Two Angels

Today was eventful - VERY eventful. It started out with our typical crying session starting around 5:10am and lasting until about 10:30am which is nap time. Don't worry, this isn't the eventful part, just the everyday musings of our new family. BUT- That is okay. Don't think that all of this isn't okay. It has to be right? What I keep trying to color for you is the marathon of crying and agony that our child is going through. Some of you may know about this from personal experience, probably less of you than you think though. Others of you have perfect children. I would say good for you, but I don't believe that. There is a reason that we are going through what we are going through, and those who have not gone through it won't have what we will have once we have "run this race".



Staci went down to breakfast this morning and I kept the crying one. We just sat and cried. I took a granola bar for breakfast and took a walk to take a break from the horror in our room. That is when I heard her from down in the courtyard. Poor thing! Everyone here has to think we are terrible parents. I have read several articles on bonding and attachment issues if for no other reason to remind us that we are not terrible parents, which by the way, we are not and I'll fight any man who might say otherwise. None of this process from the very beginning has been easy for our family, why should this stage in the journey be any different. As for me and my house - we are IN IT TO WIN IT!



On a brighter note, we did get to see the World Series game live this morning in our hotel room. It actually helped with the crying because we just (I just) pretended that it was one of those pretentious, uptight, Yankees fans who was crying because they were losing the ball game. No offense to any true Yankees fans that I know, but I don't think I know any - who would befriend a Yankees fan? Kidding again. Enough of that. What about the Angels? No, not the team the Yankees beat to get into the finals, but the Angels in the title of this post! Hold your horses, I am getting to that.



We made it down to the lobby to grab our usual grilled cheese sandwich and french fries from the bar area. This is the first time we have done it with Maya though - she was quite tolerant and seemed to enjoy the change in atmosphere. At 1:15pm, Trilok picked us up to take all of our paperwork to the US embassy to turn in. There, they review it and then call us to schedule a time to interview us so they can issue Maya's final travel Visa and ultimately, her citizenship upon touching down on US soil (even more technically when we enter US airspace).



When you check into the embassy, you go through rigorous security and have to leave your belts, watches, and bags behind - not a good system for bring babies into the place. We were seen almost immediately as for some reason American citizens are given precedence there. When I went to the window, and the lady looked at the 70 or 80 pages of our paperwork, there were things in there that were not correct, in spite of the fact that the entire paperwork packed had been checked over by more than one person at our adoption agency and then again by our liaison here. Go figure! Anyway, she was patient and gave me a second form to fill out. Our liaison had a template of the form already filled out "correctly" for me to look off of and copy onto our form, changing the information to match us of course. This template, from the adoption agency was - you guessed it again - WRONG! IN MORE THAN ONE SPOT!! I am less than pleased with that, but what do you do? She was very patient as I made corrections three separate times to the form. While all of this was going on, Staci was sitting out in the lobby area probably 60 feet away from where I was at. I heard her yell my name and say that she needed me immediately! It took me no time to spin away from the counter window where I was standing and move through Nepali's in the waiting area like an NFL lineman who had just intercepted the ball and was running for the game winning touchdown! In otherwords, there was some incidental body contact on my journey from the window to my daughter and bride. I got there and she had thrown up the most wonderful concoction of cheap Nestle formula, Heinz foreign blueberry and apple musil mix baby food, mango juice, and some miscellaneous cheerios and crackers. It was all over Staci's skirt, all over the carpeted floor, and all over Maya. I grabbed Maya and we headed for the bathroom. No paper towels!!! NO DIAPER BAG!!! Seeing what was going on, a guard officer left his post to bring us some paper towels to the restroom area. He knew there were none because it is a drug testing area. I was able to undress Maya and got her cleaned up as Staci cleaned herself up. Once clean, there was no way to mask the smell though. I don't think Yankee Candle Co will be contacting us for the rights to the scent. Oh, what we would have done for a yankee candle, or some yankee candle spray, or something....anything would have done. As Staci finished up, I went back to make my final corrections to the forms I was filling out. Staci sat back down and when she did, she ended up next to two American women who were familiar faces. We met them at the Nepal Ministry offices when we were there. They just happen to be here from an adoption agency scoping things out for the 10 families that they have waiting for 2010. They were VERY VERY nice to Staci and talked her through some of Maya's issues. They were knowlegable of her situation and was able to share with Staci some things to help in the process. These are the first people that we have talked to who understand what we are going through to the fullest. They were just what we needed. They asked Staci how things were going and she just broke down. They comforted her and gave us their card. Needless to say, we WILL be calling them and seeking their consultation in the rest of our process. They offered more help, experience, and advice in 5 minutes than we have received in our entire process. They were sympathetic to our situation and showed great sincerity which is something that I have longed for. Someone told me once that our organization was the very best at what they do, but they were "no hand holding organization". Out of all of the things in this world, what processes could a family need their hand held more than the one that we are in right now? All I will say is this. It felt really really good to have our hand held for a little while this afternoon by people who know AND care. They were our two angels for those of you hadn't guessed it yet. We left the embassy surprisingly refreshed, but that is only the beginning of our journey today.



We finally got to take Maya to the doctor! We have been asking now for three days to have her see a doctor. I am still not sure exactly what the delay was about, but that doesn't really matter now, just par for the course. We went to the hospital, rather than going to a clinic. Again, I am not sure exactly why, but at this point, I didn't really care. How to describe the hospital here....... Hmnnn........... Imagine if the "older wing" of the oldest hospital in the US that you can think of had survived a war being fought in that city. Now, imagine that someone pieced back together as many things as possible after it had been exposed to the elements for about a decade. That is a good start. Now imagine that all of the hospital beds and equipment were purchased from the original set of MASH the television program. Now you might have the imagery to fathom our environment, AND WE WERE GLAD TO BE THERE. Maya IS sick! As we went up some stairs and found our way to a rooftop, we went through an open door and there was the doctor. He saw her, listened and felt of her and then ordered an x-ray of her chest. The x-ray machine looked more like something that you would find at a local butcher shop, than at a hospital. No lead vest, nothing but holding Mayas arms down on the cold metal table as he took the picture. He developed it immediately, making other patients wait and gave us the print to take back up to the doctor. She has an infection in her lungs! DUHHHHHHH. We got some antibiotics and some liquid type Tylenol and a decongestant for her. The doctor gave us his room number and schedule and told us to bring her back if she didn't get better soon. The facilities were bad, but the doctors seemed very knowledgeable and helpful. What a blessing. Now to get the medicine. We went back down the stairs and crossed the dirt parking area/courtyard/holding area/blast zone/whatever to the shed that was the pharmacy. It looked like at one time it may have been one of those roadside firework stands on stilts. Keep in mind that at no time am I complaining about any of this, just trying to give you a good picture of where we were. They had two of the prescriptions, but sent us to another location to get the antibiotics. When we got there, Trilok let me out and gave me instructions to take in the medicines that we had along with the doctor's prescription hoping that the person in there would deduct what I needed. The person did, but didn't have it either! He told me I had to go to the company down the street. I must have had a defeated look on my face because he said "two minutes"....."you wait", and then he jumped over the counter and took off out the door. This man ran down the street, paid for the medicine with his own money and then came back and sold it to me. I thanked him profusely and then we were on our way back to the hotel where I sit now updating the blog. Poor Maya already has a medical record and an x-ray and we haven't even had her for three full days! Rest assured that we are taking care of her, with the help of some other wonderful Nepali people and two wonderful American Angels.



Please pray for little Maya, and our family. She is not well in mind, spirit, or body. We will write more when we can.