Ethan's story is a bit longer, and might take several posts to get caught up.
Ethan was born with Spina Bifida and was abandoned at birth at the gate to the orphanage. He didn't receive his surgery to repair the Spina Bifida until he was around 8 months old, and we were told that it was only done then because the sac was getting translucent and he was getting much more fussy and they were afraid that the sac would burst and he would die. The orphanage found an adoption agency that would help provide for surgeries for orphans and they helped pay for his surgery which was done by a Chinese doctor in Beijing.
Our adoption process was long, including our paperwork somehow getting skipped over or lost in China at the CCAA. We finally received our final approval and traveled in April 2007 to get Ethan. Prior to that we had received some pictures and video from another family who adopted a child from the same orphanage. In the video you could see Ethan running and jumping with both feet off the floor. He was skinny, but not quite as skinny as Brandon.
Usually the process in China is that you receive your child, then go back the next day to finalize the adoption, giving you 24 hours with the child first. Our process wasn't exactly that way.
We arrived at the civil affairs office on April 17th a bit after nine am. There was a gate and wall surrounding the office compound. When we went in there was small building next to the gate. Stepping up into the building our guide knocked and the door was open. It was a small room, about the size of a bedroom with a desk and a couch. Ethan was standing by the couch with the nannies. When we walked in the nannies told him we were his Mama and Baba and he repeated Mama.
Ethan was dressed in lots of layers which is the custom in China, even though it was 60 degrees outside. He had chunky cheeks that were red and chapped.
I picked Ethan up and he didn't know how to be held. He stayed in the standing position, straight as a board and he was very heavy. I was shocked at how heavy he was. Jamey held him and Ethan was a bit more apprehensive of him. We gave him his backpack of toys and he examined them all playing with the magnadoodle, bubbles and stickers. I played with Ethan while Jamey worked on the paperwork, going over each time I needed to sign something.
At this time the nannies told us that Ethan had been sick. They had taken him tot he hospital in Chengde in December for a CT scan and spinal tap that showed that he had what they called water on the brain, or hydrocephalus. They said that the had been lagging behind the other children for the last six months, he was a sleepy boy and not very smart and he needed surgery as soon as we got him home. They also told us that they gave him some medicine at the hospital but that it had run out a couple of weeks before we received him and they never got it refilled. We later found out that he also had encephalitis when we got some medical papers translated once we got home.
At noon the civil affairs worker had to take her lunch so we walked to a local hot pot to eat. Ethan fell asleep and they laid him on a couple of chairs pushed together and covered him up with coats. We had to get some pictures taken so we walked to a nearby photo shop. Ethan walked very slowly, more of a toddle than a walk. he looked like a one year old who had just learned to walk. He tripped easily and someone had to hold his hand to help him keep his balance.
We got back to the civil affairs office to finish up the paperwork. Ethan played some more, always leaning on something when he would stand. When we were finished there we got into a couple of taxis, Ethan sitting and sleeping on my lap in the front seat and the nannies in the back with Jamey and our guide in the second taxi and went to the notary office.
At the notary office we were taken to a small conference room where they made copies of the paperwork and we signed even more. The adoption was made official and recorded. While we were doing this Ethan played with a little car, rolling it back and forth to me and lining up and stacking paper cups.
The nannies said goodbye to Ethan and he was fine for a little bit then realized that they were really gone and started to cry. Jamey got out the bubbles and he quickly stopped crying.
From the notary office we took a taxi to the train station for our trip back to Beijing.
Every time that we were in a vehicle, Ethan would fall asleep almost immediately.
Ethan sat on my lap during the train ride back to Beijing. When we got to Beijing it was late and we had to hurry to get to a taxi before they were all gone. The tile floor was dusty and I slipped and fell while carrying Ethan, he was just so heavy to carry when he didn't know how to hold on to you and wrap his legs and arms around you to help. Jamey had to carry him the rest of the way to the taxi stand.
Once we got to the hotel and our guide left we gave Ethan a bath and put the pajamas on him that we brought. They were very tight on him. Every pair of underwear that we brought was too small. It had been 60 degrees out that day and Ethan was wearing t-shirt knit leggings, sweater knit leggings and sweatpants, as well as a long sleeve t-shirt and sweatshirt and they nannies had given us a red sweater and told us to put that on him if we were outside. Even without all of those clothes on, he was a chunk. Very different than what we had seen in the pictures and video from less than a year before.
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