This coming January we’ll be heading south to Cairns, Australia (pronounced “cans”) to welcome our beautiful second born into the world! I’m feeling all the same emotions I felt when we found out about Ray, just muted a bit. I stay mentally and physically tapped out keeping Ray alive, so it’s not until the end of the day that I turn my thoughts (and anxieties) fully to Baby Garbo.

Which brings me to our nickname. Almost all pregnant women know about the online sites that send you a weekly update saying, “Your blessing of life is now the size of a kumquat!” to which you inevitably reply, “What the heck is a kumquat?!?” I’m not sure why they don’t pick blueberries or apples or lima beans, but every email we got during Ray’s months inside involved a quick trip to Google images to see exactly what foreign produce they were comparing my offspring to. When we added Baby #2 to our chosen website, we received the first of the emails. To our great relief they compared our tiny one to a garbanzo bean. Hey! I know what that is and have actually eaten it. Multiple times! So Brian started referring to Baby as Garbo. It’s growing on me. Slowly.

Ray’s completely rational reaction to the news.

Our child’s citizenship has been the most common follow-up question to our news. Although we would love to give Ray fodder in future fights – something along the lines of “you’re not even the same nationality as the rest of us” – it doesn’t work that way. Just because Baby Garbo will be born in Australia does not automatically make him… or her… an Australian citizen. Just like giving him… or her… the gift of Australian citizenship wouldn’t automatically give him… or her… a coveted Australian accent. So if we can’t ultimately give our child the gift of an Australian accent, why have the baby in Australia instead of near family in America? Lots of reasons.

1) Getting to Cairns involves two flights. A one hour flight to Port Moresby followed by another one hour flight to Cairns. Done and done. Getting to the States involves at least four flights, one of them being as long as 16 hours. 34 weeks pregnant with a toddler? I don’t think so. 

2) The expense of the flights is night and day. We’ll be paying a tenth of the almost $10,000 it would take to get the whole family to the States and back again. No brainer.

3) The medical care in Australia is excellent. It’s also significantly less expensive than comparable care in the States. We’ll be paying thousands of dollars less to bring Baby Garbo into the world by choosing Australia.

4) We have two different insurance rates: overseas and stateside. If we go home our monthly premium will double. If we stay on this side of the world we get to keep our lower overseas rate.

5) “Our home” is now Madang. Just like most of my mom peers in the States, my nesting instinct is fully functional. Unlike most of my mom peers in the States, I can’t leave my home when I go into labor, have the beautiful bundle in the hospital, and come back to my home a day or two later where I settle my two children into a comfortable routine. Instead we’ll be living in a beautiful, but very unfamiliar city out of our suitcases. I’m going to want to get my family back to Madang and our home as soon as possible. We can mitigate how much time we spend away from our home by going to Australia where we know no one. However, if we spent the money to go all the way back to the States we would stay longer to reconnect with people. In order to stay healthy as a family, our plan is to be in and out in 3 months (mostly limited by the length of our medical visas).

6) Along those same lines, Brian will be working remotely while we’re Down Under. He’ll be more than ready to get back to PNG where executing his work will be easier.

7) Ray gets to see koalas.

8) Ray gets to see kangaroos.

9) Ray gets to see wombats.

10) Brian and I get to eat Bikkie Magnum Bars, the most amazing ice cream bar created. And it’s only sold in Australia.

Many, many, many American missionaries living in PNG have gone before us to have children in Cairns. We’re already connected to a doctor that will handle the birth and he’s highly experienced in helping missionaries in PNG through this process. My parents are coming to Cairns to visit around the due date (hopefully it will be timed well), blessing us with family time. Then we look forward to seeing Brian’s parents later next year in PNG. Though it’s devastating to us that we can’t share this with our loved ones, going to Australia for this momentous event is the right thing for our little family.