Kaiden was able to give us a stool sample this morning so I could take that into the lab for testing. He also needed a complete blood work-up and a chest x-ray. I won't normally take the kids for any appointments requiring needles but Pete also couldn't go into work even later again. I won't be doing that again. The poor baby had to give 6 vials of blood. I can barely give blood myself let alone hold down my screaming baby while they poke him. I went all the way to St. John in Detroit just because I like those phlebotomists the best. They have a lot of experience poking babies. He was good for his chest x-rays too until we had to hold his head up. Then more screaming but that only lasted for a few minutes.
I had to take his outfit off for his x-ray because it had metal buttons on it. I'm glad I did because one of his band-aids from his shots fell off to relieve 3 blisters under them! I thought he was having a reaction to the immunization or possibly the antibiotic. After leaving the hospital, I called his pediatrician to see if I could bring him in for her to look at it. She was very surprised when she saw him. She knew it couldn't be a latex band-aid because they are a latex free office. She determined that he was allergic to the adhesive in the band-aid. Now we can't use band-aids! We'll have to remember to tell them that whenever he gets shots. Now what am I going to do without those miracle boo-boo fixers???
Tomorrow he has to go back to the office to have his TB test read. I sure am thankful that we are still living with the in-laws. It means we are only 1 hour away from our pediatrician and that I have a babysitter for the other girls. It sure makes things convenient right now.
On a positive note, Kaiden did wake up at 2 am crying. I fed him a bottle in the dark and he fell back asleep until 6 am. 6 am is a much more do-able wake-up time!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
First Doctor's Visit
Today Kaiden has his first visit with our pediatrician. Our adoption agency recommends that we visit a physician that has extensive experience with international adoption. Both of the doctors recommended are each 1 hour away. We are opting to use the girls' current pediatrician and see how things go. We have been very happy with this practice for almost 9 years now and one of the doctors is well known throughout the country.
The visit went relatively smooth. We were there for over an hour. He was a level 5 visit. None of the girls' visits have ever been over a level 3! Somethings we expected and somethings were a surprise to us. One surprise but easily dealt with was that he had an ear infection in his left ear. That is also the side of his head that is flat from him lying on it. We got a prescription for the 'pink stuff' to take care of that.
He'll need a chest x-ray to look at his lungs and rib cage. He has a cough (we are using a cool mist humidifier) and green runny nose. If it's a sinus infection, the penicillin will take care of that too. His rib cage is also malformed. It kind of rolls up at the bottom. I didn't notice that until we were on the plane ride home and he was laying on my lap on his side.
The one thing we knew of because it was his listed special need was that he'll need to see a pediatric opthamologist for his left eye. I received 3 separate recommendations for Dr. O'Malley and that is also who our pediatrician recommended as well.
Because of being in an orphanage, he is developmentally delayed. He is almost 18 months old and he's at about what a 4 month old can do. But in just the month that we have had him, he already is improving his neck control. He's still a weeble wobble but he's making slow progress. We are supposed to give him as much tummy time as he'll tolerate and keep turning his head so he'll stay off of the left side. This means he needs to see the pediatric neurologist. We can ask him about a helmet to fix the shape of his head but it might be too late. It might be fully formed already but we can ask.
The neurologist will order PT & OT (and eventually speech) therapy so we can set that up now. We actually have his appointment for that assessment set up before we see the neurologist so we can take the results with us. He should qualify for the MISD's Early On intervention program for these services. When I was doing in-home daycare, I had 2 girls that received these services. Both of their parents were happy with the programs. One thing for sure is that our state ranks very poorly in being prepared to deal with gifted children but they have wonderful services for special needs children.
Next is the ENT. He has a tongue tie which maybe part of why he refuses solid foods. We could wait to deal with this until later since he has so many other things going on but he needs a hearing screening. It's the same doctor for both so we'll address that right away too.
Since we don't know if his immunizations that he received in China were any good, we opted to just start from scratch. He received a TB test which was one poke in the arm. Then he received 3 shots in the legs. He needed one more but since we was already being poked and we only live 1 mile away, he'll go back in 2 weeks to get the other one. He'll go back to see the pediatrician in 2 months for his next shots and to follow up with all of his specialist visits.
I took the first available appointment for all of his physicians and they are still spread out over the next 2 - 6 weeks. Some of the doctors are extremely difficult to get in with. I'm taking that as a good sign that they will be excellent.
The visit went relatively smooth. We were there for over an hour. He was a level 5 visit. None of the girls' visits have ever been over a level 3! Somethings we expected and somethings were a surprise to us. One surprise but easily dealt with was that he had an ear infection in his left ear. That is also the side of his head that is flat from him lying on it. We got a prescription for the 'pink stuff' to take care of that.
He'll need a chest x-ray to look at his lungs and rib cage. He has a cough (we are using a cool mist humidifier) and green runny nose. If it's a sinus infection, the penicillin will take care of that too. His rib cage is also malformed. It kind of rolls up at the bottom. I didn't notice that until we were on the plane ride home and he was laying on my lap on his side.
The one thing we knew of because it was his listed special need was that he'll need to see a pediatric opthamologist for his left eye. I received 3 separate recommendations for Dr. O'Malley and that is also who our pediatrician recommended as well.
Because of being in an orphanage, he is developmentally delayed. He is almost 18 months old and he's at about what a 4 month old can do. But in just the month that we have had him, he already is improving his neck control. He's still a weeble wobble but he's making slow progress. We are supposed to give him as much tummy time as he'll tolerate and keep turning his head so he'll stay off of the left side. This means he needs to see the pediatric neurologist. We can ask him about a helmet to fix the shape of his head but it might be too late. It might be fully formed already but we can ask.
The neurologist will order PT & OT (and eventually speech) therapy so we can set that up now. We actually have his appointment for that assessment set up before we see the neurologist so we can take the results with us. He should qualify for the MISD's Early On intervention program for these services. When I was doing in-home daycare, I had 2 girls that received these services. Both of their parents were happy with the programs. One thing for sure is that our state ranks very poorly in being prepared to deal with gifted children but they have wonderful services for special needs children.
Next is the ENT. He has a tongue tie which maybe part of why he refuses solid foods. We could wait to deal with this until later since he has so many other things going on but he needs a hearing screening. It's the same doctor for both so we'll address that right away too.
Since we don't know if his immunizations that he received in China were any good, we opted to just start from scratch. He received a TB test which was one poke in the arm. Then he received 3 shots in the legs. He needed one more but since we was already being poked and we only live 1 mile away, he'll go back in 2 weeks to get the other one. He'll go back to see the pediatrician in 2 months for his next shots and to follow up with all of his specialist visits.
I took the first available appointment for all of his physicians and they are still spread out over the next 2 - 6 weeks. Some of the doctors are extremely difficult to get in with. I'm taking that as a good sign that they will be excellent.
Long Night
Kaiden had a long night tonight. He started waking up around 2 - 3 am three days ago. I figure it's because of the jet lag. He didn't wake up during the night while we were in China. Only once that I know of and he rocked himself back to sleep. Now he's sleeping with us so I know each time he wakes up. He started crying when he wakes up during the night too. He didn't do that in China either. As part of the bonding process, we are supposed to hold him to fall asleep. Well, he doesn't like that either. It took Pete 45 minutes of holding him screaming and crying before he finally quit and went to sleep. At least he went back to sleep and didn't think it was time to get up and play. So now I sit here, wide awake, since we all went to bed at 7 pm last night. Except poor Pete. He was up until Kaiden woke up and fell back asleep.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Kaiden's New Chair
If you followed us on Facebook while we were in China, then you saw the ridiculous pictures of Kaiden in the infant bouncy seat. We needed something to lift him up off the ground but that didn't cause him to sit upright completely since he didn't (and still doesn't) have head control. He has head control muscles but he doesn't use them to hold his head up straight. He has made progress in this area though in just the 3 weeks that we've had him.
When we got home, I didn't want to spend the money on a bouncy seat since really, he's over the weight limit for it. But he can't hold his head up long enough for the exersaucer, he hates the swing, and I thought he needed more variety than the highchair. Then I remembered that when the girls were young, my parents had an infant to toddler rocker that held up to 40 pounds. Perfect! So here he is not looking quite so over-grown in this chair.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Still Jet-lagged
Well after being home for 3 days now, we are all still jet-lagged. Pete is the closest one to being back on a normal schedule. I thought for sure that on Saturday when we all woke up around 6:30 am that we were back to normal. Wishful thinking. I think today is going to be the worst day yet. All of us except for Pete went to bed yesterday around 7ish. Bad idea. Kaiden and I were up at 1 am followed by K2 at 2:30 and K1 & K3 at 4:30 am. I'm hoping to have all of us take a nap today and stay up late so we all sleep in tomorrow. Hopefully that will get us back on track. I'm told traveling back East is harder than traveling West but I'm praying that' wrong news for us.
We are all adjusting more each day. Kaiden now recognizes my voice. When I talk, he tends to turn his head towards me. He can hold his head up longer more and more each day. We won't really know the extend of his delays until we start with his doctor visits. He has his first one with our Pediatrician on Wednesday.
The more that I read about Reactive Atachment Disorder (RAD) the more that I see the long road that we have ahead of us. I started learning about it just before we left so I'd know a little about what types of activities we needed to do but there is a lot more. It's hard to not let people hold him but for now, that is what we have to do. He still doesn't like to be held but he's getting more used to the immediate family doing it each day. I've ordered a Mei Tai carrier to help in being able to hold him more often (he's quite big so our arms tire quickly) but it won't be here for another week or more.
We are all adjusting more each day. Kaiden now recognizes my voice. When I talk, he tends to turn his head towards me. He can hold his head up longer more and more each day. We won't really know the extend of his delays until we start with his doctor visits. He has his first one with our Pediatrician on Wednesday.
The more that I read about Reactive Atachment Disorder (RAD) the more that I see the long road that we have ahead of us. I started learning about it just before we left so I'd know a little about what types of activities we needed to do but there is a lot more. It's hard to not let people hold him but for now, that is what we have to do. He still doesn't like to be held but he's getting more used to the immediate family doing it each day. I've ordered a Mei Tai carrier to help in being able to hold him more often (he's quite big so our arms tire quickly) but it won't be here for another week or more.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
We Are Home
And exhausted. Think it'll take us a few days to get adjusted back to this time schedule.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Headed Home
Today we start our journey home. We had a quiet last morning. Those that know me well, know that any quiet/leisurely activity is out of the norm. After the usual breakfast buffet, we stopped a Starbucks and headed over to the playground. The school kids were out for PE as we were walking by so we stopped to watch them exercise in unison to music. It was very interesting to watch. Our girls met up with J & K and played a bit.
I had to make one last minute stop at a shop to get one (well, 4) last minutes items for the kids. They sell really cute mei mei (little sister) and di di (little brother) and jie jie (big sister) t-shirts. They were only $3 US so I had to get them. And of course, we saw what I thought was the CUTEST little Chinese style skirt/shirt outfits. Pete was off looking for sunglasses so I got each o the girls one for their birthdays. At $8 US, how can you pass that up!? Shopping is so VERY inexpensive!
Then back to the hotel to shower the girls and pack up all last minute items before the bellman came. We have out appointment at the US Consulate at 3 pm. Our flight for Beijing leaves at 6:45 pm so we have to go directly to the airport from the US Consulate. I'm told this appointment goes very quickly.
Our flight from Guangzhou leaves at around 6:45 pm. We arrive in Beijing around 9:45 pm. We hope to get to the hotel by 11 pm but it'll probably be closer to midnight. Then we get to sleep for a few hours and back up to head back to the airport. Our flight leaves Beijing at 9 am. We land in Narita, Japan at 1:40 pm, and then leave for Detroit at 3:05 pm. We learned on the way here, that that 1.5 hours goes very quickly between flights. Lastly we settle in for the long flight home. We land in Detroit at 1:50 pm on 4/2/09. We'll get our day back that we lost on the way here then.
I'm sure it's going to take us a few days to get over the jet lag and get back on the US time schedule. I'm told it's harder going back East than it is coming West.
Pete returns to work on Monday so we'll be enjoying our last few days all together before we start to settle into our new life as a family of SIX in the US!
We still have quite aways to go in the bonding process. It'll take a few months for Kaiden to really connect with each of us and learn to trust us. We appreciate everyone's love and prayers that they have given our family through this time. As cute and adorable as Kaiden is and as inviting as his smile is, please be understanding when we don't give him to you to hold. As part of the bonding process, he should only be held by us so that we can form that bond with him quicker. We're anxious for everyone to love on him, but not until he is ready : ) We are looking forward to visiting with all of friends and family when we return!
I had to make one last minute stop at a shop to get one (well, 4) last minutes items for the kids. They sell really cute mei mei (little sister) and di di (little brother) and jie jie (big sister) t-shirts. They were only $3 US so I had to get them. And of course, we saw what I thought was the CUTEST little Chinese style skirt/shirt outfits. Pete was off looking for sunglasses so I got each o the girls one for their birthdays. At $8 US, how can you pass that up!? Shopping is so VERY inexpensive!
Then back to the hotel to shower the girls and pack up all last minute items before the bellman came. We have out appointment at the US Consulate at 3 pm. Our flight for Beijing leaves at 6:45 pm so we have to go directly to the airport from the US Consulate. I'm told this appointment goes very quickly.
Our flight from Guangzhou leaves at around 6:45 pm. We arrive in Beijing around 9:45 pm. We hope to get to the hotel by 11 pm but it'll probably be closer to midnight. Then we get to sleep for a few hours and back up to head back to the airport. Our flight leaves Beijing at 9 am. We land in Narita, Japan at 1:40 pm, and then leave for Detroit at 3:05 pm. We learned on the way here, that that 1.5 hours goes very quickly between flights. Lastly we settle in for the long flight home. We land in Detroit at 1:50 pm on 4/2/09. We'll get our day back that we lost on the way here then.
I'm sure it's going to take us a few days to get over the jet lag and get back on the US time schedule. I'm told it's harder going back East than it is coming West.
Pete returns to work on Monday so we'll be enjoying our last few days all together before we start to settle into our new life as a family of SIX in the US!
We still have quite aways to go in the bonding process. It'll take a few months for Kaiden to really connect with each of us and learn to trust us. We appreciate everyone's love and prayers that they have given our family through this time. As cute and adorable as Kaiden is and as inviting as his smile is, please be understanding when we don't give him to you to hold. As part of the bonding process, he should only be held by us so that we can form that bond with him quicker. We're anxious for everyone to love on him, but not until he is ready : ) We are looking forward to visiting with all of friends and family when we return!
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