My OperaFINDING LU LU
Sunday, June 1, 2008 7:46:36 PM
In one of the nurseries, there was a tiny baby girl that was just skin and bones. Pam asked through the interpreter what was wrong with the baby. She was told that she had spina bifida and that she was dying. Pam lifted her gently and turned her on her tummy, exposing a spina bifida “pouch” that was about three inches across.
The baby was lying listlessly in the crib, really pasty, and looked utterly weak and helpless. She was four months old. She had been given to the orphanage when she was 5 days old from the hospital where she had been born and abandoned. The orphanage doctor had proclaimed her incurable, said she was dying, and to look at her, you could believe it. Her baby skin was hanging off tiny arm bones that were hardly bigger around than my ring finger! She probably weighed 4 or 5 pounds.
Since the little four-year-old at Pam's foster home had been cured by surgery of a spina bifida condition much, much worse than this baby, Pam decided that we had to rescue her and get her to a surgeon, so she asked if she could have her. She had to ask three times before she was given the okay.
The orphanage workers bathed and dressed Lu Lu in a thick thermal Chinese pajama outfit and had wrapped her in a huge beach-sized towel, even though the temperature was about 85 degrees and the humidity felt like it was about 110%. I held Lu Lu on the wild, hour-long bus ride back to the city and she was dripping with sweat, so on the trip home, I unwrapped her and wiped the sweat off her tiny brow.
She was so incredibly beautiful! Every facial feature was absolutely perfect. She looked like she was a blend of Chinese and Middle Eastern descent. She never made a sound unless I accidentally bumped her “pouch,” then she would let out such a tiny little yelp that it broke my heart that I had been even the least bit careless of her.
On the way home, I fed Lu Lu the bottle that the orphanage had provided and although she sucked with all of her might, she only ate about 1/2 ounce in an hour. That puzzled me, until I turned the bottle upside down, squeezed the nipple, and discovered that the hole in the nipple was so miniscule that no milk would come out of it. It was defective...
When we got her home, Pam changed nipples on the bottle and the baby sucked down the entire bottle without stopping. From the look of her, she was only a couple of days from death if her life had continued with that bottle.
We met up with Ken and Clay at one of the foster homes and then later that night, we had a very delicious dinner with Clay and Pam. The baby had eaten two bottles of milk by that time and was already starting to improve. She smiled at me and looked much less listless and fragile. It was fun to be a part of her rescue.
The spina bifida surgery for the baby has been performed successfully. At the time of this writing, Lu Lu has just had her first birthday and is a healthy, happy little girl.
The baby was lying listlessly in the crib, really pasty, and looked utterly weak and helpless. She was four months old. She had been given to the orphanage when she was 5 days old from the hospital where she had been born and abandoned. The orphanage doctor had proclaimed her incurable, said she was dying, and to look at her, you could believe it. Her baby skin was hanging off tiny arm bones that were hardly bigger around than my ring finger! She probably weighed 4 or 5 pounds.
Since the little four-year-old at Pam's foster home had been cured by surgery of a spina bifida condition much, much worse than this baby, Pam decided that we had to rescue her and get her to a surgeon, so she asked if she could have her. She had to ask three times before she was given the okay.
The orphanage workers bathed and dressed Lu Lu in a thick thermal Chinese pajama outfit and had wrapped her in a huge beach-sized towel, even though the temperature was about 85 degrees and the humidity felt like it was about 110%. I held Lu Lu on the wild, hour-long bus ride back to the city and she was dripping with sweat, so on the trip home, I unwrapped her and wiped the sweat off her tiny brow.
She was so incredibly beautiful! Every facial feature was absolutely perfect. She looked like she was a blend of Chinese and Middle Eastern descent. She never made a sound unless I accidentally bumped her “pouch,” then she would let out such a tiny little yelp that it broke my heart that I had been even the least bit careless of her.
On the way home, I fed Lu Lu the bottle that the orphanage had provided and although she sucked with all of her might, she only ate about 1/2 ounce in an hour. That puzzled me, until I turned the bottle upside down, squeezed the nipple, and discovered that the hole in the nipple was so miniscule that no milk would come out of it. It was defective...
When we got her home, Pam changed nipples on the bottle and the baby sucked down the entire bottle without stopping. From the look of her, she was only a couple of days from death if her life had continued with that bottle.
We met up with Ken and Clay at one of the foster homes and then later that night, we had a very delicious dinner with Clay and Pam. The baby had eaten two bottles of milk by that time and was already starting to improve. She smiled at me and looked much less listless and fragile. It was fun to be a part of her rescue.
The spina bifida surgery for the baby has been performed successfully. At the time of this writing, Lu Lu has just had her first birthday and is a healthy, happy little girl.
