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No escape

31/3/2013

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This is the hospital where Ava is slowly recovering. We have been given a VIP en suite single room, as we knew a friend of the top maternity doctor, which has made a real difference. The hospital covers a wide countryside population and the stares and whispers I get as I walk around would have been annoying in a larger shared ward after a while. Ava is getting a lot of visitors too!
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Our wing of the hospital is just a few months old, and surprisingly bare and clean. There are plenty of Health and Safety hiccups remaining though, such as bare wires, broken lifts and this great fire escape door opposite our room. The top sign declares "No locking", while the green one insists it's an emergency fire escape. The padlock below tells a different story though!

The nurses and the doctors we've seen have been excellent (well, perhaps barring one who was a bit brusque and managed to insert a drip into Ava's skin rather than a vein. An hour later as her hand began to swell, another nurse came to the rescue and reinserted the needle!). In some ways, the NHS could learn something here: The cleaners come in 3-4 times a day to clean everywhere and the nurses pop in every half an hour, and are always quick to respond when called. Ava managed a few minutes sitting and a slow, painful walk to the toilet for the first time last night. As the various machines, drains and drips gradually disappear, we're enjoying the baby routines more.

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Ma-in-law gets a go
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Baby JD

28/3/2013

 
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At 8.11am local time, our son came into the world. It had already been a long day, with Ma-in-law and I waking at 4.30am and leaving for the hospital at 5.30am. Ava had a C-section booked for 7.00am  and, although it didn't go terribly smoothly, she was back in her hospital room by 9.30am. After a couple of hours in the ICU, our baby was brought to the room and it all finally began to feel very real!
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Introducing...

English name:
"James David Hider"

(James after my brother and Grandfather, David after my other brother). We'll be calling him "JD". It's easier for the Chinese to pronounce, leaves options open for him to choose a more grown-up name later, and chimes with Ava's favourite gemstone, "jade".

Chinese name: "Zhū Pĭn Xiū" (朱 品 修)
Pronunciation is “Jew – Pin – Shoo”. The meaning is hard to translate, but something like "Scholar of Moral Character" with the first character being Ava's family name, of course.

First reactions: Disappointment at not being allowed to go into the operating theatre, worry about Ava's health on hearing the word "complications", shock at how small the baby is, frustration at being clueless as to what was happening through a lot of the day and surprise at just how much JD's face changed in the twelve hours I spent with him - twelve hours without any screaming, incidentally!
(I'm sure all the "love and bonding" stuff will happen soon enough!!)

Finally, one of the surgeons said that they had come up against four distinct medical problems this morning, any one of which could have prevented conception or a safe birth. Something of a miracle baby, it seems!

[Click here for more photos of JD's early days]

Decor before

27/3/2013

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I spent yesterday putting up final decorations (fairly randomly!) in the baby's room. He'll be staying in hospital for about a week, but we're expecting the actual delivery tomorrow (Thursday 28th) all being well.
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Pigs might flyoat

26/3/2013

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Heard the one about the dead pigs found in a river near Shanghai? I'm not sure whether the news story was picked up on internationally, but it is a strange one. We are not just talking about a dozen pigs, you see. Or even a hundred. A thousand would be a shock, right? Try 16,000 - and a week on, there has still been no explanation why. Most worrying to Shanghai residents is that the river is one of the main fresh water resources for the city. Just one of the many mysteries that pop up so regularly on Chinese news programmes.

P.S. Reports coming in of 1000 dead ducks in a Sichuan river too
(no, this is not leading to a punchline!). What is going on here?
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Old, weak and pregnant

25/3/2013

 
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Less than a week to go now before our son appears and life changes dramatically for Jiajia and I. It's very exciting and, of course, a little nerve-racking. Jiajia will lose the use of the buses' comfier seats [see photo, left], though I think I'll still qualify!?

Jiajia will be having a C-section - more common in China and a sensible precaution because of her age and a small placenta problem - so there will be no mad "waters breaking" rush to the hospital! She should even have a private room, we're told, in the hospital's new maternity wing. In China, there is no thought of mother or baby returning home until at least a week after the operation and babies are often not even taken out of the house for the first 100 days. With no free National Health Service, we've also had to save up for considerable medical costs. But, all being well, I'll be a Dad by this time next week.

We have started to fill-in a Baby Book [see photo, below] sent by my
parents. I still have the one they completed for me as a baby...

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As I was running this morning I was listening to Ultravox's latest album on my MP3 and the lyrics of their song, "One", suddenly hit me afresh;
"It’s hard to believe the time has come for this one.
Good fortune has breathed its breath upon this one."

Oh ma goodness!

23/3/2013

 
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Ma-in-law had a starring role on Yunnan TV yesterday, when they aired a Beijing Opera, filmed in Kunming some ten years ago, in which she played the role of "hard-done-by mother" (a role she was born to play!). It made Ma's day to shepherd us all into her bedroom and show us her acting and singing skills. It certainly showed me a different side to her - a past life I was aware of, but had found it hard to imagine. Mind you, not being a huge Beijing Opera fan myself, the acting looked very wooden to me and the singing sounded like a cat being strangled ...just as it should be, I'm assured!

Fringe benefits

21/3/2013

 
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Sometimes it's not inaccuracy that's the problem with a translation, but too much accuracy! I've recently been watching the very last episodes of my favourite sci-fi show, "Fringe", online. When Olivia asks Peter, "How far to the house?" his vague reply is. "I'm guessing not more than a couple hundred yards". But the sub-titles have it as,  "I'm guessing not more than 182.88 metres". Now that's some guess!

Jogging Spielberg's memory

19/3/2013

 
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Fame beckons for my brother David, who could recently be seen on the British TV drama, "Casualty". He is the half-marathon runner in red, centre of the picture above (with a pole sticking out of his head??). Admittedly he was one of a few thousand, but surely it's only a matter of time before Spielberg picks up the phone...?

Not just any nanny

17/3/2013

 
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Introducing our new nanny, Xiao Zhang. Ava and I decided fairly early on to employ a full-time, live-in nanny for the first few months after our baby arrives. Apart from having read a couple of books, we have little idea how to look after a newborn child! My parents are obviously far away and Ava only has one (unreliable) parent around. We both work full-time, too, and labour is relatively cheap here. So for many reasons it seemed to make sense. Zhang comes through a reputable nannying agency and seems to have fitted in well during her short visits here so far. She moves in properly later this week. She has struck up a working rapport with Ma-in-law and has been introduced to Dorta! What she really thinks about our strange and disfunctional family is anybody's guess.

Be alert on the tert

15/3/2013

4 Comments

 
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I saw this in a Walmart supermarket yesterday. Is "travolatert" a French word? Or an anagram of travelator (almost)? It has a nice ring to it and the warning certainly worked - I didn't stick my (unborn) child in the trolley even once (the wife wouldn't let me).

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Door it yourself

13/3/2013

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The door to the office was completed yesterday [see left], but the bathroom door was abandoned [see right] when the workers found they had cut it to the wrong size! Stick to the day job, guys - oh hang on, this IS your day job! They are due back today. Meanwhile we are making semi-public ablutions!
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Do it yourshelf

12/3/2013

3 Comments

 
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The list of "things to do before the baby arrives" is gradually getting ticked off. The kitchen is replaced. The old office is now a baby/nanny bedroom. The doors to the new office and bathroom are due to arrive and be fitted today. The wall shelves and self-standing bookshelves arrived yesterday and are already full of stuff. The live-in nanny was due to arrive last Sunday but, whilst driving here, she heard her 21 year-old son had been in a car accident and broken his leg. So we're hoping for a back-up nanny to arrive today. Clothes and nappies are bought. Another scan is due tomorrow. I've planned lessons for two weeks cover at school. And the interminable paperwork required to register a newborn in China is up to date. What have we forgotton...?
[P.S. The photo above makes it look like one very crowded corner of a
room! It's actually 2 separate places in the flat, photo-shopped together!]
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Don't take the Mick

11/3/2013

4 Comments

 
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Jagger and Richards are a real menace, even here in China!
[Thanks to Gemma for spotting and snapping this "rock" classic!]
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Birth Day

9/3/2013

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Yesterday was Ava's birthday and therefore, apparently, Dorta's birthday too. So while the wife got a new "BluRay, 3D, wifi-enabled, makes-cups-of-coffee" DVD player, Dorta got a little baby of her own, plus a cot for it to sleep in. Let's hope the real birth is as hassle-free as Dorta ripping open her gift's packaging.

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Off at Lastt

7/3/2013

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The last of the Lattitude volunteers left yesterday (well, technically this morning as one had mis-booked his onward flight!) This intake made for a particularly busy time, being 29 volunteers strong, from five countries - a lot more than the usual 10-15 or so from one country which we have grown used to. But they were a good bunch and the course got excellent feedback again, which is encouraging. By now they have arrived at their 15 placements all over China to start 5 months of English teaching with classes of 50-60 eager students. I'm enjoying my first day off in 2 weeks before the weekend lessons start up again tomorrow.

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Why we run...

5/3/2013

3 Comments

 
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I was sent this fun diagram the other day. There's a blank space though: any ideas what Brits or Chinese could be running to or from?
3 Comments

Volunteenagers

3/3/2013

6 Comments

 
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Arranging the 30 Lattitude volunteers' Teaching Practice and Observations in our school has been particularly tricky this time. Trying to give volunteers experience with students of a similar age to those they will be teaching in their placement. Informing the class teachers they will be coming and getting textbook photocopies from them to plan their lesson from. Arranging for class teachers to meet with volunteers to give advice. Co-ordinating which volunteers will be observing while others are teaching. Finding out which classrooms each lesson will be in. Advising on lesson structures and resource materials. Collecting and correcting lesson plans. Collating formal feedback sheets. Observing and being observed by the volunteers in my own classes ...while all the while trying to fit in my normal 14 hours of weekend lessons.

Pleasingly, the feedback from the class teachers has been very positive about the volunteers' lessons this time with no real disasters (...not that I've heard about yet, anyway!). Bodes well.

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Nappy birth day presents

1/3/2013

 
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While I approach the mid-point of the Lattitude training, my huge-bellied wife continues to wield her internet powers to buy all the necessaries for a newborn baby. Friends, family and customers have also been very generous in buying items for next month's life-changing event. We had a delivery of bottles and steriliser from a Hong Kong friend today, a stroller on the way and various toys and clothes slowly filling the cupboards.

I've been trying out a front-loading baby carrier, whilst a Chinese friend of mine has sent through a more traditional back-mounted option (plus two boxes of brown sugar which Chinese mothers must eat a lot of, apparently). My school has granted me two weeks of paid paternity leave once the baby is here, and we have a shopping centre gift card for nappies too!

On the less positive side, after 3 weeks of running water (a Spring Festival "gift" from our kindly local government) we've now been cut off again and have to manage with an hour a day once again. Let's just hope babies never needs washing ...what's that?? They do???

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    paul hider

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    Paul Hider lives and works in Kunming (SW China) and regularly updates this blog about his life there.

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