Made In China

The time for announcements has come. You may have picked up the previous allusions, or been told directly. If not, its time you know that our family is growing by leaps and bounds.

As frequent readers know, we are adopting a child from China. This is moving along as expected, except that the wait time seems to grow by a year every few months. When we began the adoption process, we expected Mei Mei to join our family and enter our home by the end of this year. Early 2010 would have been the latest. We now expect her to join our family possibly 36 months from now.

We trust this timing to God's hands, and continue with the adoption process. But we are taking the age gap into our own hands. I am now 10 weeks pregnant, and Baby #3 will arrive in early May. Dave and my father have decreed that this child will be a boy, and so we will proceed to call him Jake. The same thing we called Sophia, until the ultrasound picture displayed her to be a girl.

Jake comes at wonderful timing in many ways, and we are nothing but excited. But he will certainly make this year more complicated.

Dave still waits for his security clearance. Once he receives his security clearance, we expect things to move very quickly. We expect to be in DC within 2-4 months of notification that Dave is trustworthy. We will have no significant notice.

Now, Dave could receive security clearance tomorrow. The next training class begins in January, and we could be invited. Although this is absolutely possible, we wouldn't call it likely.

Now, Dave could receive security clearance in June, 2010. In that case, Jake will not only be Made in China. He will also be Born in China, coming with a Certificate of International Birth. Kinda cool, huh? The State Department would buy us 5 plane tickets instead of 4, and we would get 100 pounds more space in air freight. Not a bad deal.

Or, Dave could receive security clearance in April and be forced to turn down the invitation to the May training class. He would receive no penalty for this, and would have more time to focus on little Jake. This would not be a bad option.

The problem with all of these is that it is impossible to plan. Do we arrange for an OB in the DC area? Do we pay for the full pre-natal package in Shanghai? We do ship our infant gear here, or leave it in Chicago and pick it up on the way? Questions with no answer.

We are comfortable with delivering in China. The medical system for expatriates is quite elitist, and I will be kept separate from the local Chinese. Or at least, local Chinese without quite a bit of money. This elitist separation makes me uncomfortable. But delivering at a local hospital makes me more uncomfortable. So, I am delivering at Shanghai East International Medical Center - a very clean and cheerful floor within a crowded, dark and dirty local hospital. I am seeing Dr. Kong, an OB trained in China and with tremendous street cred among the expat women. As I have done this a few times before, I am quite confident that delivering a baby is a simple process for an experienced obstetrician. Should we face any serious complications, I am in contact with my fabulous OB in the states, and would hop a flight out of China as quickly as possible. But I have no reason to believe that should be necessary. I am entirely comfortable with delivering in China.

Or I was. Until I went to the hospital this morning to pick up a prescription. I jumped in the bathroom quickly on the way out. I frequently see bathrooms, as Jake is a lover of water. He has me drinking 4-6 liters of water on a daily basis, and seeing the insides of many town bathrooms. I washed my hands as I finished. In the way of a nurse who had just finished at the toilet, she just walked passed me.

That's right. The nurse at the hospital walked out of the toilet without washing her hands.

I'm having trouble not getting worked up about this.