The title line is a very very short video of our "gotcha" moment in case anyone wants to view. Hubby has promised me a video from Red Thread Diaries or a similar type place...but that is still way to come.
As for how Gotcha went...it was an incredible day for us and we had the whole day off...so I can only imagine how it was for the rest of our group. They had an incredibly long day having left Beijing that same morning at 4 am and travelled hours to get to Nanning.
Our day started with a trip to the Nanning Wal-mart to buy Liddy a toy...because I decided she needed a Gotcha day gift. (Forget all reason here...We brought toys...but they weren't "Gotcha Day gifts" so they wouldn't do. Ultimately I had a ton of adrenaline pouring through me and nothing to do...shopping was something to do to fill the time!!
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In the afternoon we had TONS of paperwork to fill out and everything had to be signed and stamped in our fingerprints. (Red ink everywhere!) It was a pretty emotional process even dealing with the paperwork because there was a picture of Lydia on the forms from when she was 4 months old. After 3 months of the same 3 pictures it was like a breath of fresh air to see her...and to see her soooo young. Incredible.
When we got to where we would receive the babies a portion of our group did a prayer and then we were up the elevators to the 4rth floor. (Note about elevators in China...the doors close FAST and HARD---be on guard!!) They told us we had to present out TA's to confirm we had the correct baby. (We got them back) Once we all got in "the room" we were asked to put our gifts for the Director and Nanny in 2 piles and we were told they would be sorted out later. (So Liddy's Nanny probably did not get the gift we brought to her specifically.) We were then all lined up against the wall on one side of the room to wait.
The SWI officials and the government official then entered the room and the government official stood at the podium and made a speech. That was the hardest part of the whole day...we could hear the babies crying in the next room and the speech, while it lasted under 3 minutes, was the longest speech I've ever heard in my life.
When the babies were brought in they were carried single file and lined up against the other side of the room. Lydia was the second baby brought in. All the babies wore a ceremonial garment and (except for their socks) looked identical. Some of the Nannies looked very happy and were excited to be a part of the process..some were lightly crying and you could tell they all cared about the children. We were then called up one at a time and the Nanny would meet you in the center of the room where you would present your TA and then take your baby back to the other side. When Madeline was presented to Michelle (the first of us) the flashbulbs were blinding. It was an amazing moment...all Michelle could manage to say was..."You're much lighter than I thought you would be." And then she was off to bring the baby to her hubby Robert and the chaos really began as the babies began to cry as each one was delivered to their new Mommy and Daddy.
When our name was called...I went and handed my TA over. I just looked at Lydia for a second to make eye contact and I totally expected her to wail!! I took her and my first words to her were "I know, you don't know me." I was surprised at how heavy she was, and I was immediately concerened about the fact her head was so incredibly flat. I actually wanted her to cry, to react....but she was zombie baby big timewhich scared me even more.
The room was incredibly hot and uncomfortable and the babies were all sweating, hot and extremely hungry. I really don't remember too much about anything else during the gotcha process other than patting her head and worrying. Once all the babies were distributed we were suppossed to line up and take turns to talk with an interpreter to our baby's nanny. As I was about to queue...Lydia exploded. (Not emotionally---physically with the worst case of diareha I've ever seen. It soaked the diaper and her clothes immediately. I rushed to a bathroom with hubby behind me. Her pants were unwearable but I had brought extra clothes just in case. So she wore her top and a pair of prissy little strawberry pants on the bottom. I knew with her poo, she was sick. No way she was healthy....but I had no idea what it was and I people from our agency were pestering me to return quickly or I'd miss the Nannies. I left the bathroom with Liddy and Russell cleaned up the mess as best he could and he joined me. As I got closer to talking to Lydia's Nanny I was pulled from the line and told the orphange director wanted to talk to me. By this time I had a toy in her hand (which gave me that much needed reaction to something) and a bottle of formula in her mouth. I have to admit, when they told me the orphange director wanted to see me I was a bit nervous about that. He hadn't spoken to anyone else the entire time and he'd been following us around the room a bit.
That's when they told us he had wanted to adopt Lydia but was unable and he knew her very well and wanted to speak with us about her.
We chatted and it was great to see how much he obviously loved Lydia and Lydia obviously loved him too because she kept trying to get to him. (He wouldn't take her though I offered...he kept saying to her in chinese stay with her...she's your momma. and she quieted down.) She didn't cry the whole bus trip back to the hotel...she just stared at me. Once we got back we had to have our pictures taken for the adoption certificate and that was when she finally exploded emotionally. Lydia was done and wanted to be left alone. Our picture had to be taken though so we endured...once we were done with that we went to the room and Lydia laid in my arms until she passed out completely. We could hear all the other babies screaming for food, but I had brought a bottle, so she was fed and ready for sleep. We stripped her as she slept and put on a onesie and she slept in her crib until 3am when she wanted to be fed again.
That night I did a lot of research about flat heads on the internet and it eased my concerns some...Our first day together was something I will never forget.