It’s Not All Roses in China

Friday started off like the others here in China; however it was raining and maybe that was the sign of what was to come.  Chloe was a little more fussy than she had been the couple days before.  Not bad, but it took less to make her upset.  Since it was raining, we just hung out in our very small hotel room until check out and departure to the airport at 3 pm. 

We had met 2 other families from a different adoption agency in our hotel.  One family was from Austin and they were adopting 2 girls.  The other from New Jersey and were adopting one girl.  They were on our same flight to Guangzhou.  Since our flight was not to leave until 6:35 we had some time to kill in the airport.  It really was not too bad because the other two families had boys Caleb’s age and he was able to hang out and play with them.  Chloe did great while waiting.  I guess we should call that the calm before the storm.

We loaded the plane for a 6:35pm departure.  The airplane rows in China are very small with minimal leg room, much smaller than on US planes.  Since Chloe was less than 2 she did not have a seat and was a lap child.  So, the 4 of us squished into a pretty tight space.  They closed the door and we sat and we sat and we sat some more.  They made an announcement that we were delayed by air traffic control without any specific time information.  The next thing we know they are bringing out the food cart and start serving food.  Kevin and I look at each other and say “This is a bad sign.”  We ate and then some people tried to get off the plane.  That caused a bit of a fuss, but then the pilot said we were cleared for takeoff.   All was well.  Chloe likes to eat so again she ate more of the meal than big brother and seemed content.  By now it is after 7:30pm and we are finally ready to take off.  Chloe did well during takeoff.  But then she started getting tired and we don’t know if her ears were hurting or what but then the crying began.  Yes, we were the ones on the plane you cringe at when you see coming especially if you are sitting right in front of us. And the crying went on and on about 2 hours of the 2 ½ hour flight.  Since, Chloe has taken a little longer warming up to Kevin, she would only sit with me and let me hold and rock her.  I was standing in the aisle with the seat belt sign on and turbulence trying to do anything to calm her.  She would quiet down and then when I would sit down, the crying would start again.  It was inconsolable, loud crying with screaming and tears running down her face.  My back was hurting, my emotions were mounting.  I felt helpless… I could not even say anything to her to calm her down that she would understand.  I tried to sing songs, talk in a quieting voice, but nothing would work.  In China, the way they console children is with food.  I’m sure we were bothering just about everyone around us and maybe even those in the back.  A lady came up and started talking to Chloe in Chinese and she quieted down.  She gave us some low sugar digestive seaweed crackers, sounds delicious doesn’t it?  She would not take them.  But for a moment while the lady was talking to her, she would calm down.  Kevin and I had been sort of laughing because what else could you do?  But then I hit a breaking point and I started to cry.  I think it was a combination of emotions.  With the travel, stress of Gotcha Day, living out of a suitcase, and then mostly that I was her mother and could not console her.  Poor Kevin, here is his new daughter inconsolably crying and then his wife.  Finally she calmed down for landing.  After landing we just sat in our seats and waited for the entire plane to de-board.  I felt dejected and exhausted.  Then we walked off the plane.  It was the kind you had to walk down stairs to get off and there at the bottom is a bus waiting to take us to the terminal.  The bus is packed full of people from the flight and they are waiting on us.  Are you kidding me?  I almost could not take it. 

But thankfully Chloe and I held it together through baggage claim and the drive to the hotel.  We did not get checked in and to our room until midnight.  We were exhausted and Chloe still had not slept.  We got to our room and there was no crib.  Seriously?  What else could go wrong?  So, the four of us slept in the king size bed.  Then at about 1:30 am the inconsolable crying started again.  It was awful.  I was trying to keep Caleb from waking up so I went into the bathroom.  This scene also ended with me sitting on the toilet trying to rock Chloe while I’m crying.  I think Kevin was feeling just as helpless as me so he decided to take things into his own hands and took her (which she did not like because she is not his biggest fan) and started to walk around the hotel.  I sat on the toilet just crying.  Kevin brought her back and after about 1 hour of crying she went back to bed.  But then, it seemed with every turn she would whimper and I could not sleep because I was on high alert that the crying would start again.

We did make it through the night.  Unfortunately, we had to be up and meet our guide at 8:30 this morning to go do her physical exam.  That basically meant Chloe would be going on about 7 hours of sleep.  We were expecting a horrible day, but she did great! 

Now, I want to brag on Caleb.  He has been taking everything in stride.  What a trooper!  He has just been going with the flow and not complaining about anything except maybe “I’m hungry.” He did great on the plane and just read his Harry Potter book.  He did not seem to let the crying phase him.  He has been extremely helpful and is being a great big brother to little Chloe.  What a blessing.   

And now I am exhausted, so I will try and post in the morning our day today, which after yesterday was a wonderful gift from God.