shanghai baby

I've been working on this post for a few days, and it's getting unwieldy. I'll just chunk it out and try to follow up with more posts in the near future:

I'll spare you the China start-up and new venture jokes, and just say of all the decisions that Angie and I have made one of the biggest has certainly been where to have our baby. Of course, the decision wasn't an easy one, but after much deliberation, we've decided to have our first child here in a Chinese hospital. [please note I didn't say we "labored" over the decision]

With everything that's happened over the last few months, being closer to family has certainly become an even bigger priority for Angie and me. Right when we lost Dad and everything was turned upside down, Angie and I thought it might be best to move back to the US right away. Certainly there was some altruism in this potential move. We thought we could really help the family through this tough time, but another part was selfish too. We missed everyone and just wanted to be "home" again. Of course part of that had to do with just missing Dad, something that moving back to the US might even make worse, but another part was a feeling of not wanting to waste any time that we might have spent together, since time now felt so fleeting.

But things have been going well here for both Angie and me. Our careers have certainly developed in new and fascinating ways (in our day jobs and beyond), we've made a lot of great friends, and we've found a growing affection for Shanghai and for China. And deep down we thought about the sacrifices that our parents and whole families made to get us to the point in our lives and our careers where we stood. We both talked about how this move to China made us understand our family histories of immigration better and more deeply. Would we be throwing things away by heading back in haste?

A week later, when Angie and I found out we were pregnant, everything changed. Besides another shift in priorities and considerations, being pregnant and the choice of having the baby here in Shanghai or in the US brought a host of practical points into focus. Here's a brief word on a few of them:

Pollution: the pollution here is terrible. Bad enough for us before, but with Angie pregnant, she's even more sensitive. The filthy trucks and buses spewing out black smoke. The noxious smells emanating from random buildings. The lack of smoking courtesy as people smoke in elevators, taxis and nearly every restaurant. Add this to questionable hygeine and safety standards and it makes for a tough place to be in our 30s even moreso for the baby's less than zeroes. Unless this place shapes up, and quick, I can't imagine raising a healthy baby under these conditions.

Healthcare: the hospital we found, Huashan. Is of reassuringly high standards. At least the foreigners service side is. The local side seems like something out of an old Zhang Yimou movie: proletarian, dark and rough around the edges. Huashan has an OB/GYN clinic called American Sino and it's where a few friends have had their babies. The birthing center, in the main hospital, is clean and everyone there is friendly. A fold-out couch in each room testifies to the kind of thoughtfulness not seen in that Zhang Yimou movie. Plus they recently opened a beautiful new pre-natal clinic down the road. It's got a "internet cafe" waiting room and as Angie calls it design out of the W Hotel chain.

More soon...