Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Gotcha Day
Wow! I’m up at 4:00 in the morning but what does that mean?? Maybe that it is 3:00 in the afternoon in Asheville and I just slept all day… I am so confused with sleeping after the 22 hours in airports and planes.
What a moment! It was 12:15 near noon. We were finally at the Kunming Airport, had met our Chinese facilitator! “Go get luggage quick!” We threw the luggage onto a cart and went out of baggage claim to hear “Be in the hotel lobby at 2:00.” I knew by the way she said it we were getting the babies at 2:00. I couldn’t believe it because for the whole trip from LA, Linda, Dean, Steve and I had talked about how we probably wouldn’t have the babies until the following day. So I was shocked!
We flew into the room and I began to panic on very little sleep. It wasn’t a great thing for that moment. I had paperwork to find and a first bottle to fix, diapers to find, a shower to take (obviously), and our guide had wanted us to eat lunch. Well as of this moment the next day, we still haven’t eaten.
Making it to the lobby in time, we jumped onto a van and were off. My heart was beating a mile a minute the whole way, while Steve made sure the camcorder and camera were ready. We had decided in advance that I would go up to get her and that he would film. We would later switch and he would have his moment.
After paperwork and some talking about the babies’ conditions – unknown at that point- we finally were told they would bring the babies for us to look at and see if they were okay. (OKAY??) The first baby to come around the corner was Tian. AH! What a beautiful little girl… with longer hair… definitely Tian. They called her name that sounded more like “guunteenmung” and I walked up very quickly to hold her and marvel at the fact that this was the moment!
As you can see from the pictures, she is absolutely beautiful and has a sweet disposition. Last night she loved the stacking cups after the initial fear of a very high tower right in from of her. She banged two cups together most of the time. We didn’t hear any babbling at all until she was in her crib later with a few toys and lying down. She really got going with sounds that were familiar like “dadadadadada”. She is not close to walking and doesn’t even sit up without me sitting her up. Once I sit her up on a blanket, she plays and stays until I lay her down or pick her up.
Tian has been very cuddly. She has been quite sick with a high fever, so we immediately switched her to some American antibiotics and gave her cough medicine throughout the night. We’ll see how activity changes as she begins to feel better.
We are absolutely thrilled with our daughter. I am still feeling like I’m caring for someone else’s child, partly because I don’t think my mind and heart can take it in yet. Right now, she is sitting with her daddy banging cups again. I’m going to make us some coffee and pretend that it is normal for us to drink coffee with a baby in bed at 5:00 in the morning.
What a moment! It was 12:15 near noon. We were finally at the Kunming Airport, had met our Chinese facilitator! “Go get luggage quick!” We threw the luggage onto a cart and went out of baggage claim to hear “Be in the hotel lobby at 2:00.” I knew by the way she said it we were getting the babies at 2:00. I couldn’t believe it because for the whole trip from LA, Linda, Dean, Steve and I had talked about how we probably wouldn’t have the babies until the following day. So I was shocked!
We flew into the room and I began to panic on very little sleep. It wasn’t a great thing for that moment. I had paperwork to find and a first bottle to fix, diapers to find, a shower to take (obviously), and our guide had wanted us to eat lunch. Well as of this moment the next day, we still haven’t eaten.
Making it to the lobby in time, we jumped onto a van and were off. My heart was beating a mile a minute the whole way, while Steve made sure the camcorder and camera were ready. We had decided in advance that I would go up to get her and that he would film. We would later switch and he would have his moment.
After paperwork and some talking about the babies’ conditions – unknown at that point- we finally were told they would bring the babies for us to look at and see if they were okay. (OKAY??) The first baby to come around the corner was Tian. AH! What a beautiful little girl… with longer hair… definitely Tian. They called her name that sounded more like “guunteenmung” and I walked up very quickly to hold her and marvel at the fact that this was the moment!
As you can see from the pictures, she is absolutely beautiful and has a sweet disposition. Last night she loved the stacking cups after the initial fear of a very high tower right in from of her. She banged two cups together most of the time. We didn’t hear any babbling at all until she was in her crib later with a few toys and lying down. She really got going with sounds that were familiar like “dadadadadada”. She is not close to walking and doesn’t even sit up without me sitting her up. Once I sit her up on a blanket, she plays and stays until I lay her down or pick her up.
Tian has been very cuddly. She has been quite sick with a high fever, so we immediately switched her to some American antibiotics and gave her cough medicine throughout the night. We’ll see how activity changes as she begins to feel better.
We are absolutely thrilled with our daughter. I am still feeling like I’m caring for someone else’s child, partly because I don’t think my mind and heart can take it in yet. Right now, she is sitting with her daddy banging cups again. I’m going to make us some coffee and pretend that it is normal for us to drink coffee with a baby in bed at 5:00 in the morning.
# posted by lorrainegriffith @ Wednesday, January 26, 2005 
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This is Dennis and Karen (Lundblad). Karen found the pictures this morning, and when I came out of the bathroom, I found her staring at the computer with big ol' tears rolling down her cheeks. She was able to reassure me immediately that they were tears of joy. We're so incredibly happy for you! We know that your love for her is independent of trivialities like appearance, but she sure is a cutie-pie, and we're really looking forward to meeting her! We're also planning a visit to your four-footed children within the next 48 hours, and we'll explain to them what's going on. Please know that you are all in out thoughts and prayers!
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