January 24

Today was a bit of an adventure. When I got to the baby house, I found out that Olesya had been taken to the hospital last night because they think her pneumonia is coming back. The doctor did say that I would be able to visit her at the hospital though. So, the doctor went to talk to the director of the baby house about visiting the hospital. The director said that I couldn’t go and she wanted to talk with me. Aida, the doctor, and I went into the director’s office. She said that Olesya has pneumonia and bronchitis and they wanted to take her to the hospital where they could treat her with better medicines than they have available at the baby house. The director also said that they just want to make sure that Olesya is healthy for when I take her to Almaty and then home. They don’t want her sick for such a long journey. She said that the stay in the hospital would only be for a couple of days.
I don’t know if it was the thought of not being able to see Olesya for a few days, or the thought of spending those days alone in the hotel room with nothing to do that got to me. I started crying in the director’s office. Aida told me not to worry, that everything would be fine. The director also said that she was being well taken care of and that I had nothing to worry about. I explained that I wasn’t worried about her care, I just wanted to see her. If she was in a hospital in the States, I would be able to visit her. As much as I make fun of girls that turn on the tears to get out of something, I don’t think I will be doing that any more because it works. The director said that it would be okay if I visited Olesya in the hospital.
When we got to the hospital, the doctor from the baby house went upstairs first. When she came down, she had a white coat that I needed to put on. Aida had to wait downstairs in the waiting room while I went upstairs. In the room there were about 6 full size beds and 1 crib. In 4 of the beds were mothers with their babies who looked to be about Olesya’s age. In the crib was the little sausage. She was very happy to see me. Normally, I think mothers (who have full custody of their children) stay in the hospital with them. Since Olesya is from the baby house, she has a nurse who is with her full time. The room is very warm and the nurse was in there the whole time. Apparently, Olesya is getting IV treatments, and those cannot be administered at the baby house. They will check her tomorrow to see if she is better and she might be returning to the baby house tomorrow afternoon. Olesya is congested, I can hear some rattling in her chest when she breathes, but she is not coughing and does not seem to be running a fever. As always, she was very happy to see her mommy today. Hopefully, things will be back to “normal” soon. I am very appreciative for the doctor taking time out of her busy schedule to accompany us to the hospital. I will be going back to the hospital to visit tomorrow.