Keith reporting:
We got her! The day that we’ve been preparing for our entire lives, and it finally arrived. At 11:00am Nanchang, China time on 28 March 2005, we were blessed with the gift of Kasen Xiuwei Holt. (By the way, that would have been 9:00pm, Easter Sunday, 27 March 2005 back home, so as far as we’re concerned, we’ll always say that we got Kasen on Easter Sunday!) I’ll never be able to put into words the experience of seeing our daughter being brought into the room for the first time. It was at the local government adoption office in Nanchang. The anticipation of the five families waiting in that room was indescribable. It was surely a sight to see watching all these grown men (and especially this 45-year-old senior member of the group) act as giddy as school girls. It’s amazing how you laugh at baby-talk from others all your life, then become fluent in the language the minute you become a parent.
You’re probably all wondering where the pictures of Kasen are. Well, here’s the rest of the story. Before the orphanage director even handed us Kasen, he gave us a handful of medicine and told us that we should give it to her because she had a cold. One of the medicines was an antibiotic, which is common in a way as many of these children have respiratory infections when we get them. We had even brought some ourselves from our own pediatrician. It was evident that Kasen didn’t feel well, and she was hot (under the four layers of clothes that they had on her) and fussy all day. We made our way back to the hotel to fill out paperwork, then headed back to the adoption office. From there we made a stop at Wal-Mart, then headed back to the hotel. Our guide recommended that we should take Kasen to see the doctor on staff at the hotel. The doctor said that we needed to take Kasen to the hospital to get an injection to keep her from developing pneumonia.
We went to a local emergency room which looked like a 1920’s USA ER. The doctor there said that Kasen has pneumonia, and he sent us on to the hospital for an “injection”. They gave Kasen a shot in her wrist to make sure she wasn’t allergic to the antibiotic. After determining that she wasn’t allergic, it was time for the “injection”. They then proceeded to PUT AN IV IN KASEN’S HEAD to administer the medicine over the next two hours while we held her. It was absolutely miserable! (Imagine what Kasen must think about her first day with her new parents! Mean old Americans!)
Anyway, we just got back to the hotel (11:30pm) and the business center with the high-speed internet is closed. We can do slow dial-up (text only) from the room, but pictures are impossible. I promise that, unless we have a rough day with Kasen tomorrow, that you will see new pictures tomorrow. We’re supposed to monitor her progress, and maybe (hopefully not) take her back for another IV treatment tomorrow. Please keep her in your prayers.