We woke Monday morning feeling much more refreshed and relaxed and made our way down to the American breakfast the hotel offered all its travellers. Lidia picked us up at 930am as promised and took us to the Ministry of Education, where we received our official referral of the twin boys, Pavel and Alexander. We signed and accepted our referral and made our way to the orphange #5, in the city, and a short drive from the hotel . Dr. Oleg Togayev, Chief Pediatrician of the Medical institute in Moscow and our independently hired Doctor, was already waiting for us at the orphange and reviewing the children's extensive medical files.
We entered a snow covered yard and a up the steps to the hall of the orphange. We were give blue hospital booties to cover our shoes from the outside dirt and made our way to the second floor playroom where Dr. Oleg was waiting for us and where we sat for a few minutes before they brought our boys to us.
That initial moment when the care givers walked into the room with these two tiny little boys, our hearts stopped. They placed them on the carpeting and we approached them slowly and knelt to say hello. They looked scared, confused and overwhelmed by the people and the atmosphere of the room. This was all new to the 14 month old twins and new to us as well.
We brought out some of the toys, including a musical dog that quickly became the hit of the playroom.
Our American friend Jeni was in the room with their son Thomas, and we said hi and shared some toys between the kids. It quickly became clear who of the twins was the socialite, laugh a minute, ants in the pants, boy...Alexander (Noah). He warmed to us immediately and laughed and giggled as you tickled his belly that hung out from the shirt that was clearly too short for him. Pavel (Jack) was going to be more work, and he studied us and made us "prove" ourselves to him. I found out that I could win him over and get a smile by tickling his toes !!
But he still cautiously smiled and studied us like we were lab mice. Dr. Oleg did an exstensive exam on each of the boys after consulting with the orphange doctor about their Medical Files. he Said he was VERY IMPRESSED on how thick and extensive the medical files were and he had never seen that in an orphange. This news put us at ease. Dr. Oleg did cognitive, physical, and sensory exams on both the boys, and we did our own studying, photo taking and video at the same time.
Pavel (Jack) was interested in the puzzle I brought and amazed me by trying to imitate me and put the pieces back together. Pretty advanced for a 14 month old...then of course, in infant fashion, he put the puzzle in his mouth.
Both boys could walk assisted while holding your hand, could stand for a few minutes on their own, followed toys, resonded to their nicknames (Sasha and Pasha) and looked for dropped objects. They laughed, smiled and played like typical 14 month old boys.
After several hours (about 3) Dr Oleg formed his evaluation and gave us our much needed news about the boys and our pending adoption.
In summation....The only thing these boys need is loving parents, a good home and care and interaction. There is no more risk with these twins then with any adopted child. There was absolutely NO sign or indication of FAS (which was a relief) and their bio mom actually received pre natal care at about 27 weeks. Rare for Russia and made Dr. Oleg very surprised and happy.
Dr. Oleg's eval was what we needed to hear, as we had already fallen in love with the boys.
Of course they were a bit underweight, nothing that a few months with grandmom wouldn't fix and they will need the standard months of adjustment from institutional life to home life, but we knew that they would thrive outside the orphange.
although the care and medical at this orphange is the best in Russia, institutional life is still not for any child. The unfortunate part is that this region of Ekaterinburg takes about 6-8 months to complete adoptions, so that's a long time for us to be apart from our boys both emotionally and developmentally.
We left Day One on cloud nine knowing that we have just passed the next hill of adoption and officially announced that we were adopting Pavel and Alexander as our sons ! 3/1/10, mark the date...it will be just one of many miraculous ones to come. !
We entered a snow covered yard and a up the steps to the hall of the orphange. We were give blue hospital booties to cover our shoes from the outside dirt and made our way to the second floor playroom where Dr. Oleg was waiting for us and where we sat for a few minutes before they brought our boys to us.
That initial moment when the care givers walked into the room with these two tiny little boys, our hearts stopped. They placed them on the carpeting and we approached them slowly and knelt to say hello. They looked scared, confused and overwhelmed by the people and the atmosphere of the room. This was all new to the 14 month old twins and new to us as well.
We brought out some of the toys, including a musical dog that quickly became the hit of the playroom.
Our American friend Jeni was in the room with their son Thomas, and we said hi and shared some toys between the kids. It quickly became clear who of the twins was the socialite, laugh a minute, ants in the pants, boy...Alexander (Noah). He warmed to us immediately and laughed and giggled as you tickled his belly that hung out from the shirt that was clearly too short for him. Pavel (Jack) was going to be more work, and he studied us and made us "prove" ourselves to him. I found out that I could win him over and get a smile by tickling his toes !!
But he still cautiously smiled and studied us like we were lab mice. Dr. Oleg did an exstensive exam on each of the boys after consulting with the orphange doctor about their Medical Files. he Said he was VERY IMPRESSED on how thick and extensive the medical files were and he had never seen that in an orphange. This news put us at ease. Dr. Oleg did cognitive, physical, and sensory exams on both the boys, and we did our own studying, photo taking and video at the same time.
Pavel (Jack) was interested in the puzzle I brought and amazed me by trying to imitate me and put the pieces back together. Pretty advanced for a 14 month old...then of course, in infant fashion, he put the puzzle in his mouth.
Both boys could walk assisted while holding your hand, could stand for a few minutes on their own, followed toys, resonded to their nicknames (Sasha and Pasha) and looked for dropped objects. They laughed, smiled and played like typical 14 month old boys.
After several hours (about 3) Dr Oleg formed his evaluation and gave us our much needed news about the boys and our pending adoption.
In summation....The only thing these boys need is loving parents, a good home and care and interaction. There is no more risk with these twins then with any adopted child. There was absolutely NO sign or indication of FAS (which was a relief) and their bio mom actually received pre natal care at about 27 weeks. Rare for Russia and made Dr. Oleg very surprised and happy.
Dr. Oleg's eval was what we needed to hear, as we had already fallen in love with the boys.
Of course they were a bit underweight, nothing that a few months with grandmom wouldn't fix and they will need the standard months of adjustment from institutional life to home life, but we knew that they would thrive outside the orphange.
although the care and medical at this orphange is the best in Russia, institutional life is still not for any child. The unfortunate part is that this region of Ekaterinburg takes about 6-8 months to complete adoptions, so that's a long time for us to be apart from our boys both emotionally and developmentally.
We left Day One on cloud nine knowing that we have just passed the next hill of adoption and officially announced that we were adopting Pavel and Alexander as our sons ! 3/1/10, mark the date...it will be just one of many miraculous ones to come. !
1 comment:
What a wonderful post! The boys are just so precious.
And thank you so much for putting me on your "invited blog reader" list. It seems like yesterday when we were there in Ekat feeling the same excitement ~ and it's an honor to be able to follow along with you.
Enjoy the next few days and take TONS of pictures. You'll be staring at them daily/hourly/every minute you can once you get home. :)
Will check in tomorrow!
~Laura
P.S. Can you please tell Lydia that Laura, Jon and Kristina said "Priviat!!!"?
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