The plane ride wasn't too bad. We had a window seat and 2 aisle seats; Charlie and I took turns sitting next to Nathan. I watched My Sister's Keeper and The Land of the Lost, read a bit and then nursing took up the rest of the time. Nathan did really well (there were actually several other LOUD crying babies but he was pretty quiet) until he had a projectile vomit all over himself and me. The poor boy even got a glob of curdled milk stuck in his eye ; (
When we got to Narita airport, we got through customs fairly easily. They had luggage carts for free, which I thought was a nice perk. I saw another American family with ~3 year old and a pregnant woman and wondered if she might be my patient (they too had tons of luggage, so I guessed they were probably also a military family). By the time we got our luggage and made our way over to the other terminal, we only had a few minutes to catch the bus to the base. The bus ride was ~2 hours.
Once on base, we were met by Andy who's a midwife. She took me to sign in at the quarterdeck of the hospital. My friend Franchi was actually on call on L&D that night and I ran into her husband bringing her dinner, but we were too tired to stop by to say hi. Andy and her husband drove me to the Navy Lodge and explained a bit about what to expect over the next couple weeks. Andy was so nice; she even got us some groceries and a laundry basket to help us get settled in.
When we got to our room, we unpacked a bit. It's going to be interesting living out of a hotel for 2-4 weeks. We've got 2 queen beds, a TV/DVD player, a cable for internet, a small kitchenette with a mini fridge/freezer, a microwave and 2 stove burners as well as some plates, pots, etc. No oven or dishwasher and no space to store food. I'm happy about the freezer though so I can pump and freeze some milk. The toilet has 2 flushing settings for smaller and larger volume flushes. The faucets all have to be turned down to turn on, which will take some getting used to. The outlets seem to work fine though (Charlie was psyched that there were even some 3-pronged outlets).
We ended up finally going to sleep at 9pm Yokosuka time, which would've been 5am LA time.
Nathan didn't sleep more than 2 or 2.5 hours all night that first night or last night. And I don't think it's that his scheduled is messed up, because he didn't really have a schedule to speak of before.
Saturday morning, we loaded Nathan up in the stroller and set out to explore the base. Right next door to the lodge is a Chili's and a minimart & car shop. The minimart is pretty extensive. We walked through a couple tunnels and by the shipyards were we saw a sub and a destroyer. We explored the Fleet Rec Center where there are some gym facilities and a couple fast food places. My main goal was to find the pool on base. We did end up finding an outdoor pool that's closed for the season but that looks pretty cool with a huge water slide and a wading pool. We had lunch on "Main Street America" where there are several more fast food places, including Sbarro where we ate. Nathan had another vomiting episode nursing there unfortunately. After cleaning him up, we did find the huge Purdy fitness center which was a gorgeous 50 meter pool. They even have an area where you can watch your kid place as your workout and they have babysitting available as you work out as well. Next we explored the heart of the (at least family part) base with the NEX, furniture store, video rental, Starbucks and Commissary. Got some groceries, but had to be careful not to get too much since we can't fit much in the room or fridge. Unfortunately, as I expected, fruits and vegetables are expensive, but everything else seems to be about the same prices and they even have some cheese! On our way home, we passed by a bunch of munchkin soccer games.
That afternoon, we chilled in the room, did laundry and I took a short nap. Saturday night, we had a really nice dinner at Chili's with my med school friend Franchi and her husband.
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