Gotcha day

I am really sad that I couldn't get these phtos published from China. This was one of the most amazing days of my my life.

To be honest i really felt sick. We got to Guangzhou early in the morning and the very agressive guide pushed us along yelling at us that we would have our babies by 2 in the afternoon.

We got to our gorgeous hotel and I ran upstairs to somehow prepare myself. I was sick to my stomach, I quickley unpacked what I could to find the gifts to give to the caretakers at the Civil Affairs office. I looked in the hallway outside of our room and there was a little crib for our Mimi, when we brought her back to the hotel.

It all sort of hit me like a brick, our live would never be the same. Terry and I would be parents and Paulina would have a baby sister.

The shuttled us to the Civil Affairs office down the street and we went to a large room to complete paperwork. I looked at fellow mom to be across the table from me and I could feel the tears running down my face. She asked me to stop because I was starting to trigger her crying. I must have been as white as a sheet because the group was concerned about my welfare. Everyone kept asking if I was ok.

Paulina was a gem, she was so patient and seemed to be there for me with instructions(she was litening) and answers to my questions(she was listening). She really was my eyes and ears at that point.

I barely got throught the paperwork when I noticed that dad's were walking toward the corridor with thier cmaeras at the ready. The babies were in the room right across the hall. The nannies kept pushing the door shut so that the precious girls would not be revealed to early.

Paulina went to the door to look and she thought she saw Mimi poised on top of a large rubber ball. I was completely freaking out.

They began calling out the baby's Chinese names, I think I was third or fourth. I walked toward the door and she was there, she took one look at me and began to cry. I was crying a bit but suddenly, I felt much more calm than I had felt in what seemed to be a year. My stomach was fine and I was so calm, I had my baby.

Paulina and Terry held her for a long time, they didn't know at that point that the tables would turn later that evening.

Terry told me to ask the nannies questions. I reallly didn't want to. Anything I needed to know about her, she would tell me, I would learn for myself.

All of the girls from our orphanage were dressed in matching red and white dresses. The director gave us each a bag containing a little photo album , their finding ad, and instructions on their schedule. Mimi's bag had a tiny little package with powder in it.

One of the nanny's had told me that Mimi had been sick and that I was to give her this powder with her bottle. She then came back and realized that she had given the drugs to the wrong baby. it wasn't Mimi that had been sick but her room mate Anna.

I really was taken aback by Mimi's loveliness.

She slept for about 4 hours(she was so exhausted).

More later

More later