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So let me tell you one of my many reasons for my love affair with Hong Kong and I swear every word of this is true. My wife was pregnant with our second child and we were scheduled to give birth in Hong Kong though we lived in Shenzhen right near the border. To anyone who 1/n
has not been there, though Shenzhen and Hong Kong are geographically on top of each other they are culturally almost on other sides of the planet. My wife's parents had come in a few weeks early to help with the baby and everything was fine. A few weeks before her due date 2/n
She started having some labor pains but she had been having these for short periods with regularity so didn't think anything of it. Around 4:30 in the afternoon, the labor pains really kicked into high gear. Still almost a month from the due date, we had not made plans 3/n
To cross the border or have transportation lined up. I got on the phone and was calling everyone who could help but in the middle of rush hour, no body could go cross border on short notice. So we went down jumped in a cab and took for the Hong Kong Bay Bridge border crossing 4/n
Right at the parking lot and the main gate, with the Hong Kong airport shutttles to your right but still in Shenzhen, there is a security gate and my wife's water broke at the primary bottle neck entrance. As I pleaded with a Chinese security guard for help 5/n
They just stared at me blankly as my wife screamed out in the middle of labor her water having just broke. For a location that sees hundreds of thousands of crossing a day, the inability to recognize basic human situation to this day puzzles me. A kind American of Chinese 6/n
Ethnicity explained to the guard what we needed. The guard slowly brought over an old office chair missing two wheels and my wife sat down. They sent a guard with our passports ahead to have them stamped and alerted the Hong Kong side. At Chinese passport control we were 7/n
Handed our prestamped passports and waved through as I pushed her on this office chair threatening to fall over. Once on the Hong Kong side, a first aid station had been established with a cloth partition. They took her vitals and asked the range of basic questions before 8/n
the EMTs arrived. Hong Kong had clearly run drills on this situation and had a protocol in place to handle the situation. When the EMTs arrived they transferred her to a gurney and we began moving to the elevator to take us down to the street level. Almost immediately 9/n
Upon stepping out of the elevator with the ambulance in 50 feet away, my wife screams out the baby is coming. Under an almost full moon outside with cars passing between China and Hong Kong passport control headed to the airport, my second daughter was born by the most 10/n
Technical of margins in Hong Kong. The EMTs took about 15 minutes to handle everything on the scene then transported us to Tuen Mun public hospital not far from Yuen Long recently in the news. Everyone in the hospital and health care staff was incredibly professional 11/n
and polite. The difference between how these situations are handled as organizations and as people between China and Hong Kong is not even night and day it is like light years of difference. There are two brief follow up notes. 12/n
For many years later, we would be talking to expats in Shenzhen and they would tell us this story of someone they heard about who had a baby in the loading docks at the Hong Kong Bay Bridge border crossing. Sometimes I would tell them, others I wouldn't Second, my girl 13/n
was a total normal western birth weight when born but given she was large by Hong Kong standards, they insisted on keeping her in the NICU for a couple of days. We found this amusing but appreciated their earnestness and sincerity in wanting to make sure she was fine. 14/n
Third and forgotten, because we did not have a reservation at the local hospital at a time when they were totally overwhelmed with Mainland mothers having babies in Hong Kong, my wife was kept in a maternity room with 7 Mainland mothers the size of a small copy room 15/n
You could barely walk in the room and the Mainlanders were extremely puzzled what we were doing there. My two kids born in Hong Kong proudly call themselves Hong Kongers from all the memories and declare their intent to move back. I haven't told them yet. 16/n
Hong Kong and Hong Kongers, you are a deeply special place and I support and commend you standing up for freedom in this cynical age. We stand with you and pray for you today on this important day. Done.
