Two Days, Two Long Nights

The first evening with Lily, we had a scheduled visit to our hotel by Dr. Gong, a pediatric cardiologist. She came to us with a pretty bad cough and a lot of congestion in her chest. After examining Lily, Dr. Gong suggested that we go ahead with the course of antibiotics we had brought with us and keep her fever down with Tylenol. Lily's first night with us was a tough one for her. She had "GI" problems and a fever. Since her condition seemed worse on Tuesday morning, we contacted Dr. Gong and he suggested it was best if Lily come in to his office at the Children's Hospital for some tests after our morning appointment. He said we could wait until we had our scheduled morning adoption appointment.

The morning appointment was back at the Jiangsu Registration Service Centre For Foreign-Related Marriage, where we waited with about 15 other adoptive parents to go through two different stations where we were questioned. Would we treat Jiang Jiang well? Would we ever abuse or abandon her? We answered correctly and were allowed to sign the papers. Jiang Jiang is now officially ours! Now that she is ours we have to take care of her, so off to the doctors' office.

We went to the Nanjing Childrens' Hospital where Jiang Jiang had heart surgery almost a year ago. We went to see Dr.Gong who was so very kind to us. He went out of his way and "fast tracked" the process for us. We had our young and very competent guide, Sandra , with us (it would have been impossible without her). It was totally different than any medical experience we have ever had. We had to register, which Sandra did for us, we then waited to see Dr.Gong. No line, no appointments, just a throng of parents with their children pushing forward to be seen. There is no patient privacy, everyone is watching and reading what the doctor does over his shoulder while they push closer to be next. It is not Mayo Clinic. Dr.Gong listened to her lungs and heart and decided she needed to have a chest x-ray, a CBC and give a stool sample. He printed out orders from the computer. Doug and Sandra went to stand in line to pay for the tests. We then went with the receipt to the x-ray, lab and the specimen departments to have the tests done. We (Sandra) then went back in 30 minutes to collect the results, then we went back to Dr.Gong's office. He had cleared out all of his patients' and was waiting for us. He decided that the antibiotic she had taken was bothering her intestines and that she needed IV Amoxacillin as well as something else written in Chinese and pedialyte which we had already discovered was by prescription only. So off Doug and Sandra went to stand in line and pay the cashier and pick up the meds while I again held a sick, feverish baby girl. Dr.Gong then walked us to the next building, gave the Amoxacillin to the pharmacist to mix into an IV and took us to his favorite nurse who he says gets 99% of her IV sticks in the first poke. She put the IV into JiangJiang's forehead. It probably took her less than 20 seconds from looking for the vein to all hooked up with an IV and on to the next kid. We then joined the hundreds of parents in the hallways sitting on chairs with children on their laps and IV bags hanging from hooks on the wall. JiangJiang had 2 IV bags to go through. When the first bag runs out, a parent or grandparent runs to get a pink clad and hatted nurse who comes to change to the second bag. It took about 4 hours for the IV's. We were at the clinic for about 7 hours and the total bill was $74. Dr.Gong came to check on us before he left for the day and told us to come back the next day again for another IV :(

Day 2 with baby girl. We went to breakfast with our friends Lisa and Chris and their new daughter Abby whose beautiful smile is amazing! They commented on how much perkier Lily seemed, and she did have a nice bowl of congee (rice porridge). Everyone went on a tour of Nanjing except Lily and Deirdre. Lily took a nice long nap and when Doug came home there was only an hour before we had to meet Sandra to go back to the clinic. Same song second verse at the clinic except that baby girl was feeling a bit better and there was no way she was going to just sit in mom's lap and the floor was to germy for her to walk on. Thank goodness it was raining and we had a Jinling umbrella. We followed suit with other parents marching around. Deirdre held, jostled and jiggled the wiggly and frustrated girl while Doug held the umbrella aloft with the IV bag attached and Sandra handed out crackers, for both hands. Turns out it takes 3 people to take care of one baby in China :) After our 4 hours were up we took our very frustrated little girl out in the rain to wait for a cab in rush hour traffic. After about 10 minutes (felt much longer) a non-cabdriver offered us a ride at 50% over the going rate which is $1.20, we took it! The JinLing Hotel never looked so good!

So the frustrated baby alternated between doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for a while tonight. Her Mom and Dad alternated taking her on a long walk and elevator rides and she finally quieted. She fell asleep on Dad's chest and was moved gingerly to her bed. Tomorrow is her orphanage visit and we hope to all go if Lily feels up to it, otherwise it might just be Doug and the O'Connells. We have 12 or so kiddos to photograph for waiting parents and we know from experience how important that is. Nite nite and love to all!

Chris, Abby, and Lisa at Final Adoption

Deirdre & Lily at Final Adoption

Lily getting her IV

Downtown Nanjing, near the Museum

Her first halloween costume! (on for less than 5 minutes)

Lily is Here!!

On Sunday morning, we traveled from Beijing to Nanjing. We had been told we'd meet Lily either on Sunday or Monday. On Sunday evening, we met with Sandra from our adoption agency, and she gave us our schedule for Nanjing and let us know we'd be picking up Lily at 9:30 on Monday morning.

Sure enough, at 9:30 this morning, we arrived at the Jiangsu Registration Service Centre For Foreign-Related Marriage and Adoption and met our new daughter for the first time! Lily and Abigail, the new daughter of our travel companions, were both waiting for us, along with several of the care-givers from the Nanjing orphanage. But enough of this talk, you need to see the pictures.

The Great Wall

We felt fortunate on Saturday that although it was still very foggy when we left Beijing, it was mostly clear by the time we reached the Great Wall. We were also fortunate to travel there while the leaves were changing. It's hard to imagine the amount of work needed to create 3000 miles of this amazing structure. It's hard to see from the pictures, but from this vantage point you could see the wall following the ridges for miles into the distance.

Wild Duck Chase

Our dinner on Friday turned out to be the most exciting adventure of the day, though I'm sorry to report I didn't have the camera to document it. Deirdre had heard that Peking Duck was something not to be missed when visiting Beijing (aka Peking). She checked with the concierge at our hotel and he gave us a card with instructions (in Chinese) to one of the best restaurants for Peking Duck. Armed with the card, we had a doorman at our hotel get us a cab. The doorman presented the cabbie with our instructions, and after quite a bit of discussion with the doorman, our seemingly perplexed cab driver embarked on the supposed 10 minute drive to the restaurant.

After about 15 or 20 minutes, the driver stopped along a street (not a restaurant in sight) and indicated we should get out, which seemed like a bad idea to us, so we tried to hand-wave him to return us to the hotel. Instead, he found a hotel nearby and asked the doorman there for instructions to the restaurant. This conversation did not instill further hope of finding the place, as the cabbie was almost yelling at the doorman. So off we went once again, and after a couple of minutes, it looked like we might have finally found the restaurant, as the sign in front of the restaurant where we stopped indicated duck was their prime offering. As we got out of the cab, two rickshaw drivers (this is the bicycle-style rickshaw) came up and were trying to get us to hop in so they could take us to the Peking Duck restaurant we were looking for, and they were insisting that the restaurant right there was not the place on our card. These two gentlemen were quite insistent (which is always a good sign you've got the wrong people to help). After a closer look, we noticed that this restaurant was not the one we were looking for and reluctantly decided to let the rickshaws take us to the right place. Meanwhile, our cabbie had left right after we got out of the cab.

This is where it really got interesting. So we were off, in poor facsimiles of the rickshaws we had ridden in earlier that day in the same part of Beijing, the Hutongs (see earlier post). But this part of the Hutongs was looking worse and worse the further we rode. Many turns were made and great deal of rubble was seen where buildings used to be, at least in the parts where the light was sufficient to see anything. But these guys kept pedaling and pedaling, and all of us (except Deirdre) were thinking they were going to stop somewhere in the middle of nowhere (which is exactly where we were at this point) and shake us down for any money we had. And on we rode. They kept pointing to hand-written signs on the walls of the back-alley buildings we were passing with the restaurant name scratched on them to prove we were going in the right direction.

Finally, they stopped, about 100 yards shy of what appeared to be the restaurant. When they asked us for about triple what you might normally pay for a 10 minute ride, Deirdre decided that the whole thing was fishy and asked them to come with us to the restaurant so we could verify we were in the right place. They were pretty insistent on being paid immediately and not at all anxious to go to the restaurant with us. Deirdre refused to pay and started walking to the restaurant, so all of us followed, our drivers seeming none-to-happy at not receiving their fare.

So we walk into the restaurant, and we find the woman there who seemed to be in charge and who spoke English, and she verified that we were in the right place and she had our reservation made by our hotel concierge earlier. Deirdre tried to get her to let us know what was reasonable to pay our rickshaw "friends", but the woman at the restaurant seemed hesitant to give a number, so in the interest of being rid of them, we paid their requested fee. One thing we did notice as we approached the restaurant was that there appeared to be a fairly major street just on the other side of the restaurant. Our travel companion Chris had to have a look at that street, so after we were seated, he went outside and to the street. When he looked to the left, about two blocks down the street was the restaurant where our cabbie had dropped us off!! The rickshaws had obviously developed a scheme just for such a case. The cabbies don't know where the restaurant is, so they catch you right when you're coming out of the cab and take you all over the area in a big loop to get an inflated fare out of you when you could have walked there in 2 minutes.

I've got to admit though, the Peking Duck at the restaurant was excellent, and this was apparently quite a famous place - they even had a picture on the wall of Al Gore eating there.

Beijing Tour

Yesterday (Friday) was our first full day in Beijing, and our tour brought us to several famous locations in the city. Our first stop was the Temple of Heaven, followed by the Hutongs (traditional Chinese courtyard homes), then Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Although the fog did not make for ideal picture-taking conditions, the "live" views were very impressive.

Our guide had us visit the Temple of Heaven in the morning because this is the time when many people gather in the surrounding park where we entered. This is especially popular with retired people, where they will dance, play games, and listen to music live music.

Exercising near the Temple of Heaven

Cleaning the roof by hand

We took a rickshaw ride around the Hutongs. This part of our tour included a very delicious lunch at the home of one of the residents there.

Our rickshaw in the Hutongs

Lunch at Mrs. Li's home in the Hutongs

Next stop, Tiananmen Square. For an explanation of why Deirdre is holding up a red striped sweat sock in Tiananmen Square, check the following link:

http://groups.myspace.com/dudewheresmysock

She tried to get closer to the guys in uniform, but was told "No further!" by them as she approached.

Note Chairman Mao in the background

Next stop, the Forbidden City. In person, it was still quite amazing to see, but the fog takes the edge of the photos.

Halls of Middle Harmony and Preserving Harmony

Lions in the Forbidden City

Arrival in China

Deirdre with Lisa & Chris at LAX

Cute little floor sweeper in Guangzhou Airport

Well, after about 24 hours of travel, we have arrived at our hotel in Beijing. We're making this trip with Lisa and Chris, another couple who are adopting a child from the Nanjing orphanage. All of us were pretty happy to arrive in Beijing, to rest and prepare for a couple of days of being tourists in the area. Stay tuned for further news from the other side of the world (depending on your current location!).

An Adoptive mom's exporation of the neurological impact Of trauma, neglect, and sensory deprivation

This is a wonderful article that helped us to better understand what our daughter will be going through and how we can help her adapt to her new world. It has made a strong impact on the people we have shown it to. Please read if you have time.

http://www.baas.org/news_special.php

New Dumpling picture & Pending Travel

Surprise!

Just in time before our departure to China, we got new pictures of our dumpling. Below is our favorite of the two:


For those of you into statistics, the measurements along with the pictures are below:

Head size: 45cm (17.7 inches)

Chest size: 48cm (18.9 inches)

Feet length: 12.5cm (4.9 inches)

Height: 89cm (35 inches)

Weight: 10.5kg (23.1 pounds)

Bottom line: This girl's tall and thin!

So we leave on Tuesday and here's the agenda in a nutshell:

Tuesday, October 23

Evening departure from Phoenix

Thursday, October 25

Arrive in Beijing

Friday & Saturday, October 27/28

Tourist activities in Beijing

Sunday, October 29

Travel to Nanjing, possibly meet our dumpling!!

Monday - Thursday, October 30 to November 1

Week in Nanjing getting used to each other & filling out paperwork

Friday, November 2

Travel to Guangzhou

Saturday - Wednesday, November 3 to 7

Staying in Guangzhou to finalize paperwork and prepare to return home!

OK, that's the update for now. I plan to be diligent in updating Lily's blog while we're in China, so stay tuned for tales of our excellent adventure!