Day 7
We made it to Changsha today! It was 'bags in the hallway' at 9:30 and off to the airport at 10:30. Everybody travels together from here on and CCAI makes it as stress-free as possible. We've gotten to know a little bit more about the other 7 couples in our group and it's been very supportive to have a group to travel with. There are 2 other couples with babies from the same orphanage as us (Linxiang) - Dennis and Julia Hutchinson and Mike and Kathleen Ferri. The Hutchinson's baby, Lucy, and Callan were 'roommates' - so we're kind of curious to see if they'll play together. Their baby's Chinese name is Lin Yan Na, while Callan's is Lin Yan Ni - they were both wearing the same clothes in the referral pictures.
Once we got to Changsha (around 4 pm) our next CCAI guide met us at the airport - Ellen. It was quite a spectacle to see our group come through the airport. The 'international terminal' at Changsha has only 1 gate so we were the main show. Ellen is with us 24/7 for the rest of our time here. She is staying at the hotel, which is the nicest hotel so far. Speaking of which, when we walked into our room there was a baby crib waiting for us - oh my... We were so wound up it took us all of 15 minutes to finally unpack everything and layout all the baby clothes, etc... At 6 pm we regrouped in the lobby and Ellen took us to the local supermarket (the Wackho) to buy extra baby food and a few diapers. We have enough food for a month now :)
Ellen also gave us another update on Callan - when she eats, sleeps, goes to the bathroom, bathes, etc. Also, the nannie's nickname for her was 'nini', she can crawl now, and she is shy around strangers and cries when strangers come in the room - so we may be in for a bit of grieving time with her.
So tomorrow is the big day! We get up at 6 (Ellen already set the wakeup call), meet in a conference room at 7:20 for some paperwork, more instructions, and how to make her bottle like the orphanage does and then we're off to the 'registration office' around 9:30 to get our babies. The babies will be travelling 3 hours from Linxiang and 7 hours from HuiHui (the other 5 babies' orphanage). So they will be a bit stressed out, too :) I guess it's only fair.
We'll leave the registration office right away and come back to the hotel for the rest of the day. Dr. Su will be coming around in the afternoon to consult with each family. She has been a pediatrician for 30 years and volunteers to do this work.
I can't make any promises about tomorrow - I'll try to update the web site as soon as possible, but we might have our hands full - and that will be a good thing. It's 10 pm and it's time to go to bed. It's the end of a long day and the end of a long wait.
Once we got to Changsha (around 4 pm) our next CCAI guide met us at the airport - Ellen. It was quite a spectacle to see our group come through the airport. The 'international terminal' at Changsha has only 1 gate so we were the main show. Ellen is with us 24/7 for the rest of our time here. She is staying at the hotel, which is the nicest hotel so far. Speaking of which, when we walked into our room there was a baby crib waiting for us - oh my... We were so wound up it took us all of 15 minutes to finally unpack everything and layout all the baby clothes, etc... At 6 pm we regrouped in the lobby and Ellen took us to the local supermarket (the Wackho) to buy extra baby food and a few diapers. We have enough food for a month now :)
Ellen also gave us another update on Callan - when she eats, sleeps, goes to the bathroom, bathes, etc. Also, the nannie's nickname for her was 'nini', she can crawl now, and she is shy around strangers and cries when strangers come in the room - so we may be in for a bit of grieving time with her.
So tomorrow is the big day! We get up at 6 (Ellen already set the wakeup call), meet in a conference room at 7:20 for some paperwork, more instructions, and how to make her bottle like the orphanage does and then we're off to the 'registration office' around 9:30 to get our babies. The babies will be travelling 3 hours from Linxiang and 7 hours from HuiHui (the other 5 babies' orphanage). So they will be a bit stressed out, too :) I guess it's only fair.
We'll leave the registration office right away and come back to the hotel for the rest of the day. Dr. Su will be coming around in the afternoon to consult with each family. She has been a pediatrician for 30 years and volunteers to do this work.
I can't make any promises about tomorrow - I'll try to update the web site as soon as possible, but we might have our hands full - and that will be a good thing. It's 10 pm and it's time to go to bed. It's the end of a long day and the end of a long wait.
posted by Ken & Chris | 9:06 PM
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