wow - what a day -

We have only had Ngoc Tram with us for about 24 hours and we have already visited the hosiptal twice!

When we picked her up, the nannies at the orphanage told us that she had a little cold -like a cough, runny nose and slight fever - well, it turned out to be more.

When we got to the hotel last night, I talked to my cousin Yen about Ngoc Tram being sick. She said that she would set up an appointment with her family doctor for the next night.

Ngoc Tram really warmed up to my cousin Ngoc Lan. She is quite a feisty girl. She started to run around the hotel room and laugh at my cousins. I think that she was very comforted having them here. When she was just with us, she was very chill - just trying to watch everything that was happening and figure us out. When she is around my cousins and they speak to her in Vietnamese - she is like a different girl. I know that it will take some time for her to get used to us, but I can't wait until she does.

She went to bed around 10:30 pm and slept through the night. We had to wake her up one time because she was coughing and her nose was so runny. We figured that she had had a very big day so coupled with the medicine that we gave her she slept for almost 12 hours. When we woke up around 10am her cold was worse - alot worse. My cousin called the doctor and we went to see him soon after.

We got to the hospital and saw the doctor right away. He said that she had a bad case of bronchitis along with a small case of scabies. He prescribed her some medicine and we were on our way. We stopped at a restaurant to have lunch. Ngoc Tram ate a big bowl of chicken and rice soup and a glass of orange juice. After lunch we attempted to give her her medicine. It was quite tricky as we had to grind some of the pills up to get her to take them.

Right after we gave her the medicine, the adoption coordinator called. She said that we needed to take her to another hospital to get a second opinion. So we headed out to the International Clinic. The doctor there said that she had bronchitis but she also might have bronchial asthma. He said that she probably had it for a long time. He prescribed a baby inhaler to be used with a special breathing chamber so that she could inhale the medicine and let it go straight to her lungs. We have to go back after 4 or 5 days - hopefully she will be feeling better.

So as you can tell, it has been quite a day. We are hanging out in the hotel room for the afternoon trying to rest up. We can't use the air conditioning because Ngoc Tram isn't used to it and we are afraid it might make her condition worse.

I think tonight we might go out with one of the other couples that is adopting a baby from the same orphanage. They are a Vietnamese couple from Pinellas Park, Florida. Their names are Hao and Connie. It has been a blessing having them here because we can not bring any of our family with us to the official appointments. They have helped translate for us and are fun to be around. We are already making plans to get together when we get back in the States.
They wanted to take me out for dessert last night for my birthday but we were all so tired that we said that we would do it another night.

The Giving and Receiving Ceremony should be soon - probably by the end of the week. After that - Ngoc Tram is officially and legally ours. Then we will just work on getting her a passport and other documents needed to get her back home.

I think that it is nap time - you know the saying - sleep when your baby sleeps!!!

xoxoxo - lan-marie