H1N1

On November 11 I took the girls for their 6 month check ups at the Dentist.  We are very lucky in that the girls have great teeth.  No cavities which is a blessing in itself since so many children adopted from China have problems with their teeth.  When we adopted Emma she had no teeth.  She sprouted four while we were in China.  She never got the four baby teeth on the bottom gum.  She only has two where there should be four, but you would never notice.  In fact I did not notice until I saw how many teeth Meilynn had.  The Dentist did an x-ray, and the good news is that all four are present in the permanent ones that are under the gums.  She will probably need braces to make room.  Meilynn has a cross bite that will also require braces, but this is nothing new to us.  Mike, Kami and Meghan all had braces.  I am the only one in the family that skipped braces.

The morning of the Dentist appointment, Meilynn didn't want breakfast.  This is highly unusual for either of my girls.  They love to eat.  After the Dentist I went to lunch with the girls and my two sisters.  By this time I knew that Meilynn had a fever and that she was getting sick.  When I got her home she had a temperature of 102.  Meilynn is the one that had the febrile seizure last year due to temperature, so I was really worried.  The Dr.s told me then that it can reoccur, but usually they don't happen after age 6.  When that happened last year it was the scariest thing I have ever gone through.  So I was worried about her.  Mike was away for a few days so I was on my own for this one.  I started alternating the Tylenol and Motrin every three hours to keep it down, but even with this she was running 102 degrees.  I was up all night, making her drink, taking her temp., giving her medicine and washing her down.  The next morning I called the Dr. and was able to get in.  I wanted to know the cause of the fever so we could treat it and get the fever down.  By this time Meilynn was complaining of a sore throat as well.   She still had the fever at the Dr.'s and she said it was most likely H1N1.  I was shocked.  I thought it was just a cold or something.  I would have never come in this soon if it had been Emma.  I was just afraid of the fever.  We started Meilynn on Tamiflu right away.  They took Emma's temperature to make sure she was ok and she had no fever, so the Dr. recommended the H1N1 flu mist.  We gave that to Emma, but by the time we got home she had a 101 degree fever.  So the next day she started on the Tamiflu also.  They both ran high fevers and I was constantly giving medicine, juices, baths etc.  I was never so glad to see Mike.  The good news is that they are both recovered fully, and that we did not get it!  That is a miracle in itself, since I was sneezed on constantly.  I am thankful that we were able to get the Tamiflu, it is on short supply here.  The girls both lost a couple of pounds.  Meilynn was back to 27 pounds and Emma 28.  I think that they will have no problem putting those two pounds back on.  I didn't take any sick pictures, I was just to beat.  Here are Dentist pictures I took with my I-Phone, before I knew that Meilynn was sick.

Meilynn, sick baby!

So what is happening on our adoption of Lily?  We are in the wait phase.  We are waiting for our LOA.
Letter of Acceptance.  The average wait for this process is roughly 85 days.  I think we are somewhere near day 36 or 37.   After that we will quickly do more paperwork and then wait again anywhere from 2-4 months.  This part has been getting longer and is the new part due to the Hague Treaty.
I tried to get a good picture of the girls holding Lily's picture and the matching Hello Kitty dress we bought her but the girls were so silly that day.  They talk about Lily, especially Emma every day.  During the girls sickness, I ordered the beds for the girls.  Right now, Emma and Meilynn are still in their cribs, but in different rooms.  We expect that Lily has never slept alone so we decided the girls would share.  The problem was that both wanted to share with Lily, so we are putting all three girls in the same room to start.  We ordered bunk beds that can be split to make two twins and also another bed.  That way after Lily is home we can decide the best sleeping arrangements for everyone.  As Christmas nears, I think of Lily and what are lives will be like next Christmas.  We pray for a smooth adjustment, but realize there will be many peaks and valleys in becoming a family.  There are so many unknowns.  Sometimes I look forward to it with excitement and some days with fear.  I know that our lives will be forever changed and I know that God has asked us to open our hearts to another daughter.  We are so blessed with everything that God has given us, we cannot wait to accept this blessing too.
Vicki