From Russia with Glinda.

Well, it happened.  I did not think it would happen, to be truthful, perhaps the same way as you don't think your wedding will ever happen until you are literally walking own the aisle, or the same way you don't think you'll ever have a baby until you are actually carrying one home.  But nevertheless, while looking at the parrots at the Naples Zoo (of course, we are on vacation), my phone rang and came up as "Medina, OH."  I knew. Here we go. Or not.

I wish I could tell you all this information that I have just read, or post the pictures on here I just received, but there are so many things holding me back.  The main thing being that a year ago, when I began filling out forms and signing my life away, I recall signing that I wouldn't share any information about our referral until she was ours.  The second being that I am not sure we are going to take the child.  But I will share what I can.

The child they called us about is very young, much younger than we had anticipated, which we are incredibly thankful for.   I cannot tell you her real Russian name, but it starts with a G, and reminds me of Glinda, the "good witch" from the Wizard of Oz (or Wicked, which is my preferred reference point.)  And, like people give nicknames to their children in utero, this is what I will call her until we can share her Russian and American name with you.  She was born in December and is just a few weeks older than my newest nephew.  She is coming on 8 months.  I looked through her medical file and I am so thankful that I (almost) am a doctor because I understood the medical jargon they were using and know what the potential problems are as well as the things that are really not problems at all.  For sure, I don't care if she has baby eczema. Our first and foremost concern is that we receive a healthy child.  Since we will undoubtedly have a whole host of challenges with raising her, it is best if her emotional and physical health are as good as can be given her circumstances.  So, we are working with the international adoption clinic at the University of Cincinnati.  There is a doctor there who is trained to review these crazy documents and interpret words, findings, etc in light in the country of origin.  There are a few things on there that I am really unsure of their true meaning given what we know of how these medical records work, so we rely in the consultation of this doctor to tell us if she is healthy.  The doctor will also examine the 2 pictures we received for signs of any genetic syndromes, fetal alcohol syndrome, obvious neurologic problems, etc.  I already scrutinized and don't see anything obvious.  The only thing I will say about her picture is that if we do end up adopting this girl, my hopes of adopting a blue eyed, blonde haired Russian girl will be dashed. Alas, I shall have bigger disappointments in my lifetime.

We also know that this child was referred to another American family who turned her down.  We do not know why as they used a doctor that the adoption agency we are working with does not know.  I do not see any glaring things with her medical record that surprise me or overly concern me, but my training and knowledge are very limited.  There are several things in there that I think would be very concerning to someone if they either had no medical training and were just looking things up, or if they did not have knowledge of how Russian medical diagnoses go with children in orphanages, so part of me thinks that perhaps that family was thinking there was a big problem that is not really a big problem.  Or maybe I am just being overly optimistic. We are going to be putting a lot of weight on the report we get from Cincinnati and are not going to really be making a decision or really even able to talk about making a decision until we get the meeting with Cincinnati.  I have a ton of questions for this doctor.

So....we meet with her on Wednesday afternoon by phone as by then she will have time to review the pictures and medical records that we have already received.  After that Tim and I will have to make a very, very, very gigantic and life altering decision.  Our adoption agency tells us we have until Friday.  No pressure, here, while we are on our family vacation, trying to relax.  No pressure at all. So...by the time I touch down in Dayton with the boys on Saturday, we'll have this decided.

I am trying to not get too attached to this little girl because I might have to tell her no.  And what's funny is that when I looked at her picture my first thought was not, "how cute!" or "my baby!" or "yay!"  My first thought was, "DARN IT! No blonde hair. No blue eyes."  My second thought was, "Thank God, she has a filtrum."  (A sign that she might not be too terribly damaged from alcohol exposure in the womb.)  But, in her defense, I often look at Samuel's eyes and find myself feeling very sad that they are no longer blue. I still love him to pieces.

Fear not, oh blog stalkers, we will update again later this week with our decision. I will do my best to update my blog regularly so you can see the whole process.

And...since I can't share this girl's picture, or name, or birthweight (she was VERY tiny) or anything with you, I will show our fun vacation.  I will try to post more from our camera, this is all I have on my phone.