Our first visit at the baby home
When we got to the baby home, we were taken to a room where we met with the baby home's doctor since the director is on vacation. The doctor reviewed Veronika's {that is what the baby home calls her} history with us and we had a chance to ask some questions. The doctor raved about Veronika, telling us how cute she is and how incredibly friendly she is. She was born at 36 weeks gestation, was 4.23 pounds and measured 18.1 inches long at birth. She now weighs 27 pounds and is 30 inches tall ... she is a little tanker! Veronika is up to date on her immunizations and in 2007, she had one cold and one ear infection. She has hit her milestones appropriately for a child with Down syndrome and she is now walking assisted. She has been seen by an eye doctor and an ENT, both of whom found no problems. Veronika does have a heart defect ... a VSD, which is the same defect Payton had that closed by the time she was six months old. Veronika had an ECHO in July 2008 and her hole continues to get smaller ... I believe at birth the hole was 3.5mm. Either way, her heart defect is not a huge concern to us and it is probable that she will never need surgery.
A little while later, the baby home's social worker came in and we were able to ask her questions about Veronika's birth family. Her birth parents {who are married} were both born in 1983, making them 23 years old when they had her. They relinquished their rights when Veronika was one month old after her karyotype confirmed that she has Down syndrome. They did not, however, have custody of her prior to that. After she was born in a rural hospital, she was transferred to a maternity ward because she was not doing that great after her mother had a very fast delivery {1.5 hours}. The doctors suspected at that time that she had Down syndrome and her birth parents never saw her again after that ... at least that is what is speculated since there is no record of it. After she was released from the hospital at 1 month 12 days old, she was taken to the baby home, where she has lived since. The baby home's social worker has had telephonic contact with the birth mother, however nobody has ever been to visit Veronika. The birth mother is aware that we will be adopting Veronika and she has told the social worker that she will cooperate and meet with the social worker next week to provide some sort of paperwork. {I'm not exactly sure what that is all about.} Veronika has an older sister who was born in 2002 and that girl is being raised by their birth parents.
We also had a chance to speak with one of Veronika's caregivers, who also raved about her. She typically wakes in the morning around 7:30 a.m., has breakfast at 8 a.m., snack at 10 a.m., lunch at noon and nap after lunch for a couple hours. She eats dinner around 5 p.m. and goes to bed at 8 p.m. The caregiver told us she is a great sleeper {we need that around our house!} and that she goes to sleep on her own. We'll see if that changes when we get her home. LOL.
And then they brought Veronika in to meet us ...
To be continued ...
A little while later, the baby home's social worker came in and we were able to ask her questions about Veronika's birth family. Her birth parents {who are married} were both born in 1983, making them 23 years old when they had her. They relinquished their rights when Veronika was one month old after her karyotype confirmed that she has Down syndrome. They did not, however, have custody of her prior to that. After she was born in a rural hospital, she was transferred to a maternity ward because she was not doing that great after her mother had a very fast delivery {1.5 hours}. The doctors suspected at that time that she had Down syndrome and her birth parents never saw her again after that ... at least that is what is speculated since there is no record of it. After she was released from the hospital at 1 month 12 days old, she was taken to the baby home, where she has lived since. The baby home's social worker has had telephonic contact with the birth mother, however nobody has ever been to visit Veronika. The birth mother is aware that we will be adopting Veronika and she has told the social worker that she will cooperate and meet with the social worker next week to provide some sort of paperwork. {I'm not exactly sure what that is all about.} Veronika has an older sister who was born in 2002 and that girl is being raised by their birth parents.
We also had a chance to speak with one of Veronika's caregivers, who also raved about her. She typically wakes in the morning around 7:30 a.m., has breakfast at 8 a.m., snack at 10 a.m., lunch at noon and nap after lunch for a couple hours. She eats dinner around 5 p.m. and goes to bed at 8 p.m. The caregiver told us she is a great sleeper {we need that around our house!} and that she goes to sleep on her own. We'll see if that changes when we get her home. LOL.
And then they brought Veronika in to meet us ...
To be continued ...