Born in India: Step 1

Although having a baby in India is much cheaper than having one in the States, all the steps to obtain Benjamin's legal documents for citizenship are quite complicated and, at times, painful!  But amongst the hardship, there are always crazy, funny stories and lessons to be learned! 

Benjamin was given a birth certificate from our hospital The Cradle, but it is for looks only.  The first step is to take this "fancy-worthless" document to the Municipal Cooperation of Gurgaon office to then get a REAL Indian birth certificate.  However, this first birth certificate is filled out to a no name baby.  Seeing as Indians don't name their babies until several days after birth, we were crazy to need a certificate with an actual name asap!   When in India...we played the game!  After one day, we had to go back, get the no name birth certificate, and apply for a one Benjamin Joseph Mayfield.  The office told us it would take 7 days to receive the document.  At this time, we are still waiting as it's been 6 days.  We hope to have Benjamin's Indian birth certificate in hand by Monday-his 1 month birthday!  If this happens, hope you come back to read up Step 2 of the exciting process!