Day 2: Gotcha Day!!

First of all, I did not sleep last night at all! I kept telling myself that I needed to get a good night's rest, but it just did not happen. We were supposed to have our luggage out in the hallway at 8 AM this morning, then go down to breakfast, then check out, then meet Susan in the lobby at 8:45. Well, all 3 of us families had our luggage outside at 7, were down at breakfast an hour early, and were ready to go at 8:15!

We drove to the airport, then Susan helped us all check in. She is just so sweet. She even asked if we were Christians, then said that she would pray for us! We miss her already, but we will be seeing her again on Friday in Guangzhou. It was sad to leave the other 2 families- It's amazing how fast you bond with the other families when you share something so huge! I can't wait to see them all again in Guangzhou, and meet their new daughters!

Security at the Beijing airport was... interesting. Something about Paul set them off and he got a VERY thorough search! Our flight was actually very nice. I was pretty worried because it was an airline that I knew nothing about (I'd never even heard of them!), but it was actually a wonderful experience. It was a Boeing 757 (which made me MOST happy!), and they actually gave us a ton of legroom! They had excellent customer service, something that has been gone for a long time with most U.S. airlines. I think I have a new favorite airline; too bad they do not fly in the States! But we were about an hour late leaving Beijing, which in turn made us late getting into Fuzhou. Our new guide, Helen, met us at the airport and told us that we would have to hurry because it was an hour drive to the hotel and the babies were supposed to be there at 4:30 (it was 3:30 when we left the airport).

So by the time we got to the hotel and checked in, we ran up to the room, dumped our luggage, grabbed our paperwork and cameras, then had to run back down to the 3rd floor where the babies were. There were 7 families meeting their babies. Paul and I got down there and were looking for Helen, but then I spotted Caitlin sitting on her nanny's lap out in the hallway! Her nanny was giving her some juice, and she did not want any part of me! The nanny finally made her go to me, but Caitlin did not like that one bit! She threw quite a fit! Poor thing- I felt so bad for her! I finally got her calmed down, temporarily, but she would stick out her bottom lip and pout like you wouldn't believe! And any little thing would set her off again and she would start SCREAMING! She screamed if I sat down, and if she even thought I was putting her down she would cling to me with a death grip that I can't believe a 19-month-old is even capable of! I'm thrilled that she has taken to me so quickly, but Paul has still not gotten to hold her. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!

Paul signed all the paperwork, which made us Caitlin's guardians for the night. Tomorrow morning at 9:30 we will return to the same room and complete the adoption- and Caitlin will be ours forever!

We took her back up to our room and I got her to play for a few minutes with some toys I'd brought, but then she started to get upset again. It was almost her dinnertime, so we decided to take her downstairs to the restaurant in the hotel to try to find her some congee (basically porridge, made with rice). But that did not last long because Caitlin was just inconsolable. I ran out of the restaurant with Caitlin, and Paul asked to get our food delivered to our room instead. But that wound up taking too long and by the time it finally got here she was just beyond hungry- and tired- and just plain fed up!

I finally got her to eat the congee, which she seemed to like, and for a brief while she was actually happy! She even smiled a few times (very briefly), and even gave me a couple of hugs (which, of course, made my day like you couldn't believe)! When she'd had enough congee we tired to Skype with our families, but by the time we got to Paul's parents Caitlin passed out in my arms. When I tried to put her in her PJs (the outfit she had been wearing was soaked with congee, water, tears, and snot!), she woke up and screamed some more. I finally got her to pass out in my arms again, but when I tired to lay her in the crib she woke up again and screamed some more! So I picked her up one more time, got her to pass out once more, waited until she was nice and asleep, and managed to FINALLY get her to lay in her crib. She has not moved from that position since I laid her down. Poor thing; she was just so exhausted- physically and emotionally. I pray that she gets a good night's sleep! We'll see how tomorrow goes!

This is what we've learned so far about Caitlin:

*She is really tall! The 18-month PJs I brought fit her just right. We'll see how her other clothes fit!
*Her palate has not been repaired yet. I got a few good glimpses of it when she was screaming at me!
*She can't suck at all. I gave her a sippy cup but she would just hold her mouth open, or close her lips around it, but she couldn't make the water come out. Luckily I'd also brought a bottle, so I snipped off the tip of the nipple to make the hole big enough that the water just falls into her mouth and she doesn't have to suck.
*The orphanage gave us a 2-page list of information about her. She is still on a liquid diet, and still eating formula. Unfortunately they didn't give us any, so we'll have to get some tomorrow. I'm hoping the congee and Gerber Puffs I gave her will be enough to get us through until morning!
*She has the biggest, most beautiful eyes, and she uses them to take everything in! She is very observant!
*She is so beautiful, especially when we got the faintest glimpse of a smile out of her!

I think that's all for now. I'm very exhausted so I'm hoping we all 3 can get a good night's sleep tonight... We'll see!

Signed,
One very tired but oh so happy MAMA!!