Another step checked off the list

Yesterday afternoon (Monday), we took a cab to the Temple of Literature, which really isn't very far, but we were walking from there to do some shopping. After a little shopping we went back to the Temple of Literature to see if our tour guide from last Saturday was there. She is the Vietnamese woman who was our tour guide when we took the day long city tour. She also works at the Temple of Literature, and she wanted us to stop in to see her after Ava was ours. She held Ava for a little while, and all the time Ava kept looking at Mark and I, as if we were going to leave her with this woman. I think she's bonding well with us. We walked back and it was so humid. When we got back to our room, one of the other families in our group called to see if we wanted to go shopping to the Old Quarter. So we did some more shopping. The streets were so crowded, you wouldn't believe it. As soon as we got our of the cab, the street vendors swarmed around us trying to sell us our wares. Some of them even followed us from store to store. Then we went to dinner at our favorite restaurant, Al Fresco's, where they serve a variety of food, American, Mexican, Asian and Italian. When we got back to the hotel, we posted the pictures.

Ava only woke up once again last night, sleeping for 5 1/2 hours at a time. We talked to the boys and Mark's mom this morning. We had been talking to them every few days, but now we talk daily. We went to breakfast and met in the lobby at 8:30am to go pick up the baby's passports. We are excited that another step of the process is completed. Then it was off to the clinic for the visa medical exam. We had a scare there. We saw a Dutch doctor and he said, There's only 1 thing wrong with her. That scared me immediately. It seems she has an enlarged spleen, which can be due to anemia. So he wanted to do an ultrasound and draw some blood to make sure. He said not to worry, it wouldn't delay our travel back home. But if he writes enlarged spleen on the medical report for the Embassy, they will want to know why. We went back to the waiting room to wait. I was very emotional, the first thing that came to my mind was what we went through with Luke. Because he was also 3 months old and it all started with an ultrasound. The other 2 families stayed there to wait with us. The ultrasound technician said her spleen size is within the normal range. But the doctor still wanted to draw blood. They wouldn't let us be in the room when they did this. We had to wait in the hall and listen to her cry. I was hoping they would only have to poke her once. Then back to the waiting room to wait for the doctor's report. The doctor said her blood work is normal. And he gave us copies of the lab report and his report to take back home to our pediatrician. He still thinks the spleen is enlarged, but he's not that concerned about it. At least it won't delay our travel home. We ended up being there about 4 hours. We walked down the street with one of the other families and had lunch at Al Fresco's. By the time we arrived back at our room, we were exhausted. I didn't think I would ever say this, but it actually felt good to be back and relax a little.

So now we're waiting to hear about our 2nd Embassy appointment. Our agency coordinator will check with them on Thursday. Of course, we are anxiously waiting to hear from her.