Day 2 - restless in Changsha

This morning started off O.K., but at breakfast something changed. It was a crowded smoky room with load music and lots of commotion. Nathan ate some, but he would not let go of Jackie. Finally Craig took Nathan to give Jackie a chance to eat. He screamed blood murder. From that point he would not let any one but mommy hold him. He is stuck to her hip. This is great for bonding, but it has been exhausting for Jackie and tough on Micah and Abby. He does not want to be set down, laid down, stood up, or even sitting on mommy’s lap while mommy sits down is often not good enough.
We wrapped up at the civil affairs this morning with judge and notary to complete the requirements for the adoption and Chinese passport. After that we went to the children’s hospital to get Nathan checked out. Besides our concerns for delays, he also has a cold with some major rumblings in his chest, running nose, and he has been tugging at his ears also. The children’s hospital was chaos to say the least. They apparently have a system where there are no appointments, only walk-ins. The lobby was similar to the train station. No seating, just massive amounts of people standing everywhere. We found that it was at least a several hour wait and we decided to try another option. There was a hotel doctor at our hotel, but they would not really do much for us, so that didn’t work either. When we get to Guangzhou there may be better opportunities to be examined.
We tried out the pool and ping pong today. The pool was great for Abby and Micah. During that time Jackie tried to get Nathan to sleep, but he would not let her even cradle him, so that didn’t work out. She came back and got in the pool with the rest of us. Nathan was O.K. with pool as long as Jackie held him. She sat on the edge and they used a container to pour water. Later at 4pm he fell asleep (probably out of exhaustion). We woke him up an hour later just so that he wouldn’t keep us up all night. For supper Nathan did great eating fried rice and pieces of bread and some crackers we had bought at a store. Although he did this all from Jackie’s lap. At the end of dinner he finally decided to drink the apple juice we he bought him. He has been constipated and we can tell he has been trying to work it out, but it only ends in frustration. Later after he cried for a while, I just set him on the toilet and rocked him back and forth and he was finally able to go. Albeit he was screaming the entire time. Hopefully the hotel walls are not to thin.

Overall Nathan was very emotionless today, very different than the first day. We couldn’t get a smile no matter what we tried. He is likely going through some severe withdrawal with all the changes, but we are also wondering if some of his shut-down has to do with the fact that he is not feeling well. Thanks for all the encouraging e-mails. We are a bit cut-off as calling out is so expensive and calling into us does not seem to be working for our parents. Please keep praying that Nathan learns to accept us all and becomes comfortable and start playing.

--Craig