OUCH!

I wasn't going to post so late 'cuz we all need to get to bed but HOLY COW!...what an afternoon/evening we've had. So, we were supposed to have Hope's Dr. appt. at 4:20 and we got in pretty quickly. Guess what time we left. OK - I'll just tell you...almost 8:00. Our little girl sat in her diaper wrapped in a blanket at the clinic for almost 4 hours. She was such a trooper. I can't believe how brave she is. With everything she has been through in these past two weeks since we've known her, she is doing so well. We got in and Hope was weighed and measured right away so off came all the clothes. She is currently 17 lbs./13 oz. and 29 in. Compared with her medical appt. in China, she's lost a bit of weight and gotten taller. Hmm. Then, we were ushered to another room where we talked with a nurse (not our Dr.'s regular nurse) who didn't know us or anything about our adoption. It was a bit frustrating trying to communicate with her and answer her questions. Then, YEA...our Dr. came in a visited with us. We really like him and it is wonderful that he also has an a daughter from China and he's been back to China several times to set up clinics in orphanages. His experience is invaluable and we are so comfortable with our little girl in his care. Basically he said she's doing great. His exact words were, "She's perfect." Well, OF COURSE! ;) We talked a bit about some possible food allergies and some skin sensitivities and we'll work on that for this month before our next appointment. Finally came the part we'd been dreading. Blood work and a trip to the lab were next on the agenda. I think holding my little girl down while she was SCREAMING in terror and the tech was trying to find a good vein is about the most traumatic experience I may have ever had. We had four adults holding Hope and had one tech try for a vein in each arm before deciding that she needed to get another person to come and have a look. That person successfully found a vein and leeched out 2 big vials of blood. They were hoping for three, but Hope's vein gave up the flow, so I am now praying that they don't put her through that again because they didn't get enough. OOOOOOHHHHHHHH that was so hard for this new mommy. When it was over I was able to scoop her up and wrap her in her blanket right away. She calmed down, but I just felt terrible. It didn't help that we had walked over to the lab, then the tech struggled with figuring out what supplies she'd need and finally ushered us back over the the area where our first appt. took place and in the mean time, Hope fell asleep. So, she woke up to all of us hovering over her while she laid on the cold table covered with that wonderful comfortable paper. Poor thing. After the whole blood draw experience, we went back over to the lab because we were supposed to get some more supplies to collect a couple of samples. Again, the tech was a little confused about what was needed. She made a couple of phone calls and guess what...we had to walk back over to our favorite unit (again the original appt. location) to meet with a different nurse for some instructions and then hold our baby girl down again for a Tb test. I can't believe what she went through. She was so, so brave today. The last time, when we were waiting for the final test, we were in the room alone again for something like a 1/2 hour and I finally took Hope out into the hall looking for anyone to come get it done so we could get out of there. Our Dr. saw us and couldn't believe we were still there. So, I guess all you need to do is get a Dr.'s attention, because the nurse reappeared in a matter of minutes and we finished up. We quickly ran to Target for some supplies and we are now home with our strong little angel asleep in her crib. I cried as I rocked her tonight. I just didn't want to put her down. She is strong and beautiful and amazing and brave and incredible and ....

We just love our little girl and are so thankful to God for his plan to bless our lives with her presence.

Thanks for letting me vent tonight. I promise that my next post will be much more positive.

- Sweet Dreams -