Final Chapter - Our Adoption Story

You've been following our "This Date In History" Adoption Story. If you know us well, you know that we are still writing the story of this family - aren't we all? But what was the "final chapter" of our adoption journey? Although, I did not send out another email update until July 12, 2007, I thought I would share with you today what that email stated. How did I wrap up to all my friends and family that waited for and read our emails from Russia each day? Below is my "final chapter" email along with a few pictures from our first summer with Madeline.

July 12, 2007

So, yes, we’ve arrived. I thought it would be fitting to give a final chapter in our saga. The flights went well. Considering that from the time we awoke in Moscow to the time we got home, we survived 24 hours of travel time, Madeline was a real trooper. The thing that made the trans-Atlantic flight bearable was that a nice man moved to a different seat on the plane to give us more room. Although Madeline was very good and sleeping at the time he switched seats, it was probably more like an “insurance policy” maneuver for him. There was some crying on the plan but really not enough to annoy the other passengers. She really was very good. THANK GOD!!

At the airport, my friend Kelly, her husband Pat, and daughter picked us up as planned. Also there to greet us were my co-workers Sr. Jeanette and Sr. Mary and my brother, Marty, drove in from State College, PA to welcome us home as well. By the time we got to the airport, Madeline was in pure “zombie” state……as so were David and I after the travel. However, Madeline got a second wind when we got home. It was almost as if she knew she was home. Exploring the house and her toys. Marty stayed at our house the first night and it was nice to have pizza and beer and talk about our travels with him.

My first mom day alone with Madeline was Monday, which was David birthday. I think I tried to bite off more than I could chew. I baked cupcakes before Madeline awoke and then later in the day, Madeline and I delivered cupcakes to David at work for his birthday. We also went birthday present shopping too. Again, Madeline was very good. She is fairly easy-going but my inexperienced planning really pushed the limits with naptime, etc. Although she did great, I need to figure out this schedule thing.

Tuesday, Madeline and I went to my mom’s house to check things out. That was very difficult for me. As Madeline made her self home there by running around (and exploring the infamous Chopin bust) I could only think of how my mom should’ve been there and how much she would’ve enjoyed seeing Madeline running around. Tuesday was also a difficult day for Madeline and another Mom initiation day for me. In one day she almost swallowed a dime, fell off a bed, and got stung in the face by a bee. Madeline’s whole side of her face swelled up from the bee sting. It looked like we punched her! After calling the pediatrician, they gave us the dosage of Benadryl to give her and warned us that the drug could either conk her out or make her hyper…..we got the hyper baby. It was actually pretty funny to watch. She looked like she was on crack or something….finally she went to sleep at 10pm.

Yesterday Madeline had her first pediatrician appointment. Although Madeline supposedly got shots in Russia, there are no dates of record and therefore would not be valid for shot records for when it was time for her to go to school. So Maddie got 4 shots (2 in each arm). I am not sure whom it hurt more! The Dr. said she is developing nicely but she needs to go for a slew of blood work just to check her out further (screening purposes only) The doctor is also setting us up with someone to help with her speech delay (which is normal for kids coming out of orphanages) that has been magnified due to the language change. All in all, things look good with Madeline.
David is back to work already too. This is tough on all three of us. Madeline’s clinginess to her Mama has gotten a little worse since she spends her time with me all day and only sees David in the evenings. WE are working through that and it’ll only be a matter of time.

Thanks again for listening to our story. It was comforting to know that we had all of our friends and family routing us on along the way. We will be very busy making rounds to visit everyone while adjusting to our new life. I would say “THE END”, but instead it is more appropriate to note that this is just the beginning….

Thanks again!

David, Amy and Madeline