Ethiopia: Day 1

Disclaimer: This is my account of our trip to Ethiopia. I'm going to tell it as real as I can. Why blog if you can't keep it real, ya know?

This is the 3rd day of our trip but our 1st day in Ethiopia. We left on Texas on Thursday and arrived in Ethiopia on Saturday.

Saturday, Feb 21st, 2009

11:35 AM- We finally arrived to Addis. The airport is very small. We went to baggage claim and the luggage starts to roll out. We start pulling our bags. But wait, we only have 2 of the 4 bags. We wait, and wait, and wait. Long story short, they lost our 2 donations totes. I was not panicked because I knew they would find them eventually and I was excited to go get my girl! We filed the proper paperwork with the airline for the missing luggage and left. For those of you traveling there, the airport is in the city so it is not a far ride to most places.

Addis Airport

Our adoption agency director told us that he would arrange for our attorney in Ethiopia to pick us up from the airport. I had heard in the past that the attorney sometimes forgot to pick people up. Well, he DID forget to pick us up. Shocker! Later he said that he was never notified that we were coming but I know that is a lie because I personally contacted him just to cover all my basis. As a matter of fact, when it was time to leave, I contacted the adoption agency director in the states, the director of the orphanage in Addis, and the attorney to let them know my flight info, and my intention to pick up my baby girl that day (Saturday)from the orphanage. We intentionally came on Saturday because we had heard from other adoptive parents that the director of the orphanage was off on Sunday and we would not be able to take Ayana, just visit her if we came on Sunday. Well, this was not going to work for me, I wanted her as soon as we got there, so we made plans to come on Saturday. I didn't want any surprises so that is why I notified all three people. I have also read on other blogs that you can't take your child out of the orphanage (permanently) until your embassy date, you can only visit or check them out and bring them back. When I asked out adoption agency about this, they said that this was not true and that the child is legally ours as soon as we passed court. Sounded good to me.

So we are at the airport and this should be the part of the story where we are stuck trying to get a ride or get a hold of the attorney. No, I had a back up plan of course! I had also made a 4th contact ahead of time, our guest house, the Ethiopian Guest Home. They sent a driver. He was there waiting for us as soon as we got there with a sign that said BOYD and a fresh bouquet of flowers for me. Ahh, that was so sweet. This was such a blessing because it could have been very stressful upon arrival and instead we felt very well taken care of. Thank you Getcho!

John and Ayana (Manager of the Guest home)

Getchu, our driver from the Guest home

John and Getchu in the reception are of the guest home.

Almost all the vans/taxi's look like this:

We decided to go to the guest home first and drop off all of our luggage. On the drive there I was faced with all the things I had tried to prepare for. Here is a little bit of scenery from the ride:

It was warm outside. It did not rain the whole time we were there. It was hard to breath. The pollution was so bad and the altitude is high. There is so many people walking the streets. The cars drive like crazy and the roads are bumpy and dusty. Very few roads were paved. Thank God I was wearing my handy dandy patch behind my ear. I am normally very prone to getting car sick but I was fine. I thought we were going to hit numerous people while we were driving. Pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way. I swear we grazed several people. I would freak out every time I thought we were going to hit someone but the funny thing is that the people walking about to be hit do not even flinch.
Our driver was great, he knew exactly how to get places and I knew we were in good hands.

We decided not to stay at the Orphanage guest house. I have heard great things about it but we had connections elsewhere. One of the couples at our church own a guest house in Ethiopia.(what are the odds if that?) They also adopted from Ethiopia. We stayed at there at The Ethiopia Guest Home. The vision behind Ethiopia Guest Home is to provide a four-star quality stay, at a reasonable, all-inclusive cost…to benefit orphans in Ethiopia, while giving families a personal, memorable stay.
When we made reservations, it was so last minute so there was only one room left, the smallest room. Bummer...Oh well, there was only 3 of us. It was a small room with lots of Full length windows. It had a queen size bed and a playpen made up as a full bed for the baby. The house is only a year or two old.
When we drove up the home had a gate with a security guard. As we entered the home, John the manager of the guest home was there to greet us. He showed us to our room. John has always lived in Ethiopia and has never been anywhere else. He is very educated and was finishing his last college test the week we were there. He will receive a degree in Business. He was very polite and accommodating.

Our room

We dropped our bags off and I was ready to get our girl.It was finally time. We had been waiting for so long to hold her in our arms and give her lovin!
The guest house gave us a cell phone upon arrival with the orphanage, guest house, embassy and other important numbers pre-programmed into the phone. I grabbed the phone to call the attorney to let him know we had made it to Addis and told him we were at the guest house. He was shocked, he didn't even know we were coming!!!!! OK, whatever!! uh humm, I will keep on with my story...sorry for the distraction.
So anyway, I told the attorney that we were getting ready to go to the orphanage to get Ayana. He said, no, you can't get her today. WHAT????? WHY?????? he said that he could not take me because his schedule was all booked up that day. I said that I did;t need him to go with me, I would have my driver take me. She is legally mine right? He said that the director of the orphanage has to be there to sign the baby out to us and she wasn't there today. WHAT????? That is why we came early so we would not miss her. I couldn't understand him very well, language barrier, but he said something like, the director was sick or off today so we can't go get Ayana.
He then hung up. I Started to lose my breath, what do you mean I can't go get her. Instead of crying, I went into stubborn, fighting mode. Oh no, This can't be happening, what can we do? I am going to get our girl!

So I asked the manager, John, to call the director of the orphanage. Maybe John will know more as he can talk to her in Amharic. She did not answer the phone. I then asked John to call the attorney again for me.

What happened next, I can't blog about, but lets just say through several interesting events, we had Ayana in our arms within a few hours.

To be continued....

I am one lucky momma!

"No more Pictures, please!"

Ayana Dr Apt-Follow up

We went back to the doctor for a follow up on Wednesday. Her ear infections appear to be gone but her ears are still a a little red but the DR suspects that they are just healing after a severe ear infection. The doctor got a copy of her medical records from Ethiopia and looked over them before we saw him yesterday. Amazingly enough, she is up on all her vaccinations. The only one she was missing is not given in most foreign countries. I don't know the technical name but it is the pneumonia vaccination. He said this is a series of 3 and it will also help to decrease ear infections. She had her first of 3 and let me tell you, she did not like it and she let me know it. She still has some upper respiratory congestion. She also appears to have allergies. Her eyes water a lot and it may explain some of the congestion from drainage. She rarely is able to breath through her nose.

She is teething so bad. She is drooling all over the place. She loves to give me kisses with all the drool. I know it sounds gross, but I can't turn her down. Have you seen her? Today I just started carrying around a burp cloth on my shoulder to wipe her mouth all the time. She is so good, barley cries even when she hurts.

She now weighs 16 pounds, so YES, she gained a pound in a WEEK! Sweet Pea loves to eat! She has filled out so much. She is getting those cute chunky thighs. In two days it will be 3 weeks since the day we first held her in Ethiopia. Check out the difference. Her legs used to be so skinny:

and now...

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Travel Tips-Boyd Style

First of all, thank you for all your comments on the last post! I love bloggers, they are so supportive and you all just get it!

I have been asked by several traveling parents, what are we glad we took to Ethiopia? I thought I would make a list as I was lucky enough to have others do the same for me. Disclaimer: This is from our experience only.

We took a whole pharmacy it seemed like and we were so grateful we did.  People at our guest house would joke as they knocked on our bedroom door and say, “Can we come to the Boyd pharmacy?”

I do not have time to make a complete list but I can tell you what a few things that I consider a MUST and I am so glad we had.

Recommendations:

• Baby medicines: Babies R US sells a parent’s survival kit that is AWESOME and the perfect size. You can view it at this link: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3029064

• Scabies treatment: I would definitely take prescription cream for scabies (Permethrin Cream 5%). They will appear as little bumps. Ayana had them on her face, wrists and a few other spots. They are very contagious so it is recommended that you and your husband to treat yourself too just to be safe. It is easy, you just apply the cream one time, and leave it on for 8 hours and wash it off. It goes on easy like lotion and doesn’t have much of a smell. For adults apply from the neck down and don’t forget to get between the toes. (those little critters like warm places) On infants, it is recommended to not put it on their face put to treat the entire scalp. That is what we did and it cleared her face right up. Although we did not see any Lice on Ayana, we took Lice treatment medicine with us just to be safe but we didn’t need it because I when I read about the Permethrin Cream, I found out it is active against a broad range of pests including lice, ticks, fleas, mites and other arthropods.

• Diaper Rash treatment: As far as the diaper rash, forget all those typical diaper creams. Use Resinol. This is not typically known as a diaper rash cream but it works amazingly. It is normally in the first aid section. It is for skin irritations, cuts, itch, etc… Most stores do not carry it but you can have your local pharmacy order it. It is over the counter. The miracle ingredient is the high amount of Zinc. Ayana’s skin did a complete turnaround in 24-48 hours. I love that stuff! We donated 100 bottles to the orphanage but who knows if they are using it or if they sold it. You can also order Resinol at this link: http://www.americarx.com/Products/5733.html

• Platex Drop-Ins Bottles with Inserts: Even if you don’t plan to use these bottles when you get home I would highly recommend them for the trip. We are now using the Dr Browns wide neck bottle and she had no problem switching when we got home. We took the Playtex 4 oz bottles with inserts, which was perfect for her but may not be enough for your little on depending on how much she is eating. The interchangeable inserts allowed us to only have to sanitize the top of the bottle when needed and we didn’t have to worry about boiling water every time we needed a bottle. We carried bottled water with us in her diaper bag and she was ok with drinking the formula at room temperature. It was so easy! Important note: We used the nipples that it came with which was level one. According to their charts she should have been using a level 2 or 3 nipple but she did fine. In fact, one of the other couples was using a different bottle with a size 3 nipple (appropriate for her age) and she ended up in the hospital from dehydration. She kept throwing up and they didn’t know why. They tried switching her to Soy but that did not work either. I gave them one of our bottles and Size 1 nipple and she did a complete turnaround. It turned out that she was not able to take the milk in as fast as it was coming in the size 3 nipple. So my point is, take a small size or a variety of sizes.

• Take small and large clothes. Take clothes without footie’s. You can always roll up the pants if needed. Ayana was much smaller than she looked in her pictures so all her clothes were big on her.

• Take a ton of Diapers and Baby Wipes- I took 100 diapers and 2 packs of baby wipes. I used almost all of the baby wipes and 70 of the diapers in 5 days. They have a lot of blow outs during transition. On that note, take a extra outfits on the plane. Ayana went through three outfits on the plane due to major blowouts! That was fun!

• Backpack and Baby Carrier- Instead of using a diaper bag, we took a backpack for the trip. This was so convenient. We also use the Baby Bjorn baby carrier all the time, especially in the airport.

• Dove soap-We brought baby soap but I will say, we used a bar of Dove soap on her body. She was not bathed very much in the orphanage and needed a good cleaning. The typical Johnson’s baby wash is gentle but maybe too gentle when you are doing an initial good cleaning. (Leah Litty gave me this tip.)

• Antibacterial Wipes and/or Purell-Need I say more!

• Receiving blankets. The pollution is VERY bad in Addis. Many of the babies have had respiratory problems, including Ayana, so I thought it was wide to cover them up with a light receiving blanket whenever we went anywhere, especially on a car trip.

• Ear plugs and/or Ambien- It can be very noisy at night in Addis and they have prayer in the middle of the night on the city speakers. I also took Ambien. I was still able to hear the baby if she woke up but it helped me to get to sleep and not care about the noise.

• Emergen-C 1,000 mg Vitamin C- We drank this before and during our trip. We heard of so many getting sick while there. Neither Rick or I got sick during or after the trip. Of course we always used bottle water even when brushing our teeth. We ate at the guest house every day except for one.


I found these two links to be helpful while preparing for our trip. They are other travelers packing lists. I could never put something like this together because I do not have the patience but I am grateful they did.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pLUkA_AdE9KpjhJS1FZHDYA&inv=amberboyd@kw.com&t=6120374370247494751&guest

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=ppHBvDAxQ8m73rfObCrbLLw


I will be updating my blog when Ayana lets me, lol, with daily accounts/journal of our trip in Ethiopia and it may help you to hear about the details. I have only done day one so far.

I hope you find this is helpful to someone.

Blessings,

Emotional, and I can't help it

If you are in a hurry, the photos are below. :)

I have been very emotional today. You may have read my post from yesterday. I can't get the kids from the orphanage out of my mind. So many of them were sick. When I hear about some of them passing away, I get so many emotions. I get so sad and mad at the same time. Why do innocent children have to die? I just don't understand it. My heart is so heavy. I am praying, God how will you use me?

I have to admit, I have cried a lot in the last 24 hours. I am not trying to sound like a drama queen just keepin it real. I think about the orphans, and how lucky we are to have Ayana. She was very sick when we picked her up in Ethiopia yet very healthy compared to a lot of the infants. She had double ear infections, severe upper respiratory infection. She could barely breath she was so congested. She was coughing a lot. She also had scabies and a VERY bad diaper rash. Practically open sores her butt was so raw. She was also just getting over the chicken pox. When I heard about the little one that passed away, I think how lucky we are. I think about how easy it would have been for Ayana to get Staph infection from her diaper rash or for her weak immune system to give up after all the illness. I hold Ayana tight and thank Jesus for the precious life He has brought to us.

A few minutes ago, Ayana woke up crying and I went in to get her and as I held her I started crying again. I can't help it. I feel so blessed to her have her. I love her beyond belief. She brings me such joy just looking at her. What about the other children? Who is going to help them? Who will take care of them when they are sick? Who will make sure they live? I just kept hugging Ayana and kissing her. I'm sure she was thinking, "OK mom, I just needed my diaper change not an emotional break down."

I hate being so emotional but then again I don't. I don't want to be emotionally hardened to this. It is REAL! Anyway, I will continue to pray. How would God use me?

Need your prayers...

I just found out that one of the families that is from our agency got the news that the little girl they were referred passed away. This was one of Ayana's Roomates at the orphanage.

Rick and I took pictures and video of this precious little one while we were picking up Ayana to give to her waiting family. She had the chicken pox but seemed fine. Please pray for The Dohrenwends...you can go to their blog for more details.

My heart is breaking and I am not even the mother. I am so upset. One of the stats out of Ethiopia is that 1 in 10 die before the age of one. I would like to think that the ones in an orphanage are not part of the 1 in 10 but the truth is, sometimes they are. It makes me so angry when children die because of things that can be prevented .We take these things for granted in the US on a day to day basis because we have it so good.

Oh Lord Jesus, please be with the birth family and the adoptive family during this rough time and I pray health over the children in that orphanage and for discernment of the staff and the right doctors and medicine in Jesus name. Amen

In memory of Beyonce-Age 1

Our trip to Ethiopia-Day 1

Over the next week, I will try to journal our trip to Ethiopia in detail. It may be too much detail for some but I want to remember everything when Ayana is older and I start forgetting the details.

Let's start with day 1-Feb 19th

First let me say; We used Susan Parr Travel for travel arrangements and Susan was great! We only had 1 week's notice so we didn't have much time to make travel plans. Susan Parr gets discounts to where the tickets cost the same last minute as it would if you had booked 3 months ahead of time. Susan gave me a lot of flight options and super fast! We went to discount sites and could not find better prices than Susan's and they only charged a $35 per person service fee. Well worth it! They are also extremely familiar with adoptions and the Ethiopia program so they know how to book the adopted child's seat on the way back. We only had to pay a lap charge for the baby. They were also able to confirm the bulkhead seats on the way back so we would have access to the bassinet.

Back to the details:

We decided not to take our 13 year old daughter, Savannah. We were originally going to take her but in the end decided not to fro personal reasons that i will not share on the blog. During the trip, there were times I wish we had brought her and others that I was SOOO glad that she was not there. More to come on that later.

I hate to fly. Not because I am afraid of flying but because I HATE sitting still for that long. It drives me nutty!!!! If you know me I can be hyper/ADD at times and I remembered, there is good drugs for that. I went to my doctor before I left and said, give me something to knock me out on the plane. I knew I wouldn't be able to take anything on the way back because of the baby but on the way there I was going to sleep. When we left I was sick and could barley talk (which I am sure Rick loved :)). I was super tired from getting ready for the trip and work.

We were super excited to go and get our girl.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Leave Dallas at 12:55PM (Continental)
Arrived in Houston at 2:04 PM












We had a total of 4 bags. Rick and I shoved all our clothes into one bag. We had one bag for Ayana and we had two totes of donations.

Depart Houston at 6:25 PM (Emirates Airlines)

When we got on the airplane, Rick and I had the bulkhead seats with lots of leg room. Each seat has its own TV with movies and TV shows to choose from. We started off good but then Rick's TV didn't work. That always happens to him. He was not going to go 14 hours without a TV. There was only one empty seat on the plane and the flight attendant asked him if he would take mine so We could switch and Rick would have a TV. We switched and he was happy. The flight attendants were very nice on the flight, or wait do I even know how they were? It was time to take my drugs. :) I took a Xanax and an Ambien and I was out for the whole trip. No seriously, I woke up and we were in Dubai. It was AWESOME! So maybe the service was bad, how would I know?

Friday, February 20, 2009

Arrive in Dubai at 07:05 PM

The Dubai airport was amazing. So big, clean and beautiful!































We spent the night at a hotel in Dubai, I think it is owned by Emirates airlines. It was very nice because we were ready to sleep in a bed and it left us refreshed in the morning so when we got to Addis we were ready to get our girl!!!! I would highly recommend this for anyone.

Saturday, February 21st, 2009

Depart: Dubai 08:25 AM
Arrive: ADDIS ABABA 11:35 AM WHOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Total flying time: 20 Hours (19:59)
Total time waiting to get to Addis: 37 hours (47-10 hour time change)

More to come soon! We would meet our daughter fro the first time soon!

OMG!

OK, I have been trying to load video for three hours now and I am about to lose it becasue it won't work! UGH!
Normally I load videos right off my camcorder but it isn't working for some reason. So I tried taking the cd out of the camcorder and loading it straight from my player. It does not have a "save as" feature. I can't seem to figure this out. Help! Does anyone know how do do it?

Ayana Health Update

We took Ayana to the doctor today. She is 9 1/2 months, she weighs 15 pounds and she is 25 inches long. When Savannah was born she was 22 inches long, dang. Ayana is so petite that she was not even on the percentile chart yet. She was pretty healthy considering. She has already had the chicken pox while at the orphanage and was tested for HIV at two different times and was negative. She has an ear infection in both ears and has a respiratory infection/bronchitis and a common cold. When I hold her I can feel the congestion and crackle in her chest and her breathing is very heavy. Her nose is constantly clogged with junk. She hates when I wipe it. She has some seriously nasty diapers and she can clear a room with her lethal farts! We had to treat her for scabies while in Ethiopia and she has some discoloration spots on her face from it but the doctor says it should return to normal color after some time. She is also teething with two new teeth breaking through her skin. Despite all that, she is so good even though she isn't feeling well. I am amazed at her every minute!.

Ayana loves her big sis. Ayana is eating well. We can't get food in her fast enough. She still is not sitting up on her own very well due to lack of stimulation or muscle strength so we feed her in the bumbo instead of the high chair. She leans toward it to get more.

She is letting big sis know how its going to be, Faster, faster!

"Now that's what I'm talking about!"

She loves bath time! She loves to splash and lick everything.

Ahh...so cute!

Bed time...

We are still a little sleep deprived. Ayana was up at 3:00 AM last night. She is having a hard time breathing and it wakes her up. Poor baby.
I know that you all want to see videos and hear about the trip but I am too tired to get them loaded. My program for the camcorder is not user friendly and it takes a lot of time to download but I will try to get it done soon.

Small update...

Just a quick update. We are all doing well. Ayana seems to have an ear infection in both ears, respiratory issues with cough and a constantly running nose. Addis is 10 hours ahead of us and we were on a plane for two days so our internal clock is totally messed up. Ayana was up at 2:00 AM but that was ok becasue i was up from midnight to 5:00Am . It's hard to get back on track. I am hoping I can get Ayana into the doctor tomorrow. Despite not feeling well, she is very happy. Savannah is very good with her like I knew she would be and she already loves her daddy.

Our neighbors were awesome when we returned. They had hung a banner above Ayana's room that said, Welcome home Ayana and it had a light that spotlighted it so when we got home we could see it. They also all got together and planned balloons, cake with Ethiopia colors and a dinner. Wow, that was so sweet and unexpected. So cool!

My mom flew in today to see her new grandbaby and to help us get some rest. She is already cooking up a storm. Gotta love it!

I promise to post about the trip after I get some rest.