was Murkoff's third trip to Okinawa, and she said she feels a strong connection with military moms, even though she doesn't come from a military family.

"The farther away moms are from their family and friends, the more they need this," Murkoff said. "I think the biggest challenge is being so far from your network of support that you normally would turn to."

She said pregnancy is never easy, but being pregnant so far from home is exponentially more difficult.

"We all need help, we all need support, we all need someone to vent to, a shoulder to cry on and someone to share all of those firsts with," she said. "And a hug - everyone needs a hug."

She said that's why an event like the Special Delivery shower is so important at an overseas location where it's too easy for a woman to isolate herself, especially if her spouse is deployed.

"I think more than anything else, when we have these showers, it's about bringing moms together," Murkoff said. "Because motherhood is a sisterhood, right? And having those sisters in your community that you can count on is incredibly helpful."

The showers began with games and gift giveaways to help the women get to know each other. One game included guessing how many sheets of toilet paper it would take to wrap around each woman's belly. After guessing, women paired off to measure with a roll of paper. The mom-to-be with the closest guess at each table received an extra prize raffle ticket.

Murkoff invited the women to ask as many questions as they wanted, assuring them that no subject was off the table. She broke the ice by asking how many women in the room were carrying "typhoon babies," joking that pregnancies tend to occur after couples are locked in the house together during the storms with nothing to do.

One of the attendees, Kasie Krage, said she really enjoyed the event.

"I love this, it's such a good idea," she said of gathering the women for the event. "It does make you feel like you have a support system."

She said she felt comfortable talking with the women at her table, especially since four of them were all due the same week later this summer.

As the women interacted and played the games, Murkoff walked through the room meeting and chatting with every table.

"The gifts are great, the raffle prizes are awesome, but the single-most important part of the shower is to make those connections with other moms," she said. "Nobody gets it like another mom, and nobody gets it like another military mom."