We’re David and Lois McBeath. We live in Point Pleasant, WV – a small town along the Ohio River on the western side of the state. We have 2 sons. Austin is 15. He’s a sophomore at Pt. Pleasant High School. Darrell is almost 12. He’s in the 6th grade at Roosevelt Elementary.
We actually began our adoption journey more than 10 years ago. I saw an ad in the newspaper about Chinese babies. We called about it, but it just wasn’t even feasible at that time in our life. All these years, it was always there, stuck somewhere in the back of our minds. I don't know why exactly – it just was. The thought never completely went away.
We also talked off and on about having another child. Our house was only 3 bedrooms, and we know the boys could have been in a room together, but we didn't want to do that if we didn't have to. In the spring of 2006, for some reason (I don't recall exactly what) - it came up again. We started thinking and talking - why not? So we started checking into it more. We did a lot of research online. The more we found out, the more we felt a calling, a desire and even a need to do this.
We started the adoption and added onto the house all at the same time. It took about 6 months to get the paperwork together. Then about another month after we sent it to China for them to translate it and 'log us in' (11/6/06). That's when we started to officially wait.
We finally got "THE CALL" on 7/13/08. It was a Sunday afternoon! After 2 ½ years, we are finally going to get our baby!


Leila Ann McBeath, formally known as Shun Xi Yi, was born on Oct 29, 2007. She had a cleft lip and cleft palate. The lip has been repaired, but not the palate. (We'll have to do that when we get her home.) She's in the Children's Welfare Institute of Shunde District of Foshan City, which is located in the Guangdong Province, in the southern part of China.

Shunde, the hometown of flowers, is one of four cities under the jurisdiction of Foshan City. Covering an area of 806 sq meters and with a population of 1.05 million, Shunde City is situated in the middle of the fertile Pearl River Delta, between Guangzhou and Hong Kong. It was set up as a county in the 3rd year (1452 AD) of the Jintai reign of the Ming Dynasy (1368-1644), and conferred with the administrative status of a city in 1992 by the State Council.

Foshan City is also where the actor Bruce Lee was from.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Surgery





Well, it's over and we're home now.
Surgery is not fun. In fact, the 1st 24 hours were horrible. They said the actual surgery went well. I was allowed to stay with her clear up until she went to sleep. I didn't expect that, but that was really good since she has major separation issues.

After the surgery, we knew there would be a lot of bloody drool, but it seemed like there was more than we expected. Then it started flowing from her nose. We asked if that much was normal. The nurse said - no, not really. They ended up calling the doctor to come back in. They syringed her mouth out, and decided it was okay.
They were also alternating between tylenol 3 w/ codiene and ibuprofine for pain. By Fri night, nothing was working - she was just crying. They called the dr back again and ended up giving her morphine. It worked, but sleep was very fitful, 15-30 minutes at a time.
She also cried if we even attempted to lay her down.
She had an IV in one foot and the pulse/O2 indicator on the other. The monitor would beep if her heartrate went over 200 - which it did when she cried. Needless to say, we beeped a lot.
She was so swollen from all the IV fluids too.
It made for a very long night.

She does have arm restraints on now. These are to keep her from bending her arms and putting anything in her mouth. She's supposed to wear them for 3 weeks. At this point, they don't seem to bother her. I'm surprised (and very, very grateful).
She's eating (stage 2 baby food), but still not drinking much.
You can definitely tell when the pain medicine wears off, but we're all doing better now.

4 comments:

Nicole said...

OH poor little girl, I can only imagine! I am so glad to hear you are all home, now you can be on your way to recovery. keep us posted, ok? We thought and prayed for you often during the weekend!!!
Hope Leila feels MUCH better soon!!!

Kimberly said...

We are glad to see the update. Poor Leila-- and you, too. It is so hard to watch your baby go through something so painful. Mark & I have continued to pray for Leila. I hope that from here on out her recovery will go much more smoothly!!

Tim and Tanya said...

I'm so glad the surgery went well-it's hard to see your child in so much pain. Hope last night was better! You're in our prayers!

Susan said...

I've been offline for a while now & had no idea that the surgery was last week! We will definitely be praying for you. I know it's really hard, but there was no sense in me telling you that & worrying you any more than you already were. Just know that by day 2 or 3 of being home things were MUCH better! We kept Katey on Tylenol Codine for a few days and then were able to switch to regular tylenol and from that point on we were on our way back to normal. Believe it or not, the 10 days went by quickly.