Adhipen Sweating Bullets!

Adhipen had his second day with Uma (whom he now refers to only as Aakriti since that is her name right now). Again she cried and cried in his presence. He sat there for hours with her while she cried and cried. When the person who feeds her would come into the room, she would stop and start munching on some cookies that she had in her hand. As soon as the person left, Uma would start to wail again. She would not even accept chocolate from him this time.

At one point I called and as soon as he answered the phone, I could hear her screaming and sobbing. I felt just heart broken for them both! Adhipen said that he literally was sweating bullets! He did not know what to do. I told him just to keep his distance, not try to hold her so as to scare her more, but just stay with her. So this is what he did all day long.

She had her lunch and let him feed her alittle (though mostly cried if he tried) and she did take some chocolate from him after lunch. When she went down for her nap, he took a much needed break, but came back in the afternoon for more of the same.

Then suddenly, as if an angel was appearing, a woman entered. All of the children, including our Aakriti, went running up to her jumping up and pulling on her legs. She was like the pied piper with a woman's face! This woman, Anne, is a student from Denmark and she had come to India to volunteer at the orphanage. She came almost every day after lunch and spent the rest of the day playing with the children and rendering them much needed hugs. She would be there until December, and then planned to go back to Denmark.

Once Anne came, Aakriti was calm and happy. Adhipen even got to see her smile and laugh (and got pictures!). She made lots of eye contact with Anne (we were worried about the lack of eye contact). The rest of the afternoon was blissful for Adhipen, though the baby still was very wary of him.

When the day was over, Adhipen invited Anne to dinner. He called me on the phone so I could speak to her. She spoke perfect English. She told me that Aakriti was the most sensitive child in the orphange. She said that everyday she would worry about Aakriti and what would eventually happen to her. When Anne saw that we were going to adopt her, she was absolutely thrilled! Anne said that when Aakriti was in the baby's ward, she was much happier. Then, as soon as she began to walk, she was moved down with the older children and from there she started to deteriorate. She became extremely sad and has not put on any weight since, though she seems to have a decent appetite. The sadness and the gauntness does show in the 2nd set of pictures we received. We contacted our adoption agency about it and he told us that there was a heat wave at the time the photos were taken and that is why she looked so unhappy. This was probably true, but Anne said that this unhappiness has continued in her since she was moved. Maybe there was someone who she was attached to whom she no longer sees much, or maybe she was given more attention in the other ward, whatever it is, she seems to be slowly going downhill, and so we are really, really praying that we can get her out soon!

It is clear that she will need OT and speech therapy since at 17 months, Anne said that she is only still babbling and has no words at all, even in Hindi. Maybe it is becasuse she has no one to call, "Mama." Whatever it is, our little one is going to need lots and lots of love and care, and Adhipen and I will be ever so happy and grateful to be able to give it to her.