The little guy and I are shacked up at the Best Western…

Amanda and Rose, Kay and Nathaniel and Cailean and I arrived in Shanghai on Thursday. We went straight to the Shanghai Children’s Medical Centre to get the children registered. Amanda is on the 4^th floor with Rose in a pretty nice room! The fourth floor has recently been renovated…lucky girl!! Rose is having her surgery performed by a surgeon from the US who is working with Love without Boundaries. They are operating on 30 orphan cleft lip and palate babies!! It is unbelievable on the 4th floor. The energy is amazing. I could easy spend hours just watching all the nurses, volunteers, nannies and babies. Rose is part of this medical mission.

Amanda left for the night with Rose. Kay, Nathaniel, Cailean and I shared her room. I had to have Cailean up to the fifth floor bed 11 by 7:30 a.m. as Dr. Bao; surgeon would be doing his rounds. I had my first full night with Cailean. Well I finally (I have waited years for this!! :) ) was woken every 4 hours to give him a bottle! We did not yet have a thermos so making a bottle required walking down the hall to the nurse’s station to get boiled water.

Friday morning Cailean and I headed to the fifth floor bed 11 with luggage in tow. We are sharing a room with four other babies and families. Amanda tried to get Kay, Nathaniel, Cailean and I in the same room…but no luck. Kay is no where near us. It is very interesting trying to talk and share with the other families in our room. At one point this lovely father came over and offered his daughter’s pacifier for Cailean! I had to try to explain in a polite way that Cailean does not use one. There was a lot of smiling back and forth. I feel sad to be experiencing all this and not be able to talk with others. I wish I spoke Mandarin. It is a lot of time to spend with people when you don’t speak their language. I am sure lots of stories could be shared.

After Dr. Bao’s rounds Cailean had to start getting some tests done. The blood work was awful. The poor little guy has too many cute rolls. They had a hard time finding a vein. At one point there were 5 nurses on him. They ended taking blood from a vein in his head, arm and neck while he SCREAMED BLOODY MURDER. He slept for 3 hours after that.

It is really cute…all the nurses come in and gather around Cailean’s bed and giggle when one has to talk to me. So far only a Male Nurse could speak some English. They had the most fun when the Male Nurse had to try to explain in English that I needed to get a stool and urine sample. Actually everyone in the room was laughing. They were trying to explain how to do it and where to put it!

So we found out mid-day that his surgery is delayed until Thursday November 8. Not surprising I guess… So that means although Cailean is still registered in bed 11 we were able to get a leave until Wednesday morning. So it is “Cailean and I hit Shanghai!!!” We are staying at the Best Western. It is a great place and just opened about 3 months ago. It is very close to the Hospital. It was so nice to get him in here and bath him. I felt so dirty just after one day. We are doing some serious bonding. Sorry Iain I am sharing my bed with another man! :) tee hee. I am really experiencing motherhood now. We took a walk to a store called, Lotus, which is like a Super Store to get some supplies. We are ready for the week.

Today we had a nice relaxing morning and headed down to the breakfast buffet together. Then we walked to Wal-Mart! Yup, Shanghai has a Wal-Mart. This afternoon we went to the hospital and had a visit with Amanda and Rose. Rose’s surgery is tomorrow and Nathaniel’s is on Tuesday.

Oh I just have to say THANK HEAVEN for the rented Panda cell phone!!! We will definitely rent one when we come to adopt Mary Anne. I don’t know how I would have managed being on a different floor than Amanda without the cell phone. Actually there is one more thing I will definitely not do without when we come for Mary Anne and that is the Baby Bjorn.

Tomorrow I think Cailean and I are going to try to get to the Xujiahui Cathedral. It is the largest Catholic Church in Shanghai. We will see if I can manage it…this is all new for me. Then I think Cailean and I will do a bit of sightseeing and get over to see Rose.

So this means I will be posting daily until Wednesday. I really hope his surgery does not get delayed any longer.

Leaving Xi'an....
Cailean's first diaper change at the Shanghai Children's Medical Centre. Cute blanket Robin! :)
My bed....
Nathaniel and Cailean sharing a crib.
Resting after the blood work...!
Best Western Hotel...
"ya dude"...
Rose getting ready for her surgery....
I don't think I have posted a photo directly of Cailean's sack. Soon it will be gone, as well, as all his HAIR!!!
He is such a sweetheart. Dr. Bao seems pretty confident Cailean's surgery will be straight forward. Other than the sack Cailean is showing no signs of Spina Bifida.

Now I feel like I am doing what I came here to do...take care of my buddy!