The Stats and a note about CDC required Vaccines

Clara Rose went for her check-up at our Pediatrician on Monday. The overall visit went as well as it can go with a 2-year old.

Most of you already know about my *issues* with the new CDC requirement for internationally adopted kids to have specific vaccninations before coming home. If you missed look at a post on or around January 9, 2010 and there are some prior to that, but I don't recall the date-- in 2009 though.

Our pediatrician was unable to determine when certain vaccines were actually administered from the sheets provided to us. The vaccines were indicated as administered, but except for the vaccines administered on 1/9/2010, there are no dates listed. I guess some of these are date sensitive if they are a series? Wim's sister has much more knowledge on this than I.

The pediatrician also commented how ridiculous it is for the CDC to require these vaccines especially if they are not going to require that the vaccines be administered from a US sanctioned medical clinic/hospital. She commented that a big problem in many developing countries is that even if the Vaccines haven't expired, which she noted is a problem in many countries, there is also the issue of the vaccines being kept at a specific temperature and that consistent refridgerations/temperature control in developing countries, especially for orphans is a big problem. Then she also noted that since the vaccines are administered within 10 days of traveling, if the kids are sick with something they can transmit, they will still get other sick.  So, all in all, our pediatrician gave me the clear impression that these requirements by the CDC are completely ridiculous. They would be better off requiring that parents get their internationally adopted children vaccinate within a certain time period of arriving home.

While re-hashing this is a bit infuriating for me, it also made me feel good to know that I am not the only one who thinks the vaccine requirement is absurd. Now I have it from our pediatrician as well.

So, she ordered blood titers for everything-- I think Clara Rose filled 9 to 12 tubes of blood yesterday afternoon, while screaming bloody murder, after which she passed out.

Nice day, Huh?

I really hope everything registers as good. I would hate to have to give her yet more shots on top of everything else. Not to mention that it will mean we basically wiped our buts with $300 to get the vaccines in China. Time will tell, and I will definitely keep you all posted.

OK, enough of my grumblings:

It seems Wim and I have managed to adopt two large girls from China. Both are in the 90th percentile on the American Charts-- Yao Ming size by China's standards!

Clara Rose weighs 30 lbs. 10 oz and is 35 in tall.

Here are some happy pictures of the girls playing nicely to close out my grumpy post.

Clara Rose seems like Phoebe, or Go-Go, as she calls him. At first we thought Clara Rose was calling her that because I often say to Phoebe, "GO!" But, "go" phonetically means dog in mandarin.

Here is Clara Rose sharing a harmonica with Phoebe.

A not as rare as it was a week ago moment-- Josie Dong Dong and Clara Rose playing together

WITHOUT fighting.

Josie always the crack-up comedian, enjoys getting laughs from her baby sister.

Clara Rose is generally pretty good about laughing at all of Josie's funny-boned silliness.

Last but certainly not least, the main Jie Jie, Gabrielle, making gourmet playdough ice-cream cones.

Somebody give this chick a commercial deal!

Stay tuned for my upcoming series, "Can you tell which one is the big sister?"