Anyone who joins the government knows that doing anything HR related requires a lot of paperwork, and having a baby in the State Department is no different. In fact, having a baby in the State Department requires boatloads of paperwork, in-person visits to Main State, and the patience of Job. 

The day Mini Cupcake was born we had to email the MED unit and give them some info about her. The day after we were discharged from the hospital my husband went in person to the DC Department of Vital Records to apply for her birth certificate. The hospital sent over the paperwork upon our discharge and if we had been normal people, we could have waited for DC to send us a copy of the certificate but in order to apply for Mini’s passports we needed her birth certificate STAT. Luckily for us, the DC Department of Vital Records is a magical place full of angels and unicorns so my husband was able to get a copy of her birth certificate the same day. It was awesome. 

Then we had to send a scanned copy of the certificate to his HR Tech and wait for him to send us back a form before we could do the passport applications. Because she can’t be added to his orders formally until she’s got a medical clearance (and she can’t get that until after her 4 week check up) this form lets us apply for her passports in advance and just states that she’s his dependent. 

As anyone who has worked in ACS (or done a passport application for their kid) knows, for minors under age 16, both parents must be physically present with the child for the passport application. This meant bundling up a 2 week old baby and schlepping her to Main State for half a day so we could get her passport photos taken and turn in her applications. 

Now that that’s done we wait until the passports are done and she’s got her medical clearance and then we apply for her Qatar visa, purchase her ticket, and schedule her UAB pack out. 

Did I mention we’re supposed to have all of this done plus my med clearance by the time she’s 6 weeks old? Wish us luck!