Wednesday, June 19th (Day 4 in China)
Our hotel has a delicious breakfast buffet. We look forward to eating there every morning with the other families who are experiencing the same thing as we are. The buffet has a good combination of American good (delicious made to order omelets), bacon, fruit, waffles (wa-fu), danishes....as well as some Chinese food. We're usually all dressed and ready for our day by 8:00, and our first stop is the buffet (with lots of coffee, of course!).
We had originally scheduled Caroline's medical exam for Friday, but after seeing some spots on her skin we had it changed to today. The medical facility was very clean, and I've heard it's a far cry from the building that adoptive parents used to have to go to. Her medical exam was very quick, and everything went great. We did point out to the doctor some spots on her skin, and she said it was eczema. Thankfully we brought some eczema cream as a precaution, so hopefully that will clear up. We had also noticed some Mongolian Blue spots on her. These are very common with Asians and they will most likely go away as she gets older. Her file was correct after all, she only weighs 13 1/2 pounds, and being a 14 month old baby....she needs to gain weight. We've already bumped up her caloric intake from what she was getting in the orphanage. We add rice cereal to her formula, and she doesn't seem to have a problem with American formula (Chinese formula is very sweet). We brought a lot of pouches of food for her, not knowing what she would eat. She tried some apple sauce, and seemed to like the taste of it. For those of you who may not know, we adopted Caroline under the "Special Needs" program. A Non-Special Needs baby, which is what we had originally planned to pursue, can take 5-7 years to adopt. Knowing that there are many SN children currently sitting in orphanages waiting to be adopted, we switched to the SN route. Her SN is a cleft lip/cleft palate. Her referral stated that both had been repaired. Her lip has been repaired, and will probably need more cosmetic surgery when she is a little older. Her palate, however, has not been repaired. This does not seem to affect her ability to eat. She can chug a bottle down in no time! We will be working with the Cleft Lip/Cleft Palate team at All Children's Hospital for her ENT surgeries, therapies, etc. We've already spoken with a plastic surgeon on the team and he was very encouraging. Their goal is for all of their patients to be on track with other children by the time they're in first grade. They have a very high success rate so we look forward to working with them.
After the examination was complete, we were off to the passport office for Caroline's passport. We walked in, and saw the room full of other familiar faces that we've been seeing all week. It's so exciting seeing these forever families, and how loved these children are. Our guide is awesome and I don't know how we would be getting through all of this without our Lily!!
After getting back to the hotel we were hungry!! We walked down to Pizza Hut, and couldn't believe their menu. They have a 15-20 page menu, and definitely serve a lot more than pizza! I ordered vegetable soup, Caesar salad, and pepperoni pizza (and of course, Coca-Cola!). The soup was delicious, the dressing on the salad was not....so that did not get eaten, and the pizza tastes just like ours back home. We left there feeling full, and that was a good thing!
We walked around our hotel, and sat by the pool for a few minutes. We then walked passed the spa, and I asked Bo if I could get a facial. He and Caroline went back to the hotel room for some Daddy-Daughter time while Mommy indulged in relaxation. It was so wonderful, and they definitely know how to make sure you are stress free. Thanks, Daddy!
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