first appointment at cheo

Today was Phebe's first appointment at the Adoption Clinic in CHEO (Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario).

Phebe did great. As far as cognitively, this girl is way ahead of the game! Gross motor skills, fine motor skills, developmentally - everything seems great.

Her height and head circumference is around the 50th percentile. Her weight is low, something like 10th percentile. We're not 100% sure, but that could be to do with her heart condition, because believe me, our Phebe girl can eat! There is a chance that her heart is working harder because of the VSD, which is keeping her weight low. Her VSD is definitely there - as we were told by the Doctor in Beijing. In fact, we are still waiting for a referral for a cardiologist at CHEO, but after Dr. MacDonnell listened to her heart today, she said she would take a walk over to the Cardiology Department and have a chat with them to see if she could hurry things along a little.

Phebe is not 'at risk' and outwardly she has no signs of having a heart condition, but you can feel the rasping when you put your hand on her chest and there is a swooshing noise (blood flowing through the chamber of her heart, where the hole is) when listening with the stethoscope. She will probably need surgery - although we will have to consult with the Cardiologist to know for sure. We are hoping that the surgery and patching of the hole can be done via keyhole surgery.

Just thinking about my little girl undergoing surgery drains me a little, I feel anxious about the idea of it. But I knew when we accepted Phebe's referral that I would do anything for her. I remember our co-ordinator asking us if we needed time to consult with a doctor to find our how bad her heart condition was. I just remember thinking that it didn't matter, we'd do anything for this child... we were totally smitten and our love was unconditional from the moment we saw her little face.

And here we are. We are MORE than smitten. We are truly in love! She has a way about her that I can't exactly say what, but it just makes you fall in love with her, over and over again, in so many different little ways.