"If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in Heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"
Matthew 7:11
There were three of us on the infant room team. A NICU nurse, my roommate for China (who had already adopted 2 kids from there and has another adoption in process), and myself. Yes we were pretty much the dream team...ok maybe not but we I thought we were. Now those of you that know me....well most of you are NICU nurses anyway, and you know how much I love you guys. The NICU nurse that was in the infant room with me also has a dry sense of humor and is mom to 4 boys. Yep, she was my hero. I cant tell you how many times I requested her to listen to a baby to figure out his heart defect or drop a NG tube (of course we had none of those supplies in China and the nannies would have REALLY thought we had lost it) but it would have been nice. She would hand me babies to assess for tone, and I would ask her a kazzilion questions like is this teeny tiny baby really suppose to drink all 3oz of this brown liquid. To which she would reply "good luck".
There were a few things that we wanted to educate the nannies about while we were there. We were trying to decide what the best way was to open the door for this. I remembered I had brought some necklaces that I had made so I planned to bring them the next day to give them as gifts to the nannies to help facilitate that. No, I am not above bribing, and yes, I do use that as a parenting technique for my own children as well sometimes...
Anyway, the next day I gave the necklaces to the nannies. After a conversation that went something like. "Gift for you" followed by our favorite little fiery nanny , WL, shaking her head no. Then me typing in my phone "gift" and it spitting out the Chinese word for gift. Finally, a nanny tending to the babies decided she wanted one and came and took one that led to the rest taking one. What I did not fully realize is that when you give a gift in China, you should expect gifts in return. Their gifts of choice for us was food, and yes, it was as scary as it sounds. I left for a minute to go assess some babies in the next room and when I came back to my room WL starting putting things in my mouth. Yes, she was physically putting things in my mouth, and yes, I had only known her for 2-3 days. Personal space has a whole different meaning in China. Luckily, that first day of gift giving was only candy and chips. The next day she brought prepackaged meat looking things on a stick and chicken feet. My two other teammates ate that mystery meat on a stick like champs. I took one teeny tiny nibble and told her that it was too spicey and she thought that was the funniest thing she had ever heard. Who doesnt love a whimpy American?
The rest of the week went well in that room. They switched one of the infants to a slower nipple while we were there. I reinforced tummy time some more. They finally would let us go and pick up and love on those babies in the corner that maybe didnt get it as much as the others. We put the crib mirrors on all the cribs. My roommate got to bound with a baby that reminded her of her daughter that she had adopted from China. I kind of learned how to fold Chinese diapers. I got to do some serious work on my poker face although I probably could still use some more practice :), and I feel like I made some lifelong friends from St Louis, Philadelphia and China.
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