Downstairs, in the hotel lobby, we had a reunion of sorts with all of our adoptive friends who'd been to the provinces, like we had, and picked up their children. It was great. We oohed and ahhed over each other's kids and, in general, reveled in the fact that we were with familiar faces, once again. People who "got it" on so many levels. (In fact, there were lots of adoptive parents there - 13 couples just with our agency, alone. This is the end of the line for a lot of adoptive parents who've been all around China for the previous week+ - we'd been there for about 9 days - but must come through Guangzhou to the American consulate.)
 |
| You remember California Dude and California Chick? Well, here they are with California Girl. |
 |
| You know these guys. |
 |
| And, these are Mr and Mrs NC with their son, Lil' NC. They were from, you guessed it, North Carolina! |
We all hopped on a bus to go downtown to have pictures taken for the kids' American Visas and to have Visa medicals performed on the kids. In order to take the picture for Lyric's Visa, I had to seat her on that little black stool in the picture below. She was having NONE of it. So, her picture was made with me holding her, standing against the wall.
 |
| Remember this for later, when we finally get her Visa, it'll have a pic of her screaming. |
 |
| A bottle should help calm everything down, right? |
 |
| Not so much. |
 |
| Poor baby. There are more photos but I'll spare us both and not show them to you. |
She was terrified and SCREAMED. It was only at the TB test where we had to HOLD HER DOWN, arms and legs, when I realized that she’d probably seen many people in white coats and that they'd probably always meant terror and pain to her. Poor girl. It totally rocked her world and she wasn't okay until that night at dinner.
 |
| Here we all are, coming out of the medical building - it was fast, chaotic, and furious. And, we were all so happy to have that finished!
Afterwards, back in the hotel room, she REALLY needed a nap but she was totally miserable, she clung to me and cried and demanded to be in the Ergo all afternoon. The Ergo meant that she was connected to me and she just could not go to sleep if she wasn't SURE that I wasn't going anywhere but even in the Ergo, she couldn't do it. She could not relax enough, she was just too terrified that I was going to leave her. Finally, Kenny took her again and Bad Copped her. Her walked her around the hotel room while she screamed. He brought her back to me and, once she was back in my arms, she calmed down and finally fell asleep but only because I wrapped the Ergo around her and then myself around the Ergo.
|
 |
| Oh, sweet baby girl. <sniff> |
On a lighter note, Guangzhou was amazing. Much more western than even Beijing. Of course, I say this after seeing a baby cow on the highway. We were like “um, look!” and then we watched it turn right, onto a side street, following its momma, who was hooked up to an old-school cart FILLED with some sort of vegetables ...and nobody said “Would ya look at that?!” They were all like, “Yeah, we see that everyday.”
:)
How, I WISH I’d gotten a photo.
 |
| This was next to the hotel and yes, we ate there, because it was fast and easy . I did laugh and comment, "You know, "it's gonna be ironic when 'China' doesn't make me sick but 'McDonalds' does." |
Thankfully, California Chick was a NICU nurse so she watched as I cut off Lyric's nasty, leaky, urine bag and the extra tubing. Finally, we just had a tube that ended in her diaper which was so much better. She still wore four diapers - two around her tummy and two the "right way." But, this was MUCH better.
Now, we'd wait some more, on an American Visa to put in the newly acquired Passport.
No comments:
Post a Comment