Day 4 - Gotcha!

We are now a family! LIFE CHANGING EXPERIENCE!!!

The day started early as neither Melissa nor I were able to sleep. We actually went to the fitness room at 6am and worked out… we had already been up for 2 hours. The bus left the hotel in Beijing at 9am for the airport and a 3 hour flight to Nanchang. I was so nervous I didn’t feel good, Melissa was also nervous but had a calm energy.

The flight went fine and we got to Nanchang and the emotions started to build for all the families. We made it to our hotel (Gloria Plaza Hotel) at about 3pm and were told to be in the lobby by 4pm, where would take a bus to the Center for Adoptions.

The bus ride to the building was absolutely surreal. Both Melissa and myself were overwhelmed with variety of emotions, but most of all we couldn’t believe we were driving to meet our babies… it is hard to describe the feeling. After about a 20 minute drive we made it to the office building and entered a room on the 26th floor. We weren’t expecting this, but all the babies were in there already, dressed in special outfits, being held by their aunties.

The group started spreading out looking for the familiar face on their baby’s picture that we have all been staring at for the past 2 months. Then I heard Betsy (Ft. Meyers, FL) say… “I see the twins!” We darted over in her direction and there they were… 2 bundled up cuties dressed in red.

There was supposed to be a formal process of “matching the babies,” so we couldn’t go up to them just yet… they were being held by their aunties and looked alert, healthy, and happy. The aunties were these cute little, energetic young girls. You could tell by the way they were holding and interacting that the aunties had a great rapport with the girls and the girls were totally comfortable with them. Then we heard our names called and it was time for us to get to hold our babies for the first time.

Absolutely surreal. I was handed AnMei and Melissa was handed JiaLi. The girls were in great moods, but they kept a close eye on their aunties. Melissa and I started loving and kissing on them and it was amazing. Liz was filming the entire time and we took a picture with the aunties holding the girls. After that the girls wanted to go back into the arms of the aunties. They had had enough of these 2 strangers, and the aunties were happy to oblige them. Melissa and I, on the other hand, were ready to start the bonding process.

This time we switched the girls and I was holding JiaLi and Melissa was holding AnMei. AnMei was relatively peaceful and alertly looking around (often at one of the other babies that was crying). JiaLi was not happy at this point, and she was letting it be known. Then, at the drop of a hat, the orphanage director told the aunties it was time to go. Both girls new immediately and started crying hard. (That was actually a good sign, indicating they had been attached to their caregivers, which is an important developmental process.) We were now left in a room with mostly crying babies.

We left within a few minutes also… AnMei was pretty calm and seemed to be taking it all in. JiaLi was not too happy. At this point Melissa was holding her and trying to comfort her, which she was able to do after a few minutes on the bus.

Once we got back to our hotel we took them to our rooms and slowing started to undress them… literally 5 layers of heavy clothing! (Melissa and I were wearing single shirts, no jackets, and felt warm.) They are probably used to be bundled up, but it was still crazy to keep peeling off layer after layer.

Both girls were looking at us, frowning, and having melt downs. We all thought it was humorous in some way, and new they were going through a process that was important and needed. AnMei wanted to be held, while JiaLi did not want to be held. Melissa was successful at giving AnMei a bottle and she seemed to start settling down. Then Liz suggested that I swaddled up JiaLi and try to create a sense of bundled security. It worked! A few minutes of pacing in Liz’s room and JiaLi finally started to relax. I was able to feed her a bottle, and after a few ounces she passed out in my arms.

By this point Liz and gone to grocery store for water and supplies and I couldn’t hear Melissa. When I carried JiaLi into the other room I saw AnMei passed out on Melissa’s chest. We looked at each other in wonder and amazement… we were parents!

Now they are contently sleeping and snoring like crazy. We just wolfed down some room service and are wondering when they will wake up hungry, since neither ate more than a few ounces.

That’s it for now; I promise to post more tomorrow.