Romanian traditions when having a baby.

I would to record the ups and downs of having a baby in Romania, a country with its own unique traditions and ideas. I would love you to join me on this journey, and comment on my discoveries about Romanian traditions along the way.

Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...

Day 2 at home 
This morning, I was really tired, and so was Doina and Irina, and so we spent the day relaxing, feedings and sleeping. Slowly the baby is eating more and ...

Baby comes home 
Out of the blue, Victor was allowed home with his mother. I had to get the whole place ready as it had become a little less tidy without my wife keeping ...

The magic fairy which comes to visit 3 days after a Romanian Baby is Born 
Three nights after little Victor was born, I had to prepare for a special Romanian fairy called 'Usitoare', which comes to visit my home after 3 nights....

22nd February 2010 Back to school  Not rated yet
Well the time has come to bite the bullet and return to school - leaving Irina and Victor without support for a morning. Nae slept over last night - lucky ...

The Saga of the current... or how to annoy a Romanian neighbour.  Not rated yet
If you are Romanian, you will know all about how dangerous current is. I saw a classic example of it last summer. My friends had started to build a house,...

Sleep, Sleep, my kingdom for some sleep!  Not rated yet
As you may have noticed, there has a been a decidable absence of blog entries of late. This is because life in the Fogarty household has kicked into a ...

The snows continue  Not rated yet
Last night Doina was with us, but I decided it was time I pulled a little more of my weight at night, and so volunteered for the night shift.

Irina ...

What nationality should I choose?  Not rated yet
The night was tougher as Doina sensibly stayed in her own bed last night, so we were left to look after Victor without Granny - and so I spent the night ...

The snows arrive and my extra support leaves...  Not rated yet
This was another excellent day. Little Victor is now 8 days old, and to be honest, he seems to have been with me all my life. He has fitted into the way ...

A day of technological breakthroughs and breakdowns  Not rated yet
Victor slept badly last night, eating almost hourly, and so by the time the morning arrived, while I was fresh and awake and ready to roll, my wife and ...

The parcels and letters have started to come!   Not rated yet
Yesterday night I found I had a parcel waiting for me - I was hopeful it was the long lost whisky I was sent 2 years ago or the missing snow shoes I ordered ...

Doctors and Nurses come to call.  Not rated yet
This was the day of medical consultations. The doctor needed to call as she comes when we come home and in a month's time to check on little Victor's progress....

The night of sleep!  Not rated yet
Yesterday we all got up, were like Zombies all day, and then went back to bed. This is a very badly organised way of doing things - so last night we tried ...

Victor starts life...

In the summer, Irina, my wife announced that we were to become parents. There was of course a great deal of excitement, and then the all the old wives tales started to rear their ugly heads, and I just had to do my best to go with the flow, while knocking the silliest ones into place.

If you imagine for a moment where I live. When I am not in Bucharest, I live in a little peasant cottage, miles from anywhere, surrounded by trees on pretty much all sides. There is no water and certainly no convenient hospital. But as Irina was feeling well, all was good.

However, her friends drove her crazy, as we decided that living in fresh air, eating organic food and relaxing was the best way to kick off a baby's life. Her friends were horrified that we were not going to the doctor's once a fortnight, to see if our little blob of cells was needing anything extra.

By the end of the summer, Irina was really worried that the doctor would be upset because she had not gone, and so we started to do the trips.

One of the odd new Romanian traditions, is scanning. They seem to think that a baby is like a TV channel. Every 2 weeks, you need to bombard the poor little mite with ultra sound to check he is still fine. My son was very uncooperative in this manner, as soon as he felt the rays, he would turn his back to them, so I saw nothing... and the doctor was not much more help, as I asked 'Is it a boy or girl?'... 3 seconds later, with much sighing, she moved the mouse to show me, as mass of grey blobs - with 'it is a boy - can't you see' and then returned to clicking on all the babies organs and measuring the length of its bones, and then from the length of its bones, and ignoring my wifes information, proudly worked out the date of birth... sadly as I am rather tall, so my little one's bones are rather longer than normal, they were completely wrong...

Well these Romanian traditions went on for a few more months, until the grand day. We were very lucky as our next door neighbour happens to be a big boss of the local state baby hospital and so we were treated excellently.

The first time we went to the hospital, Irina was told that the baby was not due and could she come back on the Monday...

Two hours later, everything went tits up and we had to rush back to the hospital with Irina in labour pains (ironically Dacia cars were not well designed for this, so my father-in-law, spade in hand, arrived to drive us at top speed to the hospital - and anyone who knows Romanian drivers, will know that a Romanian top speed is certain to induce birth - even in the non-pregnant!.

We get to the hospital and three of us get into the lift, while Nae, the father - in - law raced up the stairs to warn them of our arrival...

The lift got stuck! It stopped between two floors and no matter how many buttons we pressed, it was going nowhere - so while we all pretended this was fine - we had a little panic.

Fortunately, as Nae was outside, he could race back down the stairs and make sure that all the outside life doors were fixed... he found a little open door, shut it and we were away again.

We were led down a corridor, and then Irina disappeared... so as English, slightly lost husband, I trailed on behind her... and was guided back by a slightly infuriated nurse, as I wandered into the women's changing area...

An hour ticked by, and then we were led to another waiting area... where her parents walked backwards and forwards, into the corridor, and I just sat and waited thinking 'Isn't that suppose to be my job?'...

After another couple of hours, the baby was taken through the lobby into the baby area, and changed while we watched behind glass. I have yet to touch him.

Then the start of the real Romanian traditions, finding the lady with the babies, involves going twice a day and putting a dollop of cash into their pockets so they look after the baby properly. In Romania, some nurses actually pay over 6000 Euro (almost a years salary) just to be employed, so they can get these daily bonuses from every parent, so you can imagine how lucrative they are!.

To visit my wife, in her hospital bed, I was gowned up, plastic covers over my feet. I saw lots of poor husbands in gowns, plastic on their feet, and lost, wandering the hospital for their own little one.

After the short 5 minute visit, I went off to photo little baby, while Nae made sure that all the little brown envelopes filled with different amounts of cash, had been distributed - only the chief doctor, our neighbour, refused to accept any money thrust into his pocket - for which I am amazed and truly grateful for - and so we had to add some more money into the nurses pocket to keep him safe over night.

I took some photos, and then had to wait to find out why my little one only got 8/10 in his birth exam - apparently if you come via C-section, it is considered cheating, so marks are deducted, as they are if you are a tad bigger than the Romanian norm!

I will now write daily about my experiences of bringing up a little English Romanian child (with a hint of Swiss nationality) in Bucharest - and hope that others, who are also bringing up International children in Bucharest, feel like they too would like to add something to this new, special page.

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