So my mom and dad where trying to get pregnant….and I was the fastest swimmer. They where seeing a specialist and thought that they had everything planned out and under control. My estimated due date was set to the 15th of January 2005. What they did not know was that I was deciding, and I had no plans of missing out on the x-mas and New Year celebrations.

During the November regular checkup meeting the doctor told my mom that she had to take it easy and rest more, because I had already found my way into the lower position in her uterus. She did listen and tried to relax more to keep me in there as long as possible, and for a moment I was even thinking of remaining in there until January. My dad felt a bit too confident in Moscow, having my baby room all set up and the cupboards filled with baby lotion, diapers and baby powder. My parents also had nice modern clinics in Moscow all pinpointed down and discussions with English speaking doctors and nurses where in process. They where totally prepared for my arrival…in Moscow...but not in Kazan!

So when my mom went crazy cleaning her flat in Kazan the day before she was moving to Moscow I decided that it was time for me to change her life forever. I waited until she had finished her vacuuming, and I even let her talk to my dad on the phone for some time before I kicked in my last spurt and the water broke. This is just before 11PM December 16th 2004.

She did not panic though, much to my surprise. She called my dad again in Moscow (700 km away) and her female friend Karen in Canada and then she had one of her friends from IKEA to drive her to the best delivery hospitals in Kazan. She got her first examination on a wooden bench in the dark and cold hallway of the entrance to the hospital and they told her to get undressed and slip into the hospital clothes. The facilities and equipment left much to be desired, but she got very well taken care of and it was obvious that the staff had got special directions to take extra good care of their foreign patient. My mom also had much needed help and support from her colleagues in the IKEA store in Kazan. They helped her with everything!

Once I understood that there was no English speaking staff in the hospital and I heard the doctor trying to explain to my mom that they had no monitoring equipment or painkillers I started to feel a bit sorry for her actually. But then again I was up for a pretty rough time too, being pushed into this world in the middle of Russia, in the cold winter.

While all of this is happening my dad was still in our apartment in Moscow trying to get some sleep before getting up at 5 AM to go to the airport. I doubt that he got any sleep at all. When he got to the airport the morning after all seats where already booked for the only flight to Kazan. It did not even help to bribe the girl at the ticket office, there where no seats left at all. While he was at the Domodedovo airport I had already made my way into this world.  My mom called him with the news and I’m sure he was glad to hear that everything went well. He now had to go by taxi to the Sheremetovo airport  where he managed to get a ticket on the 2.35 PM flight to Kazan. He landed in Kazan 1h and 20 minutes later and I can imagine that he was looking pretty rough by now. He was taken in a taxi to the hospital where mom and I were staying only to find out that there where no visitors allowed during the stay at the hospital. And that the minimum amount of days that they keep the moms and babies for observation is 5 days. My dad was devistated, and so was my mom. He went to stay at our old apartment in Kazan, and tried to work from the IKEA store during the days to make time go by faster.

Another irritating thing was that the people on the outside where only allowed to send up one plastic bag of stuff per day to their loved ones inside. And there where strict rules for what you could send up. Lucky for us they made exceptions as soon as my dad said that it was for Lacia and Pontus. My guess is that the Kazan government had something to do with this too, but I have not told my parents about my suspicions.

By the third day in the hospital my mom had a breakdown. She called  my dad and with some help from IKEA and the Kazan government we managed to make arrangements for my dad to come and visit us. I really admire my mom for being as strong as she was. -I love you mom! Let's hope I get your strenght and willpower! You have to remember that she only had one nurse who spoke very little basic english, and she obviously only worked 8 hors per day. The rest of the time she was on her own with no one to talk to inside those concrete hospital walls.

So my dad showed up at the hospital at 7 PM that evening. Smuggled into the hospital and dressed up in green doctors clothes he was taken through delivery rooms(!), staircases that where falling down any minute, and pitch black noisy elevators until they finally reached me and my moms room. We got to spend 3 hours in that room, and he is the only father who has ever sat his foot in that hospital  together with his wife and newborn child.

2 days later my mom and I had “served our time” in the hospital and after being locked up for 5 days I finally got to see the world as I knew it. My dad picked us up at 2 PM  and we drove to our lovely apartment in Kazan. My mom was so tired of the IKEA food that she had got delivered every day during her stay at the hospital so she asked my dad to cook her something good. He should have read more books about baby diets because my little poor stomach did not particular like that spice curry chicken wrap. Luckily we had a nice nanny/nurse to stay with us for the first night and she stayed up with me all night and did everything to calm down my upset stomach. I screamed extra loud every time I saw my parents just to let them know that they had messed up.

On March 17th 2005 I had a flight ticket to go abroad for the first time in my life. I was 3 months old and I was pretty excited about going to get spoiled by my Swedish relatives. My mom woke me up really early, and together with my dad and nan we went to the Sheremetovo airport, just north of Moscow. My dad had been working hard on getting all papers ready for me to be able to leave the country and get my first ever Russian Multi Entry Visa, something you cannot obtain inside the country. As a foreigner you have to leave the country and apply from a Russian embassy abroad every time you renew your Visa.

I had a Swedish passport, Visa invitation papers and our Visa coordinators blessing that this would be all we need to get through the passport control. Surely we should have known better, of course the rules says that to be let through the passport control you need to have a Russian passport or a Russian Visa in your foreign passport. 2 criteria’s that were impossible for me to accomplish. I could not obtain a Russian passport and to get a visa inside Russia as a foreigner is out of question. When these rules where written no one could even imagine that a foreigner would be born in Russia. Needless to say I was refused to check in to our flight.

My dad got slightly irritated and started running around the airport like a lunatic trying to speak to anyone that could help us through this process. We had dozens of relatives and friends coming for my baptism in Sweden, and a big family dinner at my grandpas the day before that, so I understand why he was sweating. The funniest thing was when one of the guards at the boarder asked how I got her, I’m pretty sure I’m too young to hear those details.

I took the whole thing with ease and went with the flow. I spent the whole day at the TGI restaurant in the airport meanwhile my dad had everyone from the HR department at IKEA to the Swedish embassy and the Russian consulate involved in trying to solve this. I even heard my dad saying “lets put him in my backpack when we go through the passport control” but my mom gave him an earful for that. Thank god.

We spent 10 hours at that airport, before we finally managed to find the right people to speak to and the right people to give some “gifts” to. We managed to get a one-day-visa, something that you are not supposed to be able to get inside Russia.

I was happy to finally get to Sweden, since my parents only packed 3 diapers and one new outfit for me to change into….I needed a bath! But things got even worse when my folks discovered that they forgot my bag on the conveyer belt in the Copenhagen airport. (But at least this ment that my grandma could fulfill her wish when got to go and buy me some new clothes the next day.)

When we got onto cart 7 on the train at the station under the airport in Copenhagen I could not help to laugh at my dad again. He told my mom and Nan to sit down and relax, we where finally in a civilized country and nothing could go wrong now. I must admit that I was very tired right now and after being a very good baby all day I needed to let all my frustration out. I had a long crying session and some freak outs…I’m only 3 months old you know! When we had been on the train for less than 15 minutes the voice in the speaker system told us that this part of the train does not go any further, if you wish to proceed you have to bring your luggage and change to cart 1-5. We had to get dressed again, bring all our belongings and run 2 carts down and on the train again. Our whole trip was supposed to take 5-6 hours, it took 16. I slept very well in my bed at grandma’s house that night….