Happy Holidays!

Nyla, Ethan and Liam, December 2007

Post surgery pictures

Well today was supposed to be our 2 week follow-up visit at Children's. Unfortunately, another storm is blasting our area with sleet, snow and ice. SNOW DAY! I called the clinic, gave them an update on how Ethan is doing and they gave me the ok to come next week instead. I emailed their clinical coordinator a couple of photos of his palate. I had them posted here but my sister pointed out that Ethan maybe wouldn't appreciate me showing everyone his mouth one day. So if anyone who has a child needing this surgery and would like to see before and after pictures I would be happy to share them.

Ethan is sleeping much better now (thanks to nonna's blankie) and the splints will remain on for another week. I can take them off for short periods during the day. They are allowing us to feed him soft foods as well. We are hopeful that Ethan's incisions will fully heal in the next couple of weeks, thanks for all your prayers!

I will use this blog to give updates to friends and family if Ethan is going to need further surgery in 3-6 months. Thanks for following his progress and we are very grateful for your support. Happy holidays and best wishes for the New Year!

Update

We are just over a week post-op and Ethan is doing really well. The first week home was hard on him, during the night he never slept more than 2 hours in a stretch. He would wake up crying and even when he was sleeping he seemed aggitated, constantly flipping over in his crib. He spent a lot of time sleeping in our arms the first few nights, but once his pain subsided I tried very hard to get him back in his crib. Basically I pulled his crib up against the bed and tried to comfort him without always picking him up. When I was about ready to give up from exhaustion, Ethan started sleeping for longer stretches of time.

No one who saw Ethan during the day would think anything was wrong. He has been playful and happy with the exception of the first couple of days post-op. For the first week home we mainly fed him formula. Now we are feeding him things like watered down pudding, yogurt, cream soup & pureed baby foods.

Ethan is able to crawl and furniture walk despite the splints. He also doesn't have trouble playing with most toys.

Ethan is always happy during the day, nights are a different story.

Ethan at his 1 week follow up visit with Dr.Jiang. We are very fortunate to have a great surgeon!

Ethan's home after surgery

Getting ready to leave for Pittsburgh at 6am.

Just before going into surgery, a little nervous.

Not feeling very well after waking up post-op.

Patrick settles Ethan in the rocker.

Ready to go home after tubes and IV's taken out, not a happy camper!


Hello everyone. We are glad to be home earlier than expected from Pittsburgh Children's. Ethan had his palate repair on Wed, Nov 28th and we expected to stay at least 2 nights. But less than 24 hours after surgery he was drinking apple juice so well they let us take him home on Thurs! His first night out of surgery was really hard for Ethan. Once we got to the floor, the nurse alternated his pain medication and we rocked him to sleep with his favorite blanket. His heart rate came down and he didn't have any breathing problems overnight.

Ethan's surgery went well, his tubes were placed first and then Dr. Jiang closed his palate, although not in the technique he hoped to use due to his wide gap. Although he was able to close it, he was not able to elongate the palate as he normally would. This can affect his speech and he feels that he may have to redo his palate repair in 3-6 months. The good thing is that now that he has it closed, enough tissue will be available once everything heals to close his palate in the preferred method.

Now that we are home, we are getting more sleep and Ethan is adapting to the splints. When I pick him up the first thing he does is rub his face against my shirt, he has an itchy nose he can't scratch, very frustrating! Today is Friday and we are allowed to start formula, that should make him happier, he must be so hungry!

Halloween Night!

Happy Halloween! Liam & Nyla had their halloween parties at school today. Our friend Laura made Nyla's beautiful costume, it looked great!



The kids were hot, cranky and tired but we couldn't go out trick or treating without getting a picture first! Halloween is fun for the kids, not so much for the adults!

I probably won't post until the beginning of December (hopefully we will be home and Ethan will be recovering from surgery by then). Ethan's weight is almost 23 lbs now and he is developing well, especially those pilates 'core' muscles. We are just going to focus on making him healthy and strong before surgery.

Pre-op visit

Staying overnight in Pittsburgh, the kids go crazy in the hotel.


Ethan working with a PT on gross motor skills. He also has a speech therapist.


Ethan's pre-op visit to Children's hospital went well. We signed consents for tubes to be placed in his ears and for the palate repair on November 28th. We met again with Dr. Jiang and other members of the cleft clinic, labs were done before we left. They are still not sure if his palate repair will take 1 or 2 stages, they are going to try for one. In Dr.Jiang's notes they describe his cleft palate as "very, very wide". Stage 2 would take place 3 months after the first surgery if needed.

Only his palate will be repaired, not his nose or his gumline (where your teeth sit). Those procedures will wait until Ethan is 6-8 years old. The urgency in getting the palate repaired is so that he can begin to talk.

A little time for reflection:
Ethan has been our son for only 2 months now and so much has happened in that short time. He is a different child than the shy baby they brought to the adoption registration office in Jiangsu. But, in many ways he is the same child only with more energy and weight. Our first days home were really rough and he didn't seem interested in exploring his new house, most likely because he didn't know it was home. Once he left the orphanage, the only home he knew, we moved him into 3 different hotels rooms and 3 different beds before arriving here. What a terrifying experience that must be for a child. I complain about my lack of sleep, yet he has traveled half way around the world with people who look, smell and talk different than his caretakers, basically learning to trust complete strangers. With all things considered I think he is doing very well and I need to remember that when he cries EVERY time I leave a room!

Hives, cough, nosebleeds, etc

We have had a busy week at home with the kids and different illnesses. Nyla broke out in hives last Friday at 5pm, at the same time Liam was calling me from the bathroom where he was having diarrhea and thought he might throw up. I was trying to get him a bucket and get Nyla benedryl while Ethan was crying at my feet to eat supper.

This is a snapshot of my life with 3 kids, & for some reason everything falls apart between the hours of 4-6pm. I am sure many of you know how this feels! By the time Patrick comes home from work he is wondering what all the fuss was about since everyone looks fine!

Ethan is doing very well. 2 weeks ago he started pulling himself up to sit and stand. I will post a picture of him standing in his crib. About 1 week ago he said his first word in sign language - "eat"! It is amazing how quickly he is learning these skills. Nyla tells him she loves him & gives hugs about 20 times a day except when he bites her (a problem we are working on) and then she says "bad Efan". Liam came home from China not very happy about this new boy in the house, but I think he now likes having a roomie & brother even though he doesn't like to admit it.

Busy days

I am sorry I have not been very consistent with posts on the blog. I wanted to just write a quick note today to say Ethan is doing really well and getting big. On 9/13 he weighed 19.5 lbs at his checkup in Warren to start his immunizations. Despite having an ear infection after this appointment, his weight was up to 21 lbs on 10/3/07. We definitely feel the extra weight when we carry him around. Ethan loves mushed fruit, yogurt and pudding, but he is snubbing his nose at everything else. We think he has a definite sweet tooth.

Every day feels like it flies by. I want to stop and enjoy this time I have with young kids but there is always so much to do (Nyla is due to be picked up in a few minutes). I will post a couple of recent pictures of the kids. Nyla and Ethan just before her field trip to the apple cider farm and Liam in goal at soccer.

Thanks for all the well wishes, everyone have been so supportive and helpful. We really appreciate all the love!

Cleft - Craniofacial Clinic

I have spent the last few days trying to process the information from Monday's appointment at the Cleft Craniofacial clinic in Pittsburgh. My dad traveled with Ethan and I while my mom stayed home to watch Nyla and Liam. We met many people and they were very professional and kind. First we saw Dr.Jiang, the plastic surgeon. He was excited to hear that Ethan is from his home province in China, Jiangsu. He spoke to Ethan a little in Mandarin. When he looked at Ethan's palate, he discovered how very wide it is and he was not sure if it can be closed with one surgery, it may require 2 stages to close. Dr.Jiang was also surprised to hear that he was on the bottle. Only a few weeks ago his only source of food was the bottle and I found out that he had to be off it completely before surgery. That was a little scary!

The clinical coordinator came in after Dr.Jiang and they debated the 2 surgeries versus other alternatives. They decided to wait 2 months, allow Ethan time to bond and come off the bottle, then reassess to see if the palate has closed a little more on its own. Their goal is to have his palate closed at 18 months, with the first surgery taking place around 15 months. This will allow for his speech & language development around the appropriate time.

Matt was very helpful in giving me tips to feeding Ethan with the Nuby cup instead of the bottle. They were happy with the results of the surgery on his lip that was done in China and they reviewed the paperwork that we had received. They seem very dedicated to helping these kids, I can tell that they get great satisfaction from their work.

The social worker & nurse practitioner then came in. After talking with many people they brought us to the audiology exam area. It was getting late and hard to hold Ethan without his fussing but she did her best to do a hearing test. It looks like he might have fluid behind his ear drums resulting in some reduced hearing in both ears.

We got home from Pittsburgh right around bedtime and instead of warming a bottle, I cut the top of the Nuby cup a little and fed him the warm formula in that. He took it and has since been using only the Nuby cup for his formula. I am happy that we can spend time feeding and bonding the same way we did with the bottle. Ethan is also doing great with foods, eating 3 meals a day of baby food and oatmeal, plus he actually puts the occational Cheerio in his mouth. He started putting some toys in his mouth yesterday as well.

We have another appointment with Dr.Williams today to follow up on lab work that was done last week and to start some immunizations. The staff has been great, helping Ethan with all the appointments, labs, referrals, etc.

I would also like to take a moment to thank everyone for the cards/gifts and well wishes. We are reminded of how lucky we are to have wonderful family and friends. I hoped to have an open house for anyone who wanted to stop by and meet Ethan, but alas that would require some organization. With school, soccer, karate, etc and Ethan's appointments I have not had much time. So anyone who has not already met Ethan and would like to stop by, please feel free any time! I plan on bringing Ethan to the Panda club Chinese classes so our friends can meet him!

Settling In

We have been home for 4 days now and I think we are all finally getting over the jetlag. Ethan continues to wake up during night but usually after 3am. I have been more consistent with feeding him solid foods, some meals he eats great, others he takes only a few bites and he's done. I am hoping we get on a schedule where he is pretty content. His molars are also coming in, so I am not sure if that is affecting him these days. The last few days have been a big transition for him, new home, new bed, new faces, so we are just trying to meet his needs day to day and we're hoping that we are doing the right things. Tonight his sense of humor emerged, he was throwing his head back onto Nyla's lap and making her laugh over and over again. Today, he also followed her (as she led him with a balloon) out of my sight into another room. He has generally only stayed nearby my side for the last 2 weeks. I am happy to see those bonds develop.

On Saturday evening we tried our best to celebrate Nyla's 5th birthday. Liam fell asleep and missed the cake. Ethan was falling asleep drinking his bottle. Nyla was happy regardless, happy birthday!




I will try to continue posting Ethan's progress on this blog over the next several months until his palate surgery is completed. We have our first appointment in Pittsburgh on September 10th. I hope that we will know more after that visit. Until then, we are enjoying this beautiful fall weather, I know I am happy to be in a place with beautiful blue skies!

We're Home!

We are a day later than we thought but getting everyone home safe was worth it! Our flight from Newark to Buffalo was cancelled Thurs night, so we had to wait until morning to come home. We were surprised with a great welcome at the airport, my sister and her family came from Newmarktet ON to greet us. Our friends Kim & Jenn spent the night in Buffalo so that they could take us home on Friday, that was so above and beyond.

The kids did well on the flight home, it was the parents that were pretty frazzled. Getting from one plane to the other in Beijing took over 2 hours. With the new security, they took away our water and searched both our checked and carry on luggage three times during the trip home. It is much more difficult to travel with kids with all this security. Also, Liam at age 6 was good about staying close to us, but occationally Nyla would start to wander and the fact that my kids would blend into a crowd scared me during the entire trip. Overall, despite all my heavy complaints, I am really glad that we brought them, it was good for them to experience everything first hand. Kids are more flexible than adults in many ways. It was more work & stress, so I can understand why many parents don't bring their kids.

Below I will post some pictures of our arrival to Buffalo.






When we arrived home, friends Kirsten, Chris and Jen brought over some lunch, with no food in the fridge it was greatly appreciated.




I tried to keep the kids up but everyone was asleep by 8pm. Ethan woke around midnight and then woke up Liam and Nyla. It is 2am and they are settling back to sleep. I am going there also. We probably will keep Ethan home for a few days to get settled in and feel secure in his surroundings. We have been traveling to different places every few days so I want him to get to know his new home. Feel free to stop by, we may be asleep but hopefully we will get that straightened out in a few days.

US Visa

Update on post below: I mistakenly thought that we were going to the US Consulate at 4pm, but the bus was leaving at 2:45pm. Charlotte called our room looking for us and Patrick had just brought the kids back up from the pool and I was just finishing the post below. We scrambled to get ready and find our passports, we were the last family on the bus and were very embarrassed! Luckily, we got to the US Consulate before 4pm and we were sworn in without incident. Afterwards we went to Lucy's with the other families in our group to celebrate. We leave for home in the morning!




Yesterday, Charlotte our guide took all of our paperwork to the US Consulate and it was all ok. Today we take Ethan to the Consulate to be sworn in at 4pm. He will then be given a US Visa. We leave early tomorrow and have 3 flights until we get home. We should arrive in Buffalo at 10:30pm if all goes well.

Ethan is doing well and we are very thankful that he has been healthy on this trip, it really reduces our stress level. He laughs easily now and LOVES to be held which we do a lot of to make up for lost time. He is still not eating much but will attempt to taste things. I don't know if he just prefers the bottle or if it has anything to do with his cleft palate. But we will keep trying after we get home and haven't been pushing the food much since he drinks the bottles well. Actually he will drink every bottle dry and then always cries that is it all gone, like there should be 16 oz in there instead of only 8.

I took Liam and Nyla to the zoo this morning and will post a few pictures. We hope to see everyone soon and can't wait to get home!

People of China

We had Ethan's physical and passport pictures done yesterday. He is 8.9kg and 72.5cm long. It was not an opportunity to ask medical questions, they are just making sure the kids are healthy before leaving the country.


We have spent a lot of time in the parks around the hotel and find it interesting that young and old exercise on the same equipment. You will have kids playing and a 70 year old man doing chin ups beside them. I saw some 20 something year old guys exercising and smoking at the same time. There are also groups doing tai chi and other activities. In general, parents and kids and elderly are all exercising together in the same area, instead of the adults just watching the kids play (as I was doing). Very interesting.

In China, young people will also often come up to you and ask to practice their English. All of the people in the shops and hotel that we have met have been very friendly and kind to us. Our guides have been wonderful and so helpful. We are so thankful to them for all the work they have done to help us bring Ethan home.

Guangzhou

We are in Guangzhou now, sitting at Starbucks and writing this (free internet). One of the members of our group compared this place to West Palm Beach, tropical and clean. Nanjing is a great city, but when you are walking down the alleyways some of the odors are pretty strong, kids just squat and do their business in the streets, it is a real Chinese city.

Yesterday it took most of the day just to get here and we discovered that Ethan isn't a great traveler. Today he has been pretty happy and he is eating rice cereal for us 2-3 times a day. With the bottles I think he is overall feeling more full and content. We got photos done today for his visa and filled out lots of paperwork. Tomorrow (Monday) he will have his medical exam and Tuesday we have our Consulate paperwork submitted. We also took group pictures which I will post. We were joined here in Guangzhou by 2 other families who also adopted kids with cleft lip/palate from another province.

We're on our way to Guangzhou!

We are leaving today for Guangzhou (used to be Canton) where the US Consulate is located. We will be there for 5 nights. I may not post every day if internet access is expensive and we may not being doing a whole lot during that time. Probably a lot of swimming with the kids and paperwork for the US Visa. We will be staying at the White Swan Hotel.

Yesterday we visited the Natural History Museum in Nanjing. It was interesting for Liam but Nyla complained the entire time until we told her she couldn't swim unless she stopped. I don't have pictures ready to post but I will try to post some from Guangzhou.

Ethan is doing well, although more fussy the last couple of days. He is cutting teeth, possibly hungry and grieving for his nanny. Those are our theories. We are feeding him according to his schedule from the orphanage, exactly what they told us except he will only take a little bit of rice cereal before he clamps his mouth shut. He is a big baby and so I think he needs more solid foods. We are just trying to figure it out day to day. Liam and Nyla are doing well also, getting a little stir crazy stuck in a hotel for so long, doing better than I expected ultimately. We will all be happy to get home. Thanks for following along.

Happy Birthday Ethan!

Last night we celebrated Ethan's 1st birthday. It feels a little strange to have a child for just 3 days, yet he is already a year old. So much has happened in his life that we know nothing about and he knows little about us as well. From looking at his memory book from the orphanage (which was made by a Half the Sky nanny definitely), we could see he had a happy life. We appreciate that Ethan has opened his heart to our family after only a few days. That is a big change for a child and we must seem so strange to him. Yesterday, he started to cry if we left the room, especially when I would leave. I took Nyla swimming for a little while and Patrick said he cried the entire time. He also started taking a few spoonfuls of rice cereal from me without crying or fighting me. A big accomplishment for a child who will not put anything in his mouth other than his index fingers and the bottle. I think he is starting to trust us.

So we had a great little party last night and the kids had fun playing together. Everyone has spent the last few days bonding with their children, so we haven't spent a lot of time together. It was nice to just let them play and interact. Here are some pictures, Lillian and Lauren are the 2 other girls who were adopted in our group.

Nanjing

Yesterday we all had naps and decided to go out for supper and a walk. I took some pictures around the Confusious Temple where there are lots of shops and tourists taking rides on the river boats.


I got the backside picture of a toddler with a very revealing outfit on, he is potty training and it saves on diapers!


Ethan was kind of cranky this morning, he is cutting several teeth. I decided to stay at the hotel with him while Patrick took Liam and Nyla to a beautiful park in Nanjing. Our guide Min is very good to us and will help with whatever we need. The park reminded Patrick of the Chinese Lantern Festival in Toronto last summer but it is open 365 days a year, it is lit up every night. They went during the day and still enjoyed it, the only complaint was the heat.





Tonight we are having the other families over for pizza and cake to celebrate Ethan's 1st birthday. I will post pictures tomorrow, we may go to the Natural History museum.