Monday, at Guangzhou

Early Monday Will, Lorna and Kelsey headed to Lucy's orphanage in Maoming. Will has a separate post about that amazing trip. So I was at the hotel with Lucy and Kai. After breakfast we went strolling and shopping when Kai started screaming. I went straight back to the hotel just in time for him to vomit and continue to do so. He started getting a fever and went right to sleep. Lucy kept bringing him his tiger and stroking his leg. He wouldn't keep water down and started moaning. Ugh! Trying not to panic, Lucy and I ordered room service and tried to spend some quality time getting to know each other. At about 3pm, I brought Kai down to the hotel clinic and they advised me to take him to "Sun Yat Sen Hospital". Thankfully, they sent a staff member with me - not sure how I could have navigated the place without her. To make a long and frightening story short, I got an insider's view into the Chinese medical system. Kai had bad strep throat, fever was up at 104 and was dehydrated, so after his first bag of iv antibiotics/fluids he was laughing and eating again. The waiting room was full of people getting iv's. They were just walking around with a friend holding onto a yard stick with the bag attached. For an extra $1.50, I sprang for a gurney and an iv stand. Will arrived about 7:30pm and we were all home with a well child by 10pm. Kai's been great all day today and we realized that Lucy too had strep throat and bronchitis - so they're both on antibiotics and hopefully feeling better.



Adoption is incredible in that all the "firsts" are in warp speed. We're getting to know her more and more each day. So in the week we've been together, we've had the first smile, laugh, hug, kiss, "mama", "daddy", singing, bath, run, jump, somersault, swim, doctor's visit, etc. All those things that you savor, document and date with your biological children, with an adopted toddler they quickly reveal themselves. The first few days, she was silent, as I wrote before, but she was also quite withdrawn, and slow-moving physically. Now she's jabbering to us in Cantonese, saying new English words every day, very curious, and loves to run and jump. It's only been one week. When I was in the hospital with Lucy and Kai, she stayed right with me - one hand on my knee and the other sometimes stroking Kai's back. It was remarkable how patient and "attached" she was in the moment when I had to be very present for Kai.

When Will showed up at the hospital and I've got one kid I'm trying to feed dinner and the other with an iv, he started showing me photos of some identical twins he met at Lucy's orphanage, fell in love with, and, "might we come back in a few months and adopt them?" Timing is everything...I didn't really answer. He's got a huge heart, my husband. Perhaps, we can show the photos of the sweethearts to some loving friends...

We're wondering if Lucy thinks we're going to live in the White Swan and eat in restaurants each meal for the rest of our lives.