FIRST VISIT WITH ANTONINA

BABY HOUSE VISIT #1

Sorry, we did not post anything yesterday. The truth is that it was a day filled with mixed emotions, both happy and sad. Well, let me start from the beginning. We were picked up at about 9:30 to go to the baby house for our first visit with Antonina. Since the baby house is within Tver, we drove for about 15 minutes. Once inside, we were asked to have a seat in a small reception area while we waited for the Baby House Director to come talk to us to go over the medical information for Antonina. At first is so much information that you feel a little overwhelmed. You see, Antonina was born at 36 weeks, right at the beginning of the 8th month and she was born with some complications, which I cannot go in great detailed (we are not allowed to talk about that). Well, in the middle talking to the director the caregiver brought Antonina to us…..Ohh my God, we wanted to drop what we were doing to carry her, so Mauri got her while I continued to make notes. We got to ask a series of medical questions that we had, but only medical. The baby house social worker or inspector as they call it was supposed to be present on the first visit, but she was busy at court. So we were told that we were going to go for a second visit in the afternoon in order to be observed with the Antonina by the inspector. Once we were finished with the medical director we got the one on one with Antonina, oh my God, our heart melted, when we got to play with her. Antonina is 19 months old, but she is soooo tiny, she looks like a 9 month old baby, instead of a 19 month old. She is so skinny and fragile. When you hold her, you worry that you might “break her” by carrying her. Like I said before, they brought her down, she was wearing a blue party dress. Don’t take me wrong she looked so cute, like a precious little doll. I immediately requested if we could change her clothing that we wanted to put her in one the outfits we had bought for her. At first they said no, then after they agreed. Well, the first outfit was too big for her (12 month); the second outfit that we tried did fit her well (9 months). She looked adorable. We took a lot of pictures, but unfortunately, we cannot post them, for confidentiality issues we are not allowed. We video taped her playing with some of the toys we brought for her. She had fun with the one that has music, she starting dancing and she looked happy. We taught her to throw kisses and she learned quickly, it melted my heart when she will bow her head for me to kiss her. It is an amazing feeling. Mauri and I are somewhat concerned because she is so malnourished and she is developmentally delayed about 7/9 months, and also she cannot walk yet. She walks with assistance (when you are holding her hands) but she cannot do it by herself yet. They will allow us another visit in the afternoon, I will post more later. Thanks for checking in on us….