On Tuesday we got Abby's picture taken (for her visa and her medical exam), and then went and got her medical exam. She did not like the medical exam much --mainly because she had to lie down - which she hates most of the time. There were lots and lots of babies there - it's like an assembly line - but even so, Abby's screams could be heard above the din. As soon as we could pick her up, she was fine - she has an amazing ability to turn that cry on and off - at least when she's mad and not in pain or distraught. She is still having diarrhea and we're starting to get a little worried. 

We had a group paperwork session in our CCAI representative's room (Alice). Only one parent could go - so that the babies would not be distracting. Jill went for us (better handwriting), leaving Karl with Abby. She was pretty cranky so Karl was a little worried, but she fell asleep right away. Unfortunately , she woke up about 15 minutes later screaming. Karl managed to get her to go back to sleep with our usual trick - which is holding her on our chest. When Jill got back an hour and a half later, Abby had had a great nap - and Karl was soaked through with sweat (Abby is very, very warm when she is sleeping or eating). Jill filled out all of the paperwork we would need for the U.S. Consulate tomorrow and gathered all of the fees together.

We're enjoying staying at the White Swan and Guangzhou in general. The White Swan is very nice and there is a floor attendant that will get you anything you want at any time (like warm water to make Abby's bottle). It's kind of weird, though, because every time we head to the elevators they race us to push the down button, and then hold open the doors as we get on. When we come back to our floor, they are there to greet us and direct us toward our room. It's also nice being in Guangzhou. While it's still polluted, it's a lot less polluted than Changsha. We feel like we can breathe and the area we are in (Shaiman Island) is very nice. It's also very nice to be able to walk to all of our appointments - no more buses (except to go to the airport on Friday).

On Wednesday morning we had our appointment with the U.S. Consulate. Once we were finished with that, Abby was officially ours in the eyes of both the U.S. and Chinese Governments. We still had to wait one more day to get her visa, but the paperwork in China was basically done. After we get back to Colorado, we will still have a fair amount of paperwork to do (Colorado birth certificate, social security number, U.S. citizenship) and several follow-up visits with the social worker.

When we came out of the U.S. Consulate, there was a huge crowd of Chinese waiting trying to get in. Abby was in the snugli and was clapping her hands - to the great entertainment of the crowd. It was like she was celebrating getting her U.S. visa.

Abby is still having diarrhea, so we've gone ahead and started her on the antibiotic our pediatrician gave us before we left. We don't really think it will make a difference, but maybe it will. Abby is staying hydrated and seems happy overall, so we don't think the diarrhea is too serious, but it would be nice if she could get past it. We are skipping the remaining "tours" that our representatives arranged for us - one to the Buddhist Temple (which we probably would've skipped anyway since we visited one in Changsha) and a dinner cruise along the Pearl River (which we probably would've gone on). As it turns out, the people that went on the cruise said it was nice, but too long and very loud (kareoke, apparently).

On Thursday we waited for Alice to bring back the visas from the U.S. Consulate, then ventured out for lunch and a little bit of shopping in the area immediately surrounding our hotel. Unfortunately, Abby had diarrhea again in the restaurant, so we didn't escape from the hotel room for long. 

We decided to take Abby to the hotel clinic because of her diarrhea, and that was an experience. When we got to the clinic, we had to ring the bell. Then we were ushered in and handed the phone because the doctor didn't speak English. Jill talked to a doctor on the phone who did speak English for about 5 minutes, then handed the phone to the Chinese doctor who spoke to the English-speaking doctor for about 30 seconds, then hung up. They performed a cursory examination of Abby (didn't take her temperature, just felt her belly) and then started gathering medications for us. They brought in an interpreter to explain what they were giving us, although the interpreter had a hard time with some of it. They gave us lots of unlabeled medicine - two interestingly-colored bottles with lines drawn on the side to indicate dosages, and two powders that they gave us in a little origami paper packets. At least one of them was an antibiotic, and one of the powders was to make Abby "move less fast" as the interpreter put it as she moved her hands across her tummy. The medicines may have been just fine, but we decided not to use them. We figured that Abby seemed healthy enough except for the diarrhea, and we didn't want to give her something that she might have a reaction to. We also didn't want to try to explain to the doctor when they asked what we gave her and have to say "this stuff in the little origami packets". Also, the doctor's hands were very dirty -which was not confidence inspiring either. So we decided to stick with the antibiotic and pedialyte we had been giving her and hope for the best.

Late in the afternoon we gathered for the famous "red couch" pictures. It's kind of a tradition for adoption groups that stay at the White Swan to take a picture of all of the babies in the group on the red couch on the second floor of the White Swan. You can imagine the fun of trying to get seven babies - many of whom have trouble sitting up - to sit on a red couch without their parents for pictures. Since we knew Abby couldn't sit up very well (or for very long) on her own, we grabbed the spot next to the edge of the couch to help prop her up. As you can see from the picture, some of the babies were not very happy, but it was still fun (for the parents at least).

After that we spent our time packing. We had to get our checked luggage ready and outside our hotel door by 9:00 pm Thursday night because we were leaving early on Friday morning. It was fun trying to figure out the bare minimum we would need for Abby and us for that night and for Friday - and that would fit in our carryon (or we could just throw away). The White Swan provides us with robes, so at 9:00 our entire group appears in the hallway in robes putting their luggage out. Somebody took a picture of several of us, I hope to get that picture eventually.

Friday morning we had to meet in the lobby to leave for the airport at 6:45. As we were about to head down to the lobby at 6:25, Abby had diarrhea again. It was pretty bad, so we had to put her in the tub for a real-quick bath, then redress her and get down to the lobby. We managed to make it down there by 6:45 and were not the last ones down, so we felt better. We were very worried, however, by the possibility of Abby's diarrhea during the very long day and the plane flights coming up. We hoped that maybe she could "schedule" the next one for our layover in the Hong Kong airport, but figured sometime in the next 30 hours we would get the experience of changing a diarrhea diaper on the airplane.

Once we got to the airport in Guangzhou, the fun really began. Lots and lots of checkpoints (security, immigration, baggage check, security again, etc., etc.). Everything was backed up and took forever. Even though we knew they probably wouldn't take off without us (since everyone around us was on the plane as well), it was still a little nerve wracking. Eventually we took off about an hour late - which isn't a huge problem since we have a 7-hour layover in Hong Kong - but was still frustrating.

Once we got to Hong Kong, we now had about a 6-hour layover, so we hung out in a big carpeted area and played. 

When we checked in with Cathay Pacific for our flight back we found out that we would be able to have an extra seat between us for Abby. Yea! We left at about 3:25 pm China time (12:25 am Friday morning in Denver) for the expected 13-hour flight to LA. Then we'll have another layover, then finally on to Denver. There are 23 adopted babies on our flight, so I'm sure some of the other travelers are a little nervous.

The flights home were very long and very exhausting (31 hours without sleep for Jill and Karl), but we made it just fine. Abby did very well - only a couple of times did she get "fussy" from being overtired and not wanting to go to sleep. She did manage to sleep maybe a third of the time in the planes. She did not spend much time in that extra seat on the Cathay Pacific flight, but it was nice having the extra room to put our diaper bag and spread out a little. Abby did not have diarrhea once during the entire trip home. We changed her diapers a few times, but they were just wet. 

We had another four-hour layover in LA, then flew home to Denver. We arrived at DIA at about 8:00 pm Friday night and were met by Jill's parents and some friends of ours. 

It was great to be home - the only problem was that Abby did not like the car seat on the ride home. We actually had to stop by the side of the road to dig the cheerios out of the trunk to keep her pacified for the rest of the trip home. In China we had talked about how ironic it was going to be after carrying her in our arms, bouncing her up and down on these old buses on those bumpy roads with that crazy traffic, only to bring her home and have to put her in a car seat for a drive home on mostly deserted roads. We were afraid she might not like being strapped in - especially since she's not standing up - and she didn't. We are going to take her on several short trips in the next couple of days and hope she gets adjusted to it (she'll have to).

The next morning we found out that Abby is apparently past her diarrhea - so not only did we get lucky that she didn't have any on the planes, but she may be over whatever she had. A great way to celebrate Abby's first full day in the United States.