Gotcha Day

Gotcha day isn't an adopted child's birthdate, but to his or her adoptive family, its pretty darn close.

Gotcha day is pretty self-explanatory.  This is the day we walk into our baby's institution, and say, "No more, sweet one.  I've GOTCHA!"

Today was our gotcha day.  We walked into Maya's orphanage, picked her up out of her crib, and said, "No more, sweet Maya.  We've GOTCHA."

What.  A.  Day.

We've had surprises.  We believed that Maya was only on one medication for her heart, but turns out that she's on four.  Reality check number one.

We also believed that we were going to be sent home with a month's worth of the meds she needed until we could get her to the International Adoption Clinic in Birmingham.  For two meds, we have three weeks worth, for one we have a week and a half's worth, and for the other med we have 6 days worth.  Reality check number two.  ( . . . and we're working hard on this one to get it resolved.  The girl needs her meds for her heart.)

She's taken very well to being taken out of the only environment she's ever known.  She's been happy with us, and I dare say that she was pretty stoked to see us when we came in.  I actually kinda think she may have remembered us.

I scooped her up out of that bed, and she immediately grabbed my face with both of her hands and just laughed.  She then laid her head on my shoulder for a second or two, and then she looked at Craig.  She 'talked' to him for a minute, until finally he couldn't stand it any more and took her from me, just like I imagined him doing. 

She's not eating any solid food.  I came prepared with baby food, formula, and rice cereal.  She downed an 8 oz. formula bottle, thickened with the cereal, in about 2 minutes.  I tried to give her some of the baby food, but she HATED it.  The orphanage gave us the rundown on what she usually eats, and aside from the bread soaked in milk (gross) its not too far off.  For her snack, I made a 4 oz formula/rice bottle and added a little bit of yogurt, and she loved that.  And then finally, right before she started getting really sleepy from the day, I made another 4 oz formula/rice bottle, but I mixed in some of the vegetable/meat baby food.  Again, she downed it in no time.  If we can live like this until we get home home, I'm totally fine with that.  The prep is pretty easy to do in a hotel room and she's quite happy with it.  Feeding was a major concern for me, so this is a real answer to many prayers.

She's taken her meds with a little bit of pedialyte poured into a bottle.  The meds are in powder form, so it just mixes right in, and this is how she's used to taking them.  Its a rigorous schedule, though.  We give her four meds at 6 AM, then one at 10, one at 2, another at 6, and the last one at 10PM, and she's done...until 6 the next morning.  I'm thinking the IAC may tweak all of that some.  Who knows how different her meds, schedule, and treatment will be like once we're back in the US.  Their medical practices are approximately 25 years behind us, and that's not a joke.  The country just got their first MRI machine a few months ago.  We have LOTS of those in every major city (and then some) in the US, so that's a huge advancement for them here.

She had her first bath ever today.  She didn't hate it, but I'm not sure she loved it.  In the orphanage they 'washed her off' on Fridays with a washcloth, so being submerged belly-button down was a whole new world.  She got a good scrub, and then got slathered with lotion that smells so good you could eat it.  She smells like a Paige-kid now, and there's nothing corroded in her hair.  Its the simple things, ya know?

Right now, she's lying in her crib.  I tried rocking her to sleep, but I knew that was probably too far out of her comfort zone.  She wasn't thrilled with it, so I laid her down and she's sucking her thumb, rocking her own self to sleep, as she's done for countless nights.  I can't wait for the day that she actually reaches for us, and wants us to brush her hair from her face while she drifts off.

Its been a wonderful day.  I know its been a huge change for her, but she's handled it like a champ.  There's so many emotions I feel right now.  I'm tired from  not sleeping last night, I'm a little sad because I miss my kids back home so, so much, and I'm incredibly full of joy because there's one less.  And she's mine . . . ours.  She belongs to a family now.  Her life will never, ever be the same, and ours won't either. 

We love her, we love our God, we love our friends, our family, and we love being chosen for the honor and privilege of raising Maya Cosette Stewart.

My heart is full.

Love,

Paige