But let me start at the beginning. By now, it was Sunday (we'd flown out of Atlanta on Wednesday). We were psyched because we were finally getting to the purpose of all the work for the last year - Brooke (Qian Ke Xin).
We woke up and were ready right on time, despite the over-long day we'd had before. Everyone seemed fine. Below is a picture of Olivia and Lilly waiting for all of us to pay our hotel charges. All the kids played and had a good time that morning. Breakfast was wonderful. We got checked-out and headed for the Beijing airport. I don't think I mentioned before that there were eight families in our travel group. One family was going to meet us in Zhengzhou, so at this point there were probably about 23 of us all together, adults and kids. The guide probably thought she was herding cats.
Here's a picture of some of our baggage lined up to be weighed. Luggage weight is VERY important these days. All of us watched and held our breath as our bags went on the scale. If we were overweight, heavy fine$ would ensue.
Everyone's bags went thru without much trouble and we headed for security. That's where the trouble began. The guards took one look at my "sit 'n stand" stroller (holds 2 kids) and were NOT happy. They were scanning people like they were in a race, and they knew this was going to slow them down. Plus, I don't think they were very nice people to start with. After lots of hand waving and yelling, they told us (people) to walk thru the scanner - they'd deal with the stroller in a minute. We were all bunched up, and in a hurry, and they were rushing us, so I tried to gently push Olivia thru the scanner. But, she became afraid and balked - stopping and crying. The security guys had NO sympathy for that and started yelling, really yelling, at us. Sheez! Debbi pushed me ahead, so I went thru the scanner and then called to Olivia to follow me. She came, bawling and really scared. After they wanded the stoller about 50 times, they decided we weren't going to blow anything up and finally let us go. As usual, we were the last of our group to get to the gate. (I love that stoller, but it was a HASSLE at every airport.)
I just thought this was a cute airport restaurant sign. How appropriate, since Brooke LOVES noodles.
It's fun to see familiar things in an unfamiliar setting.
By the time we got to the gate, Olivia was like this (below), hot and sleepy. Very uncharacteristic. Not good. Hmmm....
And it all went downhill from there. The flight to Zhengzhou, the capitol of Brooke's province, Henan, was about 1 1/2 hours. The plane was warm. The flight was bumpy. What more could you ask for????? Olivia fell asleep before we took off, so I was hoping she wouldn't notice the less than favorable conditions. I kept feeling her forehead every 2 minutes. She would get hotter and hotter, than cool down. Then get hotter and hotter, then cool down... You get the picture. I was so stressed I was about to come out of my skin. Why??? Remember the Swine Flu????? How they scan you before they let you off the plane? How they take you away if you have a fever? Oh Yeah! That!!! By the time we were approaching Zhengzhou, I was resigned to the fact that we were going to be taken away, we were going miss Gotcha Day, and since they'd all been exposed - maybe the entire travel group would be taken away and we'd ALL get to miss Gotcha Day!!! That's all! That's why I was stressed!
As they announced that we were beginning the descent to Zhengzhou, Olivia woke up. I will never forget how she turned to me and stated quite calmly and quite clearly, "Mommy, I'm going to throw up." And then did so, in a split second. All over herself, and all over the seat and floor. There went that wonderful breakfast! I froze for about a second and then flew into damage-control mode. Luckily I had another outfit with me, plus a plastic bag. I have never moved so fast in my life. The other adoptive parents were throwing wet wipes at me and I had that child wiped off and in clean clothes in about 60 seconds flat. It was like dressing a doll. Then I did my best to clean up the area. Olivia was in a trance. I'd done all I could, and waited for the Temperature Police to take us away. But they didn't come!!!!! No scanners, nothing. Everybody got up and left, just like normal. I grabbed Olivia, and Debbi and I almost ran off the plane. We waited for the stoller for just a few seconds and then just ran (literally, with a semi-conscious kid in my arms and Debbi LUGGING all our carry-on stuff) to catch up to the others. We were willing to leave the stroller behind, just to get out of the airport. By the time we found Baggage, Eric and Tiffany (wonderful fellow Georgians in our travel group) had already grabbed our bags and the stoller (surprise! That's where it was, not like in the States where you get it back at the gate so you don't have to lug your kids through the halls). We zoomed out of baggage and found our new guide and ran to the bus. I was SO relieved when that bus pulled out and headed for the hotel!!! But we knew we weren't totally safe. There were cases where the Swine Flu Police showed up at people's hotels and took them away. Sheez. (At this point, Debbi was probably fantasizing about hopping back onto the airplane and heading HOME.) We're in a strange country. My kid is sick. If we have to get a doctor, we could be thrown into quarrantine. Does she have swine flu? Does she have a stomach bug? What's gonna happen??? And we're going to add a new, frightened child into the mix tomorrow morning??? What???
We got to the hotel and all I wanted was for Olivia to feel better. She was listless and very unhappy. She said she had chills, so I pulled the blanket up on her. She got thirsty and gulped down some water before we could stop her, of course puking it all back up. We had to call for the bed to be changed and the staff did NOT (NOT!!) appreciate that. I was so disappointed. We were supposed to be having the adventure of a life-time, supposed to be excited and concentrating on this new, little child we would meet tomorrow. Instead, we were totally consumed with Olivia and worrying about getting a knock on the door from people who might take us away. Tiffany came to check on Olivia and brought Heather into the picture. Heather was Lilly's mother and is a nurse. Yeah!!!! First, she made me take the covers off Olivia, since she had a fever. (Duh. She must have thought I was an idiot.) Then she got some liquid ibuprophen into her to bring the fever down. After asking questions, she decided that Olivia had plain old heat exhaustion (thanks to two endless days of touring in the heat of Beijing, plus a warm, bumpy flight). She needed sleep and cool air. She couldn't gulp anything or she'd keep puking. So, she sucked on ice. Heather provided me with some peace of mind for which I will always be grateful!! And as the hours passed, Olivia did improve. We ordered room service and finally relaxed. Maybe tomorrow wouldn't be a disaster after all. We looked around the room and realized how pretty it was. We got the computer up and running for the first time since we left home. They brought the crib and set it up. We finally got to start thinking about Brooke/Ke Xin. I got the gifts ready for the orphanage workers and went across the street for the money exchange (banks are open in China on Sunday!). I got all the paperwork in order. Maybe this was really gonna happen! Maybe it was really going to work!
We got to the hotel and all I wanted was for Olivia to feel better. She was listless and very unhappy. She said she had chills, so I pulled the blanket up on her. She got thirsty and gulped down some water before we could stop her, of course puking it all back up. We had to call for the bed to be changed and the staff did NOT (NOT!!) appreciate that. I was so disappointed. We were supposed to be having the adventure of a life-time, supposed to be excited and concentrating on this new, little child we would meet tomorrow. Instead, we were totally consumed with Olivia and worrying about getting a knock on the door from people who might take us away. Tiffany came to check on Olivia and brought Heather into the picture. Heather was Lilly's mother and is a nurse. Yeah!!!! First, she made me take the covers off Olivia, since she had a fever. (Duh. She must have thought I was an idiot.) Then she got some liquid ibuprophen into her to bring the fever down. After asking questions, she decided that Olivia had plain old heat exhaustion (thanks to two endless days of touring in the heat of Beijing, plus a warm, bumpy flight). She needed sleep and cool air. She couldn't gulp anything or she'd keep puking. So, she sucked on ice. Heather provided me with some peace of mind for which I will always be grateful!! And as the hours passed, Olivia did improve. We ordered room service and finally relaxed. Maybe tomorrow wouldn't be a disaster after all. We looked around the room and realized how pretty it was. We got the computer up and running for the first time since we left home. They brought the crib and set it up. We finally got to start thinking about Brooke/Ke Xin. I got the gifts ready for the orphanage workers and went across the street for the money exchange (banks are open in China on Sunday!). I got all the paperwork in order. Maybe this was really gonna happen! Maybe it was really going to work!
So, that was the day we flew to Zhengzhou. What fun!!
The picture below shows Olivia in bed, sleeping, and Debbi checking her emails. The weird thing at ALL the hotels we stayed in: no top sheets. When you got into bed, the only thing to pull over yourself was the duvet/comforter. What's up with that? Of course, you have to run the AC like crazy, since it's summer and you're sleeping under a comforter. Huh?
Tomorrow: we meet Brooke!!!!! (Happy Anniversary, baby!)
Tomorrow: we meet Brooke!!!!! (Happy Anniversary, baby!)
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