A Special Video From Shenzhen

It took me a moment to make sense of the text I received while I was at the hospital with Kiera, who needed an MRI to rule out a potential concern her ophthalmologist had raised.  I naively thought the MRI would be quick, but found myself in an empty waiting room with a "couple hours'" wait.  And suddenly I had a text message from a woman named "Alison" from a number I didn't recognize.

She said she was a friend of "Kelly" from the hospital.  How do I know Kelly and how do I know this hospital I asked myself.  Then I realized she was referring to the hospital in Shenzhen where Kiera was born, but I hadn't recognized the name at first because she had spelled it differently. Alison wanted to know if I had received Kelly's e-mail.  I had not, or I wouldn't be this confused. Then I remembered asking the nurses for any pictures they had of Kiera as an infant and being told it was against hospital policy to give them to me.  In the middle of our goodbyes, I had casually slipped a piece of paper with my contact information to a particular nurse who seemed most sympathetic to my desire to learn as much as I could about my daughter's early life.

I quickly texted Alison back and thanked her for reaching out to me.  She explained that she's Chinese and moved to the U.S. with her family, but had gone to nursing school with Kelly in China.  I assume since Alison is living in the U.S. and speaks English, Kelly had asked her to contact me.  I ended up passing my time waiting for Kiera by texting with Alison.  She of course wanted to know about Kiera, but when I shared pictures of all the kids, she wanted to know what life is like as a mom of four.  She said the nurses hoped I would send some recent pictures of Kiera, which I promised to do.

Then Alison said she had a video that Kelly had sent her and wanted me to have.  The link revealed a two-and-a-half-minute-long photo montage of Kiera's early life, including newborn photos.  It is absolutely priceless!  I can't emphasize how rare it is with an adoption from China to have such early photos and even how rare it is to have contact with someone back in China who knew your child.

When we first visited the hospital with our guide back in February, we had to talk our way in.  We were very warmly-received once the nurses who had taken care of Kiera agreed to meet with us, but I always wondered what they thought of the day the baby they had once taken care walked back into their lives as a nearly-three-year-old accompanied by an American mother.  After talking to them, I know Kiera was well-cared for, but after seeing the pictures in the video and seeing how much work they went through to collect pictures and put the video together, I now know that our little girl has a place in those nurses' hearts.  That was clear in the final picture in the video, where the nurses the nurses stood in a line, each one smiling and her hands cupped in the shape of a heart.