Emigrating to America while pregnant... I did it!
“Oh dear, you probably won't like it, but then I'll put it out of my mind"
I've been asked to go to the US as an expat for two years. What do you think?”, my husband began. “Huh what, are you serious? What an amazing opportunity, and it's also close to New York?!?! Let’s do this!”, I replied. Before I had fully considered all the consequences, I wholeheartedly said yes!
I am Lisanne, married to Midge, both of us are 30 years old, we are in the prime of our financial careers, have a daughter Mynt (September 2018) and lots of dear family and friends around us in the Nijmegen area. And yet we decided to take a leap of faith and go for this 'once in a lifetime' challenge for my husband. Saying 'my husband' still feels a bit strange and unfamiliar, by the way. After some discussions with HR, my husband came home with the news: "We're moving to the US, but you can only come if we're married." Could there be a more romantic proposal? Hello major consequence number one! To keep things practical and fast – especially fast – we stopped by the city hall during the Nijmegen Four Days Marches. Midge had his first orientation meeting on Ascension Day, and by October 5th, we were already on a plane to the US. So the emphasis throughout the entire process was mainly on speed!
Within four months, we had to arrange everything
Phew, nobody tells you how much is involved. Consider: passports, visa applications, tax calculations, negotiations with the Netherlands and the US, buying a property in the Netherlands, renting in the US, not to mention the social impact. Taking the kids out of daycare, quitting my job, informing family and friends and then soon after, saying goodbye to them, and the list goes on. There was no time to pause and reflect. We knew that initially, I wouldn't be allowed to work because in the US, I would be the dependent 'partner of'. That doesn't sound nice, especially after all those years of working hard on my own career. It could take several months before I would get a work visa. Nevertheless, we accepted this, the opportunity was too good to pass up! Secretly, I had already started exploring opportunities with my former employer to work in New York, but as if it was meant to be, I found out I was pregnant again. In March 2020, we hope to welcome our Dutch American!
16 weeks pregnant, I boarded the plane to start our expat adventure
With no idea what kind of adventure awaited us. We had hardly looked into anything. Except for a quick check on our health insurance, because would it cover everything if complications arose? Mynt's pregnancy was going smoothly. I had very few ailments. At 34 weeks, I was still dancing exuberantly at a wedding and went to Berlin to cheer on my husband for his first marathon. Unaware that less than 10 hours after our return from Berlin, my waters would break and at 35 weeks we would be welcoming our daughter. Nothing was prepared, because that's what my maternity leave was for, right? We ended up in a rollercoaster that, fortunately, was relatively short-lived. Mynt spent two weeks in the neonatology department mainly to grow and flourish – as they so beautifully put it in the hospital. But a real postnatal period, no idea, what is that actually?
So figuring out whether a potential cesarean section and premature birth would be covered became quite important to us due to our experience. Is giving birth in the US an option, or should I temporarily return to the Netherlands? But when should that be, because what if this one arrives too early as well? All thoughts that haunted our minds and nobody had an answer to before our departure.
LISANNE
