Ethiopia - Day One

At the airport I was a ball of emotion. I was scared out of my mind. Not about the trip, not about being by myself in Ethiopia for two weeks (as that was the plan, remember?), not about the plane ride. All of those things I was feeling confident about. It was getting from the airport to the hotel and then to the orphanage that scared the beegeebees out of me. See, when we went to Guatemala the agency was supposed to pick us up at the airport but no one was there. But that was not a big deal because we stayed at the Marriot. So, we just went to the Marriot kiosk and got a shuttle. This time a kiosk would not be there if no one was there for me I would have to try calling them. I was so nervous.

And then we said goodbye to Hubby and Big Sister and Big Brother burst into tears. And my fear escalated about a thousand times. Now I was slightly panicked. Could I do this? Would we make it? Would it be okay? What if something went wrong? How would I deal all alone? What were we thinking when we decided that I should go by myself? Oh, right we were thinking we have a seven month old daughter half way around the world who has been in an orphanage her whole life and needs her family. I tried to calm down. I tried to be a source of peace for the kids. It was hard. I felt lonely. Twitter was turned off on my phone so I had no one to talk to and I was scared.

The nice thing about the incredibly LONG flight is that once you get on you are stuck. You are on that flight until you land in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. No matter how nervous you are and how scared you are and how much you think you were crazy to get on you are there and you have no choice. You are now going to Ethiopia. At least that was comforting to me. And what, you ask, do the Upstate kids do on a 15 hour flight to Ethiopia? They play hockey, of course. I mean really what else did you think they would be doing? What else are they ever doing? :)

We arrived and the agency representative was there. I swear to you I almost cried when I saw her. So there we were, Big Sister, Big Brother and I, sitting in the taxi on our way to pick Little Sister up at the orphanage. We were beyond tired. I am pretty sure I was more tired than I was after an hour of pushing at 2 in the morning. More tired than I was on any given day during Big Sister's first few months of life when I was ALWAYS tired. More tired than I have ever been. EVER. We had left home at 4:30 in the morning on Monday and it was now a little before noon on Tuesday and we had not slept well on the flight. But it did not matter. We were going forward on pure adrenaline.

We were so excited. Big Brother snapped pictures of everything he saw out the window - he was especially thrilled by the sheep, goats and donkeys. Although, I have to admit I was a little sad that Hubby was not there. I did not feel like the moment would be complete without him. I felt a little sad and a little lonely without him there. But none of that, not the sadness, not the exhaustion, not the slightly sick feeling, or the dehydration that comes along with a flight like that, mattered at all. We were on our way to get Little Sister. We would pick her up and take her back with us. We would FINALLY have her in our arms and we would be complete - even if Hubby was still in America we would be complete.

And then we pull up at the orphanage. We sit for a few minutes while the driver honks the horn waiting for the gate to be opened (most places in Ethiopia are sort of compounds and therefor have gates just to get in). I am sure it was less than two minutes but I swear to you it felt like an hour. I was sure that they were going to tell me we had to come back tomorrow. I was so anxious. I knew if I got in there I would be okay but they were not letting me. And MY BABY WAS IN THERE. I needed to get in. But no one is coming. They aren't going to give her to me.... I was on the verge of tears sitting there waiting.


And then the gate opened. And they let us in. We walk into a room that is a bustle of three caretakers (the two that work there and the one other mom who is there early to spend time with her baby girl) and fifteen babies. The woman who is in charge points to a crib to my right and says, "Your baby is over there." I look over the crib rail and there she is. The baby girl who we have waited months for. And she is beautiful. Even more beautiful than her pictures and even more amazing than I imagined. I am almost afraid to pick her up. Afraid that the minute she is in my arms I will wake up and it will all have been a dream. But I cannot help myself and I scoop her up. I am amazed at how small she is. At how delicate and dainty she is (Big Sister is NOT delicate and dainty).

The lady in charge brings chairs over and insists that the big kids sit down. The other mom is snapping pictures of us. Big Brother jumps up and sticks his face right in Little Sister's face and she gives him the biggest smile. He is encouraged and he keeps doing it. And she is instantly in love with him. She lets him make her smile and laugh until the lady decides we need to come with her and eat. But we had just gotten there and teh kids were not ready to try injera and filling. And I was too dehydrated to eat. So, we sat there, drinking some water waiting to be allowed to go back to Little Sister.

When we get back to her she has just finished a bottle. I pick her up and she immediately spits up all over me. I mean as in the entire bottle she just ate is all over me. I am wearing my nursing tank top so when they demand to clean my shirt I agree (on that note have I mentioned it is now about 2pm and I have not seen a pump since before nine am - OUCH!!). Then it is bath time for everyone (which surprised me that they bathe the children daily considering how few people do that). So, they take Little Sister and give her a bath. I try telling them that is not necessary, that I will bathe her at the hotel but they do not seem to understand. So, I watch them bathe her, get her dressed and prop another bottle in her mouth as they lay her in her crib. I hold Big Sister and rock her until she is asleep. As soon as she is asleep in my arms the lady insists that I put her down. She pulls out a cot and is very insistent that I put Big Sister on it. So, I do. And then I realize that she was covering up the fact that I was in desperate need of nursing pads.

Finally, just a little while after Big Sister has passed out on the cot they come back to pick us up. And even though the lady at the orphanage tries very hard to convince us to stay. Or better yet, to leave Little Sister. I take all three of my children and we head out to the hotel. And then I find out that my phone does not work. The internet is not working (pretty much the only time this happened the whole trip). I cannot get in touch with Hubby at all. I am so frustrated. The very nice and very helpful staff at the guest house helps me. They let me use their phone to call Hubby, who is able to call me on my phone. We talk for a little while. He is in tears at hearing Little Sister's sweet voice for the first time. Big Brother talks to him. And when we realize just how expensive it will be for us to talk for only 20 minutes per day for the next 16 days until he is due to arrive we decide that he needs to call the travel agent and come as soon as he can.

In the next few hours I feed the kids dinner, give everyone baths, get them into jammies and put them to bed. I try to sleep and find it very difficult. Hubby, on the other hand makes arrangements that will have him arriving in Ethiopia on Saturday morning. It is already Tuesday night and I go to bed knowing that in only three days he will be with us. I am thrilled. And that is the end of day one in Ethiopia. This is obviously not the whole trip. I have so much more to talk about but this is the day. The only one that really mattered. The day that we were there for. And it is oddly appropriate that I tell you all about it today because five years ago today Big Brother legally became ours.