China Day 9: Medical Exam and Passport

Today was the hardest day we’ve had. Even though we are all still doing really good, Lila had a harder time today with everything.

We woke up after another great night’s sleep (everyone is sleeping so good, thankfully!!) and headed down to breakfast again at the hotel. I made Lila a plate of bananas and pancake and then headed to get my coffee. I have learned how to use the espresso machine to make a fabulous latte! As I was making my coffee I heard a kid screaming SO loud. I thought to myself “those poor people!” thinking it must be somebody’s adopted kid that is having a hard time adjusting. As I turned around and headed back to the table, I realized it was Lila!! Haha! She was throwing a fit because Trey was trying to get her not to scratch her legs. It was a typical 2 year old fit, and it was over quickly, but we learned then that she has a great set of lungs! Here are the sisters before breakfast.

After breakfast we got ready and met our guide to head to Lila’s medical exam. This exam is ordered by the US Embassy. Lila is required to “pass” before they will print her visa which will allow her to come into the United States.

We waited a while to be seen by the doctors. Then we were led to different rooms for them to check different things- one for her height and weight (she is 22 pounds), one for her ears and mouth, one for her heart and skin, and then the worst station of all- blood work. She started screaming at the height and weight station and didn’t stop until we walked out of the building! When the doctor checked her skin, we told her how she had been itching so much. She has a few spots on her fingers and toes, and the doctor said it looked like scabies. She thought she probably had a treatment at the orphanage but just to be safe if we had treatment, we should give it to her. Thankfully our agency told us to bring a prescription cream for scabies. Other than that, she checked out fine and “passed” the exam. Whew! We have heard of a few families that don’t pass the exam and some can be stuck here for weeks or even months until the US will issue the Visa, so we are thankful she was healthy enough to pass. Poor girl fell asleep on the way back to the hotel.

When we got back we transferred her to the crib. She only slept about an hour, and when she woke up, she was mad! She cried for a while and we couldn’t get her to calm down. She does this thing where she falls flat on the floor, sucks her fingers, and won’t let you pick her up or console her. I know it is part of her grieving, but it was so hard to watch. She also has to be miserable. As she was screaming, we were able to see inside her mouth. She has many, many sores on her tongue and back of her throat. Now we are thinking she may have hand, foot, and mouth disease too. Ugh! So, the poor girl is fighting that, a cough, scabies, flea and mosquito bites, all while trying to adjust to having this crazy new family take care of her!! No wonder she had a hard day!

She perked up and that was a good thing because we had to leave for our passport appointment. When we arrived, many other adoptive families were waiting to apply for their child’s passport too. We were able to catch up with the family we had dinner with the night before, and we also met another family from Austin. It is so great to talk to other people going through the same thing as we are. The passport application only took a few minutes, and that was that! It will be printed and delivered next week before our US Consulate appointment. We headed back to the hotel and played for a while before meeting our new friends for dinner again!

This time we headed to OGGI’s, a pizza place that had been recommended by many adoptive families. Chloe and Jack were so excited to see their new friends, and we all had another great dinner together. The pizza was so good, it tasted just like something we would have in the US. Then we headed for ice cream at McDonalds! We noticed all of the McDonald’s employees were wearing Minion stuff, and the whole place was decorated with Minions. We all ordered our sundaes with vanilla ice cream, but when we got them, the ice cream was yellow. We weren’t sure what was going on, but it turns out, they only had Minion banana ice cream to serve! So, we all enjoyed banana ice cream- it was yummy!

Lila had her first ice cream and of course, she loved it. We knew what was about to go down when there was no more ice cream, and sure enough, she started screaming when she realized she couldn’t have another bite! Trey told her he feels the same way when he finishes his ice cream. :)

We headed back to the hotel and got ready for bed. We put the scabies treatment on Lila and then gave her a bottle. She went right to sleep in Trey’s arms and we put her in her crib. Again, she woke up a few times in the night crying. Trey must have special powers though because when she cried around 1:30am, he went over to console her, and we didn’t hear another peep from her until we had to wake her up for breakfast! I am not sure how late she would sleep if we could let her sleep in, but we’ve had something to do every day so we’ve had to wake her up! One thing we know is she likes her sleep!

Overall, today was a little harder that the other days have been, but we are still doing great. Sometimes it is still hard for me to believe we are in Guangzhou, CHINA! And we adopted a baby! What in the world?! I am trying to soak in every day, because even though this is hard, I know when we get home I will miss this place and these people.

Thank you for joining us in praying for Lila’s health and that the scabies cream would work and she can start to feel better soon. She is a rockstar for dealing with all of this and still smile and laugh and have fun with us. We are so proud of our sweet, brave Lila Mei!