The Bienestar Social Worker only spoke Spanish so we were grateful to have Maria Teresa there to interpret for us. There was much discussion back and forth in Spanish due to our special circumstances. Typically a family will spend one week together prior to this meeting and the social worker will ask questions to see how everyone is doing with the new addition to the family. For us, only Shane and I have met Kate. The Social Worker seemed irritated with how difficult the hospital has been and that Kate's siblings and grandma haven't been allowed to visit her. She said she's going to see if Kate can get discharged from the hospital with an at-home oxygen system so she can stay on the oxygen and recuperate in the apartment with her family.
By 8:30 am we were leaving the building with our Acta de Entrega. This is the document where the Bienestar social worker officially approves of the adoption and we can proceed to the next step in the process. We were told to ALWAYS have this document in our possession. This piece of paperwork will come in very handy later in the day (stay tuned!)
Come Tuesday morning, all of us (except Kate) will make the long 2+ hour drive to the court in La Mesa, meet with the Judge and hopefully get the thumbs up to finalize Kate's adoption. I will head back to Bogota the same day so I can be here to take care of Kate. Shane, Nana and the older kids will stay in La Mesa to establish our residency. If all goes well, we hope the judge will sign off on Sentencia making Kate our legal daughter hopefully by Thursday or by Friday at the latest.
After leaving Bienestar, we swung over to Notary #50 to get additional notarized copies of Rose's birth certificate. We should now be set for any future travel to Bogota since we stocked up on both Rose and Owen's birth certificates on this trip. (When leaving Colombia, the airport official requires you to provide a notarized birth certificate for any Colombian minor. It's a major pain!)
We got back to our apartment with a full day ahead of us. We had a quick lunch in our apartment, played outside, and worked on homework.
Before we knew it, it was 2:15 and Patricia was here picking us up for our afternoon hospital visit. This would be a new adventure for us to navigate. Since Kate switched rooms, she is now in a different part of the hospital so we have to enter a different door and deal with different security guards.
FANA had emailed me a new letter this morning to give to the hospital due to Kate's room change. It explained to the hospital security that we were Kate's adoptive parents and that FANA gave us permission to visit her at the hospital. When we arrived, Patricia took the letter up to the small security window to explain our situation. She was waved in and allowed to pass security, but we weren't. After what seemed like forever, she came back out and explained that the hospital needed the original letter and wouldn't accept our copy. The original letter was at FANA and we had only been emailed a copy of the letter. Patricia needed to leave to move her van (she always parks it in no-parking zones while she drops us off.) She said she'd call FANA and figure out what needed to be done.
Shane and I stood outside the hospital, worrying that we wouldn't be allowed to see Kate today when I saw Patricia walking down the sidewalk towards us. She had a plan (she is one determined woman and a great asset to have on our side!) She was able to get ahold of Maria Teresa who called the FANA nurses working in Kate's room (there is another little one from FANA in Kate's room so there are two nurses there that know the situation). She also asked if we had the document from Bienestar that we received this morning. Why, YES! I did! She took that document along with our letter from FANA and went to work. Patricia was allowed to enter again, but not us. She was talking to the head of security when one of the FANA nurses (not Kate's nurse, but the other FANA baby's nurse) appeared and was very adamantly telling the security guards to let us in. FINALLY we were allowed to enter the hospital and the nurse from FANA escorted us up to Kate's room! YAY!!
We walked into Kate's room. She was awake and still on oxygen. They had lowered the oxygen to .12 of a liter. Quite a small amount, but just enough to keep her oxygen saturation at a good level. We were told that her lungs are now clear! There's no more raspy sound when she breaths. She no longer has a cough or fever. The only issue now is she still needs oxygen therapy to keep her oxygen level at an appropriate amount.
Kate was a happy camper. She gave us some big smiles when she saw our faces. She's the cutest little pumpkin! Her top tooth is starting to break through so everything is going into her mouth these days and lots is coming out too in a constant stream of drool.
She was extremely talkative today. She had a ton of stories to share and chatted away, making everyone laugh at her adorable sounds.
Shane showed her some photos of her siblings and Nana from our trip and she got super excited, grabbed a hold of the phone and started making all sorts of noises. She was super interested in looking at all the new faces.
She loves having a window view from her bed. She gazes out the window to see all the hustle and bustle of the people and cars going by.
The doctor gave us the letter we need for La Mesa stating Kate can not travel outside of Bogota. They are very worried that if she descends the mountain that her lungs will have a very difficult time adjusting to the move back up to Bogota. We also found out that the doctor will be signing her release TOMORROW!!! She will be coming to live with us at the apartment!! We are thrilled but also nervous as we have no training on how to administer oxygen to a baby. They are delivering the oxygen tank in the morning and we will likely get the call in the afternoon to go to the hospital to pick up Kate!! After 13 days in the hospital, she is finally getting out!
Please pray for wisdom and guidance for us as we take over Kate's health care and for safety for our sweet little girl! Pray that she can be off the oxygen soon!
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