Wednesday, February 1, 2012

More details...

Now that I am fully rested, I will explain in further detail Rebecca's Gotcha Day.

Our flight from Hong Kong to Zhengzhou arrived on time (around 2:30 pm - remember we are 13 hours ahead of Spartanburg). We made it through Immigration and Customs with out any problems which I believe was a miracle and an answer to prayer. People all around us were having their bags searched and we walked right on through. Not that we had anything bad in our bags, but one was full of baby food for Rebecca that we were afraid might get confiscated. Our guide was waiting for us and had a driver waiting as well. We hopped into the van and drove about 45 minutes to the Zhengzhou's city center. As with most other foreign countries, traffic was crazy and I was so happy someone else was doing the driving. We arrived at the Provincial Affairs building and guess who was waiting for us inside??? Yes, Rebecca. She was very sleepy (she had a 3 hour car ride from her orphanage) and hungry. So, I got to hold her while she took her bottle. Those first few moments with her were overwhelming. I smiled, I cried, I just stared at her. We had to fill out and sign a ton of paperwork giving us guardianship of her. After we left the Provincial Affairs office we got back into the van, with Rebecca in tow this time, and headed to our hotel. We are staying at the Ramada Plaza and it is really nice. While we were getting settled into our room, our guide went on a grocery store run to find more formula for Rebecca. Her main source of food is still a bottle so she gets a bottle just about every 2 1/2 hours. The orphanage, of course, tries to supplement with soft, mushy foods too. So, all that to say, she needs ALOT of formula.

Right now it is 7:00 am in Zhengzhou and precious Rebecca just woke up. She slept very soundly last night. So far the only time she has cried is when she is hungry. Bucky is giving her a bottle as I type. Today we will go back to the Provincial Affairs office and sign the adoption degree, changing Cai Yin Dang - orphan to Rebecca Eden Rogers - daughter. 

If anyone reading this has some time on their hands to do a little research for me (can't do alot of Internet surfing here in China) would you mind to research some practical ways we can help Rebecca cope with her self stimulation habits. Because she was left in a crib without much outside stimuli, she has some self stimulation habits (like shaking her head no frequently). We know that these can't be corrected overnight, but we would be interested in what the "experts" have to say about it and some ideas of how we can begin helping her through those things. Thanks! If you would, please e-mail any finding to juliefaithrogers@yahoo.com

3 comments:

Christy and Kevin said...

Hey! We are so excited for your family! We emailed our blog posts and pics into our blog if this helps. We could not log into our blog in GZ and the only way we posted was via email to the blog. Hope you have a wonderful trip!

crosborough said...

Rejoicing with you! Prayers for your Rebecca and her adjustments! Keep holding close and feeding and loving!

Celinda (Maria's Kids)

Following Closely said...

I am so excited reading these stories. You ask for research, I took a child development course in college, so I'm no expert. However, I think learning her cues and replacing it with a new soothing touch. For example, when she starts her shaking her had back and forth, do something else soothing such as touch her soft cheek. Do the same thing every time she does a particular cue. My Kylie would suck her fingers and it was my cue she was overwhelmed in a particular situation, so I would hand her her favorite stuffed animal. It really helped her. Just a few thoughts.