The Higashijima Experience

Having given birth in a private clinic in Japan, I'm convinced I will never be satisfied anywhere else. They totally spoil you. Even with the lack of room that first night, I felt like we had it really good. Our third morning in the clinic, the morning after Ela was born, was spent primarily outside the nursery looking at all the babies, since we couldn't bring Ela to our room until we had a real room. Aside from the five from the day before, and Ela, there was at least one more born in the early morning, so there was plenty to see:

They brought Ela out into the hall for us to hold her, and finally a room on that floor opened up and we moved in. This was one of the tiny rooms I mentioned in the previous post:

Ela and I stayed there for the next day. Mom hung out with us. We rested, ate, practiced feeding, and generally just relaxed. Zack came and went. He had a short time in Sasebo before he'd have to join his ship, so he was trying desparately to accomplish as much of the paperwork as possible to get Ela her passport and social security. The room was small, so it was better to have one visitor at a time anyway.
The next day, we spent the morning in that same room. That morning, I was given responsibility for tracking my health and Ela's. They had already given me a pink envelope with medicines for me to take daily, and now they also put me in charge of taking my temperature and Ela's 3 times a day, and writing down how often and how long she ate, as well as how many times a day she dirtied her diapers. The little chart was actually useful in helping me keept track of things as we got used to breastfeeding. Ela was a good eater from the start, but she's still hard to wake up if she wants to sleep through a meal.
I got another shampoo from the shampoo lady since it was Friday, and when I got back, the nurses were gathering our stuff to move us to the post-labor room that had become available. Whenever we switched rooms, the nurses insisted on carrying EVERYTHING (and we had a lot of stuff), not letting Mom or Zack so much as hold a pillow. So by afternoon on Friday, we were here:

The room was bigger, with a couch, chair and desk, so it was much more comfortable. AND I got a shower, which was a major relief. It's amazing what a simple thing like bathing can do for my perceptions of life. So Zack continued to run around with the various paperwork we needed, and Mom hung out with me and Ela in the room. More relaxation ensued.
But probably the best thing about staying at the clinic was the food. Every single meal came with enough dishes to feed me and one of my visitors easy. To make life easy on the cooking staff, I had told them that I was okay with Japanese food (if you request it, they'll give you American stuff, but who wants that?). The breakfast was generally a little too Japanese for me (whole bonito fish first thing in the morning is beyond my ability to stomach), but lunch and dinner were always excellent, and I got two snacks a day too... Here's a picture of my last dinner:



And, since it was my last night, they added one dish to what is normally served:

Yes, that really is lobster. Try getting that in an American hospital!

Anyway, since we were now in a bigger room, Zack stayed with Ela and me at the clinic Friday night, having successfully gotten everything done he could do before the Japanese Birth Certificate was ready. Saturday morning, they came to give Ela one last bath (this was a daily process). They also removed her umbilical stump and returned with a whole bunch of gifts for us: diapers, wipes, Ela's footprints that they had stamped, her umbilical stump (that's a Japanese thing, they hang onto it), a bib, some burp cloths, and a CD of her first cry! The doctor had taken some blood from me and found me to be waaaaay low on iron, so he gave me a shot of iron in the morning and sent me home with more vitamins and iron to take at home. He also showed us how to take care of Ela's belly button. Around 2 in the afternoon, after one last excellent lunch, we were ready to go. The nurses took the picture that I'm using as my profile picture until I load up a good one of all three of us. It'll hang on a special bulletin board in the clinic for awhile. Then the doctor and two of the nurses personally escorted us to the car, the nurses carrying all our stuff as usual:

The nurses helped us get out onto the road, and before we knew it, we were home and introducing Ela to Dory (who loved her from the start). It was seriously a really great stay.
So now we're home and adjusting to the new routine, which seems to change daily. We'll keep you posted with new pictures and stories!