Dian's Arrival and Evolving Transformation

Two months ago today, on April 11th, we posted on Facebook about the arrival of a new baby at our Beijing Infant Care Home. What may have struck you about the photo is the size of that baby--you can see he was not much bigger than our staff's hands! Even the tiny preemie clothes were way too big for him.

At 810 grams, or about 1 pound, 13 oz, he was even smaller than most of the little preemies that we come across.

This baby came from a new orphanage we just started working with a few weeks ago. They called us about a newborn that was very weak and small, and just three days old. Lily, one of our Senior Infant Care managers, promptly took a train out to see the baby personally. When she got there, he was in an incubator and on oxygen and an IV. But the hospital was very small and unequipped to deal with such a small and fragile preemie.  It was then that the weighing of the pros and cons commenced--an all too familiar situation for many of our medical staff, who are called upon to make these kinds of decisions every day.

If we left him there at the small local hospital, there was a good chance he would not survive, but the travel on the train ride was also a risk. Lily called our staff back in Beijing to discuss the situation.

One thing Lily did to help us make the decision was take him out of the incubator and watch him in the hospital for several hours.  She wanted to see if he could maintain his O2 sats without any help. After several hours of observation, removed from all medical support, she saw that he was stable and felt more confident that she could take him on the train.  Had he not done well, or if his O2 sats were dropping or unstable, she might have decided not to risk it. But ultimately, it was decided that bringing him to Beijing would ultimately be his best chance.

Lily gathered up the baby and brought him to the train station. She kangaroo'd him on the entire nine hour train ride back to Beijing (read more about Kangaroo Care here), which helped to regulate his body temperature and keep him warm. During the trip, she gave him very small amounts (2 ml at a time) of milk by feeding tube.

When she arrived in Beijing, we took Dian immediately to the hospital to be stabilized. Plus, Lily could tell by then that he was having trouble digesting those small amounts of milk, from the little feedings on the train. We knew that he could not tolerate oral feeds yet.  The only option was to feed by IV (TPN) and start oral feeds very gradually.

It's pretty apparent that this one is a fighter. After just a week and a half, he was up from 810 g to 1020 g (2 lbs 4 oz.)! He stayed in the hospital for a while more, but has since come home.

He's now in our Beijing Infant Care Home's preemie unit, and we hope to see him growing bigger and stronger as time goes by.

Just look at him today!

He's got a long way to go yet, but it's been amazing to see such a dramatic change in a relatively short period of time--just two months!

June 2014 Featured Child: Ya

This month’s featured child is Ya, Bai's (last month's featured child) younger foster sister. Ya came to the Little Flower Baby Home in late May 2012, when she was a one and a half years old. After about six months, she joined her Group Home family and has since been living at Group Home #6, together with Ji, Ling, Tao and Bai.

Ya was diagnosed with Bladder extrophy, and was admitted to the hospital for surgery as soon as she arrived. Actually, when she first arrived at Little Flower, Ya's name was "Su," and "she" was thought to be a boy!! Just looked at that short hair.

It was during pre-op testing that it was discovered that "Su" was actually a girl. Upon learning this, her orphanage changed her name to Ya. Here's a photo of Ya with her nanny in the hospital, who was doing a great job with the huge challenge of her post-op care (keeping her still, for one!)

After many weeks of bed rest, doctors finally allowed her to get up and start walking again. She was weak, but very happy to be out of bed.

She recovered, and this little "boy" has since become a healthy little girl.

The only remnants of her Bladder exstrophy are occasional urinary tract infections. Painful infections didn't help to increase her faith in doctors, and like most kids, she doesn't much like going to the hospital or seeing the doctor. But being a very brave girl, she's confident enough to deal with these challenges.

Ya is clever and has a very strong character. She knows her own mind! When she joined the Early Education center one year ago, she was only 2 and a half years old - one of the youngest kids at the school. But she would never feel like the youngest student in class. If you asked her, "What is your name?" her answer would most probably be "Jiejie", which means "older sister." Actually, that's how she likes to introduce herself to new people. Linda, who volunteered teaching English at our school recently, called her Jiejie for a whole week until she realized it wasn't her real name.

Here's a photo of Ya learning how to use chopsticks. Just look at that concentration!

For Ya, there is a big gap between right and wrong; there is no gray area in between. Rules have to be followed by everybody. And Ya really does make sure that those rules are followed by everyone, even her teachers! One time, she found Maria, our Curriculum Manager and teacher, eating with a fork and a spoon. The kids, however, usually only use either a fork OR a spoon. Ya straightened Maria out right away!

Seeing herself as the "older sister" among her classmates, Ya always wants to take the lead. Before lunch, there are always two children assigned to help prepare the tables by wiping them down and setting out the utensils. Ya will often serve as the "third helper," checking that her classmates have done everything correctly.

This outgoing and talkative little girl never has problems making new friends. She can talk and talk, conducting long conversations even with strangers. She is adorable and lovely, and she knows it!

Llamas, Piglets, and Pizza!

Recently, the Little Flower Early Education Center class visited Crab Island, a holiday spot on the outskirts of Beijing. Sponsored by Magic Hospital and 3e International School, the field trip was so fun for our students.

Everyone loaded onto the bus in the morning, especially excited to visit the little petting zoo on Crab Island.

When everyone arrived at the zoo, each of our students was assigned a buddy from 3e International School.

They all strolled into the zoo...

...and almost immediately saw the llamas and tiny piglets!

With the opportunity to bottle feed these baby animals, the kids stayed there for a while, everyone taking their turn to pet or feed the animals.

They continued their tour of the zoo, looking at monkeys, birds, goats, and other animals.

Before everyone knew it, it was lunch time. Pizza and watermelon was on the menu--a true warm weather feast!

3e International School also brought bubbles, which everyone had a blast with. The kids all headed back in the early afternoon, having had a great day in the sun.