FAQs: Baby Jipp Edition

Hello Everyone!

Since we have broken the news about our impending arrival we have gotten so many questions about the baby and our future in Hong Kong. Like our previous FAQ, this will hopefully answer everyone's questions at one time!

How are you feeling?: Now that the first trimester is over I am feeling back to normal. I was quite nauseous and tired throughout the first 12-14 weeks. The problem with our neighborhood and most of Hong Kong is a lot of the smells on the streets are not familiar to me and were unpleasant before I was pregnant- so dry heaving on the sidewalk became quite the normal for me :-) My appetite is pretty much back though I do find I get full much quicker.  

Any cravings?: So far I've pretty much craved Subway spicy italian subs and grilled cheese sandwiches with Ruffles potato chips since I got over the nausea. Those two sandwiches are eaten multiple times per week :-) 

Will the baby be born in Hong Kong?: Yes- I am due August 2nd and we are expected to stay in Hong Kong till at least early October.

How are the doctors and prenatal health care?: We are going through the public health care system to have the baby as we both are covered by the government provided healthcare. So far I have had appointments with midwives and doctors, all of which have been extremely kind and helpful and the language barrier has not been an issue. The amazing part of the government healthcare is it will cost us no more than $50 for all of our prenatal care and hospital fees!

Will the baby be a Hong Kong citizen?: No- any children born of expat parents become the citizen of the country the parents are from. Citizenship is gained in Hong Kong after 7 years of residency. The baby will be issued a passport by the US consulate here in Hong Kong. The only difference will be the place of birth in his/her passport will say Hong Kong :-) 

Will you move back to Milwaukee after the baby is born?: The golden question! As of now, we do not have an answer for this. We are still weighing the pros and cons of moving home in October vs staying here a little bit longer. We will keep you all updated on our decision!

Are you still working and will you get maternity leave?: I am still working part-time, 3 days a week for a private physical therapy clinic. Since I am part time I have no health benefits and therefore no paid/pre-determined amount of maternity leave. If we do choose to stay here longer I will decide with my bosses how much time I will want and take that unpaid. The thing I have loved about being part-time is the flexibility to take off/vacation whenever I want and this goes too with maternity leave. 

Will you find out the gender of the baby?: Yes! I am currently 17 weeks so we are planning on having an ultrasound either this weekend or next to find if it's a boy or girl!

We hope this answers a lot of your questions but feel free to ask us anything more. We know it is hard for us to be away from our family and friends during the amazing time but hopefully we can ease the distance by keeping everyone up to date here! 

Baby Jipp at 12 weeks

Frequently Asked Questions

With being home recently, we received many questions about our new life over in Hong Kong. Many of the questions were similar, meaning a lot of people want to know the same things. I compiled the most asked questions and our answers for those who we weren't able to see and talk with.

1) How long is the flight? - The flight is direct from Chicago to Hong Kong. Going to Hong Kong is 15.5 hours and going to Chicago is 14.5 hours. We try to spend the majority of the flight awake to fight against jet lag. We watch plenty of movies, tv shows and read magazines. Plus eating the 2 meals and a snack that you get!

2) Do you drive over there? - We do not drive ourselves in Hong Kong. Having your own car there is comparable to having a car in New York City. It's crowded, busy traffic and expensive. We use all forms of public transportation to get around...blog post on that later!

3) What do you miss the most? (besides family and friends of course!) - My answer: Target, Ryan's answer: Jack's frozen pizza

4) What is the weather like? - The weather here is similar to southern Florida. It is mild during the winter (50-60 degrees) and very humid during the summer. Luckily we arrived during the best weather season so we can get used to the weather slowly before the hot summer.

5) What is the time difference? - We are 14 hours ahead of central time here which means while you are waking up for your day, I am getting ready for bed (or still browsing Pinterest, which is normally the case). It is normally easier for us to adjust time zones flying to Hong Kong, while flying back home is quite difficult with fighting jet lag. This past trip home though was not easy, with me falling asleep at 8 pm every night and up at 5 a.m.

6) What currency do you use? - We use the Hong Kong dollar. The conversion rate is roughly $1 USD for $7 HKD. The easy math Ryan taught me is for $100 HKD is $12 USD and then multiply or divide from there. I still am finding myself standing in stores doing math on my fingers trying to figure out if the yogurt is really as expensive as I think! Luckily, there is an app for that :-)

7) Is there US tv stations there? - There are a few US tv stations here to watch. We have several different types of discovery channels, TLC, E! Network and FX to name a few. The difference here is that the shows are much older (they show 17 kids and counting vs 19 kids and counting) and a lot of things are blurred or edited out. No brands are allowed to be shown or spoken, cleavage is blurred out and any background faces are also blurred out. The commercials are not for products but for the tv programs on that network. The episodes are normally aired with 1 short 'commercial' break and then previews of other shows are aired for the remaining 8-10 minutes. Luckily for the Internet, we are able to keep up on all of our favorite tv shows back home that are unavailable here (Real Housewives for me, Always Sunny in Philadelphia for Ryan).

8) Is everything really expensive? - It depends. If your lifestyle is going out to Western restaurants and bars every day and night, then yes. If you can handle going to the grocery store and some more local restaurants, then not really. Many things here can be purchased for near the same pride or cheaper than in the states, it is just a matter of looking. Getting foods imported from the US is obviously more expensive here but there are many foods that can be purchased locally. It also goes for clothes. If you need high end brands from all the fancy stores downtown, then it is expensive. If you're okay with shopping at H&M or other similar stores, then the price is similar to the states.

9) Are you working yet? - Unfortunately, not yet. It is taking some time to get my license situated over here due to the paper work, but as soon as that is settled I will hopefully start working. There are many English speaking clinics in the western districts here that I will look into work at as you have to be fluent in Cantonese and English to work in the hospitals.

10) Do you like it? - I got this question from everyone from my parents to the checkout person at J Crew (saying 'I live overseas' is a great line to get them to stop asking if you want a store credit card). The answer is, slowly but surely. I'm not going to lie, it was very hard at first to get a handle of understanding I lived here. After a couple of weeks I got that feeling you have when you're on vacation and you are ready to go home, but of course I wasn't going home this time. There are things here I've grown to love while there are still things here I quite haven't. Coming back here after Christmas though really sealed it for me. When we landed and got off the plane, I truly felt as though I was back home and not landing in a foreign county, something I didn't think I would feel for awhile. I am happy to be back home and continue on this journey to learning more about this city.

I hope you enjoyed this long post! If you have any more questions, do not hesitate to ask me here or on Facebook. We know many of our family and friends are curious about life here and it makes some people more comfortable to know more.

Happy New Year!