Medical Examination on Shamian Island

We were on the bus at 9:30 and headed over to Shamian Island where the medical examinations for all of the kids took place. Hannah Mei was quite the trooper. There were three components to the exam--all necessary for the kids to get visas to leave the country. She was given a clean bill of health. Our guides said not to take the exams too seriously as it is really just a very, very basic check up. They weighed her, measured her head circumference, and checked her height. They translated the vaccination records for those that had not been translated in the provinces where the various families had been. Hannah had her hearing checked. The dr. said that there was no infection but she said I should clean the wax out of the right ear. I didn't want to tell her that I'm always afraid to do that with little kids. Anyway, I'll leave that for KIDZDOCS in Virginia! ha!

They listened to her heart & checked her temperature. Again, these were all very basic checks but I thought it was fun to watch her watch them. Oh, Hannah does have a rather large black and blue spot on her back & buttocks. For those of you who don't know, many kids from Asia have what we would consider to be a bruised looking blemish on their buttocks....sometimes it goes down the legs. I actually don't know why such a thing exists on Asian children.

Anyway, it's called the "Mongolian Spot". I would send you a photo of it but I don't want people who might be looking at this blog to think I am 'weird' or something sending such photos into cyberspace....so, you'll just have to google search it if you are curious.

What I didn't know is that there can be multiple ones. In her case she has a perfectly round circle above the buttocks about the size of 2 quarters. Her actual lower back and buttocks are really a black/blue color. It really does look like a bruise. For Asian parents they think nothing of it & are quite shocked that Caucasian children don't have this mark. I have been told by the parents here who have previously adopted that in the States if you have your child in day care or some kind of babysitter watch the child you need to make certain that they understand that your child has the Mongolian spot lest they think you are abusing your child. If you saw it and you didn't know such a thing existed, you might suspect she had been harmed in some way. It's that noticeable. I asked the dr. if it was normal to have two like she has. Answer- YES!

Hannah doesn't have much of a gag reflex like her 'mommy' and brother Ian have. She opened her mouth wide during the examination & didn't make a peep. It was Ian who was most horrified when the doctor at one point was teasing him and wanted check his vitals! ha! Ian was like NO WAY! ha-ha! Several of the kids in the office were really scared. Some were crying. I asked Ian what we could say to Hannah so she would have a good time w/ the dr. and not be afraid. I heard him tell her to 'Be a good girl and don't be scared baby Hannah!'....so cute.
All in all the medical people were very nice and now I can say that this last hoop prior to getting our visas is over!! Yippee for that!

Weighing Hannah Mei. I was so nervous for her I didn't actually listen to what they said she weighed. I know, I know you are thinking......DUH! ha-ha! I will get the report later tonight & I can check then. Plus, I think they weighed her in kilos anyway so it wouldn't mean that much to me.