We left for the Hong Kong airport about 3:30 to make our 6:20 pm flight to Changsha. We got checked in with China Southern Airlines, where they put a little sticker on all of our chests with the flight number (initially we thought it was just for us Americans, but then we noticed almost everyone - including Chinese - had stickers on their chests). 

We then waited around - impatiently - for a long time. Our flight was delayed about an hour, so we finally left around 7:30. We took a bus from the terminal out to the plane, then walked up to this aging 707. It was very crowded and had an interesting smell, but we figured we didn't have a whole lot of choice at that point. We declined to eat whatever they were serving on the plane, and arrived in Changsha about an hour and a half later.

Our arrival in Changsha was probably the scariest point of the whole trip. We disembark from the airplane and walk into this old, concrete hangar-type building. All we see is people in uniforms - it's a military checkpoint (since we had arrived from Hong Kong - part of China but still separate). There's no heat, the air is very polluted (more on that later), and people in uniforms carrying heavy weaponry are yelling at us. Someone who speaks a little bit of English says we need our arrival cards and our shot records. We panic a little because we were not told we needed our shot cards, but eventually they said all we had to do was fill out the arrival cards. Then we wait in line - closely watched - until a uniform can check our passports and arrival cards. Finally we make it through and go to get our luggage where we are met by our CCAI representative Daphne (who is not allowed through to the other side where we arrived). We immediately board another bus for a 20-minute ride to our hotel (our luggage goes on a separate truck). On the bus Daphne - who we would come to trust with our lives - starts talking to us and making us feel more comfortable. She gives us instructions about the hotel and about our schedule the next day when we would receive the children. It's dark, so we can't see much of the surrounding countryside, but it looks barren and the air smells very bad. So while Daphne is making us feel more comfortable, we still aren't quite over the airport experience and the atmosphere around us. We arrive at the Grand Sun City Hotel, which is very nice but even the air in the lobby is very polluted (you can actually see the air in the lobby). We go up to our rooms, partially unpack and repack (because we know we will be going to Yueyang in another day and can only take one bag), and prepare our paperwork and fees for the next day. We finally collapse into bed and try to sleep knowing we will get Abby the next morning.

The next morning we grab a quick breakfast and then meet by the elevators on our floor. There we go over with Daphne the paperwork we need and what the schedule will look like.

She also gives us one bag of Chinese milk formula, and one bag of Chinese rice formula, and tells us how to mix the bottles the way the babies are used to them. The two families with babies from ChangDe and the one family with a baby from the county orphanage in Yueyang will get their babies first, around 9:00. The babies from the Yueyang city orphanage (including Abby) will be coming down by train this morning and will arrive around 10 am. We go to the registration office and begin waiting. There is a family that is not part of our group waiting and they receive their baby soon after we arrive. A little after 9:00 the three "early" families receive their babies. Just before 10:00 Jill spots Abby and the other babies in the outer office. They start to come in, but then are directed back out so that they can come in one at a time. Abby is the second baby to come in and is placed in Jill's arms. Like all Chinese babies, she is well bundled with a heavy coat and several layers of warm clothes. 

While most of the new babies cry at first when given to their new parents (usually for only a short time), Abby surprises us and does not. She seems very interested in our faces - grabbing them with her hands instantly. The only time she got upset was when the other babies started getting hungry and their new parents fed them their first bottle. When she noticed that, she decided she was hungry as well. She still did not cry, just vocalized a little (later we would learn she could vocalize a lot when she was hungry). We gave her a bottle and she seemed happy. We stayed at the registration office for another 45 minutes or so, while they processed our paperwork and took a picture of Abby. 

We finally get back on the bus to head back to the hotel, where we will have some time to get to know Abby. She definitely seems to be the most "talkative" of the 7 babies in our group, but also the least developed physically (she is tied for the youngest). She has trouble sitting up on her own and does not seem to be able to roll over completely. This is not a real surprise given how bundled up they are in the orphanage - Chinese babies are often a little "behind" developmentally because of this excessive bundling. They usually catch up quickly after being allowed to move around a little. We spend several hours playing, giggling and cooing with Abby, after which she falls asleep for a while. 

We're going to keep the clothes she came with and donate some others to the orphanage, but she had sweated pretty heavily in the clothes she had so we decided to change her. We fed her a few more times, changed her diaper a couple of times, then went to bed. This is when we discover that she does not like to go to sleep. She screams and cries and tosses and turns - it takes a long time to get her to go to sleep in the little crib that the hotel provides. She also wakes up screaming and crying several times throughout the night. We know this is fairly typical behavior for adopted kids, but that doesn't make it any easier. Somehow we make it through the night and get up early to head off on a four-hour bus ride to Yueyang to visit her orphanage and pay our "donation".