Sunday, March 2, 2008
WE'RE HOME!

I know that I shared my concerns earlier about Peyton being able to sit still and sit quietly on our long journey home. The good news is that he did. In fact, he sat too still. Peyton actually slept on every single flight. He even slept for almost 14 hours solid on the long flight! Boy, I better watch what I ask for when I ask you all to pray!! Ha Ha!! Seriously though, Peyton began throwing up when we were in line to board our flight from Hong Kong to Chicago, which was soon after photo number 6 was taken.

The poor little guy laid in my lap the rest of the time. He not only couldn’t keep any food or drink down but he also had diarrhea. We didn’t have a way to take his temperature but he was obviously burning up. He would wake up periodically to moan and rub his head. We tried fanning him and keeping a cold cloth on his head to keep him cool.

When we arrived in Chicago Immigration called for a doctor. The doctor took his temperature, which at that point had risen to 104.7. They quickly ushered us past long lines and referred us to the clinic. The clinic staff encouraged us to get him to the emergency room at Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati as soon as we landed.

We were thrilled to see family and friends waiting for us at the airport but the moment, as you can imagine, was bittersweet. It was so sad to tell all of their little happy faces, with their signs and balloons, that we would be canceling our “Welcome Home” dinner. With the help of others we managed to make a quick call to our Pediatrician, who did us a huge favor by calling ahead to the ER.

What did that call buy us? Well, it bought us a private room with no wait. It seems that coming from a foreign country with a high fever and multiple symptoms is of grave concern. We were quarantined for the next few hours. With this came all the food and drink we wanted. Peyton was even given a handmade blanket from the Linus Foundation. The staff had to keep waking all of us up when they entered the room. They drew lots of blood and came to the conclusion that it was just a viral thing…this seems to be the standard answer for, “We have no idea what’s wrong.”

It is Sunday morning (about 1:33 a.m.) and Peyton is progressing. He received his vaccinations and PPD test on Friday. I couldn’t help but think, “Welcome to America my son!” Our poor child has been stuck more times than I ever want to remember, and they aren’t done yet. With the doctors visit on Friday came a list of specialists we must now see. It’s all coming back to me now, why my maternity leave with Olivia seemed like a blur.

Peyton didn’t seem to mind that our home lacked marble floors and gold chrome…something we enjoyed at the White Swan Hotel. However, the family does seem to mind the endless breakfast buffet! Mommy simply cannot compete with that one!! He loves his new toys and seems rather comfortable with the place. Although frightened at first, he has also warmed up to our 21year old cat, Molly. At one point he had a great idea to take Molly for a “walk” and drug her, by her tail, across the dining room floor.

Frequent conversations go like this...
Olivia: “Uh Oh! Mommy come here, quick!!”
Mommy: “Why? What is your brother doing now?”
Olivia: “He’s trying to drive his fire truck over Molly!”

We know these are all wonderful signs that he’s feeling better. We can’t wait ‘til he meets the dog!

We can’t thank you enough for following us on this journey. We will miss writing to all of you as much as you might miss checking in on us. It is has been fun hearing from people we haven’t heard from in years, as well as hearing from people in our church, school, and work communities. In case you don’t know, we actually receive a cd of our website. Peyton will be able to read all of your wonderful words of encouragement one day. What a keepsake this will be! We will keep all of you in our prayers and ask that you remember us as well. We know the real journey has just begun.

God bless!
The Andry Family