GOTCHA DAY!

 

Well after a long 4 years of labor we finally have a baby girl named Elizabeth.  She was officially handed over to us on Monday, July 20th at 11:30 am.

 

The day started with our group meeting in the hotel lobby at 10:30 am and then we boarded our bus for what was supposed to be a 10 minute ride to the Civil affairs office, where we would get the babies.  Well, in typical China fashion, there was traffic, construction,etc and the 10 minute ride took about 30 minutes.  We were supposed to be at the office at 11 am but we were still on the bus at 11:05.  I am very punctual so was starting to panic at this time.  We did finally get there about 11:10 am and quickly went upstairs into a room where a group of nannies and babies were sitting.  Some families were talking to their babies and some babies were sitting in their nannies.  After walking around groups of people and scanning the room we saw Elizabeth sitting with one of the caregivers on the bench.  She was very quiet but checking everything out.  Very quickly the action started to happen and the "hand off" of babies began. 

 

It basically went in alphabetical order.  So we were #3 in the group to be called and they handed her over to us and we made our way to a bench to check her out.  She did not cry or fuss, just was watching everyting about us.  Some of the other babies started to cry and eventually when I looked at her face she had big crocidle tears but had not made a sound.  She whimpered for just a minute and then settled right back down.  Just as quickly as it all started, it ended. The hand off of babies and signing of paperwork was over in about 30 minutes and we were back on the bus and headed back to the hotel by about 11:50 am.

 

Once we boarded the bus Miss Elizabeth had to check out the seat covers, the curtains on the windows, her dad and generally everything within a 10 foot radius.  Then she laid her head on my shoulder and fell fast asleep.  Once we got to the hotel she was still asleep and we came up to the room where she continued to sleep for another 30-40 minutes.  She woke up very quickly, kind of with a startle, but looked right at me and grinned. 

 

We then played a little bit in the floor and then ordered some congee and steamed eggs from room service for Elizabeth.  She ate some but did not really tear it up.  She didn't want anything to drink either.  Then around 3 pm she went down for a nap.  That took a little effort as I think she was just scared and did not recognize the surroundings.  I rocked her some and she got really sleepy, and then I put her in the crib and just held her hand and rubbed her tummy and she did fall asleep for about 1 hour 15 minutes. 

 

We then just spent the rest of the afternoon getting to know each other.  She was very tired by the time 9 pm rolled around but we kept her awake so we could Skype with the family.  After getting off the phone/video she went right to sleep and slept until about 4 am. 

 

She is VERY tiny.  We have not weighed her yet but I do not think she weighs 15 lbs like we were told.  I put a 6-9 month outfit on her yesterday and she was swimming in it.  The diapers we brought were for 14-21 lbs and they could almost wrap around her twice.  She has alot of hair-all the Chinese people say that is a sign of good nutrition and she is just tiny naturally.  But she is very active, crawling, pulling up on things and will walk holding onto Patrick's fingers. 

 

She is adorable, I have attached a few pictures.  I have gotten several posts back saying the file was too big so I am trying to keep the pictures somewhat to a minimum so I don't keep getting the post back.

 

Just keep checking and I'll put pictures on as I can.