We're off!

Hello Everyone,
The day is finally here, which seems monumental. Car arrived here on Saturday, and we've been basically going gangbusters to get ready for today. I worked until yesterday afternoon, and Car ran errands while I worked. She is amazing!!

My send off was incredible! It started, of course, with one heck of a baby party that my friends gave me. That one ended with five of us standing in line for fries and shakes at Dicks at 2:30 in the morning. My school's parents, the awesome teachers, the administrators all celebrated our departure! That was a really nice way to connect with everyone, receive hundreds of hugs and many more well-wishes. Thank you all for your warmth and support. By the way, I couldn't do all of this without you. You are so much a part of this!!

One thing Car was able to track down was a special feeding nipple that goes on a bottle for a cleft lip/palatte baby. Children's Hospital just gave us one. We'll see if Max needs it, or if he has figured out how to feed by now.

Backs are packed (3 - pretty amazing!), lists are crossed off, rides arranged - we're good to go. We're catching a 7:45 flight to San Francisco, then to Beijing - 12 1/2 hours. Phew!! It's a good thing the plane ride is so long. Once in Beijing, we'll be met by our guide and then also another couple who is traveling with us. At least that's what the itinerary says; I was told to be flexible... very flexible... as plans tend to change.

So now, we're off. I'll write to you once we're in Beijing!!

The Travel Itinerary

So, as we're preparing for our trip, I know a lot of people will be thinking of us and where we are. Here's the plan:
Thursday: fly to Beijing
Friday and Saturday: tour TianAnMen Square, the Forbidden City and Summer Palace, and the Great Wall.
Sunday: fly to Chongqing
Monday: Get Max
Tuesday through Friday: a series of appointments, and tour the panda house at the Chongqing Zoo. Fly to Guangzhou.
Saturday through Wednesday: City tours and medical appointments, interview with U.S. Consulate
Thursday: Fly to Beijing, San Fran then home!!

Woo woo!

Got the travel approval today!!

Hi Everyone,
It's true - I got the travel approval today, which means that Carolyn and I can travel on the 28th, which is just under two weeks away... gulp!!

I'm just going to gush about Carolyn for a little bit here. If she reads this, she'll be embarrased for sure, but it's totally worth it. Carolyn is my best friend from college who lives in Panama with her husband and four awesome children. She and I try to see each other every year. Sometimes I fly to Panama (I tried for XMas this year, but didn't make it because of a huge snow storm that shut down the city for several days). sometimes she travels here, and sometimes we meet somewhere in the middle. Every time we meet, it's an adventure!! Car has to travel to San Francisco first to get her visa, then travel up here. Very complicated, and I can't believe she will do this, all to help me out!! She is truly amazing, and I am so greatful to her and her family for their support in this endeavour!! Thank you!

So we will follow the agenda that I indicated below, leaving on the 28th, and coming back on Feb. 12. I'm sure I'll post more soon.

I'm so happy - it's really happening now!!
:)

Happy Birthday, Max!!

December 28th was Max's first birthday. Heidi and Griffin (3) came over to toast Max with a cup of hot chocolate, and a hearty rendition of "Happy Birthday". Griffin is just getting used to his future role of "Big Friend", so we read a book about how Max came to be, and how I will soon bring him home. He had lots of questions!! :)

It looks like Carolyn and I will be traveling from January 28th through February 12th. We are working on getting our travel visas, which is more complicated than we had initially thought. It turns out that Carolyn (bless her heart!!) will have to fly from Panama to San Fransisco, spend a few days there with her niece and get her own travel visa at the Chinese Embassy. Then, she'll fly up here on the 24th, and we're off on the 28th.

Our itinerary looks like this:
Jan. 29: Arrive Beijing- tour of Beijing
February 1- February 6: Picking up Max in Chongqing City
February 6- to Guangzhou for US processing
February 9: US CONSULATE APPOINTMENT if confirmed
February 11: depart China and return home

Of course, none of this is confirmed yet, so we'll see. In the meantime, I'm in the process of rearranging my house, collecting "stuff", and basically getting ready. It's so much fun!!

Thanks for all your thoughts!

Finding Ad

I contacted a guy in Utah who sent me Max's original Finding Ad, which is a newspaper ad that is placed in the local newspaper in hopes of contacting family members or even the parents of abandoned orphans.

Here is what it says:

Name: Qian Xiu Zhuang

Gender: Male

Birth Date: December 28, 2007

State of body: He has a cleft lip and palate

Date arrived at Institute: January 1, 2008

Finding date: January 1, 2008

Finding location: At the gate of the Qianjiang District Civil Affairs Bureau, Chongqing City

Characteristics of body: He has a cleft lip and palate

Items found with him: Nothing

Pretty neat to put together some of these pieces.

Letter of Confirmation

Hello Everyone,

I got my Letter of Confirmation today, which is big news. I'll go down to Tacoma tomorrow to sign it, so the agency can return it to China on Friday. Based on this event, I'll probably receive my permission to travel in 2-3 weeks, which will give me a better idea of when I'm actually going to China. Good progress today - all in babysteps!!

Thanks for all your good thoughts!!
More to come, hopefully soon.






Someone else is getting really excited!!

Cleft Lip and Palate Information

While I'm still waiting for the Letter of Confirmation, I thought I'd take a moment to share some information about Max's cleft lip and palate. I've gotten a lot of information about it from the Cleft Palate Foundation, which is a great website meant to educate about cleft lips and palates.

Basically, Max was born with a hole in his mouth. The process of fusing did not finish in the womb. The hole doesn't hurt, and will be fixed through several surgeries.

No single cause of cleft lip and palate has been identified, however it is believed that the majority of these issues appear to be due to a combination of inherited facotrs (genes) in combination with certain environmental factors. Clefting occurs very early in the pregnancy, and represents a problem over which a mother has no control. Cleft palate is one of the most common of all birth defects, and seems to appear in all racial groups. However, the combination of cleft lip and palate seems to appear most commonly in Asians. Approximately one out of every 700 to 750 infants born in the U.S. has a cleft lip and/or palate.

Feeding, of course, is one of the major concerns with cleft lip/palate babies. According to his growth numbers, Max has figured out how to get enough food in his belly. He is exhibiting good numbers, although by American standards he is in about the 10th percentile of growth.

We will travel with a variety of nipples and bottles that are available for a baby with cleft lip/palate. In general, babies with cleft need to be in a semi-upright position, and need to be burped more frequently. We'll figure all that out soon, hopefully.

Max will need a series of surgeries. Childrens Hospital in Seattle will be the place we'll get it fixed. We will meet with a craniofacial anomalies team that includes representatives from medicine, speech and hearing. dentistry, and psychosocial departments.

Usually, the cleft lip will be fixed first.

Sometimes it can be done in one stage, but often two separate surgeries are needed. Usually, the hospital stay is just one night, and Max will go home with some stiff gloves on his hands so he won't mess with the stiches.

Palatal surgery is done between eight and eighteen months of age, and usually involves a hospital stay of one to three days. They'll fix the soft palate first, which involves some incisions around the outside of the soft palate and stretching the skin to fuse the two sections. Hard palate surgery could involve some bone grafting, and might have to wait until hishead has stopped growing. Since we don't know the extent of his cleft lip/palate, a lot of this will obviously be decided once he's home.

Children with cleft lip and palates have increased risks of having ear infections, and therefore it's quite common for them to get ear tubes during the first two surgeries. Also, we'll need to stay on top of Max's hearing as that is often problematic for kids with cleft lip/palates. Once he starts speaking, we'll also keep track of his speech development, and because of the palate issues, Max might need some speech therapy.

Hopefully that answers some of your questions. Of course I'll keep you all posted on the next steps.

:)