Measles!

It's been quite a ride for the last 22 hours. Last night we found out that there was a measles outbreak in the orphanage Jemma is in and that two of the four babies from there are okay and the other two have complications. You can imagine our worry at that point and let me tell you - nightmares ensued throughout a virtually sleepless night. This morning the entire group gathered with Norman Niu, the head of the adoption agency, and we were whisked away on 3 buses (we are 38 families) and taken to one of China's best Dim Sum restaurants for a Sunday breakfast. There, Norman went over the logistics of everything, particularly the 5 different provinces we would be splitting off to, and which members of the China team would be flying with us. Norman and Grace will be traveling to Nanjing in the Jiangsu province with us and 10 other families. Norman has facilitated over 200 adoption trips to China over the past 10 years and he said, "in 10 years we have had only 2 outbreaks of chicken pox - one was this past July and one was many years ago. Now, we have a measles outbreak, which is extremely rare, and 4 families are affected." Our hearts were pounding out of our chests. He then said he would talk to the four families separately, and that one family would have to wait at least 20 days before getting their baby. Finally, after many announcements from various members of the China team and 7 courses of Dim Sum later, we sat down with Norman. It turns out that one baby contracted measles two days ago, and therefore the parents must go home and come back next month. Luckily that family lives in Hong Kong, so although they were heartbroken, they haven't made the same excursion that most of us have so it was less of a blow. Then we found out that Jemma and another baby contracted the measles mid-August, and that they were clear, meaning they were in the recovery stage, and we would be able to get them at the scheduled time on Monday, September 5. Also, that we would be free to socialize with everyone as we they were no longer contagious. Thank God! The last family's baby had her vaccination early August, and is currently fine, however, she needs to be carefully supervised and they have to remain separate from the group for about 5 days. We are quite sympathetic to their situation and we are here to help in any way we can. What a way for us to start parenting, huh? Jeez. I guess the upside is, that Jemma won't need the measles vaccination so that's one less shot for her to get, and she'll never get measles again. Also, it's already given us a taste of "the worries" that parents have and boy, even though we haven't met this little girl yet, we are so attached and want everything to be okay for her. Tomorrow is our official "Gotcha Day", yup, that's what they call it when you "get" your baby. We have breakfast at 5:30 a.m. in order to leave by 6 a.m. We will go to the Ministry of Civil Affairs Office at 4:30 p.m. to finally get Jemma. We'll post pictures of our cutie pie and her little red spots. Now we're going to get massages, as the knots in our backs are epic.