Weight Loss and Food Issues

Mia having toast with jelly. She liked the 

taste, but not the stickiness.

When we got Mia, she had lost an estimated 2 lbs. That’s a little over 10% of her body weight. We don’t know if she was weighed incorrectly for the initial weight we received on her (19.5 lbs.), or if she did in fact lose this weight. When she was weighed in China at her medical exam with us there with her, she weighed 17.6 lbs. That’s about a 2 lb. difference after 5 days of heavy eating. My post on July 3 shows that she had already lost some at that point, weighing (18.7).  We believe she was transferred to stay at the orphanage on July 10, which could have caused her weight to drop more with grieving the loss of her foster family. We will never know for sure, but she is gaining steadily now. Her 18 months size cloths are still big around the waist though.

Also, as I had posted before, she came to us with food issues. She wouldn’t dare put food in her mouth. She would want to hold food in both hands and have you feed her. She would literally put a piece of food into our hands for us to feed her, rather than putting it into her own mouth. She started feeding herself some while we were still in China. She also didn’t want one tiny morsel of food wasted. If something was dropped, she would fuss for us to pick it up. Now, lots of food is dropped in the floor at our house, and it doesn’t seem to bother her.

Mia also couldn’t get enough to eat in those first couple weeks and was frantic when she saw food. She would eat as long as food was in front of her. When she was hungry, she got very upset. We had to make sure we had food ready for her when it was her regular time to eat, or we would have one upset baby. This could have come from the short stay at the orphanage, but looking back at the report we have on her from   August 10, 2011, it said that “When she saw her foster mother making milk for her, she would shout with wawawa sounds constantly. She has a quick temper, when eating, if you do not give something to eat, she will protest. “So, this tells us that these issues started before the orphanage. This too has gotten better, as she now starts playing with her food when she is full or she wants to get down from the table.

The formula that was given to us in China by the orphanage director was a DHA formula with prebiotics., which I believe is typically more expensive than regular formula. We were told that this was the formula that Mia was used to getting. She didn’t seem used to it at all and would hardly take any. We were told she was still on a bottle, but when we mentioned this to our guide, she told us that she was spoon fed her formula. This would take forever, I would think, and could be part of the reason for the weight loss if she wasn’t getting much table food along with it. Anyway, we tried the spoon feeding a couple times, and she wasn’t too interested. We then put it in the Nuk sippy cup, and she started drinking a little more, though only about 2 oz. over the course of the day. She seemed to prefer drinking water. We tried to make sure she was getting balanced meals with the table food she was eating.

Mia has now gained back those 2 lbs. She weighed 19 lbs. 9 oz. at her last doctor’ visit. She likes a wide variety of food, and she wants to feed herself all the time now.  This gets messy when she wants to feed herself soup or cereal. Her favorite foods are noodles, rice, fried eggs, bananas, ice cream and Cheerios, but there are many things she likes. She will try just about anything new that’s put in front of her. She still gets very upset when she is hungry, but overall the food issues have greatly improved over the last month since we received her, and I believe will completely disappear as she gets a little older. I do think that she now knows she will always have something to eat, and she won’t have to go hungry ever 

again.

                                                                                          Lori

Gotcha Day Revisited

Sorry it took so long to post after we got back home. A certain little someone has been keeping me busy.

It’s been a little over a month now since we received ourdaughter in China. That day was filled with all kinds of emotions. Brent and Iboth felt nausea as we waited at the hotel for our guide to take us to theCivil Affairs Office, where we would meet our daughter, Mia Xiao Wei, for thefirst time. At times, I even felt like I would faint.  It was a mixture of indescribable joy and anxiety at the same time. Satan was busy putting all kinds of thoughts into my mind. Werewe the right family for Mia? Are we too old to raise another child? Would shebe better off staying with the foster family in China? At the same time thatthe father of all lies was busy, God Almighty was taking care of business.

We were soon to meet our little miracle, a baby girl 17 months old that was born in China and left at three months of age at the gates of theBobai Welfare Institute. Dates, timing, and situations all had to line up perfectlyfor her to become part of our family. God knew that she would be the rightchild for us, and that we would be the right parents for her. His timing wasperfect as always. It was not God's will for her birth parents to abandon her, but it was His will for another family to take her in after she was.

When we got to the Civil Affairs Office, we weren’t sureif Mia was there yet or not. We saw other adopting families alongwith orphanage directors, nannies, and civil affair officers, and of course a fewchildren, but we didn’t see Mia at first. Our guide walked away from us to thefar end of a row of chairs. A group was sitting there with a child, butwe didn’t have a clear view. Our guide motioned us over to them. Mia wassitting  on the lap of the orphanage director.

We didn’t run and grab Mia for fear of having a screamingchild. We talked to her using a few of the Chinese words we know.

We then all had to head upstairs for our guide to takecare of some legalities. All the adopting families were ushered into a waitingroom/play area. The orphanage director put Mia down on a rocking toy for aminute. We stood watching her with silly grins on our faces and tears in our eyes, as she gave us a questioning look. The director then held her again,until one of the civil affairs officers came in and saw that Mia still hadn’tbeen given to us. We believe she scolded the director as she motioned for herto give Mia to me.

I took Mia in my arms and hugged her tight. She justmelted into me. Some of the gotcha day pictures may look like she washugging me back, but she was rather limp, and I believe she had checked outemotionally. She didn’t cry at all that day. When we got in the van to go back to our hotel,Igave her a sippy cup with some water. She gulped it like she was dying athirst.

Gotcha Day Video 1

Our first glimpse of Mia

Gotcha Day Video 2

Patiently waiting to hold her

Once we were back at the hotel, she became this happy, funny girl. She played and giggled for a long time, while our guide was there filling out some of the final paper work with us.

For the following couple of days , Mia would seem very happy and content, but then the grieving started. There were two days where she had bouts of unconsolable crying. Then came the temper tantrums, which are also a normal part of the greiving process for toddlers. For the most part, however, our times in China were good and happy. The greiving was necessary and oiur positive response to her during the hard times helped her to learn to trust us, and helped in the bonding process.

God Himself paved the way for adoption. Anyone that accepts what Christ did on the cross is an adopted son or daughterof God and becomes part of His forever family to dwell with Him for eternityafter they die. 

Lori

We're Home

We're home and doing well. I will be posting more pictures and hopefully videos in the next day or two. Thank you to everyone for your prayers and support!