Update 2

Unfortunately Bu Chou's infection did not get better - in fact, the doctor felt like it was getting worse and thus removed her shunt on Wednesday. They are now trying to get rid of the infection and will decide after that what steps to take next. Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. We'll hopefully have some good news soon!

Update

We found out last week that Bu Chou will be in the hospital for at least another two weeks. The infection she has is very serious and if it doesn't go away soon, they will have to remove the shunt. Her mood is good though and she has been walking around and playing a little more. She's no longer vomiting and is eating like a horse again. However, she still runs a fever on a daily basis.

Hopefully she will continue to improve and the infection will dissipate over the course of the next couple of weeks - we're hoping to get her back to our house for Christmas, but if Santa has to come to the hospital, then so be it!

Annie is holding down the fort at home and at the hospital as Scott had to travel to the U.S. on business - she is now demanding that Santa bring a REALLY nice gift to her this holiday season. Jill (Annie's mother) arrives on Thursday, so she too will soon get to experience the greatness of a Chinese children's hospital.

But at least now Bu Chou and Annie have a private room (of which, we think only a handful exist in the hospital.) We tend to think our roommates were getting a bit sick and tired of us always having to translate for us, as they were much better at charades than the nurses.

Back in the Hospital

Well, we're back in the children's hospital. Not for Juliet this time, but rather Bu Chou. She has developed an infection in the shunt in her head and therefore, has been running a high fever periodically now for almost a week. They admitted her on Tuesday and started her on high doses of IV antibiotics. Hopefully, the fever will break soon and she can get back home, but until then, Annie is spending her days and nights sharing a room with three other sick children and their families - none of whom speak English.

Like a Rock Star

One of the more common things Juliet has to deal with is being oggled everywhere she goes. This was quite prevalent in Beijing where there are a number of Chinese tourists that are not accostomed to seeing Westerners. Juliet made at least 20 people's day by posing for photographs. She posed with men, with women, with old people, with children - she even posed with a lady that had pink highlights in her hair. Here is a picture with a student who was traveling with three other young men. All four had their photos taken with Juliet.




Even Scott was asked by a lady to pose with her in front of Chairman Mao's picture at the entrance of the Forbidden City.

Bu Chou, however, did not get to enjoy such a rock star's welcome in Beijing. After getting sight of us pushing her in the stroller, scores of people would come sprinting towards us to get a glimpse of what our baby in the pink coat might look like. All of them were stunned when, instead of seeing a blond, blue eyed curly headed American, they were greeted fiercely with Bu Chou's darting brown eyes, which stared crossly back at them as if to say:

"What are you looking at? Yes, I'm with them. You would be to if you had someone that bought you as many fake Polo outfits as you wanted and hands you a package of Raisinets every time you wimper."