Our Adoption Journal: Day 13: Medical Appointment, Visa Paperwork, and Ian's first time swimming

DAY 13: RETURN OF THE DADDY (JEDI)...

Today's big event was the medical screening required as the final piece of our US consulate/visa paperwork process. We were all tired from the day before so we inadvertently slept in. Ian and I hurried to get dressed and then went to breakfast. The Garden breakfast buffet is amazing. Much more amazing when you have more than 10 minutes to collect and devour your food. But we only had 10 minutes, so we collected and devoured as best as we could. I had white rice, scrambled eggs, a chocolate muffin, dragon fruit, a banana, coffee and a bottle of kiwi juice. I warned you, I said devour. Not bad for 10 minutes. (Aside: why isn't kiwi juice a big thing in the US? It's delicious. And not just because the first time Bethany caught my eye in high school she was peeling kiwi for me and now it is my favorite fruit ever.) Ian had some rice, noodles and orange juice. I think he wanted more but we had to leave to catch the bus.

We met the other six families with our agency travel group in the lobby. Ian was super nervous when he saw the crowd. I told him "friends" to try and get help him understand. I started introducing myself to the families and Ian tried to stay as far away from us all as possible. Which, if you are familiar with the Garden Hotel lobby, you know that is quite a distance away.

[SPOILER ALERT: for in process first time adoptive families only]

I had to fill out some more paperwork (sorry first time in process adoptive families - but yes, there is more paperwork to do once you make it to Guangzhou Consulate week. Hard to believe, but true. Also, I warned you with the spoiler alert, so if you are reading this it's on you). But it was basically just confirming information - no big deal.

I went over to Ian and gave him a hug and then walked him over to the group as it was time to board the bus. I told him, "Daddy will stay with you." He nodded and seemed to relax a small bit. We got on the bus and made it to the medical building.

In the lobby, there is a photo station for taking the adoptees pictures for the medical appointment paperwork, as well as the eventual US visa photo. Ian was the last to go, as he was still fairly apprehensive about this whole thing and kept his distance. (Note for Bethany: the super cool looking marble floor cleaning machines weren't there this time). (Note for everyone else: check Jemma's blog from last summer if you want in on the inside info. And yes, I am amused that my selected method of communicating this information to my wife is via blog.)

Side note: one interesting part of this building is the vending machine that sells full size bottles of wine and spirits located in the lobby. Must be a tough place to work.

We got in the elevator and went up to the medical floor. Our guide had us go early since they knew it was going to be a very busy day as there were A LOT of adoptive families in town this week. She warned us it was going to be very crowded. When we got there, there were people in the non-adoptive section of the place, but not very many. We were actually the second group of adoptive families to arrive. Not anything like our experience with Sammy, when we were shoulder to shoulder with people for a very long and hot time.

An adoptive mom came over and asked me if my son was Ian (obviously he is - no spoiler alert needed) and she said, I bought something from your auction.More and more adoptive groups started arriving. We met up with one of the families that we met in Xi'an. Another family said they have been enjoying following our posts. It is cool how connected adoptive families can become. It was somewhat amusing to meet these people whom I had never seen before, yet they knew who I was. #rockstar

[SPOILER ALERT: for in process first time adoptive families only]

Yes, more paperwork. We got our medical packets and I signed a few pages and checked information.

Then it was finally time for the fun to begin. I used our translation app to let Ian know I would be with him. I also let him know that there was one time where I would not be with him, but I would be right outside the door. He nodded. We took our packet and got in line for the first of three check-up centers. (Did anyone else get the Doc McStuffins theme in their head when they read check-up? If not, let me help: It's time ime for a check-up, time for check-up...).

One of the teenage sons of one of our travel group families came over and showed us his rubix cube. It was a sweet gesture and Ian looked a bit nervous. Ian didn't want to try it as he was still a bit uncertain about these new "friends." So the boy handed it to me and I shuffled the cube and handed it back. He quickly returned it to its proper color coordinated state. Ian was less impressed than I was but he was paying attention. Then the boy showed us a bunch of patters he could make. Ian liked that. What a blessing to have one of our new friends be so kind. It helped Ian relax and take his mind off the unknowns of sitting in a giant doctors office full of people.

Our first stop was the General Examination. The doctor looked over the medical info in the referral file. Then he checked pulse, blood pressure and lungs. Then it was time to go behind the curtain for the body exam. I pulled the curtain shut for them to give Ian privacy, but kept my one leg on the other side so Ian knew I was still there. I kept an eye on the exam so I knew what was going on, but made sure Ian didn't feel embarrassed. Every thing checked out fine. I was relieved to get that one over with and that it was successful. The other two should be easier - and they were. We went to get his height and weight measured, and do an eye exam next. He had the vision chart which was hands facing various directions, instead of letters to read. It hadn't occurred to me, but I suppose it would be weird if they used english alphabet letters for the eye exam in China. Interesting combination of things. Then they did the color blind book test. They made a note that Ian needed to go to another room for further eye testing. We went to the third room for the throat check and that went smoothly.

Then our wonderful guide helped us back to the general medical side of the floor for the detailed eye testing. I've always wondered what eye doctor's see on the other side of the machines that they stick into your eye. So it was fun to see. After the machine diagnosed the vision, the doctor had Ian face a mirror and then do another hand direction vision test on the wall above him. I thought that was an interesting approach. Then the doctor picked out some glasses and gave them to Ian to repeat the test. Then he printed off a sheet of paper with Ian's eye results, and it appears he needs corrective lenses for one of his eyes. I think Phoebe will be excited to help him pick out glasses when we get home.

Then we went back for the grand finale of the visit, the TB test and immunizations. We sat down to wait, as various small children came out of that room crying/screaming. I told Ian "Baby sad" and he smiled - he has such a compassionate heart. Then it was Ian's turn and he went by himself with the nurses into a room next to the general exam room. They don't due the 24 hour prick test - they do the full blood draw test (hence the screaming children without their new parents). He came out with a smile and was fascinated with his band-aid. He started to take it off - and one of the nurses must have noticed and came and told him no. Then we went and sat down by the immunization area. Under US rules, Ian is too old to sign a waiver to have the required immunization administered in the US.

[SPOILER ALERT: for in process first time adoptive families only]

You guessed it - more paperwork. I signed something and then paid for the immunizations. So not only more paperwork - but more money too! It wasn't too much and cheaper than it would have been in the US.

I went with Ian into the room and he got his three shots. Two in one arm, one in the other. He did great. All six of my kids are shots warriors - they are all so brave and do a great job. I got a brand new immunization booklet with all of the history from the original printed and translated along with updates for the ones just received. (THIS IS AWESOME - our other books were often hard for the US doctors to read). We also got the original back - yes the one that gave me more gray hairs. I know where both are now. Although, part of me feels the need to go check.

That was it. Pretty smooth. We waited for the other families to finish up and then headed out, just as the place was starting to get pretty crowded.

We got back to the hotel and I took Ian up to our room and then it was time to gather the necessary paperwork for the consulate appointment. I grabbed all of our legal documents and headed over to put together the crowning achievement of the adoption paperwork process.

[SPOILER ALERT: for in process first time adoptive families only]

There is more paperwork to complete. Not a lot, but basically creating a cover sheet for the packet of all of the various important pieces of paper we have collected throughout the process.

I got all of the paperwork assembled and headed back to our room. (Did anyone else hear "Avengers, Assemble!" when they read assembled? If so, you get 100 nerd points!)

I went on a date with Jemma to pizza hut to get lunch. Hawaiian and Vegetable pizzas are good here, so we got one of each - with stuffed crust of course. Which isn't really stuffed crust - its a bunch of extra cheese in front of the crust - but it tastes the same and all goes to the same place in the end anyway. We met the rest of the family at the pool.

This was the moment the kids have been waiting for since leaving the US (other than getting Ian) - swimming! Our hotels in Beijing and Xi'an did not have pools, so excitement had been building. This one does, and its one the roof of the fourth floor between the two towers of the hotel. Everyone had floaties on. No one ate any of the pizza Jemma and I brought. Everyone went into the water except Jemma - but not because she was also surprised that no one touched the food or gatorade we brought, but because I didn't have my suit on yet and mom was staying on the outside of the pool playing Free Safety. I quickly ate (see devour discussion above) a bunch of pizza and then went to the spa desk and asked for a key to the locker room and got some sort of watch looking thing with an RFID card in the watch part. I changed quickly and got Jemma into the water. It felt freezing. I'm sure it's not that cold - but it was hot and humid outside so the contrast was definitely noticeable.

Ian didn't seem to know his way around a pool. But he observed the other kids and joined right it. He loved it. They had a blast. Every now and then someone would get out and eat a little pizza. After a while, we headed down to the small kids pool so Jemma could have a bit more mobility. Less water = warmer water as the sun warmed the small pool up. We played for a bit there too. I imagine Bethany would provide a lot more details about this part of the day - as it was really fun. But I will let the pictures below do the talking.

I went to Paddy's Irish Pub to get carry out (take away for those of you in the UK) and got fried asian noodles for Ian and spaghetti for the other five kids. Burger and Fries for me. Bethany was still not eating at this point, so nothing for her-very budget friendly (silver lining?). I knew Ian liked noodles, and figured he never had spaghetti before, and I didn't want to send him into western food overload. But in hindsight, we think being singled out made him feel bad. He didn't want anything to do with the noodles. Bethany picked up on this and had him trade with Jemma. He happily ate his spaghetti. Jemma didn't care which noodles she got as I'm pretty sure all that went through her mind was, "Wow, I can make a huge mess with this!". And make a mess she did. Full bowl meet carpet. And for an encore a bit later on, she found one of the other kids left over spaghetti and deposited that onto the carpet too.

Then adoptive family summer camp started. There are three families with tons of kids (loads of children for those of you in the UK) in three adjacent rooms. We kept all the doors open and the kids got to know each other watching movies and playing games. We were still trying to unpack - so the kids stayed in the other two rooms watching movies and eating the various meals the parents provided. The parents floated around and talked and shared and enjoyed the fellowship. (100 more nerd points if you thought of Fellowship of the Ring/Lord of the Rings/Hobbits/Dwarves/Elves/Mordor/The eye of Sauron/Gollum. 10,000 points if you thought of all of them.)

There may or may not have been a soccer game played in the hallway by the bigger boys. My younger boys may or may not have been present. The hotel staff may or may not have eventually come and asked the children to play more quietly within the confines of the rooms. This event may or may not have been talked about between the three families before any of them left for China. This blog post may or may not self destruct.