Hospital Visitation

Wednesday we did not get to visit Little One in the hospital as we had hoped to.  For those of you who are not on Facebook, here is my update from Wednesday to catch you up:

"We are still waiting to hear more detailed news but we did find out this morning that Little One is stable.  She is still in the clinic but has not been admitted to the hospital.  She was described as being very somber, still and quiet.  I imagine because of the pain medication required to ease her crisis.  Still have no idea when we will get to see her.

Also, I failed to mention in my last blog post that Jude has a nasty case of hand, foot and mouth, which is causing him to scream most of the time.  That can be your second prayer request.

Your third can be for our $$ situation.  We are having zero success with our credit card and ATMs.  They are being rejected but Redstone says they don't show any attempts at cash withdrawals.  We are now locked out from attempts by the ATM machine.  Regular purchases are processing fine, just not cash withdrawals.  One bank here pushed through a manual transaction for us today after an hour visit with them but we cannot do that every time.  We don't need much cash but I want that option."

Our driver, Greys (pronounced Grace), picked us up Wednesday morning for a trip to the mall.  It ended up being more of a banking and cellphone reloading trip.  Greys who is also acting as our interpreter was able to talk to someone at Bancolombia about manually processing our transaction and helped Brant purchase additional minutes for our Colombian prepaid cellphone that the agency provided us.  Both of those processes took hours.  Apparently, few of the people in this city do any of their banking online, so the banks are overrun.  The lines are impossibly long.  Reese responded to the wait by throwing the biggest tantrum he has ever thrown in public.  Complete with  a full body embrace of the floor and a terrible battle getting him strapped in the stroller.  I was so embarrassed.  Reese was not.  He screamed for over 45 minutes in that mall while I tried to calmly push him around and wait on Brant and the eternally long bank line.  Finally, we at least had cash.  That and the lunch in the grocery store which is the flagship store of the mall were the only positive things about that trip!! 

We ended up not being able to see Little One on Wednesday either.  The doctor has diagnosed her with the flu or some sort of upper respiratory infection.  We don't feel like our terminology for some things like that are easily translatable.  Plus we have been told a different diagnosis from each person we have spoken to.  It makes it so confusing.  The good thing is her sickle cell crisis seems to have subsided and she is just dealing with the other infection now. 

Wednesday evening we just hung out around the room and ordered some Sandwich de Queso for the littles.  It was a taste of home for them. 

The view of the street from our hotel room.

Another view

The Littles watching one of the nightly rainstorms.  This is the rainy season here and we have quite a bit of rain every evening.  The days are clear and sunny though.

Thursday morning we found out we would be able to see Little One at the hospital/clinic!!  The children would not be able to go, but Brant and I could take turns seeing her while the other stayed in the hotel with the kids.  I began getting ready to see her around 10:00 am.  The driver called at 9:50 and said we would have to postpone until the afternoon.  AHH!!! 

At 2:45 pm we had another call saying we needed to get ready to leave immediately.  We would be going together to see Little One while the children stayed with our attorney in her office.  As we drove to the ICBF office we realized it is only 4 blocks from our hotel and we had walked right by it and the clinic where Little One is earlier that morning and did not even know at the time that she was in there!!!  We have been so close all this time to her.  We got the children all settled in the office with our lawyer (who does not speak English) and walked across the street to the clinic.

Waiting in the office with our lawyer, Dolly, and the ICBF's psychologist's daughter

The boys wandering the halls with the children of other people doing business with ICBF that day. 

Outside the ICBF building

I would like to tell you that I think Little One is getting the best care.  But all I can say is, it is the only care that is available to her here.  We waited to be admitted by the security guard who is at the entrance to the clinic.  We were heavily scrutinized before he allowed us inside. The clinic is what I would expect to see in a Third World country.  There are people lining the halls and lobbies in beds and on the floors and out on the sidewalk.  They did not know where Little One was located when we entered and had to search for her for a few minutes.  We found her in a room about 8'x9' with two other patients, their beds and their visitors.  Nothing looks sterile.  It was a bit of a shock to my American expectations. She was asleep when we arrived.  She looked so helpless, beautiful and tender in her little bed.  We were overwhelmed by the emotions that had been building up and had a good cry.  Our guide, the psychologist and the foster mother added their tears to the mix as well.   It was a bit strange being there and the foster mother comforting her.  But is was the right thing.  She needs to be comforted right now by a familiar hand.  She is on oxygen and has an IV.  She is in her regular clothes since they do not provide hospital gowns. She never woke up during our visit, but we had the opportunity to take some photos (which I cannot share, so sorry!!) and to pray over her. We also were able to ask the foster mother some questions.  This is highly unusual.  Our agency has never had this come up where the adoptive parents and foster parents ever met.  We have found that everything about our situation so far is a special case with many exceptions being made. 

The normal timeline should have been this past Tuesday - Encuentro date, this coming Tuesday - Integration meeting to check on our bonding, Wednesday - release to travel throughout Colombia until we are required back in Bogota.  Our timeline will now be different.   The doctors believe Little One will need to remain hospitalized until Monday at least.  We were afraid ICBF would make us start the week long Integration period after her release, which would put us over a week behind in our process.  They have indicated instead that these days we are visiting her in the hospital will be counted toward that time period.  There is a possibility we could leave Valledupar only 2 or 3 days later than we originally planned. That would be a miracle!  It has not happened before and would be a very HUGE exception for them to make for us.  So please pray for that!

The doors of the clinic from ICBF's offices.  Our guide, Greys is holding Jude.

The clinic where Little One is staying

Today (Friday) Brant and I took turns going in to see her while the other stayed in the room with the children.  I went first and she was awake when I arrived!  It was a strange moment.  I was so excited to see her.  I don't think I can say the same for her :)  She sat very still and quiet.  She never said a word. Her foster mother was there caring for her so I can not expect her to choose to come to me when she is sick and being comforted by a familiar hand.  About 2 minutes after I arrived, the nurse came in to adjust her IV.  She had a meltdown and the foster mother helped her calm down and go to sleep.  I think we would all like to see a video of Brant and I meeting Little One and her smiling or running into our arms, but that is not always realistic.  Our journey will be different. Different joys.  Different challenges.  But it is the journey perfect for our family and we are so grateful.

Please continue to pray for Little One and her health.  Also pray for our sanity.  It is easy to become stressed and on edge with such close quarters and lots of down time.  The babies are having difficulties adjusting to the schedule and are not napping or sleeping well.  This is not good people. Not good.  Can't wait to share more of the blessings and adventures from our trip!!!  Brant is on his way right now for a 2nd visit and I hope I get to do the same in a little while.