News from China, Day 2 - Gotcha !

Gotcha Day ! It was amazing, we were so exhausted afterwards, but was it ever an incredible time. Let me tell the story. We're blogging blind here for some reason, we can get into the blogger dashboard to create posts, but not our URL (welcomehomelittleone) to actually inspect the results.

There was a nervous, almost holy silence on the bus on the way to the municipal building. People talked quietly, or not at all, as we all desperately tried to hoist in the significance of this bus ride. Many fought back tears from the emotional intensity. And then wham, almost too quickly, we were there, at a towering downtown building, taking elevators to the 14th floor, and we found ourselves waiting in a large room with some low furniture and mirrors everywhere. A long desk separated us from the half a dozen employees, who sat at desks and typed at computers. Through a red-beaded curtain at the far end of this waiting room we could see a bizarre photo studio which we assumed was for newly married couples, since this government office covers marriages as well as adoptions. The 20-minute wait seemed to crawl by, as we learned that the babies had not yet arrived from their seven-hour journey from the orphanage. The air was hot and still and humid.

All of a sudden, with no warning, a train of nannies carrying babies all wearing matching outfits, came in from behind us, from the very elevators we had just taken, and walked right through the group into another room, separated from us by a glass wall. People gasped, rushed for their cameras, and a paparazzi-style storm of eager parents and entourage followed the babies' progress into the other room. Melissa immediately picked out Jaime as she whizzed by ... so much bigger than we had imagined ... so much more hair ... yet those same sparkling eyes.

The Orphanage Director spoke rapidly with Yulin, and a list emerged and all of a sudden they were calling "Aitken, David and Melissa." The crowd parted and we stepped through the door into the other room, cameras flashing and expectant moms beginning to cry behind us. The Director inspected David's passport, declared him to be the right guy, and immediately a nanny handed Jaime into his arms.

She was so quiet, lips closed, looking around, clutching tightly to her only possession ... the little picture book of the family that we had sent ahead several weeks previously. It looked well-used, in a baby way of speaking, which means well-chewed-on and well-drooled-on. She looked around at the people, as Melissa and Emily crowded in to get a look at her. She was cautious ... not crying or fussing at all, just looking around and taking it all in. Guarded, but not scared.

The rest of the families' babies were quickly handed over in a similar way ... too much of a blur right now for us to remember, although no doubt burned brightly into their memories the same way our moment was. We played with our babies, compared their hair styles and mosquito bites, comforted those that fussed and played with those that were warming up, trying to help them reach a comfortable temperature in the steaming room. The orphanage Director showed us how they could crawl, sit up, even walk with both hands held. The room was full of excitement and happiness. Two families were told that their babies had still not arrived, as they were coming from a different orphanage, and they had to wait in tortured and fidgety silence for another hour or more until theirs arrived.

Jaime fell asleep on Melissa on the bus ride back, as Emily did on David, as David did on the window of the bus. Everyone was exhausted, not only from jet-lag and a bare minimum of sleep over the past two days, but also from the emotional intensity of the afternoon. We took her out for a walk around a busy Chongqing downtown square, with the locals staring as much at David with Jaime in the hip-carrier as at Emily's blondish hair. Our card with "this is our adopted daughter" in Chinese, laminated over a Canadian flag, came in very handy, invariably producing enthusiastic "thumbs-up" from the readers.

She slept soundly last night, has been enjoying her bottles, and generally warming up to the family. She opens her mouth more now, and we can see at least eight sparkling white teeth. She's sitting on the floor now with Emily, who's enjoying introducing her to all her new toys and clothes. We'll keep you updated over the coming days, but for now, you can rejoice with us that we finally have our new little daughter !