Day 10 – 10/17/09 – Guangzhou

We made it here late last night. Jacinda was a champ on the flight!!!!!  She did great.  There was no food to be found in the Changsha airport, so by the time we got to our hotel in Guangzhou, it was 11 pm, and all 3 of us were SO hungry and thirsty.  So we took a couple minutes walk to a 7-Eleven.  However, this 7-Eleven was about 1/3 of the size of 7-Elevens in the US.  There were about 30 people crammed in there and it was crazy.  So dinner was Ritz crackers and Coke at 11:30 PM.

 

We're here for a week.  This is where we do the US side of the paperwork.  Jacinda is legally ours, but we can't bring her into the US until we get her Visa, which will happen this coming Friday.

 

So this morning was very drama-filled.  Our group has 14 families and things were CRAZY today.  We met at 9:30 to go get photos taken which will be used for the Visas.  Then we all went to the International Clinic.  The kids have to have a medical exam.  Jacinda did great for everything except when they measured how tall she was.  It was all so chaotic, that I didn't even see how much she weighed or how tall she was.  Everything was fine and then she had to get shots.  We had to wait for about 1 ½ hours while they determined what shots she needed and while everyone who arrived for the shots after us got called back to get the shots before us.

 

I'm not trying to start a debate about vaccinations, but Aaron and I are both really upset at the way vaxes are handled in our country.  With Luke, we delayed some vaxes until we were comfortable with his development and his age.  Well, with Jacinda, we don't get that luxury.  With the older immigration process, adopted kids don't need vaxes until they get to the US.  With the newer process (lucky us), the kids have to get vaxes before they can come into the US.  There is legislation being worked on to fix this, but it's not there yet.

 

Jacinda had to get 6 shots today.  Yes, I said 6.  We have several problems with this.  First, we've built up some trust with her, and now we both have to hold her down while the nurse takes 15 minutes to give her 6 shots.  It was torture for all 3 of us.

 

Second, 6 shots is TOO MANY for a little body to handle.  It just is.  It makes us angry that our country requires the kids to have that many shots so quickly.  It's bad enough that we have such an aggressive schedule for newborns.  But now my little one has all kinds of medicines in her tiny little body and who knows what effect it will have on her.

 

After that, Jacinda slept for 4 hours.  Aaron went to do some of our paperwork while I stayed with Jacinda.  We're both still pretty steamed about the whole situation.  Needless to say, she won't be getting any more for a very long time.  I'll be staying home, so there's no need to get them for school or anything for a while.

 

We went to an Italian restaurant tonight with another family that we've made friends with.  They have a little girl who is turning 3 soon, and the little boy they're adopting has a cleft lip and palate like Jacinda.  So that was fun, but dinner with 3 little kids was a lot for all of us to handle after the day we've had!!!!!

 

Tomorrow we're taking a trip to a Jade and Pearl Market.  Should be interesting!!!