Our visit to the doctor...

(Sorry for the belated nature of this post, but here goes--)

Noelle's visit to the International Adoption Doctor went.....well-ish.

On the positive side--
-The visit was very thorough; 2 1/2 hours rather than the 1 hour we were expecting.
-Dr. Swanson was wonderful with Noelle. He repeatedly tossed a bouncy ball around the room with her, even digging for it several times underneath the exam table. He swooped her up from time to time with tickles when she tried to dig in the trash or get into other things that were off-limits. He graciously handled her stealing his pen and trying to tear his paperwork. He won Noelle over with his kindness, patience, and silliness. (It won mom and dad over, too!)
-Eric and I feel like Dr. Swanson is a well-trained and very capable doctor. We felt very comfortable with him and appreciate his genuine desire to answer questions / offer advice as often as we may have them.
-Noelle saw several nurses and techs for her various tests, and they all were patient and kind with Noelle. They also were very capable at their jobs.
-We have a follow-up appointment at the end of May. We will bring a stool sample with us to be tested, Noelle will see a pediatric heart specialist, and she will have a hearing test.

On the other side--
-Noelle was frightened of many of the procedures and cried full out several times.
-Mom and Dad had a difficult time watching some of the exams and tests performed on Noelle, and Mom almost didn't make it through Noelle getting 4 vials of blood taken or receiving the painful TB shot.

Thanks for your prayers. The visit could have been even more difficult were it not for prayers. But overall, we feel things went well, we liked the clinic (esp. Dr. Swanson and his nurse Ms. Carriker), and are thrilled and praising God at the positive feedback about our daughter. Thus far, the consensus is that she is a very healthy and happy little girl!!