Fathers in Antarctica celebrate birth of new-borns back home

RECORDED SONG AS PRESENT

Liu Shaojia, the third officer for Xuelong, tape-recorded a song he made for his wife.

Listening to the song, Liu's wife Xi Junli touched her belly and spoke to her unborn baby, "Hi baby, are you happy listening to your dad's singing? You are moving all the time."

She had always smiled at the sound of her husband's voice, but she soon burst into tears.

The couple married in October, 2015. On the third day after their wedding, Liu rushed back to Shanghai in order to take part in the 32nd Antarctic research mission. This year, he will miss the birth of their baby due to another Antarctica mission.

When asked if she regrets the long-time absence of her husband, Xi said she has nothing to complain about. "He loves his work."

While aboard Snow Dragon, Liu said, "We had no honeymoon and I have no time to even take a trip with her. We have spent less than three months together since we got married."

Although the Chinese Spring Festival is approaching, Snow Dragon remains on the sea to carry out research.

At home in the northern Chinese city of Shijiazhuang, Liu's wife is washing clothes for her baby, who is expected in a few days.

"Baby, these are the clothes Mom prepared for you, do you like them?" Understanding that her husband won't be around for the birth of their baby, she sends a recorded video to him. "I will be strong as you told me to be," Xi said.

MY DEEPEST LOVE

Li Dong never forgot that sunny summer morning in China's eastern city of Hangzhou, when his pregnant wife Wu Bin sat on a bus with a smiling face, gazing at him as he was riding a bike after the bus.

"It was one of the moments I treasure most as we leave each other every morning for work," Li said after finishing a day at a chemical lab on Xuelong.