Collin Update part 2

Okay, he's asleep in the swing-thanks Bryan and Jessie-we will see how long this lasts.

The doctor eventually decided at about 9:30 pm that he wanted us to take Collin to the hospital in Guatemala City. We quickly packed a bag and arranged a ride with the b&b owner's husband, Israel. He drove us to the city at about 100 mph-very scary!! I could tell we were not in a desirable part of town to say the least. We pulled up to an unmarked building and knocked on the door. They let us in and opened the garage door for Israel to pull his car in. We walked in and they directed us to a room off of the garage. I should have followed my instincts and left but we were in a third world country and I had no idea what to expect. I had no idea if this was what hospitals were like so I tried to keep an open mind. There was no identifiable medical equipment and the doctor kept assuring us that the people torturing, I mean, examining Collin were doctors and he just wanted to get a second (and third) opinion. The brain surgeons made a collective decision that he had an ear infection and they would prescribe more antibiotics and we needed to spend the night!!! Poor Israel looked torn between not wanting to leave us there alone and running for his life. He said he would pick us up at 9am and left us to fin for ourselves in this garage they called a hospital.

They led us up some stairs to our room. It was very dark and all you heard were babies crying inconsolably. The room had 3 old hospital beds crammed in but the bonus was we did have a bathroom. The bonus ended up being the booby prize because when I looked in I saw blood on the toilet and all over the floor. Needless to say we were not using the bathroom. We did not turn off the lights for fear that bugs (or worse) might attack. They left us in the room and didn't come back until the morning. There was no water, no formula, no diapers, no nurses checking on my sick baby, no NOTHING! Thank goodness we packed a bag but we only had one bottle of water. We took "survival sips" so that we would have enough for a bottle and so we wouldn't have to pee!!

The doctor finally showed up and told us we needed to stay until 1pm since there was no improvement. AAGGHH!!! We were literally counting the minutes until 9am and now we had to stay until 1pm!! All they did was give him a shot of antibiotics and tell us he should be eating baby food and not just formula. We decided we were out of there at 1pm no matter what they said. The ironic thing was that at 12:55pm they brought in a hot bath for the baby with a 104 degree temperature and a tray of (slop) food. We were not hanging around for the bath or the food. As we left, people literally ran to our room and tore into the food. Luckily, Israel came back for us and drove us back top Antigua at about 90 mph this time. We wanted to kiss the ground when we arrived back at the bed and breakfast but instead we de-funked by immediately showering and throwing away the clothes and shoes we had been wearing. I quarantined all other items for the rest of the trip. Collin even perked up when we got back but unfortunately that didn't last long.

I had been pumping the poor child full of drugs for 3 days now and he was just getting worse. The owner of the B&B came by and was very concerned so she called her friend who runs a hospital in Antigua. She told us to bring him there right away. Off we went again. We packed a lot of water this time just in case. This hospital appeared much better and he was seen right away. Luckily Consuelo was with us to translate. They told us we would have to stay and we were given a room-clean, no blood, no bugs, one bed and a TV(but it didn't work). We started giving him Pedialyte a few ounces an hour. Thanks goodness he drank it.

Baby is up-have to take a break. Stay tuned for part 3.

Collin Update part one

It is hard to believe that Collin is finally here. It has been a week since we came home and life sure has changed and so has the house-I don't even recognize it. As I type he is breaking his record for length of time sleeping in his crib. He has been sleeping in bed with us. I was beginning to think that maybe he didn't like his room. I should probably be in bed enjoying the extra space but I can't seem to find any other time to get on the computer.

I'll start with our nightmare visit to Guatemala. My mom and I went down for a visit trip. The plan was to stay for a week. The phone rang at 4am and American Airlines wanted to advise me that our flight had been delayed and we would miss our connection. We were supposed to arrive at noon but we would now arrive at 8pm. This caused an array of issues for us but the main issue was that we would arrive too late to get the baby and would have to spend the night in the city and wait until the next day to get Collin. Once I woke up I realized American was not doing us any favors by getting us there 8 hours later so I called back and had them schedule us on another airline-crisis #1 averted.

We flew to Charlotte and then to Guatemala City. We were even able to upgrade to first class for the long portion. Now that is the way to start a trip. We arrived an hour later than we were supposed to, but our driver was still there-SCORE. Things were definitely looking up for us. He took us to the hotel in the city to pick up the baby and then to buy a cheap cell phone to use while we were there. The in country coordinator didn't show up so we had to have a hotel employee translate for us, just the beginning of my issues with the agency. But, we got Collin and we were on our way to Antigua.

We arrived at the hotel which was really more of a bed and breakfast. No one spoke English but they led us to our room. We were looking for a place to check in but it didn't exist. We were told the owner would stop by the next day to say hi. Keep in mind we didn't even give a credit card number when we made the reservation! It was like we were staying at a friends house except we had no idea what they were saying. There were 4 guest bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, a living room and some outdoor sitting areas. I wasn't sure that I was going to care for this type of place but it ended up being really nice and a real life saver. There was one other woman, Consuelo, staying there with her daughter, Leesie, waiting for her adoption to be finalized. She had been there for 6 weeks and spoke fluent Spanish. THANK YOU CONSUELO!! She saved us many, many, many times during the trip.

When we picked Collin up we were told he was not feeling well. He had 3 kinds of medicine to take. He was acting fine and seemed to remember me from the last trip. He was the same easy going, happy baby I remembered. We got settled in to the hotel and went out to check out the town a little before it got dark. The next day we saw a couple of churches with Consuelo and Leesie and had a nice dinner and bottle of wine. Collin seemed a little fussy and warm but not too bad. He waited to throw up until we were leaving thank goodness.

The next day we had a really nice lunch but Collin was really fussy and feeling hot ,but once again he waited to throw up until after lunch. I headed back to the hotel and mom and Consuelo went to the store to buy some wine. We had decided to stay in that night since Collin was sick so we needed some refreshments. We had met another girl, Francois, who was staying off and on at the hotel for a few nights while we were there. She was going to join us for "girls night"-Sorry Collin!

After the puking incident at the restaurant Collin seemed to just get worse and worse. His temperature rose to 104 degrees which made me very nervous. He also was refusing to take his bottle. I called the doctor and ....time is up...baby is calling LOUDLY!!!

To be continued...