Bonding Day 03

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Our morning visit was cut short today because the doctor wanted to check on Gabriel’s cold.  His breathing is labored and he’s very irritable.  He didn’t care much for his tummy time or legs massage today.  He just wanted to cuddle.  He did manage to crack a few giggles and smiles but for the most part, he just wanted to be held.

We were hoping that the afternoon visit was more cheerful but he’s still congested and now constipated too.  It’s probably caused by the iron vitamins that they started yesterday for his anemia.  Unfortunate for daddy because it was his turn to feed Gabe this afternoon (I fed him yesterday).  And so, aside from being cranky because of teething, mouth sores, constipation and a cold, we decided to push his buttons even more by having daddy feed him.  Joel has never fed a baby.  I must say, he was very patient.  Gabe was fussing and crying the entire time he was feeding him.  We couldn’t figure it out because he was swallowing tablespoon sized bites yesterday.  Never thought he would fuss about food.  Beads of sweat run down Joel’s sideburns but he was determined.  He continued to feed him.  The crying only stopped when Joel got up to take a break.  They walked around the playroom and he would try feeding him again.  Again, the crying continued.  I don’t know who I felt worst for Joel or Gabe.  Finally, we decided that I would try to feed him while he held him.  Wow, the crying instantly stopped.  What was going on???  Joel asked if he was holding him too tight or not upright enough.  Then finally it dawned on us.  It was mentioned in the numerous adoption books we’ve read…all the caretakers are women.  He has never been fed by a man.  Could it be?  Tune in tomorrow when Joel attempts a second try on feeding.

Our Kazakh experience:

After our visit, we decided to try out a Ukrainian restaurant that many families have mentioned on their blogs.  We went with our friends K & E (we haven’t asked permission to use their names on our blog, so we’ll use their initials).  Food was pretty good but pricey.  We did discover something rather interesting here.  Upon reviewing our bill, we noticed that there were some additional charges that we could not identify.  Everything is in Cyrillic so we asked our server to review it with us.  She didn’t speak English but did manage to point out that one of the charges was for the straws that they put in our beer.  Don’t know about you guys, but I’ve never used a straw for my beer.  Our friends actually laughed at me yesterday because I used the straw in my beer to stir the head (foam).  The other charge was for each slice of bread that we ate, another thing that we did not order.  We had 15 slices at 8.00 Tenge each (US$1=KZT118.00).  So if you have plans to come here, beware of the additional charges.

Bonding Day 01
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 Here we are in Aktobe, Kazakhstan.  It’s about 7:30am and Gen and I are having breakfast.  Both of us are mulling over what’s going to happen during our first bonding period with Gabriel.  We’re to visit him twice a day, Monday to Saturday and once on Sunday.  It’s still dark outside, and it looks pretty cold.  One of the things we’ve noticed here is that the heat is turned up very high in all the buildings.  I’m constantly sweating whenever we are inside.  We are staying at the Hotel Dastan while the other family is staying at the Hotel Asia.  The hotel is pretty nice and one of the staff here speaks English well.  Aina and Cerric are to pick us up at 9:43 this morning, so we hangout in the restaurant for a bit and go back to our room to kill some time.

Pickup time arrives and we head over to the baby house.  We’re led into the same playroom room as yesterday.  First baby that comes in is the other family’s.   Then in comes Gabriel.  He looks over to us and there is a bit of recognition in his eyes as his caretaker hands him over to us.  For the next two hours we do a physical examination, test his motor skills and take a million pictures.  He’s wrapped in three layers of clothes and has a hat to keep him warm in an already sweltering hot room.  He remains alert as we continue to examine him. 

We’ve been warned ahead of time by our agency, research and the numerous blogs we’ve read that children in orphanages will not be in the greatest of shape.  Gabriel is a bit underweight, he can’t bear his weight on his legs yet and it appears that he isn’t used to parental interaction yet.  Our translator tells us that there are basically 5-10 babies per caregiver so as you can imagine, their time with each child is extremely limited.  They basically pick them up, feed them, change them and put them down. 

As the first morning session ended, it was hard to give him back to his caregiver.  Even though this was only the first meeting with him, Gabriel kept looking for us as he was taken away.  Gen and I head back to the hotel afterwards for some lunch and some off time before we head back for the afternoon session.

Back to the playroom and Gabriel is brought in again.  What’s really cute is as soon as he sees us, he cracks a smile and starts giggling.  We take him from his caregiver and start our afternoon session with him.  We massage his legs and arms, give him some tummy time and interact as much as possible with him.  About halfway through the session, his caregiver comes in holding a bowl of porridge and a cup of what appears to be tea.  She takes Gabriel and shows us how to feed him.  Let me tell you, this kid can eat!  He went through his bowl like it was nothing and washed everything down with his tea.  She tells our translator that tomorrow we will be the ones to feed him.  Parenthood is starting to slowly sink in =)

As we pack up and leave, we say our goodbyes to Gabriel and head out for some dinner.  Afterwards, we get back to the hotel and write up our report to our adoption doctor back in the states.  We send him pictures of Gabriel and our questions and concerns.  Both of us pray that we’ll receive a positive reply back from him.

I know everyone is dying to see pictures of Gabriel right now, but please be patient.  We just want to hear back from our doctor before we go forward here.  You will all be rewarded, I guarantee it!!!

Bonding Day 02
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We’ll keep it short today and let the pictures speak for themselves.  We heard from our international adoption doctor, baby house pediatrician and our pediatrician back in the states.  They all agree that although he is underweight, he is healthy.  They all expect him to catch up to where he should be once he gets the proper nutrition, care and love.
 

Now as promised…let me present to you, Gabriel Joel Nurlan Feliciano!!

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