Terrible Scare

These are the 2 photos that were sent with Noelle's file today.  She just looks so darned unhappy in all of them - so scared and so vulnerable.  She needs her family NOW but we can do nothing about that until we get the okay.   Look at those ears in the passport-style photo.  So cute!  She does have a lot of hair as opposed to another little girl I know!  ;D  Ironically the write-up on her by the orphanage says she is a very happy little girl.  ?  I cannot wait to see a photo of her smiling.

We just had a terrible scare.  On the paperwork we received this morning it had one doctor saying that there was a cleft palate.  I was sick to my stomach and felt like my world had dropped out from under me.  A cleft palate in itself would not be upsetting so much as the possible (possible is the operative word here) other health problems that can come with it but Wayne and I knew that we would not consider the alternative (she is totally our "daughter" now).  This just would not have been what we had bargained for and would have been a game changer for sure.

I called our agency right away and they reassured me totally that all is okay, the document did not get interpreted right and when the agency director interpreted the Chinese document for me over the phone, she saw that it said "normal" where the words cleft palate were.  I guess there is a template used by this very orphanage for the special needs kids also and the wording did not get changed.  This has happened before with other adoptees.  BTW we asked for an older nonspecial needs child.

However, that said I guess now we will take Noelle's file to our pediatricians to have them look it over.  I am most concerned about her prematurity and want to know what kind of problems "might" develop from that as in the file it said she is just now getting to be right on target with motor movements.  She is walking now, sitting and standing.  Emma didn't walk until she was 17 months so Noelle walked sooner than she did.  ;D

There is a lot more information and Noelle sounds to be a very sensitive soul - taking empty bottles the other babies finish to the nanny and tattle-telling already too.  From the report, when Yuan (Noelle) sees kids fighting over a toy she will call "Mama, "mama!" and uses her finger to point for the nanny to see. This is what really got me:  "When Yuan sees another child crying, she will give her own treasured object to that child to enjoy."  What a sweetheart.

We got 2 more photos and Noelle is crying in both of them with little red eyebrows (like Emma gets when she cries) and a red nose with tears in her puffy eyes.  In none of the photos does she look like a happy camper yet they say she has a very ready smile (?)  I want to see her beautiful smile!  Hopefully when we get updated photos she will be grinning from ear to ear.

We are so anxious to go to China and take this little girl into our arms and tell her that all will be okay, that we are going to take such good care of her and love her forever.  I just can't get there fast enough!!

We have a wonderful adoption agency who we have gone through for our China adoption.  Here is the E-mail we received this morning regarding what happened yesterday: 

I'd like to apologize for the terrible mistake I made in translating Dang Er Yuan's physical examination report. I inadvertently left "cleft palate" in one of the doctor's comments section on her medical report (as a result of using a template for translating a special need child's physical exam). The comment says "normal", and she is absolutely without cleft palate. I'm very, very, very sorry for the confusion.  Please accept my sincerest apologies.   

 

Attached please find the correct translation. Please let me know if you have any questions about this.

 

Congratulations on your child match. I hope you have a wonderful holiday!!