365 China Photo: One-A-Day

After the scan yesterday the doctor told me it was a little girl. Canthy had known for over a week, as she had an emergency scan when I was in Hong Kong. She had fallen down at work so rushed to the hospital to make sure everything was OK. Luckily there was no harm to the baby, so she didn’t tell me about this until I got back to Beijing as she didn’t want to worry me. At that time the doctor had told her it was probably a girl but yesterdays scan confirmed it. In public hospitals in China it’s illegal to ask or find out what sex your baby is. With the one child policy in China most parents want a boy so a girl can be a big disappointment. In the past and sadly even today many mothers will terminate their baby if they find out it is a girl, which is why the law was brought in to protect the unborn. Canthy really wanted a boy as it would be a sign that she was a good mother and she would have ‘more face’. This concept is strange to me but then Canthy is Chinese so I don’t pretend to understand the deep cultural significance of this. However I had always wanted a girl so was happy to know we were going to have a daughter. Before this Canthy had told me a boy was easier to look after as you didn’t have to worry if he was pretty or had a good figure. I told her she was so shallow to think like that, but then when I knew it was a girl it got me thinking like this too. Anyway we are both so happy that we don’t really care what sex it is as long as it is healthy and happy. Trouble is I will now have two little girls to look after – a big one and a small one!