Thanks so much for visiting
us during our journey,
Danny, LeeAnn
and Caroli! |
October 24, 2005
Gotcha Day! |
Today was “Gotcha Day” and boy were we ever “got.”
When we arrived at the adoption office here in Fuzhou the babies
were already there. We had been warned that sometimes the adoption
workers would become very attached to the babies and we noticed right
away a visibly distraught woman holding our baby. As it turns out, she
was the worker that found Caroli outside the orphanage and it was clear
that her heart was breaking.
When we were called in the office to go through the process we were
surprised at how fast it all happened.
Suddenly a worker handed me a child and just as suddenly the
child decided that she was not happy about it at all. She has hardly
stopped crying since.
She wants to be held while standing up. Crib time is not an
option nor is being held while sitting. She insists on being held while
moving. Sitting on the bed and playing with toys is right out.
It is so hard to have her wailing, stop for a second, look at you
and start wailing again - over and over and over. We cannot
imagine what is going on inside that tiny head. She is definitely
grieving. She also has a fever and Tylenol seems to help some. We
have also noticed a small ring on her cheek, so we will be visiting the
hotel doc to have her checked for ringworm tomorrow.
She is also very small. She needs help sitting; she can kind
of prop up her upper body while laying on her stomach. She
absolutely hates laying on her back - it’s quite hard changing her
diaper while on her stomach but she will immediately roll over when
placed on her back - and wailing the entire time.
Not surprisingly, she liked driving through traffic.
And we did see a guy on a bike get hit by a car (not hard).
Apparently the lines that divide the lanes are merely a suggestion here
and sometimes smaller vehicles lose.
For now we are happy when she forgets that she is high maintenance.
Our new adventure will be bath time. Naturally we are putting that off
until later tonight - or maybe even tomorrow. First obstacle is
getting her to sleep some tonight - so far, she’s only slept about 10
minutes a couple of times - so she must be exhausted.
Hopefully, she will get over her fever soon and will begin to
grieve less in a few days. And hopefully she’ll begin to
understand that we’re her “forever family”. |
| Orphanage caretaker who found Caroli |
| And the crying begins.......... |
| Trying to distract me with toys |
| |
