Day 3: The Drama Continues

Today was our first day off. No paperwork to process and just a shopping excursion planned by the China Team to keep us busy.

Miss Maggie's mood improved considerably this morning. She had a bottle in the middle of the night of her own free will and I forced a few ounces on her when she woke up. She loved her first real bath. She was completely fascinated by the water and happily made little splashes. She also loved riding in Mom's hip hammock. My new hip carrier is pretty comfortable for me too, so everyone was happy while shopping.

It is hard to comprehend that Maggie has probably seen more in the last 48 hours with us than she had ever seen before. She really loves walking around and looking at things. Those things can be in the hotel, at the shopping area, cars, whattever. She will even pat me on the chest and say "ha" if I stop too long. This little gesture is my cue to get moving before the screaming begins. She just loves being held and walking. Unfortunately, we do need to come into our hotel room from time to time, and she does not enjoy that as much. She will tolerate it but not without letting us know her preference is to be out and about.

After we were back from shopping, we decided to run Maggie into the clinic. She has a little cold, but my bigger concern is dehydration. She is still not eating much and hardly drinking at all. In her defense, probably half of the babies in our group were in the clinic for the same reason. The bottom line, she is healthy, has a slight cold and needs sugar water to improve her hydration. Can you imagine a US pediatrician advising someone to add sugar to their baby's water? I chose to give her some gatorade, but she refused the bottle. So, I ended up giving her 1/2 tsp. droppers of gatorade every couple of minutes until she fell asleep. I have pedialyte with me too, and I might give it a try tomorrow. I just keep thinking if she won't take the liquid she recognizes, she won't take the pedialyte.

Maggie isn't the only baby in our group struggling with the transition into their new families. Their symptoms are incredibly consistent: Refusing most food and water, clinging to Mom, extremely upset if not being walked around, periods of crying inconsolably. We are assuming this consistency has something to do with where they are from, but we really don't know. Maggie is doing a little better today, and I know she will do even better tomorrow. And at the same time, the first two days have been overwhelming for her.

The good news is a small group of us are flying to the orphanage tomorrow. I have so many questions about the care she received and hoping to get some answers. I am really worried it is too soon for a trip like this for Maggie. But this is the only chance we are going to get, so we are going to take it. We are also really hopeful that we will be able to see not only the orphanage, but also Maggie's finding location and the town of Suixi. There are so many babies found in this area, I am curious to see it for myself.