Gotcha Day!

Today was THE BIG day when we finally got Hana.  I, of course, could barely sleep last night.  I fell asleep early, but I was up at 1, then 2, then 3, you get the idea.  I finally gave up around 6:30 and got up to get ready for today.  We walked to Starbucks before heading to breakfast.  After breakfast, we headed to the Bank of China to exchange our SWI donation to RMBs, and then we had to just hang out and wait for 2:00 to come around so we could head to the civil affairs office to get Hana.  I don't think 3 hours has EVER taken so long to pass.  But 2:00 finally came, and we were finally on our way to Hana.

Monday is the day for adoptions in Guongdong Province, so the adoption floor was crowded.  There were a couple different agencies there today, so we had to wait.  They kept all of the babies in a room behind a curtain, with the waiting parents trying to sneak a peek into the room.  In the meantime, there were nannies bringing babies out of the rooms to their families, and there were nannies bringing babies into the room where they waited until it was time to give them to their parents.  As the group ahead of us were getting babies, I noticed 3 people with 4 babies, and one of the nannies was holding a baby wearing a dress that looked like the one we sent to Hana in her care package.  However, I didn't get a good look at the baby's face, so I wasn't sure if it was her or not.  Finally, it was our turn to get our babies.  Luckily, the families getting babies from the Yangxi SWI were called first, but of course, we were the last from our group.  They did finally call our names, and they handed Hana to me, and it was done.  The whole Gotcha part lasted a total of 15 seconds.  Hana was such a good girl.  She did not cry when she was handed to us, and she didn't fuss at all while we were at the Civil Affairs office.  However, once we got back to the hotel, it was all over.  She was NOT a happy baby.  She cried for over an hour.  The poor baby was so scared and confused, and on top of all of that, she has a bit of a cold and is teething.  I finally went in and sat on the bed, turned on a Chinese cartoon (The Littlest Monk), and gave her a few toys.  After a while, she stopped crying and started playing.  She did get fussy a few other times, but she did finally get to a place where she played more than cried.  After a bit, she and I laid down, and it took her about 5 minutes, and she crashed out hard and has been asleep ever since.

It has been a pretty crazy and wonderful day, but Brian and I are both exhausted.  I am hoping that we will finally get some sleep tonight, or at least if we do wake up, it is to take care of the baby instead of just from the anxiousness of waiting.  Tomorrow, we head back to the civil affairs office to fill out our paperwork and officially adopt Hana.