There are days that are just outstanding and yesterday was one of those days. You can see in black and white what you have done and how it has impacted the children's lives. Nothing is as dramatic as yesterday was. I hovered as Elise weighed an measured the cleft babies. I think the fact that I am tracking nine babies' progress is what made yesterday so incredible.
On February 5 we took on nine cleft babies as I am sure you might have heard. Since then, we have fed them when ever they wanted. The three older ones have been downing 50 oz a day and some days Bryan had 60oz. It was such a surprise to see because it is about double what they should be having. On top of that the three older ones are also on rice cereal, tofu and fruit and still they are drinking that much. Even little bitty Tina is drinking a lot more than what she should. I am ordering so much more formula than what I expected. It is a milk fest down there!!
So you want to know what the results have been for the last three weeks? There is some PHENOMENAL growth. Tina's head grew 3cm (1 and a quarter inches) since she got here. Bryan has grown 3.5cm (almost 1.5 inches) in length. The three older ones picked up about .50kg (1 pound) each last week. Collectively the nine babies have added 7 kg (15 and a half pounds) in weight, they grew 17 cm (6 3/4 inches) an my personal favorite: their heads grew a unprecedented 11.7cm ( 4 3/4 inches). I just think of all those brain cells forming.
I am one excited and proud mama who is so grateful that things have gone so smoothly. The nannies have all done a great job and the new ones are learning fast. It is a triumph for all of us who have contributed to their care: The nannies, the volunteers and the donors. Thank you so much. I hope this gives you warm fuzzies for the rest of the week.
Life, Love and Laughter,
Amanda
Starfish Children's Services
US Tax Number: 20-4682916
Xian China
At Starfish, we have taken care of 67 children to date, arranged almost 50 surgeries and had a whopping 18 international adoptions, so our little starfishes live all over the globe: the US (latest adoptions to Kentucky and New Jersey), Netherlands, Norway and Spain. Two children are matched at the moment waiting for their families. We currently have 30 babies under the age of 3 1/2 at two foster homes. We just opened a new cleft palate house on February 5, 2009 and currently have nine babies.
www.thestarfishfosterhome.org
http://chinesestarfish.blogspot.com
NEW BLOG SITE FOR CLEFT HOME:
http://chinesestarfishcleft.blogspot.com
chinese.starfishthrower@gmail.com
Cell: 86.1348.812.4847
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Lovely to hear the nannies get a shout out. They work pretty hard. And without the donors and volunteers it would be so difficult to carry on.
God is good and you are blessed.
I am so excited to hear that even little peanut Tina is growing so much! We chose to co-sponsor her because she reminded us so much of our daughter the Tongginator, who was just 13 pounds at a year old. It's great to hear that all of the babies are beginning to thrive. And the nannies are AWESOME!
This is such happy news, and the photographs of the babies really tell the tale! Congratulations to you and all of your nannies and volunteers...you are angels on earth for these precious children! Thank you for the update and the new photographs. What a joy!
Amy
(one of Jasmine's besotted co-sponsors) :)
I am so thrilled to hear that these little angels are growing like crazy. How incredibly exciting to actually see them! Thank you for sharing so much with us.
We are co-sponsors of Tina too and we are thrilled to hear of her progress. Looking forward to seeing a picture of her up here with her buddies soon!
Hugs and kisses to you and all the babies!
Post a Comment