Days 5 and 6

Yesterday we switched hotels. We planned on switching on Sunday because our guide has other families coming in this weekend and it helps to have us all in one hotel. Many families stay at this hotel, The Victory. It’s on Shamian Island, about 30 minutes outside of downtown Guangzhou.

We moved two days early. Why? We looooooved the W Hotel! BUT even with the cheap rate we got and 50% discount on food with our friends and family rate, it’s still very expensive. Also, the W is in the middle of the business district of Guangzhou, very hustly and bustly as well as fancy shmancy. So here we are on the island in a much quieter area. Easy to walk out of the hotel to parks and restaurants, and a Starbucks around the corner, to Sam’s delight.

When we arrived at the hotel at 11:30am our room wasn’t ready yet, so the four of us and Michael went for a walk to lunch. We ate VERY yummy Chinese food. They served fresh coconut juice with a straw right out of the coconut. A big hit with Aili, not so much with Raleigh. Raleigh is losing weight here, and I imagine Aili is gaining at lightening speed.

One thing that is happening is that Aili still won’t let Baba hold her while we’re out of the room. I’m over the moon that she’s bonding bonded to me, but she’s tough to carry around. She obviously hasn’t been carried around much, if at all, because her legs hang straight. When I try to put her on my hip she doesn’t like it, so I’m basically using all biceps to hold her while walking. Very tough since she wants me to hold her at all times. All I want to do is hold her too, to make up for all the times she cried and no one came, but my muscles can only take so much. Luckily at the zoo we rented a stroller. She started screaming when we put her in it. After seeing Raleigh ride and have a good time in it she gave it a shot. Thank God. But no one could push it but me. She was very vocal about that. Sweetly though, she’d ask for Raleigh’s or Baba’s hand to hold and walk next to her in the stroller. We’re working on her allowing Baba to carry her.

After lunch, we went back to the hotel and the room was ready. We all took a little nap, then met Michael again to go shopping. We’ve been wanting to go to the jade and pearl markets, and also to buy the girls traditional Chinese dresses. Raleigh REALLY wanted a jade. So we went. Again, Aili wanted me to carry her around the whole time. She’s almost five and weights only 27 lbs, but it feels like 100 after awhile. She will get down and walk and hold my hand, but she is in no hurry. She just strolls along humming. She’s just what I need. Someone to slow me down and enjoy the moment.

We found some great stuff while shopping. We bought gifts to give to Aili as she grows up, and pearls to give her on her wedding day. Wow, I just teared up typing that. We found beautiful silk dresses for the girls. I think we’ll do a photo shoot of them in their dresses in the spring. And Raleigh got her a jade Buddha necklace. Jades for Aili and me, too.

After shopping, we came back to the island and went out to dinner at a place called Lucy’s right down from the hotel. It’s supposed to be the most American restaurant here. It’s really Chinese, but they also have hamburgers and pizza on the menu. Raleigh found something she liked, meat on a stick (satay). And you guessed it, Aili ate everything.

We got back to the room, played for a bit, then went to bed. As soon as we say and sign, “Aili, time to sleep” she repeats it, signs too, then crawls into bed, thumb goes in the mouth and eyes close. Really…I’m not making it up.

She slept great and only banged her head a few times. It’s been much easier to get her to stop now with a little consoling. This morning we had to go to her doctor’s appointment. This is procedure for all adopted children. They look at the medical file we were given and check her and make sure the information we’ve been given is accurate. There was four different rooms we had to go in. Well, we weren’t allowed in the last room with her. More on that in a minute. First, we went in a room and all they did was get her weight and height. She didn’t like that one bit and the tears started flowing. Who knows the experiences shes had previously with doctors. We came out of that room and got her settled down.

Next, we went in to see the doctor. I signed a bunch of papers and really have no idea what for. Then the doctor examined her with many more tears. We sat back down at the desk with the doctor and she listened to Aili’s heart. We know she has a CHD (congenital heart defect), but we really won’t know the severity of it until we get home. We already have an appointment set up. The doctor listened and said something to a nurse who left and came back with another doctor that started listening to her heart. We called Michael in to tell us what they were saying.

She has a pretty significant heart condition. Something that could have been taken care of pretty easily after birth, like Raleigh’s. But since it’s been almost five years it’s caused some hardening of her heart. The doctor said they rate issues on a scale 1-6, 6 being the worst, and her’s is a 4. The doctor confirmed what we suspected, she needs heart surgery. But we will know everything for sure after our appointment with Dr. Dooley in Atlanta. He did Raleigh’s surgery, and he is awesome. Sam noticed when he put his hand on her heart that it feels as though it’s struggling. They didn’t even go outside to play at the orphanage, so I don’t know if that’s because of her heart or the lack of exercise. Probably both, but it doesn’t slow her down much.

After we left the room with the doctors, we went into an ENT room. She got checked out there. I guess she passed. That doctor just said thank you then we left.

Finally, the dreaded room we’d been warned about. They take the children in the room without the parents and take their blood. I wouldn’t even let them take Raleigh away from me to prick her heal when she was a baby. Now I’m being asked to let them take my child, who has grown to trust me, away from me and stay outside a room listening to her scream her head off for me and I can’t do anything about it. Got to be kidding me. Nope, no joke. Torture. She survived. I survived. But promised her it would never happen again.

We met up with another adopting family from our agency at breakfast this morning. I’ve been in contact with them via email. Their adorable baby girl is from a different province. That’s where they were last week, but they got here last night to finish up the adoption in Guangzhou. We went with them to explore the island. She was telling me about these China dolls that would be great for the girls, but we haven’t located them yet. We strolled around the island with R getting her picture taken by strangers as we went. She hams it up! The girls played on a small playground and Aili was having a ball. We bailed on a more exotic Chinese establishment and had a nice dinner at Lucy’s.

After dinner we picked up our laundry and headed back to the hotel for more hysterical tickle laughter, blogging, storybook reading, and Aili coming out of her shell as she experiences being allowed to act like herself (a nutball and a cute one at that).

Storytime…who’s reading this story anyway?

That’s all for now. Until next time…