Seattle Children’s
June 17, 2012
Tomorrow is our first appointment with the Craniofacial
center at Seattle Children’s Hospital. We check in at 11:00 am, and we’ll meet
with six different doctors or specialists, finishing up around 2:00 pm.
We have never experienced Children’s Hospital, but we have
heard many wonderful things about it. Two friends work on the nursing staff
there, so we have some inside perspectives about how amazing it is. And even
though it’s a little nerve racking to take a child fresh of the plane from
China and begin the cleft lip and palate repair, it’s also a blessing to get
going on the journey of repair, which moves Matthew closer to full health and
development, especially with his speech.
I spent some time on the Children’s website today, looking
up each of the physicians or specialists we’ll be seeing. And by the time I was
done, I found myself in tears. Each face that came up on my screen seemed so
kind to me, so wise, so caring. We’ll literally be putting Matthew into the
hands of a team of people who will support him through two major surgeries
(with more to follow in the future, likely) and all the healing, development,
and new learning he’ll have to do.
Every doctor had such a child-centered philosophy of care—I
felt grateful for the opportunity to work with this group of people, and I
haven’t even met them yet.
We will continue to use this blog site as a place to update
our friends and family on our adoption progress, including Matthew’s surgeries
and healing. My friend Kaitlin will no longer be managing things, as I’m back
in the U.S. and can do it myself. That also means we won’t be sending out any
emails letting people know there is a new blog post up. But I will try to write
a couple times each week, so if you are enjoying following our journey, I’d
encourage you to continue stopping by when you think about it.
Also, if you have a blog reader program or have a Google
account or some other way to read or keep up on blogs, please feel free to snag
our blog address or sign up to “subscribe” to our blog.
We enjoyed a simple, sweet day together celebrating Aaron
and my dad Bruce for Father’s Day. True to what you’d expect from the Pacific
Northwest, our picnic plans turned to rain, so we huddled under a shelter to
eat our sandwiches—but we had a blast. Just being outside was a delight.
Sweet Maya at the park |
Matthew is playing and moving around so much these days |
Sam comes out of the slide |
Matthew's 2nd time on a swing--he loves it! |
My two big kids! |
Matthew's first Father's Day with a daddy to celebrate! |
Waiting out the rain under the picnic shelter. |
Maya, Sam, Bapa and Marmnie. |
What a day for all....to have a new little one apart of your family on Father's Day. Next year Matthew won't even remember not having a Daddy for the first 18 months and will RUN up to Aaron with hugs and kisses and SHOUT "Daddy!!" These days feel long, I"m sure, especially when sleep is inconsistent...you experience all the minutes around the clock, so they really are long. And a year from now, looking back, I'm guessing you'll be amazed at how far Matthew and all of you have come in such a relatively short time. Time is a funny thing that way.
ReplyDeleteThinking about your visit yesterday and eager to hear how it went. Hugs and kisses to all.