Edmonton Real Estate Investor: expat pregnancy

Nothing like a sick baby to throw a wrench into things! New babies get sick a lot and mine is working hard at building up his immunity by collecting almost every virus known to man.

I know it will make him stronger and in fact most children get 7 t0 8 colds in the first year. I wonder how he knows which ones I haven't had so that I can partake in the fun too?

Anyway what doesn`t kill us and all that.

The one thing I've learned from all this is every cold can turn serious in a baby and you should ALWAYS take the baby to the doctor at the first hint of a sniffle - better safe then sorry.

We celebrate many things in life. The greatest to date for us has been the healthy birth of our first child, our son Ronan .

He was born 4:25PM, 10/7 after a long labour by his amazing Mom, Danielle!

Through all the hard work, joys and successes in life and to come, we found Ronan's birth to be a wonderful experience to bond and connect on a different, higher level.

Ronan's baptismal name is Jason (Saint Jason) after a very dear friend of ours. This way he can be remembered and also share in a 'rebirth' of sorts.

To all of you who are parents, I now understand what you feel in many complicated ways.

Thanks for all your help and support.

Todd, Danielle and Ronan

Since my mom and aunt are here I am trying to maximize my time in the company, rest and show them around even more than before. It's easy to let something slide and more often than not it's the resting part. My greatest discoveries have been:

1. Schedule your day into time blocks
2. Rest is crucial- if the baby comes you need stamina to get through labour
3. Give your guests a map and set them on their way

I give myself 2 or 3 important jobs a day to do and make sure I get them done. In that way I have actually done a lot of my tasks, made time for the nap and shown my family a pretty fine time during their stay in Japan.

Only 6 days left!

I live a large part of the year outside of Canada and so I often forget what a fantastic country it is. My mom and aunt flew out from Edmonton and Calgary to help me get ready for the baby and the inevitable changes that are coming very very quickly. They were telling me about their medical coverage and how much the pay for certain services. I'm pretty impressed with how little money they are required to pay.

As an non-resident expat I don't have Canadian medical. I pay an exorbitant amount of money to be protected for everything from organ transplants and dental to the delivery of a child. In Japan the delivery will cost about ¥500,000 (about $5,023 CDN) my medical covers most of that but I will pay about $500CDN by the end of it. This includes the delivery, some post-natal classes and 5 days in the hospital; they don't believe in sending the mother home the next day after the delivery in Japan.

Japanese families must pay for the delivery. The city will give nearly half of the costs back but these families are expected to come up with about $3,000 CDN. That is a lot of money to come up with when you are starting a new family and one of the income producers is now out of work. I'm sure this may play a small part in the birthrate being so low. In Canada of course the whole thing would be free and we would probably pay about $100 dollars a month for our medical coverage.

Canada is really beautiful, it's safe, the people are friendly and the streets are clean. There are social services for everyone and if you are determined you can do anything you dream to do. All in all it's a pretty wonderful place to live.

I'm sitting here at my desk, well near my desk, counting the days for my son to come. I can't quite fit in my area any more because my belly has become so unbelievably huge that I sit about a foot away.

It's just struck me that there are only 16 days left and I am not prepared! Of course I am ecstatic to see him but not really looking forward to the delivery. Although people often have more than one child so it must not be so horrible as to put women off for the rest of their lives.

I've had a great time being pregnant and can't believe that this incredible experience will soon be over. I now see what women mean when they say they would like to be pregnant forever.