We woke on the morning of October 8th, the day we would finally see our daughter we had been waiting for since December of 2006! I was so anxious with anticipation!!
We went down for breakfast and shopped in the little stores around the hotel. We bought our lunch at a little grocery store by the hotel but I couldn't eat. My stomach was so upset and nervous about seeing Meizi. Our guide, Peter was coming to take us to the Civil Affairs Department in Guangzhou, at 3pm, to finally see our daughter! I was worried about how it would all go. How would she react when she saw us? Would she cry and scream when I take her from her nanny or would she withdraw and not make a sound?
I prepared a diaper bag with everything I could think of that might comfort her or that she might need. A formula bottle, juice bottle, diapers, wipes, extra clothes, toys, a soft doll that my friend had given us before we left for China, Cherrios (which she wouldn't touch, she was only eating from a bottle) and a sippy cup (which she wouldn't drink from either)
The drive to the Civil Affairs office was more terrifying then the plane flight. I worried that we were going to hit one of the pedestrians that would walk out into traffic at any time, with no notice, or that someone would hit us. Our driver, Lu, was very good and neither of those things happened. There are no traffic or diving rules, per say in China. Cars go where ever they want, in all directions and there are no lanes to stay in or signal from. I gasped many times during the half hour drive to the Civil Affairs Department and had to close my eyes a few times. All I could do was giggle nervously as we pulled into the dive way, in relief, we had made it!
There were many families there that had just received their very young babies, under a year old. They left shortly after we arrived and I was thankful that we would meet Meizi for the 1st time, alone. In what seemed like an eternity but was really only 10-15 minutes, I saw the staff from the orhanage, Meizi's nanny and the director of the orphange walk through the door. The nanny was carrying a tiny, tiny baby. I asked Scott, "Is that her?" Meizi was so tiny, I didn't recognise her at first. I knew from her reports that she was going to be small but seeing her in person, paled by comparison and I was alarmed at how small she was. I walked up to her and her nanny, immediately and said "Mama" as I held out my hands and took her. She reacted the very way I had thought she would. There was no crying or screaming and she went to me, complacently, without a fight or fuss. This made me concerned since I knew that babies that are attached to their caregivers will normally cry. Meizi didn't utter a sound. Kelly, my 14 year old son, taped our 1st meeting with Meizi and I'm sure you can see and hear the alarm in my voice.
The exchanging of our donation and gifts were also very different from our experience with Jade Lin, 5 years earlier. When we adopted Jade Lin, the money donation was given and discreetly disappeared, along with the gifts that we gave, they were never seen. When we gave our money donation and gifts to Mr. Wu, he counted the money in front of us and Peter, which made me uncomfortable and the nanny looked like she was going to tear into the gifts at any moment. She had a smile on her face so I knew the candy and reading glasses that we were giving along with two Vikings hats, would be greatly appreciated.
We had time for one quick photo of us with Meizi, after being able to ask questions to the nanny and director on Meizi's habits and care. I had a list of questions prepared but couldn't find them in the bottomless diaper bag, I had packed and only remembered a few questions, " Was she allergic to anything?", "How did she like to be put to bed?" I was told no, she wasn't allergic to anything and she went to bed with all the lights out. I was also told she was very "sneaky" and climbed out of her crib all the time, which made me realize that was why she was tied to her crib at nap time and night time, along with all the other babies that were crawling or walking. I saw photos of this right before we traveled so I knew this was true and Meizi sported the circular mark on her ankle to prove this. She hated the crib at the hotel and I ended up laying a down comforter on the floor for her to sleep on. I was told she took formula bottles with cereal and liked them very warm, hot actually.
After the 5 minutes of questions and answers, I snapped the photo of Scott, Kelly, Jade Lin and Meizi. There was no time for a second photo with me. I was a little annoyed at our guide, Peter for not being more sensitive and understanding at wanting to document this 1st meeting with our new daughter and would complain about his impatience and shortness, later to our Chinese Liason who hired him.
We have the two photos of our 1st day anyway and the video tape to look back on, thankfully!
The orphanage director told us she liked pork soup with vegitables too but I don't think Meizi ever ate soup unless they blended it and put it in a bottle for her. She wouldn't take anything but a bottle. We tried finger foods on her, congee, anything soft even though she had a mouth full of teeth and she refused it all. She was the size of a one year old baby and wasn't walking. She would only stand for a few seconds on her own before plopping down on her bottom. She didn't know how to play with toys and had no interest in blankets, stuffed animals or the toys I brought, which was very different from the way Jade Lin behaved at a year old. I knew that her additional year in the orphanage, compared to Jade Lin's one year, made a huge difference and that we would have to work with her. I felt blessed, happy and truly thankful for our new daughter! Praise God for her! Our dream had come true and we had our little girl in our arms!
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