Tuesday, July 28th

 

Today has not been such a great day.  As you know from our post yesterday, Elizabeth had to get some immunizations yesterday at her medical checkup.  We thought she was such a trooper yesterday, only cried for just a few minutes after the shots (until she got her cookie and the crying stopped immediately).  We took her out shopping all day and she held up well.  Well, unfortunately, that all came to a crashing halt at 4 am this morning.  She woke up very suddenly screaming her head off and when I picked her up she was very warm.  She was very difficult to hold and the best I could get of her temperature was 100.5 degrees.  I actually think it was higher than that but she was crying so hard and moving so much I am not sure how accurate the reading was.  Anyway, she got an immediate dose of motrin and I walked and rocked her, but she just would not settle down.  Patrick then took her and got her to fall asleep on him and they slept in our living area of the hotel room for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. 

 

We were supposed to go to the Banyan Temple today but decided to pass since it was obvious at this point that we overdid it yesterday as well.  We took her down to breakfast around 9 am and she ate just a couple of bites of congee.  She did have about 4 ounces of formula around 7 am so we wasn't completely starving.  When we finished breakfast they happened to be cleaning our room so I took the opportunity to walk her and rock her up and down the halls and she did go to sleep.  By the time I tried to put her in the crib she woke up and was screaming again.  We then put her in the stroller and walked around the room and she fell asleep for almost one hour.  Great parents, letting her sleep in the stroller but it was the only way she was staying asleep and since she felt so bad she needed to sleep.  Just before she fell asleep I took her temp again and it was 101.7.  She was hot and miserable and also got another dose of Motrin.

 

After she woke up we were able to play with her some and eventually left the room and went and had lunch at Lucy's.  Lucy's is the "western" restaurant on the island.  They serve hamburgers, french fries and milkshakes etc.  We had eaten breakfast late so I got by with just a baked potato and Patrick had a grilled chicken wrap with french fries.  Elizabeth was still not intereseted in eating at this point.  After lunch we went by a few shops to pick up things we had purchased and needed to pick up.  Elizabeth then fell asleep as we were walking and Patrick took her back to the hotel and she again slept in the stroller for about 45 minutes.  Her appetite is just terrible today, but I know that I don't feel like eating either when I have fever and am under the weather. 

 

Not much else going on today so I'll take this opportunity to tell you a few things we have observed during our travels around China.  The Chinese are very active people.  They are always out and about and doing things in the parks and recreation areas around the country.  XiXi has told us that they live in very small apartments, like 800 sq feet, so they really have no choice but to go outside and socialize and get out of their cramped surroundings.  Each nite after dinner when we walk, there are all kinds of kids and adults using playground equipment, roller blading, playing badmitton, etc.  The streets are very busy we people just getting out of the house.  Another thing is the Chinese live very simply.  No fancy cars (cars and vans are recycled after 10-12 years of being in service, they must get a new vehicle at that point and the government salvages their autos for scrap and parts), small apartments, no fancy clothing.   You see alot of people talking on the cell phone and playing games and listening to music but it does not seem to be as much as we do in the US. 

 

A few words of advice for adoptive parents or anyone traveling here in the future.  This applies to most all of China not just Beijing or Guangzhou.  Bring napkins-they really do not use napkins and if they do they are the size of travel tissues.  With a baby this just does not cut it.  Diapers are hit and miss over here.  Pampers vary widely depending on where you shop.  Walmart over here sold good Pampers, the local store right next to the Victory hotel sold a poor plastic version of Pampers.  I think if you a bring a small pack or half of a large pack from home and then get to Walmart or Carrefour over here you will be fine.  I had read that all the hotels had hairdryers in the bathrooms.  Well, only the Victory has a normal hairdryer, the other hairdryers were the old fashioned, hang on the wall with a vacuum cleaner type hose and just could not quite do the job a regular hair dryer could.  I have a very small dual voltage hairdryer (came from Brookstone I think) that has saved me many of day of bad hair days.  It is so small and can almost fit in a shoe and you just turn a knob to the correct voltage of power and it has been used in the UK, France and now China without any problems. 

 

Tomorrow we have our consulate appointment and since we are a Hague family one of us has to actually go to the Consulate with our guide.  The other families get to wait out the time in their room.  I really do not want to go because it is a 40 minute taxi ride in crazy China traffic and I tend to get carsick.  I am hoping they will let Patrick go but not sure at this point since I am the one who filled out the paperwork for the consulate.  If all goes well tomorrow with the consulate then we are on track to leave on Thursday afternoon around 4:30 pm and head to Hong Kong for the nite.  Then we fly out of Hong Kong on Friday for the huge 15 hour flight to Newark.  We will stay in Newark on Saturday and then fly into Orlando on Sunday arriving around 5:30 pm (Newark to Atlanta, then Atlanta to Orlando).  We are anxious to come home, but also can not believe how quickly 2 1/2 weeks has gone by.  On the other hand I am absolutely dreading the flight.  15 hours with a baby and Patrick and I are not even seated together.  We had to be separated in order to get a bulkhead seat with a bassinet.  I think it is important to keep this seat since ladybug is so small and when she needs to sleep it is not pretty.  It will be so much easier to have a bassinet to put her in for sleeping instead of having to hold her or fit her into the small seat between the two of us.  Please pray for us, and all of the other people of this flight-honestly, before getting Elizabeth I would have rather put a hot poker in my eye than sit in a section of plane that had screaming babies on it. 

 

That is it for now-please pray Elizabeth's fever goes away and she begins to feel better and has a good nites sleep

 

Until next time.................................