First Day in Guangzhou--Medical Exam

Today was our first day in Guangzhou. It is great to be here! Can't believe we have less than one week before we get home with Kinley! Guangzhou is where the U.S. Consolate is located, so all adoptive families from the U.S. end up here. It is so nice to be surrounded by so many in the same boat as we are. It is absolutely beautiful here; it is victorian style with lots of flowers, wheeping willows, and bronze statues. We are on Shaiman Island along the Pearl River, so it is much more peaceful than in the previous cities.


We started out the morning heading to meet other Holt families--there are four of us here total from this adoption agency. We had a brief meeting regarding paperwork then went to have the children's pictures taken for their U.S. visas since they are not U.S. citizens until we land in Detroit. Kinley is so photogenic that she even looks cute in her Visa picture! After we were all finished we headed over to the clinic for the required medical exam, which Kinley did not like one bit! Most of the exam is pretty simple....squeek a toy to check hearing, look in the ears, height, weight, etc. Next we were in line to see the doctor who would listen to her lungs and heart. This is what I really wanted to know--how is Kinley's heart doing? When it finally became our turn we hurried into the room and tried to keep Kinley from crying during the exam which was totally impossible. The doctor listened to her heart for a long time.......then he told us to wait and left the room. After a couple of minutes he came back and told us to follow him. Now at this point I'm getting a little worried, because no one else had to go anywhere. We followed him into a back room and sat down. I gave Kinley a bottle and while I was doing so another doctor came over and listened to Kinleys heart for what seemed like several tense minutes (but I'm sure it was more like 30-45 seconds, and Kinley was actually quiet because she was drinking her bottle). He took the stethoscope off and spoke to the first doctor. Then he looked at us and said "no hear murmur". Amazing news! We will still need to have her heart checked when we get home, however the fact that the murmur is not audible is a great sign that her heart may have repaired itself!

After that we explored the island a bit, did some shopping, and took some pictures. Kinley was a little cranky occasionally because her teeth are really hurting her. Most of the time she's an absolute ham, waving at people as we pass on the sidewalk and smiling. She is so funny! Then this afternoon we had to complete some more paperwork for the adoption. For supper we went to Lucy's Diner, an American food restaurant, with many other adoptive families. I enjoyed the iced tea, however the food was pretty bad so we won't be going back there anytime soon.

Tomorrow we are touring a Jade and Pearl Market with another Holt family and we're hoping to score a great deal!

Tammy & Anna---Jason and I were curious about the white on the bottom of many of the trees also. When we were in Kunming we asked our guide about it and she said she thought it was to prevent bugs. I don't remember seeing any white tree trunks here in Guangzhou, but tomorrow I will keep my eyes open :)


Natural Child: Any child who is not artificial.

Real Parent: Any parent who is not imaginary.

Your Own Child: Any child who is not someone else's child.

Adopted Child: A natural child, with a real parent, who is all my own.

--- Rita Laws, PhD



xoxo

Heather