Reflections on Guatemala, Part II
Tuesday, December 5
Well, as was posted before on our blog, this day was perhaps the toughest day of our lives. After a nice morning, in which Henry was letting us hold him and was even cooing, he took a turn for the worse around 9:30 or so and began crying hysterically. It was like he was in real pain. If you ever have had a child scream like this and not know what is wrong with him, it puts you in real pain too. The hard part for us was that we had just met Henry and we didn't really know about his likes/dislikes and moods! We were a little worried that Henry just didn't like us! The only thing that pacified Henry's screams was walking him around the hotel grounds, either strapped to our bodies or in a stroller. We went for many long walks this day. However, we were so upset at what was happening--our lunch and dinner consisted of a few Twizzlers and Goldfish pretzels--that at 9pm finally we asked the hotel to call in a doctor to see what was wrong. He checked Henry over and felt "gasses" in his stomach. He gave Henry some anti-colic pills and amazingly he calmed down within seconds. He was back to smiling and cooing again, almost like he was a different child! He went to sleep well that night, as did his parents, thinking the worst was past. Boy were we wrong.
Wednesday, December 6
What a wild day this was! It began very early, with our attorney Ivanna picking us up at the hotel at 6:20am, to go to the U.S. Embassy downtown. Henry had been sleeping beautifully that night and we were very hesitant to wake him up. He remained in a good mood on the drive into the Embassy, much to our delight. Once we pulled up to the Embassy, we could see mobs of Guatemalan people waiting in line to get into the building. It appeared that many people had been waiting for hours, as they were sitting in their places on cushions and were drinking coffee and eating snacks. Presumably they were all trying to get into the Embassy to get travel visas, although I don't know for sure. Luckily for us, we had a pre-arranged appointment to get Henry's visa. We met a handful of other adoptive parents in line who were very excited as well. Henry, amazingly, was sleeping. Because we had a pre-arranged appointment to get our travel visa, we went to the front of the line and after a few minutes went through security and through the front door, to another waiting area. We probably waited there for an hour and a half, of which Henry was doing great for probably 1 hour and 23 minutes, then he had had enough. An Embassy employee called us to a window where she went over our final documents and told us that Henry's visa would be available the next day. That was it! Someone from our agency drove us back to the hotel, and Henry fell asleep in the car. Then the fireworks began.
After Henry woke up he again was inconsolable. He wasn't eating and he had dirahea. His "happy drops" that worked the night before weren't working, so we broke down and called our attorney's office. She called back quickly and told us that she had made a doctor's appointment for us at an office they use downtown, and that her husband Francisco would drive us there. Soon he was at the lobby and away we went.
When we got to the doctor's waiting room Henry just erupted. Nothing could calm him down whatsoever. It was heartbreaking to hold his little body against us and pray that he would be all right, while watching other people in the office shoot concerned glances in our direction. After what seemed like hours we finally got called back to an exam room, where we met a nice doctor who spoke perfect English. He examined Henry and then ordered a stool sample (I'll spare you the details of how the sample was procured). After the sample was extracted Henry, who had been crying so loud my ears hurt, fell asleep on the table. Apparently some stress had been released from his body! We waited a while for the results of the test which came back positive for roto-virus! The doctor explained that the virus made Henry lactose intolerant to his formula; for the past few days we had been forcing formula down him to try and get him nourished, and as it turns out that was exactly the wrong thing to do! The doctor told us to get soy formula and something called Pedialyte for hydration.
We left the doctor's office around 6 (Francisco paid for the appointment, what a nice man he is!) and took off for a pharmacy. Traffic was heavy but we finally found a store. Henry was having trouble in the car so Erin asked if she could stay with him while we went into the store. Francisco nicely replied that we could not do that, and we passed by an armed guard at the front of the pharmacy. You have to be careful in Guatemala City. Francisco paid for the items (again, how nice!) and drove us back to the hotel. At that point he had been with us for over 4 hours driving us around the city and waiting for us at our appointment. His cell phone was ringing constantly so we could tell how busy he was, yet he always had time for us. We could never repay him fully for how much he helped us this day.
It was a windy night as we were on our way back to our hotel room when we passed by a lady, who remarked on how cute Henry was but also the fact that he was not covered from head to toe in a warm blanket (his legs were dangling uncovered). She said that while we could maybe carry him like that in the United States, that is not how things are done in Guatemala. She was nice about it, but after the day we had just had, we were not in the mood to be culturally educated. We just wanted to get our crying son to the room. I don't really remember what happened for the rest of the night, but odds are that we were up and walking him around, trying to soothe him, for most of the evening. I kept thinking, in 48 hours we'll be home.
We have cute pictures to post of Henry enjoying some toys at home but right now I have no way of posting them. Look for those soon!
Well, as was posted before on our blog, this day was perhaps the toughest day of our lives. After a nice morning, in which Henry was letting us hold him and was even cooing, he took a turn for the worse around 9:30 or so and began crying hysterically. It was like he was in real pain. If you ever have had a child scream like this and not know what is wrong with him, it puts you in real pain too. The hard part for us was that we had just met Henry and we didn't really know about his likes/dislikes and moods! We were a little worried that Henry just didn't like us! The only thing that pacified Henry's screams was walking him around the hotel grounds, either strapped to our bodies or in a stroller. We went for many long walks this day. However, we were so upset at what was happening--our lunch and dinner consisted of a few Twizzlers and Goldfish pretzels--that at 9pm finally we asked the hotel to call in a doctor to see what was wrong. He checked Henry over and felt "gasses" in his stomach. He gave Henry some anti-colic pills and amazingly he calmed down within seconds. He was back to smiling and cooing again, almost like he was a different child! He went to sleep well that night, as did his parents, thinking the worst was past. Boy were we wrong.
Wednesday, December 6
What a wild day this was! It began very early, with our attorney Ivanna picking us up at the hotel at 6:20am, to go to the U.S. Embassy downtown. Henry had been sleeping beautifully that night and we were very hesitant to wake him up. He remained in a good mood on the drive into the Embassy, much to our delight. Once we pulled up to the Embassy, we could see mobs of Guatemalan people waiting in line to get into the building. It appeared that many people had been waiting for hours, as they were sitting in their places on cushions and were drinking coffee and eating snacks. Presumably they were all trying to get into the Embassy to get travel visas, although I don't know for sure. Luckily for us, we had a pre-arranged appointment to get Henry's visa. We met a handful of other adoptive parents in line who were very excited as well. Henry, amazingly, was sleeping. Because we had a pre-arranged appointment to get our travel visa, we went to the front of the line and after a few minutes went through security and through the front door, to another waiting area. We probably waited there for an hour and a half, of which Henry was doing great for probably 1 hour and 23 minutes, then he had had enough. An Embassy employee called us to a window where she went over our final documents and told us that Henry's visa would be available the next day. That was it! Someone from our agency drove us back to the hotel, and Henry fell asleep in the car. Then the fireworks began.
After Henry woke up he again was inconsolable. He wasn't eating and he had dirahea. His "happy drops" that worked the night before weren't working, so we broke down and called our attorney's office. She called back quickly and told us that she had made a doctor's appointment for us at an office they use downtown, and that her husband Francisco would drive us there. Soon he was at the lobby and away we went.
When we got to the doctor's waiting room Henry just erupted. Nothing could calm him down whatsoever. It was heartbreaking to hold his little body against us and pray that he would be all right, while watching other people in the office shoot concerned glances in our direction. After what seemed like hours we finally got called back to an exam room, where we met a nice doctor who spoke perfect English. He examined Henry and then ordered a stool sample (I'll spare you the details of how the sample was procured). After the sample was extracted Henry, who had been crying so loud my ears hurt, fell asleep on the table. Apparently some stress had been released from his body! We waited a while for the results of the test which came back positive for roto-virus! The doctor explained that the virus made Henry lactose intolerant to his formula; for the past few days we had been forcing formula down him to try and get him nourished, and as it turns out that was exactly the wrong thing to do! The doctor told us to get soy formula and something called Pedialyte for hydration.
We left the doctor's office around 6 (Francisco paid for the appointment, what a nice man he is!) and took off for a pharmacy. Traffic was heavy but we finally found a store. Henry was having trouble in the car so Erin asked if she could stay with him while we went into the store. Francisco nicely replied that we could not do that, and we passed by an armed guard at the front of the pharmacy. You have to be careful in Guatemala City. Francisco paid for the items (again, how nice!) and drove us back to the hotel. At that point he had been with us for over 4 hours driving us around the city and waiting for us at our appointment. His cell phone was ringing constantly so we could tell how busy he was, yet he always had time for us. We could never repay him fully for how much he helped us this day.
It was a windy night as we were on our way back to our hotel room when we passed by a lady, who remarked on how cute Henry was but also the fact that he was not covered from head to toe in a warm blanket (his legs were dangling uncovered). She said that while we could maybe carry him like that in the United States, that is not how things are done in Guatemala. She was nice about it, but after the day we had just had, we were not in the mood to be culturally educated. We just wanted to get our crying son to the room. I don't really remember what happened for the rest of the night, but odds are that we were up and walking him around, trying to soothe him, for most of the evening. I kept thinking, in 48 hours we'll be home.
We have cute pictures to post of Henry enjoying some toys at home but right now I have no way of posting them. Look for those soon!
posted by A. Pratt @ 5:30 PM
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