We had a very uneventful first night together. After the crib came, we moved Bailee from the bed, she didn’t stir. Pat and I fell in bed shortly after that, both exhausted. I woke with a start after hearing Bailee whimpering, thinking it sure had been a short night. I peeked at the clock--it was only midnight. I laid there a minute, deciding what to do next. Her crying stopped as suddenly as it started. I slept very uneasily the rest of the night, hearing every sound Bailee made. Often, I moved to the end of the bed and just watched her while she slept. I was still in disbelief that this angel was actually our daughter!!
Pat and I got up early in the morning, so we could both try to get ready for the day before Bailee woke up. Good plan--it just didn’t work. She was awake shortly after Pat. I got her up, and sat her on the bed with her stacking cups. As you can see by the photo, she really wasn’t sure about this change in her environment!! (She did however, like the cups. In fact, she kept hold of them for the next two days.) We mixed a bottle of formula with rice cereal. It took quite a bit of work to get the
nipple hole big enough for the mixture to flow through. We finally got it right, and I must say, Bailee was quite patient the whole time. But the bottle was gone in a flash once she got it. She would not hold her own bottle, and she would not look at
us while she ate. She starred off into space. While she was obviously distressed by the drastic changes in her life, she seemed to understand that her new life would be okay.
We finally undressed her for the first time, marveling over her tiny little feet and hands. It was at this time we noticed the scar on her left upper arm. We never did find out the origin of the scar, but it is very pronounced and about one half an
inch long. We don’t know if her birthmother left this mark to show how much she loved her baby or if there was an accident at the orphanage which resulted in the scar. Although it was fairly warm, we made sure to put several layers of clothes on Bailee to keep the locals all happy.
Shortly after 8AM, everyone from the previous night arrived at our room. Plus the notary. The notary asked us three quick questions--our names, our birth dates and the date of our marriage. We gave Mrs. Yu her gift and also the gifts for the aunties. She said she would pick up Bailee’s passport that afternoon and deliver all the paperwork in the evening. As unbelievable as it seems, that was the extent of our adoption!! We were done. We just had to wait for the paperwork.
We were then informed by Mrs. Xian that the fireworks company planned to entertain us and transport us around for the day. We passed on having breakfast--dim sum breakfast is not our thing and the restaurant had absolutely no western food. As we walked out of the lobby, we met the fireworks people and were ushered to a new, huge black Mercedes. We had definitely come up in the world from our little red taxi! Shigu followed in our taxi.
Our first stop was the offices of the fireworks company. We climbed up six flights of stairs to their showroom to view their products. There was one young man named Mark who spoke very good English, and Mrs. Liu, who was the assistant director. We quickly nicknamed her “boss lady.” It was very apparent that she was in charge. She took this to great limits--even to the point of Bailee. She determined that it was her duty to hold and carry Bailee everywhere--in the car, in the offices! It was so very frustrating, but we didn’t want to be ungrateful, pushy, or rude. So we calmly accepted this, even though we weren’t entirely pleased! I felt very cheated that on the first day I finally had a daughter, I had to share her with someone I didn’t even know.
We spent about an hour at their offices. We then got in the cars and drove through town, arriving at a gate with red paper signs on them. We found out we were at the orphanage! We weren’t allowed to go in any of the buildings, but we walked around the grounds (I could hear baby's crying), saw the baby’s building from a distance (the newer white building in the background in the photo at right), and saw the building which houses the elderly (older front building in the photo). Several of the aunties came out and held Bailee one last time. I was worried that this might be traumatic for her. She went to the aunties easily, but after a short period of time she reached out for me. I think she already realized we were her chance at a life full of love and attention that could not be attained living in an orphanage.
While we were sad that we could not see inside the baby’s building, but felt fortunate to be able to visit the grounds. Mrs. Yu did give us a photo of Bailee in her crib taken in early October (Bailee is in the front right corner). They also brought her crib neighbor out to see her--it was the first time we saw Bailee smile.
We then headed back to the fireworks offices (which were located above a hotel/restaurant) for lunch. Bailee was exhausted. She had been a trooper all morning, not a whimper out of her. She fell asleep in my arms as we waited for the food. Once it came, boss lady grabbed her and took off to show her around. After lunch, we had a brief stop at our hotel to freshen up and we were off again.
Pat and I had decided before leaving for China that we wanted to donate a special gift to the orphanage. We asked Mrs. Yu what kinds of things were needed. She told us they were hopeful to eventually have a refrigerator on each floor of the new orphanage building. We had told them the previous night that we wanted to purchase one of the refrigerators for them. So our next stop was the appliance store to pick out the refrigerator. Like everything else, it was quite a production. Our two cars pull up, and the orphanage staff arrived on their minibike. We surveyed all the options and bought the one they preferred. The sales staff then brought it out front, unboxed it, unwrapped it and everyone had to check it for damage. The orphanage staff then okayed it and arranged delivery.
We next visited the market were Bailee was found. It was a very large, busy market, and we were told that Bailee was found quickly, early in the morning. The police were called, and they searched for her parents and when none were found, she was taken to the orphanage. I was so glad we had this experience, but all I could think about was how her birthmother’s heart must have broken in a million pieces as she laid her three day old daughter on the ground, and walked away. We wonder if she watched from a distance until the baby was found. Pat and I think of this woman daily, and thank her for the wonderful gift of her child in our life!
The next stop on our Yangchun tour was one of the fireworks company’s factories. We should have known something was up when we got out of the Mercedes and into a van. We soon realized that to get to the factory, we had to travel over the horrible road leading into town. I was sure Bailee would be carsick all over me or would cry the whole time. Boy was I wrong--she fell asleep, laying her head on my shoulder. It was heaven!
We arrived at the factory and started to walk around. Several of the workers were very intrigued by Bailee. When they found out we were adopting her, they got so excited! A couple of them ran off somewhere and quickly returned with a little 6 month old girl. It turns out that she had been abandoned at the gate of
the factory as a newborn. There is a man we know from Australia (in the fireworks business) who is trying to adopt her. He is paying a woman at the factory to care for the baby full-time until he, or someone, can adopt the baby. Although she has
excellent care at the factory, I hope she can go to a forever family soon. (The photo at right is our guide, Shigu with Bailee.)
We then traveled to another factory that manufactures smoke balls. Pat and the company people tested smoke balls for about an hour. (Boring....but, work is work. We want only the best products for our customers.) On the way back to town we stopped to watch some large class B shells being shot. These are the display-type fireworks that you see in the big public shows. They shot about 50 shells for us hoping for feedback on the quality. They were beautiful, but by this time, Bailee and I were both tired and hungry.
We stopped briefly at the hotel to clean up before dinner. Mrs. Yu came by and delivered Bailee’s passport, birth certificate, abandonment certificate and adoption decree. Yippee!!! Everything was official, we could leave in the morning.
We had dinner with the fireworks company, again at the restaurant in their offices. Bailee was being so good, and was happy sitting in my lap. I was enjoying my dinner. But once again, boss lady insisted that someone take the baby away while I ate. I wasn’t pleased, but gloated inside when Bailee was very fussy with the waitress. After dinner, Pat had to go watch more fireworks, but I begged off, insisting that Bailee needed to go to bed. I gratefully returned to the room, both Bailee and I were exhausted after a LONG day. Pat had to spend two more hours watching fireworks.
Bailee had obviously been grieving the entire day. She was totally stoic. Hunger, wet diapers, sleepiness....none of it made her cry. She was like a little zombie. I was hopeful the next day would bring some improvement.
Continue on to Part 5 of Bringing Bailee Home
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