Saturday 10/21: Medical Appointment

Today was Lydia's medical appointment.  This is a required appointment in order to qualify for a US visa.  Lydia slept well last night, only whimpering 1-2 times in the night and not truly waking up.  We had breakfast in the hotel and were able to meet more US families who recently arrived in GZ from other provinces to finish their adoption steps here.  After breakfast we met our guide and 2 other families in the lobby.  Little Miss was ready to go! She loves to go, go, go in that little red stroller.

At the medical appointment each child has to go through four stations: ENT, measurements, general physical exam and TB blood draw (if the child is over 2).  We knew what to expect since it is our third time to do it.  Lydia handled the ENT station fine so our next step was measurements.  They took her height and weight and then her temperature.  She's around 25 lbs-- bigger than we expected her to be but still a peanut.  She's wearing size 18 month clothes and a size 3-4 shoe.  It was at the measurement station that we were informed that Lydia had a low grade fever.  At first they said they would retake her temperature before we left but we couldn't get her to drink any water and weren't convinced that her temp would go down that quickly.  It was decided that we would return on Monday to recheck her temperature before our visa appointment on Tuesday.  At the general physical exam Lydia was cooperative and the doctor asked us about her transfusion requirements and when her last transfusion was.  Lydia refused to show the doctor that she can stand and bear weight on her legs--- something Hannah also refused to do at her visa medical appointment!  The last station was the TB blood draw.  Sadly they do not let the parents go in the room with the children for this part of the appointment.  When Samuel went in for his blood draw, he was in there screaming for at least 10-15 minutes while they tried to find a vein (likely foreshadowing to him needing a port!).  Thankfully when they took Lydia back (screaming!) she was out in 3-4 minutes and they had completed the blood draw successfully.  We chose to pay an extra 23 RMB (about $4!) to have a CBC run so we can check her hemoglobin before we fly home on Friday.

With the ENT doctor

Cuddle + play time in the room while we waited for lunch to be delivered

Lydia has become quite opinionated about HER things and how to play with them.  She wanted to read Brown Bear Brown Bear but *I* turned the page instead of her which was deemed highly offensive!  Hence the temper tantrum Bryan documented below.  Clue #1 that Lydia was ready for her nap!!  ;)

We ordered room service.  I was lame and got pizza and Bryan got a soup dish with chicken, rice and vegetables that he shared with Lydia.  She loved it.  After lunch Lydia and I both took naps. Bryan attended a meeting with our guide to prepare all of Lydia's paperwork for her visa appointment on Tuesday.  After Lydia's nap, we decided to walk about 10 minutes to Liahuahu Park.  Lydia was excited to be out and about and was fever free and feeling good! The park has a large lake in the middle with a pathway that goes all the way around.  The weather was great so it was nice to be out! We ran into another US family and visited with them for a bit before heading back to the hotel for dinner in the executive lounge.  

Horrible backlight on this pic-- but there was a large building at the park near the lake. We are not sure what the purpose of the building is but it was really pretty!

We sat with other adoptive families during dinner and enjoyed visiting with them.  After dinner, Lydia was in a great mood back in the hotel.  She got brave enough to start taking a few baby steps while holding our hands.  She is so proud of herself when she accomplishes these things! She also crawled maybe 1.5-2 feet to Bryan today.  This is huge considering she did not want to move her body at all a few days ago! We are so thankful to see her making such quick progress.  She also continues to do lots of imaginative play and tonight was pretending to collect something from under the table, mix it up and feed it to herself and to me.  It was so cute to watch!

We are kind of at the stage of the trip where you are just ready to be DONE and go home.  We've had a good trip that has been relatively easy compared to other trips, so we are thankful for that. I'm trying to focus on enjoying this time with Lydia and enjoying China because we truly do love our time here.  We just miss our kids and the ease of being at home.  I'm trying to remember that in the early days of being home with us, Lydia may have moments when she is just DONE and ready to go back to China where things feel familiar.  She is about to experience some huge changes in the next week once we are home, and many of those changes will not be easy for her.

Me trying to stay warm in our cold hotel room.  We have no extra blankets so I am making do with a bath towel! 

Tomorrow we have plans to attend a church on Shamian Island with another adoptive family.  It is a different church from the one we went to last week.  The church tomorrow can be attended by people from Mainland China unlike the church last week.  We are excited to visit there and then enjoy the island a little bit - a trademark destination for all adoptive families.