I'm going to talk a little about my experience having a baby in China. š“ó §ó ¢ó „ó ®ó §ó æšØš³
I don't live in a major city, so it's not as modern here. I found on the lead up to the baby coming, i was watching loads of online parenting videos for new borns, as there aren't parenting classes here.
I had to figure out a lot by myself, but as parents know, once the baby comes you figure it out anyway.
In China, you're not allowed to find out you're babies gender. You have to wait until it's born. But also in China, there's a way around everything. So, we went into a small doctor's office in the countryside a few hours away and a few hours later got a text telling us the gender. š¤«
When the baby was coming we quickly went to the hospital but our taxi was stopped at the entrance. They told us we couldn't enter unless we were all wearing masks, even know there was a woman in labour sprawled out in the back š This was near the end of the pandemic.
After a baby is born in China, it's normal for grandma to come stay for about a month and for mum to stay in bed for a month. But, I took a week off work and started working from home so grandma only stayed for a few days.
It's very common in China for kids to be raised by grandparents, while the parents work, often in other cities.
An odd custom that I was suprised to find was when a baby is born, people will give you live chickens and ducks... not for pets š
A good thing about living here is it's so cheap, so I could just work at home a few hours a day for a few years and be around my daughter all the time.
There are a few concerns to be aware of, like fake baby milk etc but you can buy imported things so it's alright.
As a foreigner in China you get a lot of attention walking around in the streets. And my daughter is also getting a lot of attention. A lot of strangers will just try and pick her up for a hug (culture difference) which I'm not a fan of š
There's a lot to say on this now that I'm writing š
so perhaps I'll do a part two in the future!
If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below! š
Thanks for reading. Have a great day. š