We are parents!

Blog July 17, 2006



It was undoubtedly the most emotionally charged moment of my life when they placed our little Jade in my arms at 6:45 last night.

We flew out of Beijing into Nanchang, Jiangxi yesterday afternoon. On our ride to the hotel, our guide told us that the babies would arrive at 6:30, so we would arrive at the hotel at 5:45, get our luggage into our rooms, eat in one of the hotel restaurants at 6, and get our babies at 6:30. We could hardly make it to our rooms for our nerves. We could hardly eat for our nerves. Then the guides told us the orphanage director called and said they’d be a little late – 6:45. So, we all tried to sit still at the table & chat. Mostly we compared how we were all feeling.

All four families rode up in the elevator together. We were instructed beforehand to wait in the hallway, just outside the elevator on our floor (we are all on the same floor). When we got off the elevator, we heard babies crying from a room nearby. I got all teary and thought I couldn’t breathe. Suddenly, the orphanage director, Mr. Zhou (pronounced “Joe”) & 3 staff members came out, each with a baby. We all just about simultaneously burst into tears. Jeff and I couldn’t recognize Jade, so we kind of did a process of elimination. One woman’s best friend was her travel companion and was supposed to be taking pictures. She was bawling the loudest! Then others started bawling. I didn’t. I was too overwhelmed to let my throat relax enough to cry so loudly. It was a little comical – we sounded like a bunch of toddlers the way our group was boo hoo-ing. They then called the names of one couple, and the Mr. Zhou gave them their baby. Then they said, “Jeff & Therese Gilman – Fu Xiao Zheng” and a lady brought her to us. Jeff filmed while I held her and she cried. But not for long. The other two families names were called & their babies were handed to them. And we all continued to cry and talk to our babies. I kept saying, “Wo ai ni” (I love you), “Ni hen piao liang” (You are very beautiful), and “Wo shi Ma Ma” (I am your Mama) and “Shi Ba Ba” (your daddy) while pointing to him. I wanted to tell her not to be afraid and that everything was going to be alright, and I couldn’t think of another Chinese word!! So I also spoke to her in English. Then I turned to Jeff and said, “She’s burning up – she’s sick.” Then she coughed a terrible bronchitis-type of cough and laid her head on my shoulder. At that point, they instructed us to go to our rooms and get to know our daughters. The lady who brought Jade to us came into our room with our national guide, Rose. We had the time to ask up to 100 hundred questions about Jade, her past, her schedule, etc. Rose was our interpreter. We learned that Jade had just finished 7 days of medicine IV’s because she had had the measles! She was still pretty much covered in spots. After they left, we gave her a bath (the lady said she loves them) and put her in jammies. We noticed that Jade was getting hotter and hotter and her breathing was shallow & rapid. I could feel the rumble of her lungs on my hand while I held her. My instincts said to take her to the doctor, but I wasn’t sure what to do, so at 10 p.m., we called the pediatrician who is meeting us here tomorrow (she was in Boston). She had told us to call anytime and that she was used to be awakened at all hours. After hearing her breathe over the phone & asking about her breathing & temp (102.7), she said to follow my instincts & take her to the hospital. So, we called our national guide who has been with us our entire trip. She called our local guide and told us to meet them in the lobby in 10 minutes. They had a cab waiting and took us to the hospital. I have to tell you, I wanted to turn around and return to our room the moment we walked in. It smelled horrible, the waiting area was actually outside (and it was raining), and it was filthy. But Rose said it was the most popular hospital in Nanchang and Jade was having labored breathing, so we stayed. After waiting 30-45 minutes, we were called into a small room with two doctors sitting at small desks. It was a bizarre situation. Customers crowded around the examining table to make sure the doctors did not take a patient in the wrong order – I could hardly get in the room with Jade, much less up to the doctor! They sent us upstairs – through lots of litter – for a blood test. I did not want them to stick my baby with one of their needles – who knows if it was sterile? But I had no other help, so I asked the Lord to cleanse the needle and the ladies hands & to keep Jade safe.
We were then sent back downstairs to wait another ½ hour or more. Then we were called over to be told that she had a bacterial infection and that she had to have 4 sessions of antibiotic IV’s. We waited some more, then were called to an area where we had to lay Jade on the outside counter and the nurse would reach through the window she was sitting at and put an IV in her head. Jade cried and cried. They sent us with the bottle to anther filthy room with IV holders and chairs. There was a bucket of IV needles and used gauze in the middle of the room. We sat there until the IV was done. While we were there, two abandoned babies were brought in in cardboard boxes. I felt so sad thinking that it was probably similar when Jade was found. And I felt so bad for those babies. One was a boy and almost 3 years old, I think. It will be much harder for him to lose his parents at this age.
We left the hospital around 1:30 a.m. and all went to bed. It was hard to sleep because Jade kept coughing so hard. I kept jumping up to check on her.

So, we are seeing a little improvement in Jade this afternoon. We gave her some infant motrin drops this morning and her fever broke while we were at the adoption office. We were so relieved!

Jeff continues the story…
We took Jade back to the Children’s Hospital in Nan Chang for another IV of antibiotics this afternoon, and it went very well. She slept through most of it. We have noticed that even though she is sleeping a lot today, she is acting better, and is more responsive. Although she made it very clear that she was not in the mood for a bath! So, we gave her a sponge bath. Her eating seems to have improved, and her cough is a little better, but there is still quite a bronchial rattle when she coughs. This afternoon around 4:45 p.m as I am typing this she is playing a bit with Theresa, and seems to be very miserable and tired still. Our pediatrician arrives later tonight, and we have the first appointment to see her in the morning at 9 a.m. when she will do a complete exam of Jade. That will make us feel a lot better.

We have completed all of the adoption paperwork today. Last night after they brought the babies in we signed papers to be nanny’s for one night. Today, we became their actual parents forever! Lucky babies! That is what people say when they find out that we have adopted a little girl from one of the Social Welfare Institutes (Orphanages). Hopefully, Jade will sleep well tonight, and so will we. We will be in Nan Chang for another four days, and then we will be traveling to Guangzhou to stay at the White Swan Hotel. This is a famous hotel that adoptive parents stay at, and we expect to see a lot of them there. In this hotel that we are staying in right now there is a large group of adoptive parents from Spain who have just gotten their babies. Everyone here is very happy!

That is all I/we can think of to tell you at this moment. Sorry this was so long, but we had quite a bit of catching up to do. We will try to upload some new pictures of Jade in the next few hours.

God bless you all, and we appreciate your prayers for Jade’s health.

Jeff & Theresa