International Pediatrician Appointment!

Well, yesterday was a LONG day, but so good all at the same time!  Caroline Faith had her first doctor's appointment with the international pediatrician in Birmingham!   So, we loaded up the car and left the house a little after 7:00 am for her first long car ride!  She did pretty good in the car, but she only slept about 30 minutes the entire way.  We had to keep the toys and snacks coming!

We finally made it to Birmingham and pulled up in the parking lot of the clinic about 10 minutes before our 11:00 am appointment.  They had told us it would probably take 4-5 hours, since we were trying to get a lot done in one appointment.  So I had packed lunch and snacks and toys and clothes...you name it, I probably had it with us!  Just in case! :)

You can tell that baby girl was so HAPPY to be out of the car after that almost 4 hour road trip!!! :)  (My friend, Julie, made this dress for her way before we even had her referral!  It was so fun to finally let her wear it!  So cute...and of course, I love the birds!)

Biggest sister went with me, and she was such a HUGE help!!!  I honestly don't know if I could have done it without her!

The very first thing they did was weigh and measure her!  Love this picture!  It's like the picture I have of the older kids on the scale when they were newborns!  Except this sweet baby girl is 14 months! :)

She is still pretty tiny, but she has grown A LOT since her referral!!!  She weighed 21 pounds which puts her in the 25th percentile!  (She used to be in the 10th!)  And she was 31 in. which puts her in the 50th percentile! (She used to be in the 3rd!)  I hope that measurement was accurate.  I have to admit, she was VERY squirmy when they were trying to measure her length!  We finally gave up and just did the best we could! Ha! :)  And her head circumference was in the 25th percentile too!  But regardless, she has grown a ton since she was 9 months old when we got the call and Dr. Chamber did her medical review for us!

I loved finally knowing how much she had grown!  Everyone would ask me how much she weighs and I never knew!  Now I do...21 pounds!!!  WAY smaller than the older three kids were at this same age! :)

We then went back to our room where we pretty much stayed the rest of the day.  The staff at the clinic all took turns coming to see us...Kelly, the attachment/bonding therapist, Amy, the feeding/occupational therapist, and Dr. Chambers, the international pediatrician.  They, along with the rest of the staff, are all just so precious!  We just fell in love with them and appreciate how much time they spent with us!

The labs were the very last thing we did, and it was awful.  I am not going to sugar coat it.  The had a hard time finding a vein, and there were lots of vials that needed to be filled.  It was a super traumatic experience for both of us.  We were both in tears!  Callie Grace (very wisely) decided not even to come in the room because she knew it would break her heart.  I just could hardly stand to see her that upset.  It was heartbreaking.  Finally, we got done with that and we left the clinic around 3:30!  DONE!!!

I really learned so much, and left with such a positive feeling about how Caroline Faith is doing in so many areas.  Physically, she is growing and seems to be very healthy.  We expect to get her blood work back in the next 2-3 weeks.  And I am also working on collecting stool samples (fun, fun!) to test for parasites.  Dr. Chambers is referring us to a few other local doctors to get her hearing and vision checked and the hemangioma on her neck.  We think it is fine, but will get a pediatric ENT to check to make sure.  They are also checking to see if we will need to repeat any of her shots.  We are hoping that most of the shots she got in Ethiopia will be good!

We were so excited to leave the clinic and go meet up with my precious friend, Meg and her adorable son, Hayes at Yogurt Mountain!  It was the perfect treat!  Exactly what we needed after that long day!  Caroline Faith even had her own cup of vanilla frozen yogurt!  She ate every bite and loved it!!

Meg is just so sweet, and we have been friends for years!  In fact, she came and stayed with me at the DG house at Ole Miss many years ago!  We didn't see each other for years after that, but thankfully, got "re-united" through our adoption process!  Meg's family is getting SO CLOSE to the top of the AGCI Ethiopia wait list!  They could get a call any day now!  Can't wait to see who God adds to their sweet family!  We really appreciated them taking the time to come meet up with us before we hit the road back home to Mississippi!

We finally left Birmingham around 5:00 or so, and both girls fell asleep in the car for almost an hour and a half!  They woke up right before we got to Meridian to stop and eat a quick dinner.  It was perfect!  It made the drive seem much faster on the way home!

I was exhausted when we pulled in our driveway at 8:45 last night, but so glad that we went!  It was definitely worth the long road trip!  Looks like we will go back in about 6 months!  Hoping that Daddy can go with us on the next trip! :)

THANKFUL for a happy, healthy baby girl who really seems to be adjusting and attaching so well!  All by the goodness and grace of Jesus!  FOUR precious children...our hands and our hearts are full!!!

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ."

Ephesians 1:3