While I brace myself for the upcoming check-up at the maternity hospital, I vividly recall the pre-kindergarten health check-up we brought Lucas for.

Before a child enters kindergarten in China, they need to go for a full medical check-up. Foreign children who have attended daycare or kindergarten in their home countries before coming to China are exempt from this check-up.

A good friend picked us up and brought us to the children’s hospital (or clinic) within our district. I wouldn’t have recognized it as a hospital because it was housed in a nondescript 4-5 storey building alongside shops selling nuts and bolts, zinc roofing and other industrial items!

CROWDS, CROWDS EVERYWHERE

Here’s the crowd ‘lining up’ at the counter.

I couldn’t resist taking a photo of this lady carrying her toddler in a traditional basket!

My friend made a deposit of about RMB100 at the counter before we could proceed. Yup, pay first, pray later…

We went upstairs and came to an open waiting area with many, many parents sitting  with their precious ones (baobei). The setting reminded me of a government hospital in Malaysia.

I’m really thankful to the friend who brought us because she helped to fill the forms, spoke to the counter people etc while I keep track of Lucas running here and there, poking his nose everywhere.

There were so many children, it was really easy to lose sight of him!

We searched high and low along a narrow corridor for the room we were supposed to wait in and planted ourselves in the doorway. According to her, we had to be close by or the queue gets jumped quickly if they don’t see you after a few calls.

If the scene of groups of 10-20 fathers, mothers (openly breastfeeding), children and crying babies crowding every room isn’t enough to unnerve you, then the giant plastic containers for the babies to pee, poo, vomit or for people to spit in or throw rubbish will!

There are probably only a few toilets available that parents are not bothered to bring their children there (they’d probably be filthy anyway). Thankfully, Lucas was still in diapers then and is used to a morning dump before we go out.

I just shudder at the thought of catching an infection here because a) it’s so crowded and b) the bins full of spit, pee, poo and vomit

NURSE, NURSE!
The first check was a physical one where his temperature was taken, his height and weight measured. Also, I had to take off his diaper (gasps of shock to see a 2.5 year old boy still in diapers!!!) so that the nurse could look and feel the poor fella’s genitals…

I have to admire the nurses though because they were all very calm and patient in the midst of such pandemonium.

Halfway through a check, you’ll find an anxious parent hauling their naked baby over to show diaper rash or some other skin rash or asking a question.

Without losing their rhythm, they’d answer the parent’s question patiently and then go back to the check on hand

When I followed Lucas to the back of the room, I came upon two nurses showing new mothers how to give their babies a massage.

Isn’t that great? In Malaysia, you need to PAY for baby massage sessions, which is ridiculous actually…

You’ll notice that almost every baby is wrapped in a black-and-white checked cotton swaddlecloth (with aluminium talismans sewn in red thread), believed around these parts to protect the baby.

I think it’s a good indicator to everyone on the road or on the sidewalk that you’re carrying a baby!

From my chats with Chinese mothers, the hospitals are working hard to educate the older generation and folks in the rural areas to reduce the wrappings on newborn babies to prevent heat rash and overheating.

I can just imagine my own Chinese grandmother going…

“Hmmph! And let the baby catch its death of a cold!”

According to my Mum, she had swaddled me up quite tightly too in a nappy square when I was an infant under her care

Over here, you can see babies red in the face, with rashes and yowling away because the overly-concerned grandmother, mother-in-law or mother had the poor baby dressed in long shirt and pants, mittens and booties, wrapped in a cotton cloth and then swaddled up in thick towelling…for summer!

We then went for an eye check-up, which was really cool. The doctor held a Star Wars-looking gadget which looked like a 70s style rolling film camera - the tricky part was getting Lucas to stand still and stare intently at it for a few seconds.

I couldn’t snap a photo because I had to put him on my lap while my friend called out to him in front. However, the small fella ended up smiling and crinkling up his eyes!

The eye doctor got really frustrated after a few tries (and probably cursed her decision to specialize in pediatric opthamology) but we finally got him to sit still long enough to certify that his eyes were OK.

Lastly, we went back downstairs for the BLOOD TEST. For most visits to the doctor, Lucas is co-operative especially when I explain to him what’s going on and what will happen.

Since he was busy checking out the gadgets, boxes, chairs and cupboards all around him, he didn’t pay attention to the children getting their fingers pricked.

I decided to grab him and sat him on my lap to show him what’s going to happen. He was very curious as he observed this:

The lab technician using a pin (I forget) to prick a child’s index finger and then squeezing blood into a thin (about 0.2 cm) straw. No plates or tubes here for blood specimens.

It felt very painful because kids between 3-6 years old were yowling and yowling like crazy before, during and after the test!

Preparing my little tyke, I explained that the ‘uncle’ was going to do the same for him and I got ready the pack of stick biscuits with chocolate dip to soothe him later.

Guess what? Lucas didn’t cry at all! He was amazingly calm when the lab technician did his thing.

The surrounding parents were naturally impressed and I almost cried at my brave little boy.

However, the technician botched it up by squeezing too slow that the blood flow stopped. So, he had to squeeze his little finger again!

By then, the little fella got impatient and his finger probably hurt from all THAT squeezing. At that point, I told the lab technician to please hurry up…

When it was done, I gave Lucas many, many kisses and praised him for being a very, very good boy. Even my friend praised him and he got all the biscuits with chocolate dip! (Minus 2 I gave to an annoyingly loud crying girl to shut her up)

Later, I bought Lucas a special toy to reward him for his brave little act and couldn’t wait to tell Hubby all about it.

Now, Hubby wonders if this scaredy-cat Mummy will be as brave as her little boy? I definitely don’t think so!

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