Stellah
Congrats and sympathies on the upcoming birth of your firstborn.

We had both our kids delivered at the hospital just down the street from Green Lake Hotel's back entrance on Hua Shan Xi Lu - although I believe they've moved a large portion of maternity to their new facility.

Suggest instead of seeking a "good" hospital - you seek a "good physician" as personal recommendations (to include the token introduction/thank you dinner) can result in increased staff attention, if that will make you feel more comfortable.

Most hospitals are baby factories - so suggest you go visit the hospitals, rooms, and baby farms, to get a feel for the place that makes you the most comfortable.

If money's not a major concern - then the Calmette International Hospital on Beijing Lu has a brand spanking new facility.

Stock up on chocolate bars - in case you have a long delivery - the sugar will give you a quick burst of energy (according to our delivery team) - and your husband will most probably need to buy you that soup stock (blocks of red stuff that you can find at wet markets) which you add raw eggs to (soup omelettes) - which also means hubby will need to bring a soup pot and cooking and cleaning utensils - in addition to a sturdy fold-out bed, mosquito zapper, etc etc etc as he'll be spending most of his time at the hospital with you and baby until you're released to go home.

That's Chinese style...

FORTUNATELY (and hopefully) you know how to use the WeChat or Ele food delivery service - so that will help you both tremendously, while you're staying at the hospital.

Wish you a safe delivery and a happy healthy baby.

Sympathies are on the sleep side of things. As new parents - my only advice is:

1. Change diapers regularly. Newborns are pee and poop machines

- and that's a GOOD thing. If they're NOT peeing and pooping regularly - you have a problem, so be thankful for that.
2. Feed baby on a rigid schedule or you'll be your newborn's slave.
3. Most important - assuming the baby has been properly burped, fed, changed - hold/cradle, walk, sing, rap, chat in between - parental noise and your usually undetectable smells will eventually become comfortable to your newborn as they bond with you.

This is most important when the kid won't sleep, cries, and you've done 1 and 2 above (assuming the kid isn't feverish or "cholic"-ally aka prone to crying).

We used "white noise" at night - depending on the weather - we had the HEPA air filter humming 7/24 and the electric fan just at nights - NEVER directly towards baby - just to keep the air flowing.

FRESH ... ok...OUTSIDE air critical. Don't be a shut-in...Walking helps with your post-labor recovery and outside air always better than inside the home air...well...usually.

Goldie
Evidence of physical presence is only required if ONE parent is a US citizen - if BOTH parents are US citizens - the clause is not applicable.

To get the kids passports - you'll first need to supply the death certificate or consulate provided "Report of Death of an American Citizen Abroad" first - this is required for any parent requesting a passport or travel document for a minor. Hopefully the consulate will do these things for you at the same time.

Six kids and alone - it was tough enough for me, with only two.

Best wishes on your return and re-integration into US culture - being abroad for 14 years will be challenging. Happy to hear your late husband's family is supportive.

Goldie122
Sincere condolences on the passing of your husband.

FYI
You'll also need to get a death certificate from Hong Kong and then also take it to the consulate to have them issue the consulate version of the death certificate. Get LOTS of copies (like 10-20). US laws forbid travel with minors without written parental consent OR the death certificate (but strangely if you remarry - they don't seem to bother...an ever so obvious and glaring loophole).

Make an appointment with the consulate (online) and remember as you have multiple tasks - they may try to shuffle you in between serving the Chinese visas as they merged the American Citizen services with the domestic services - so we can all experience the joy of being treated like second class citizens. if you go in the afternoon - a simple 20 minute task can suddenly extend into several hours - bleeding over into the next day, so also be prepared to spend the night in a hotel (with kids) and back to the consulate the next morning. Hopefully won't happen - but...

We usually take the overnight sleeper train (if you can spare the time) as it's a fun thing for the kids to do, you all can walk around and there's salty train food and drink at non usurious reasonable (depending on perspective) prices.

As you don't have passports for the children - just bring their birth certificates - it'll probably be a bit of a pain - especially getting tickets - whether rail or air - grunt your way through it - they just need to enter some kind of official number into the system and will probably take pictures of the birth certificates - BRING COPIES of their birth certificates. The consulate "should" return all of your critical documents after copying them...

Difficult traveling alone with a pair of minors...again, you have my deepest and utmost sympathies.

Feel free to PM (Private Mail) me if you have any other questions or concerns.

Shortly AFTER your kids were born, you are supposed to get child passports, then register them at both the local PSB AND the visa exit/entry office.

You will probably have to pay a fine - at worst - the number of years they went without visas, which is about any 400 per kid per year.

If you're LUCKY - the visa entry/exit and the local PSB will let you off if you write some kind of apology letter and swear you'll never do it again (have another kid and not report them).

Suggest you go to the local PSB first and add them to your household registration (for foreigners) FIRST.

Then take a trip to the visa exit/entry office and try to sort things out without paying a nasty penalty. You absolutely should NOT wait - take care of this immediately.

Remember:
1. Local PSB - add them to the local registry - they'll give you that flimsy piece of paper - you'll need their passports and their birth certificates (proving you're the parents). It would help if you also had a few years of family photos (with all of you).

2. Visa Entry/Exit to get legal and beg for mercy.

This is technically a misdemeanor, but it's still a serious breach of visa laws.

Suggest you try to plead ignorance...

Visa Entry/Exit will have to issue both kids an "entry" stamp - so you'll definitely have to pay a penalty or fee for that one. They'll sometimes try to tell you your kids must exit and re-enter china - but you can't exit without an entry stamp...

If you work for a school - they may also be subject to penalty...depending on whether they think about it or not...(don't bring it up)...

Good luck minimizing the penalties...bring the kids - they tend to NOT yell at you in front of your kids (social responsibility).

@kaddi - I may have read your initial post incorrectly - but your original post did specify "...best is a scholarship...".

These guys exceedingly difficult to move or influence - so your only option is to try to fit into their box of bureaucracy.

That said - it's ALWAYS possible to get special dispensations - if you really want to attend PuEr and you've missed the application window - you can try to get your embassy to write a letter of recommendation to the ministry of education (or whatever it's called) and let that thing trickle down the chain to PuEr.

Otherwise - you'll need to think of something else to do while you wait for next year's application window.