Back in Mzansi, I now know that it's likely to be a girl. It was always a family joke that my sister would have three boys, and I would have girls....turns out family mythology is holding true so far.
Johannesburg seems like a different city with a big belly. When I took taxis before, I had a reception that reminded me of being an exchange student - a slightly misplaced, awkward curiosity. Now that I have a belly to add to the situation, the assumptions seem to change. Interesting to watch. This dimension of being home is fun. Others, slightly less.
It seems impossible to find an obstetrician that charges within-medical aid rates in the city. I had no idea such a thing would be so difficult. I always naively assumed that I look around for good coverage, pay a lot for medical aid every month, and then when I go to the doctor, I don't pay! If only it were that simple. I'm not sure how people do it....Getting appointments at public hospitals requires months of advance planning; even getting in to see a private obstetrician, who charges triple what my medical aid will cover, takes weeks...I'm not quite sure how people are generally expected to go about having babies, without going bankrupt or losing their jobs?
And, the debate over the Last Name continues. As I hear horror stories from other ex-pats about the difficulties of travelling with a child with a different last name (and have some experiences to confirm it, like in the clinic in Nagpur where the lab clinician wouldn't let me enter a different surname for the father on the medical forms....imagine what school (or hospital) admission would be like), I become more and more weary about having a different last name from the little blob....I don't want to become paranoid and create fights with the father, but I also don't want to sign up for 18 years of unnecessary headaches (some of which could have serious consequences) just for the sake of avoiding conflict.
Johannesburg seems like a different city with a big belly. When I took taxis before, I had a reception that reminded me of being an exchange student - a slightly misplaced, awkward curiosity. Now that I have a belly to add to the situation, the assumptions seem to change. Interesting to watch. This dimension of being home is fun. Others, slightly less.
It seems impossible to find an obstetrician that charges within-medical aid rates in the city. I had no idea such a thing would be so difficult. I always naively assumed that I look around for good coverage, pay a lot for medical aid every month, and then when I go to the doctor, I don't pay! If only it were that simple. I'm not sure how people do it....Getting appointments at public hospitals requires months of advance planning; even getting in to see a private obstetrician, who charges triple what my medical aid will cover, takes weeks...I'm not quite sure how people are generally expected to go about having babies, without going bankrupt or losing their jobs?
And, the debate over the Last Name continues. As I hear horror stories from other ex-pats about the difficulties of travelling with a child with a different last name (and have some experiences to confirm it, like in the clinic in Nagpur where the lab clinician wouldn't let me enter a different surname for the father on the medical forms....imagine what school (or hospital) admission would be like), I become more and more weary about having a different last name from the little blob....I don't want to become paranoid and create fights with the father, but I also don't want to sign up for 18 years of unnecessary headaches (some of which could have serious consequences) just for the sake of avoiding conflict.
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