Protests, Immunizations, and Western Culture

Today is day 13 for Connor! Way to go, little guy!

Some of you might be wondering why we didn't wait to post this until tomorrow.

Duh, it's cuz he is 13 TODAY.

So, last couple of days have been hectic for Kim and I, but for different reasons. For Kim, Connor is becoming a little more active (read: not sleeping, breast-feeding for 3 hour stretches, and general pooping all over the place), which has been draining on her. I can help out, but not with the feeding so much. Plus, he is (of course) attached to her and feels immediately better when in her arms. It's pretty cute.

Meanwhile, I have been off gallivanting across the city, protesting Japan's claim to Chinese islands! Here is a video of a protest yesterday in Wuhu, about the territorial dispute over the Diaoyu Islands (钓鱼岛):

Just kidding. I have been running around, getting together Connor's immunization records, which involved quite a number of steps. Mainly just heading to different buildings in different parts of town to get different stamps. But, all finished now, with the end result of: Connor has his hep B shot (yay!), and will get his BCG vaccine after he is one month old. After that, I need to make a list to check US vs. Chinese immunizations, and see which ones I want to add to the required immunizations here. I can order American ones for a fee, but the Chinese ones are free, and just like the US, required for attending school.

So yesterday while I was out at a hospital, I heard some commotion outside and saw the head of a anti-Japan protest passing by. I (along with everybody there) was pretty interested to see more, so I told them I would be right back, and ran outside to film it on my (Korean) phone. It was a peaceful demonstration, with a lot of police marching alongside the protest to ensure nothing crazy went down. The funniest sign I saw was "日日本", which translates to "fuck Japan".

Yesterday was also the anniversary of the Marco Polo Bridge incident. Alarms sounded across the city at 10am to memorialize the day. 

WARNING: Stop reading here if you aren't interested in hearing me rant.

I have been reading some of the American and British news sources about the protests, and once again they seek to vilify China at every turn. The articles have almost consistently wailed that "Beijing doesn't seem to be doing anything to stop or control these protests", implying that they are in fact supporting and encouraging them (in fact, a BBC article recently did more than imply, they chose to quote some random on the street as saying exactly that). Now, this is criticism from the West about Beijing's handling of the situation. So basically, Beijing is screwed no matter how they respond, at least with regards as to Western media: if they do nothing, and let protests happen, they are "encouraging" what is perceived as nationalistic behavior (and in turn, violence and unruliness as a result) in the West (and to further complicate the situation, there are thousands of protests across China in different cities that are NOT violent and unruly, but the one or two that turn ugly are, of course, news. ALSO, instead of viewing the ability, desire, and will to protest something as a sign of growth in China, an expansion of rights and recognition thereof, these protests are lumped into a "nationalistic" fervor by Western media, thus somehow invalidating them not recognizing them for what they are: protests, expression of speech). However, if they try to crack down and control the protesting, they will be immediately seized upon as though another "Tiananmen" was gonna happen. Nice job, media! Excellent job putting China into a lose-lose position for your average reader. Way to truly inform the world on what is happening!

I'm not bitter. /rant off.

So, back to Connor:

Here are some more pictures, mostly from day 2 - 6, while we catch up to the present. Most of these are from the hospital stay. Ok, more later when we are caught up with our work a little more!

Gotta prepare my Sources of Western Culture lesson about Greek gods and goddesses. It's a Herculean effort....

Connor's birth info!

I am a giant.

I am a baby. My, aren't I a handsome devil?

Don't be distracted by the fact that the wallpaper and my shirt clash.

This is the cutest picture. Ever.

Check it! Connor's birth certificate. Not gonna show the inside with the real cert, cuz you know, people will try to take our baby!

Mom (Nancy) gave us this beautiful take-home gown, and Connor wore it home from the hospital!

You have become better at changing diapers (12)! This was my first change at home, with our awesome set-up.

Our neighbor, a lady from the Ukraine (well, she still says USSR), gave us these as baby presents.

This picture has nothing to do with this post. In July, our neighbor's garage caught fire.

Power up!

Pizza Hut, Pickled Veggies, and Placenta (and 坐月子)

Hours before Connor's birth, Kim eats a hearty breakfast of steamed bun, veggies, eggs, and rice porridge. Those are pretty lame translations.

So, food is a pretty important part of the whole "having a baby" process, and since the hospital gave Kim 4 meals a day, we got to experience hospital food in China. Kim rates it as "not terrible, but if she had a choice she wouldn't eat it". She managed to usually eat almost all of it, but after the surgery, her appetite was pretty small, and also she couldn't eat a lot of types of food for the first day.

One of the funniest things is the stress put on eating soup after birth. I was talking with another new father, and we were both like "wtf, if eating soup is so important, why don't they give us more soup (in the hospital)". It is part of recovery here, and considered part of 坐月子, the sitting month (30 days) that almost all women in China do after giving birth. There are many guidelines for it, and I can highlight some of the main ideas, based on what advice we have been given  (listed in order of frequency heard):

1. Wear long sleeves. Short sleeves = no good. Basically, falls under "fear the wind".
2. Drink soup, lots and lots of it.
3. Don't shower.
4. No brushing your teeth.
5. Can't drink cold water.
6. No TV (I am sure this extends to computers, also)
7. No going outside, leaving the house.
8. The baby also shouldn't leave the house for 30 days.

Gotta love 包子!

There are more that I am forgetting, and it varies from area to area. The sitting month is very serious in China, but it is changing a little, recently. For example, our doctor told us she did the sitting month, but still brushed her teeth and showered. And we saw plenty of TV's rocking out in the VIP rooms, with new mothers blatantly keeping up with their soaps.

As far as Kim and I are concerned, we have been openly telling people we don't do this in America, and just politely listen to their advice. Sometimes they are fine with this, and understand. Sometimes, they won't shut up about wearing short sleeves!

To me, the sitting month is understandable, if a bit foreign and "outdated" sounding at times. But, many countries still do this. It isn't unique to China, and it does have benefits to the mother that our American-style postpartum mothers sometimes might not get. I don't know, but maybe there is a connection between postpartum depression and variances in recovery methods.

Not bad, but damn...cold pizza. Thanks, Connor!

Anyway, back to food. So we totally ordered a pizza, which I wasn't able to successfully order online (even with 3 nurses helping, turns out the problem is Wuhu doesn't offer the online option yet, but next year probably). I walked a few blocks to pick up the Pizza Hut pizza, which was a real treat for us at 98RMB. We ate it around 9pm two days after his birth, but of course it was cold by the time we got a chance to eat it. Still, pretty damn awesome!

By the way, Pizza Hut in China doesn't suck. It's actually pretty good, and all fancy dining. Pretty opposite of American Pizza Hut.

What is healthier for a mother than a chicken foot? What, I ask you?!

But, our prize food really came from Kim. When I was in the surgery room, after I cut the umbilical cord, the surgeons asked me if I wanted the 胎盘. I had actually studied a lot of pregnancy and birth vocab, so I knew that was placenta, but it still took me a second to respond. I just wasn't quite prepared to be asked that question. But, I said yes (as per Kim's request), and they had me sign a pretty serious document (to show they gave it to me, and didn't sell it). A couple doctors got pics of me signing, and they gave me the placenta. Just like "Here, your wife's placenta."

Anyway, Kim wants us to try to cook it into some dish. Any suggestions? I was thinking 青椒胎盘丝 or maybe Kung Pao Placenta. Maybe we can save it for when Mom and Bob come.

The placenta. Still in our fridge. Gonna get some recipes to cook up a nice dish.

Well, we are back home now, so that means back to cooking at home. I am learning how to cook Chinese food, and now that I can read most recipes easily, I am trying out different ones. Glad to be going to the market for fresh goods, and saving some money also!

Feeding the baby!

VIP Service: Nurses and Doctors

About half of the team of nurses and doctors that helped us.

So when we decided to have the baby in Wuhu, we asked around about hospitals, and No.2 kept coming up as a good one. Well, No.1 and No.2, but we decided to look at No.2 because it was close to school. Turns out they had just built a new VIP birthing wing, on the 8th floor. So we booked a room with them, and did our prenatal checkups there. The VIP wing has a total of 16 rooms, all of the 1 mother / room. This is different than the main birthing area, which is 2 / room. Two families in one room could get pretty hectic, plus the other services the VIP staff offered (brand new equipment, 24/7 monitoring, lactation consultation, swimming, internet, TV, microwave, fridge, 4 meals a day, father can stay and sleep with mother, father can cut the umbilical cord, nurses and doctors helping teach all aspects of newborn care, and so on....) -- made us choose to do the VIP service.

The only service they didn't provide was coffee, so I brought my own machine, mugs, beans, and grinder!

We were super thrilled with all the nurses and doctors. 10 nurses, 3 doctors -- and we tried to learn all their names. The nurses would check on us every 2 hours, recording all the vital stats, and if we wanted to sleep at night (impossible!) they would take care of Connor for us. We had nurses sometimes stay with us for 3 hours at a time, helping show us how to change diapers, make formula, breastfeed, read Connor's various expressions, burp, ....pretty much everything we needed to know before going home. We felt extremely comfortable and safe, freeing us to really enjoy Connor the whole time.

The three doctors that cared for Kim and Connor.

And this wasn't because we were foreign -- they were treating all the guests like that. It was pretty awesome to see. Also, they were super patient with my Chinese. The range of English speaking from the nurses and doctors was like this: 7 nurses had no English-speaking capabilities, 1 nurse could say a few things in English, mostly trivial, and 2 nurses could speak a few sentences (without having been a teacher here for a couple years, it would be very hard to understand their meaning, though their pronunciation was alright). 1 of the doctors could speak English, but this was limited to a few phrases she had learned to ask patients when she lived in Yemen for a few years. So, about 95% of our communication in the hospital (6 days) was in Chinese. Pretty challenging, frustrating, and rewarding all at the same time -- probably for them, too. They were all great about it, though, and every now and then would try an English word or two.

Lots of free things came with the service, too: 6 pink outfits, a blue bigger thick outfit thing, 2 washpans, a bucket (either for vomiting or trash), a cup, post-birth belt for recovery, kit for umbilical cord cleaning, washcloths, and........our VERY OWN BEDPAN!!

We made friends with one of the doctors, a young woman (our age) who just had her own child 8 months ago. I talked with her last night, after we left the hospital, and she met me today and gave me a breast pump she had but never used. For free! Now THAT'S VIP service.

When we left, we asked the nurses and doctors to sign one of Connor's pink (manly) outfits as a keepsake for when he grows older.

Swimming. Just cute. I have no idea if we do this in America, but the French  foreign teacher here said it is extremely popular in France right now. The flotation / torture device also plays a crappy rendition of "Jingle Bells".

Winter is Coming...So We Got Ourselves a Little Wilding.

Connor, about an hour after birth!

Connor Potter

Born Thursday, September 6th, 2012. He weighed a mighty 3.37 kilos, or 7.41 pounds. 51 cm long, which is pretty average. Born in Wuhu, Anhui, China at People's Hospital No. 2. (安徽省，芜湖市，芜湖市第二人民医院) . We went into the hospital on the 5th, for a normal check-up at 40 weeks pregnant, but ended up staying and giving birth. Kim was in labor for over 1 full day, but her water was dropping too quickly, so we had to have an emergency C-section. It turns out we were just in time!

We had reserved a room in the VIP ward, which is on the 8th floor (man, that was a real hassle every time we had to leave or come back -- avg. wait for the elevators was like 20 mins -- and when an elevator finally arrived, it was a mad rush to get in. Any of you who have been in China will know what that is like. Lines? No way.) Our room was insanely huge, really made for a family of 10 or so to visit the mother. 2 beds, one for Kim and one for me, microwave, flat-panel wall-mounted TV, internet, fridge, futon, 2 coffee tables, bathroom w/ shower and western toilet, desk, storage cabinets...and a sweet view of the city.

Part of the room. To the right, the beds, lots more space. Behind me, room to hang out at the window.

View frow the window, facing right.

One of our neighbors brought her daughter in, born 2 days after Connor, so they could "play" together.

When we settled into our room, I had to run back and get everything from our apartment on old campus (Anhui Normal University). It is about a 20-min walk with a 9-month pregnant woman, about 10-mins when your wife is about to have your baby!

That's all for now, gonna have to break the story of our adventures here into smaller segments, since Connor is demanding this "food" thing all the time....其实，他常常好乖呀，也吃奶得很高兴。