Shanghai Baby

I think our travels are finally starting to slow down, partly because India kinda kicked our butts and partly because I have something new to focus on: Danny and I are expecting in December!

I think people occasionally are surprised that we are having a kid while we are so far from home but  things are going well. I'm having a pretty easy pregnancy and everything has been normal and healthy. We have a good doctor at the best hospital in Shanghai. As far as I can tell it is as good as any hospital in the States, except perhaps occasional issues understanding a few of the nurses' English. My doctor is actually American which makes things easier for me since there is no language barrier.

We are going home over the summer so we'll probably stock up on all the baby stuff we can fit in our suitcases while we are there. I've done a little looking around and it seems like most baby stuff here is either poor quality or is way more expensive than in the States but we'll manage.

We occasionally have people ask us if our baby will be American which I always think makes no sense because Danny and I are both American so obviously the baby qualifies. It will just involve navigating some annoying bureaucracy to get the paperwork done. Everything in China involves annoying bureaucracy so it isn't anything new. Not many countries give out citizenship just because you are born there. Even if we qualified we wouldn't want our baby to be a Chinese citizen; there aren't any benefits. Did you know that Chinese citizens have to give the government a 50,000 yuan bond in order to leave the country. I think they are scared people will run away.

Anyway, we are really excited! I'll be finished my first trimester tomorrow! This is a picture from last week. Our baby was almost 2 inches at the time. It is weird how much the baby already looks like a real person, granted a blurry person. I seriously think if you look carefully the profile looks like Danny. Danny thinks I'm  completely ridiculous and it still mostly looks like a blob.