Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Final

In a court hearing completely devoid of fanfare, Olivia's adoption was finalized today.

Because of various circumstances, none of our family was able to make it to the hearing. This was fortunate because the hearing lasted all of 3 minutes, and Olivia cried through the whole thing.

It turns out that the whole teething thing that seemed to take a nasty turn yesterday was actually the beginning symptoms of some nasty infection. I still think she's teething, which just adds insult to injury at this point because she has various sources for her misery. She slept very little last night, sleeping in 30 and 60 minute intervals all night. The Tylenol and ibuprofen didn't seem to be doing much for her fever...at least not for long. She was so exhausted that she fell asleep during breakfast, which she NEVER does.


Our hearing was scheduled for 9:00 a.m., and we left the house at 8:00. By the time we arrived, Olivia was burning up. She had been moaning some, and by the time we entered the courthouse, she was shivering (it was over 80 degrees today). We waited about 15 minutes for the hearing to start, and by then she was at her wits end. It was a constant "I'm sick!" cry...not a wail or scream, just a pittiful, constant sob. Thankfully, the judge and attorney were very understanding, and as soon as we were all official and stuff, we headed off to the doctor's office.

Because of circumstances, this was the only picture we got at the courthouse (Olivia with Daddy in the atrium).


The doctor ordered some lab tests to rule out some things. The nice nurses who made her scream by drawing blood gave her a stuffed "Fox in Socks" doll. Here she is with it on the way home. You can see the bandage on her arm where they drew blood.


All evidence (so far) points to some internal infection that she's fighting. So we started her on antibiotics tonight and are praying they do the trick. Tonight will probably be a long night of fitful sleep and constant doses of medication to keep her fever down. It got up to almost 102 degrees at one point today.

So, in summary, it was a pretty crummy day overall, but at least she's legally and totally ours now. I feel like we should have felt the weight of this momentous occasion, but in the end, we were too busy being parents to our sick little girl to dwell on the meaning of the day.

Now I must get to sleep. Olivia just went down for the night, which likely means that she'll be up in a couple of hours needing comfort and more drugs. After last night, I need all the sleep I can get while I can get it.

4 comments:

HereWeGoAJen said...

Congratulations!

Poor Olivia. I hope she feels better soon.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations!

You know, it's sort of fitting. Don't you think? That the day she is legally and totally yours is the day when you have to max out the parenting. It's like, "You're PARENTS!" Yay!

Maygy said...

So happy to hear about the finalization - it's such a great day, because it's all official, but I agree with you that it is also sort of strange, because it's always been final to you! :) Hope Olivia feels better as soon as possible...she is so adorable, even when she's feeling sick.

Lizzie said...

Congratulations! Too bad the celebrations included a trip to the doctor instead of to the ice cream joint or something comparable. I hope that sweet girl feels better real quick.