Big Rain

Alert the media - the weather forecasters were correct - rain and resulting slush today. As Dan said, it is "big rain" and Bucharest is apparently flooded. Dan shuttled us over to the clinic in his car today in two shifts although 3 of us walked back to the hotel about 5:15. Raining and once again thank goodness for my polka dot boots in the slush and puddles.  We left earlier than our usual 6 pm departure as we didn't want to walk back in the rain in the dark.

When we arrived at the clinic today, Caroline walked into isolation and Ionuz was lying in his crib covered in blood. She called for the nurses and turns out he was bleeding from his mouth. We think it is because of him clenching his teeth but the exact diagnosis wasn't clear. Not sure if the doctor came in but the nurses gave him lots of attention and apparently had to clean him up several times today. Poor baby.  And poor Caroline, scared her to death.

Turns out Ema Elena is teething so with some oragel she was a happier camper today although mostly needed to be held.  Marius had some kind of "lock" put in his foot today. It wasn't an IV or a port but similar I guess according to the nurses on our team. Marius, Andrei, Lea Celine and Sami are still in isolation.

We sprung Alina from isolation this afternoon and brought her into the playroom. Earlier in the day, Child Protective Services arrived from Vaslui County to check on her. Dan said it was because they get money from the county for her as she has a handicap certificate. They bought several bags with christmas presents for her altho when I peeked in the bags nothing looked terribly developmentally appropriate for her! Still a nice thought.

Sami is still in isolation in his crib all alone.  I took him out and walked him up and down the hall a bit today. His first few steps were quite tentative almost as if he had forgotten how to walk and then he got back into the swing of things.

Gaby actually stood and "walked" with serious assistance for about 4 steps today. That is progress for her. Daniella is standing and hanging on to things. She went into the mobile room today and hung on to the toys on the activity wall for abubwhile. Petre stood with me holding his hands for about 5 minutes. And we tried little Denisa in a bumble chair or whatever they are called (solid blue plastic) and she sat and looked at a mirror for about 5+ minutes. She has better neck and head control than Roxana.

We are skipping dinner in Barlad tonight as who wants to go out in all this rain. Theortetically the wireless is supposed to be working at the hotel  but I couldn't get it to work so we are still plugged in.

Pix from today below!

Gaby won't eat from a spoon so I gave her one to play with

Caroline and Denisa - unusually quiet

Ema is outgrowing her swing!

Nicoletta and Ema

Look at those eyelashes

Sami

Roxana after Cristi spit up on her

Hiding behind the toys

Denisa sitting up

Alina on the move

Look, I'm standing!

Gaby checking out a twin

Cristi and Petre

Cranky babies

Well, they weren't all cranky but some of our usual always cheerful ones like Petre and Daniela had their moments today. I think Petre is teething - he was better after he got some orajel.  He is the most active in the jumperoo these days.  Daniela was lying down on a boppy looking at the hanging mirror and the next thing we knew she had stood up and was holding onto to the top of the stand, and pretty steadily! She really wants to walk. She isn't crawling per se but scoots on her stomach. I think my niece Lianna did the same thing and look at how smart she turned out to be!

Ema Elena also seemed a little harder to comfort today. I held her quite a bit but then don't want to ignore the others. Her favorite swinging chair no longer swings automatically and vibrating chairs don't seem to do it for her. I also ended up trying 3 different nipples for her 6 pm bottle before finding one she could suck from. She had another massage today but it doesn't seem to be making her any more comfortable. In fact it occurred to me that maybe she is unused to that kind of stimulation and maybe it is hurting her muscles a little bit. I did get a smile out of her when I brushed her hair. After bringing a baby hair brush, not seeing it again, buying one, and not seeing it again, I finally bought one at the store last night and I'm going to take it back and forth to the clinic. A lot of the babies seem to like having their hair brushed although some have bed head that needs water and gel to fix.

Weather still in the 20s today with slightly warmer temps in the 30s and rain predicted for tomorrow.  I can't complain after reading about all the bad weather on the East Coast.

I'm sure there is other news but I'm too tired to think of it! So here are some pix:

 

Roxana and Denisa doing tummy time

 

Karen with Andreea and Roxana

 

Rosie and Alina

 

Ema - a rare smile today

 

Cristi stalking Ema

 

Sweet Gabriela

 

Lea Celine in a new outfit

 

Andrei still in isolation

 

Sami still in isolation

 

Petre in big boy clothes

 

Daniela standing
 

Petre

Polka Dot Boots

Yes, thank goodness for my polka dot rain boots (shown below) that I wear every day as we walk  back and forth to the clinic in the snow. We had a light snow fall on our walk this morning - it is actually easier to walk in fresh snow.  Quite the novelty for me.  Weather still in the 20s I believe.

A number of the babies continue to be in isolation. Sami is in his crib away from the other kids in isolation and frankly looks terrible with big circles under his eyes. Cristi had a very lethargic morning and we finally put him to bed but perked up this afternoon.  Ema Elena fussed most of the day - she seemed to do best if I held her against my chest and patted her on the back and even better if I did that and walked with her. She did get a nice massage at lunch time from Malika the pre school teacher who has taken a course on baby massage. In fact, yesterday we say her doing a demonstration for some of the aides.

Andreea and Roxana (twins) seem to be be over the worst of their teething altho still a bit fussy. A number of the children in isolation have blue mouths and tongues from some medicine they are getting.  When I commented about it to Lea Celine she promptly stuck her tongue out at me.

When I went into the isolation bed room after lunch there was Alina stripped completely naked (see picture below.) Even though her sleeper had been pinned at the neckline she still managed to slip it off as well as her onesie underneath, her rubber pants, and her diaper.  She is too funny. 

Petre and Daniela definitely win the most improved award for the last two months. They are really developing nicely although Daniela may have a bit of a set back from being in isolation this week. She does not like being cooped up. I've been putting her and Andrei in walkers in their room and that helps. Petre likes all the girls but was giving Gabriela special smiles today. She responded by kissing him - although really she is using her mouth to explore since she can't see very well.

My team mate Pat had a great day with Maria Cleopatra the little one with hydrocephalus. She actually had Maria laughing out loud.  We are lucky to get a smile from her so this was a real accomplishment in my book.

We had dinner out at Alona tonight - pizza and ice cream my favorites. Stopped at the store afterwards for snacks and items for the kids. I bought about 40 yogurt containers.  For those of you  who gave me money, I've also bought medicine, diapers, baby wipes, pampers (for babies who go to the hospital or have really bad diaper rash) and baby food. Oh yes, and baby shampoo. I'll be buying more things before I leave. (Mary Beth - your package hasn't come yet - might come this week. Dan and Mihaela get notices from the post office if there is a package and then go pick them up and they have a notice for one they hope to get this week.)

Enjoy these pictures!

Clinic in the snow

 

Alina's striptease (12 pounds; almost 2 years old)

 

I hate when Paula does this

 

Karen and Mihaela in the pre school room

 

Baby Roxana aka chubby cheeks

 

Denisa

 

Gaby holding a toy!

 

Gaby about to kiss Petre

 

Baby Victor

 

Did I post this one of Ema already

  

Petre - he'll be crawling soon!

 

Pat makes Maria Cleopatra laugh

 

Ema gets a massage

 

Thank goodness for my polka dot boots

Pictures!

 Ion, now at the hospital

 

Roxana - new baby

Andrei back from hospital and in isolation

 

Sweet Ema Elena

 

Gabriela with her new favorite toy

 

Alexandra

 

Alina, in isolation but still happy

 

Petre, resident charmer 

 

Paula, still screaming

 

Daria Roxana - off to hospital for surgery

 

Cristi

 

Daniela, another charmer

 

Sam, the man

 

Lea Celine

 

Karen and the twins, Roxana and Andrea

 

Maria Cleopatra

 

Rosie and Mihaela

 

Ion does a striptease

  

 

Aide and Ema

 

Gabriela

 

House between the clinic and hotel

I'll upload more pictures and post tomorrow. Have to read the news. Am way behind although I did see on Romanian tv that the Saints won the Super Bowl.

Gabriela

We're Online!

Have finally gotten internet at the hotel. We are on our lunch break so everyone is busy getting caught up. I will try and post pictures tonight. Meanwhile, a few updates.

We are a team of 6 - 3 leave at the end of this week and there will be 3 of us for the 3rd week. Three of us are former volunteers including Caroline who is 18 and has been here several times. Also Rosie from New Zealand who is 19 and was here with me last Jan. I am sharing a room with Rosie and she is a great roommate.

I think there are 21 kids but I haven't really counted. There are four new babies since my visit last Oct./Nov., all in the 3-4 month age range. Daria Roxana just left last week for cleft palate surgery; Denisa is a little cutie with a big cowlick; Roxana has chubby cheeks and loves to eat; and, Victor just came last week and has some kind of brain damage. I'm not sure about the diagnoses for Denisa and Roxana. It makes bottle time quite busy as they have to be held and fed as does Ema Elena, Petre and the twins Andrea and Roxana who arrived when I was here last time.

Since my last visit, "big" Andrea is now walking (the new big Andreea not my Andreea who went home last Fall.) I may have already said that Ion and Andrei aren't quite there yet. Andrei was in the hospital for a check up and is back and in isolation. Ion just had to go to the hospital as he had a bad cough - maybe croup. I'm sure these health problems slow down their development.

Petre and Daniela have changed a lot in a few months. Daniela doesn't seem any bigger but is standing and always on the move, very alert and grabs everything. Petre is eating much better and only sometimes takes a morning nap. He can sit up by himself for a bit but then gets all excited and falls over. He is always moving his arms and legs and loves the jumperoo.  Also very alert and grabbing toys. He is definitely bigger.

Caroline weighted Alina and we think she is now at 12 pounds. Wow! And Gabriela seems to be grabbing toys that she didn't grab before and picks them up and looks at them rather than just trying to eat the carpet all the time. She still won't stand up but I think I see a small change in her attention level.

I think you may know Ionella went home in early December. And we heard some sad news. Maria, aka chalupa, who was here on my visit last winter, passed away. She had gone off for heart surgery and we heard it went well and no one knew where she was. Apparently altho the surgery went well something happened at a later date and she passed away. Such a beautiful little girl, dark hair and dark eyes, gypsy I think. So sad.

We had a very quiet weekend. Everyone stayed in Tutova and it was cold and not conducive to walking. I took Pat and Karen into town for a tour of the open market and visits to the ATM, grocery store and pharmacy.  We all went to the clinic at some point over the weekend, I went on Sunday morning.

Time to clsoe and go back from our lunch break. Oh, BTW, the schedule has changed. We now go from 9 - 12:30 and then go back from 2:30 to 6:00 with no evening shift. Some days some of us have gone back early at lunch time but today we are all on our computers!

Will try and post pix tonite. My teammate Caroline has a blog as well so feel free to check our hers at tutovababies.blogspot.com.

Internet still down

The internet is still down so I'm doing a quick post from the clinic as we came over to work this Sunday morning. It is cold and snowing and the walk to and from the clinic can be a bit treacherous. Most of us have fallen at least once including me but at least I only injured my pride!

A number of the babies are sick. Right now, Lea Celine, Alina, Andrei and Daniela are in a room in isolation much to their distress. I put Andrei and Daniela in walkers in the room with the door closed and that seemed to help with them. I made the mistake of picking up Lea Celine and she pitched a fit when I put her down.

Ion went to the hospital day before yesterday. The nurses on our team think he has croup - kind of a barking cough and fever.  Ionuz is in the hospital as well.

There are several new babies. Daria Roxana left this week for her first cleft palate surgery. The other new babies are another Roxana and Denisa who are both about 3-4 months old. Not sure of diagnosis. There is also a new baby named Victor who is in isolation who has some kind of brain abnormality.

The others are about the same. Petre seems to have grown and is much more active - not quite sitting on his own yet. Daniela can stand and likes to try to walk. Andrea is walking but Ion and Andrei are not quite there yet. Sami is happy to be home. Ema is about the same but at least I've gotten her to smile with raspberry kisses on her cheeks and the ever successful lifting her arm.

Gabriela seems less interested in the floor and slippers and more interested in toys. Also more affectionate and willing to be held. Her sister Mihaela is still climbing everything in sight.

More info and pix when possible.