Our Family of Four - Three Years in the Making!! (Ethiopia Embassy Trip Days 6 and 7)

Today is our last day in Ethiopia!  Since Meaza fell asleep around 7PM last night, we wondered if she would wake up in the middle of the night ready for the day.  Since she was on the bed when I finally got her to sleep, we let her sleep there.  That meant that Kevin and I slept lightly, afraid to rouse her or roll on her.  She woke up at 4:30AM, but she was content.  Praise God!  She talked to us for a few minutes and then was back out again.  She woke up again about 5:30AM, but again quickly fell back asleep.  We got up around 7AM and made her breakfast.  She was a happy girl!  We played for a bit after she ate and then went down to have breakfast ourselves.  After breakfast, we came back up to the room and played for a bit, then we gave her a pre-flight bath.  As I went to check her diaper while the water was warming up, I opened it to a surprise stream of tinkle!  Thankfully, I was able to catch it before it went onto the bed! J  It seemed like quite a bit, so I cleaned her up and figured she was good.  Or not…..  Kevin was putting a little water into the bottom of the tub while I held her so she could stand next to the shower on a towel and all of a sudden a stream came down her leg!  LOL…..good thing it was time for a bath!  Silly girl!  She loves baths, which is great!  She is a champ!  She doesn’t mind water on her face and she even holds her legs up for me to wash.  We actually bought a toddler tub to bring back with us (please pray that it makes it home!)  The tubs they have here in Ethiopia are larger than the tubs I have seen in the US and they have a bum holder!  Yup, a bum holder!  We and the other family have decided to refer to is as ABS, advanced buttocks stabilization. J  It is just a raised section in the back of the tub in the shape of little butt cheeks.  It holds them in place so that they don’t slide around.  Perfect!

After our bath, we did her lotion and got her dressed before giving her a bottle.  The bottle induced a food coma, so she zonked out without even needing to be rocked!  So sweet!  She has come to love her pacifier, which I think has helped her because we are pretty sure (with all of our infant care experience :)) that her frustrations are a result of teething pain.  She actually got the hang of it in one day!  She’s a pro!

When lunch time came around, I was feeling a little off, so I fed Meaza while Kevin ate.  Before they were done with lunch, I took a turn for the worse and took Meaza upstairs to lay down with me.  She quickly fell asleep, but I was not so fortunate.  The longer I laid in bed, the worse I felt.  Really?  Now???  I had what seemed like an awful fever and could not seem to kick it.  I laid in bed with several blankets on me, but I still shivered.  What made it worse was that I was also experiencing some pretty strong pain in my side, chest, and abdomen.  Mid-afternoon, I became friends with the trash can, but thankfully that was a one-time deal.  I felt marginally better after that, but still was unable to sleep.

About 5PM, I started to try to get up and move and we would be leaving for the airport at 6PM.  I felt very weak and I was in a lot of pain, but the nausea had subsided.  Kevin, once again, saved the day by frantically packing all our bags while I was completely useless.  All of this did not make Meaza very happy, I can’t blame her!  Thankfully, it was short lived.  When the driver arrived, the staff of our guest house came up to help us carry our bags down.  Such a blessing!  We were also thankful to have a bigger van and to take a different route to the airport that was significantly less bumpy!  When we arrived at the airport, our driver helped us get all of our bags onto carts and we headed in.  I felt very hazy and very weak.  I found myself swaying in line to try to make myself feel better.  I must have looked ridiculous!  We arrived at the airport around 6:30PM, roughly 3 hours before our flight.  Praise God we were able to get seats in a bulkhead row with a bassinette for Meaza!  We thought we might even have an empty seat between us (but later found out not, but it was okay).  After getting our boarding passes, we went through immigration (which was very quick thankfully!) and went upstairs to the gates.  I should have thought better, but the escalator wasn’t working, so I started climbing the stairs.  Even though I went slowly, I had more chest pain when we arrived at the top than I have ever experienced in my life.  I could not take a breath deep enough to catch my breath.  I definitely freaked Kevin out.  Kevin spotted a lounger chair and I went over and sat down to regroup.  After about a minute, I was able to breathe again.  Scary!!!!  As I laid there in the lounger, I was still unable to take deep breaths, but at least the nausea stayed away.  That was when I sent the facebook message to pray, and so many people did!  Thank you!!!  I begged God so much today to heal me as I knew that the devil was working against us, and as more joined in, I began to feel your prayers!  I took some Tylenol about an hour before we boarded the plane and I felt noticeably better.  We went through the second security checkpoint close to our boarding time so that we would not have to wait too long.  Woo hoo for priority boarding!  We were able to get all of our bags in the overhead bins right by us!  Meaza was content and fell asleep to the hum of the engines and we took off!

The first leg of our flight took us to Rome where we landed only long enough to refuel and change flight crews (about an hour).  Meaza slept the entire time!  Kevin and I dozed as well.  He kept a close eye on her and allowed me to sleep as it was the first time all day that I was able to.

After our fuel stop in Rome, it was nine hours to D.C.  Again, Meaza fell asleep to the hum of the engines.  This time, Kevin and I fell asleep as well (well I think he did J).  When Meaza awoke, we were eating, so we sat her up in her bassinette and gave her some toys.  She shook her toys and babbled to us.  She enjoyed playing with our plastic tea cups.

We were amazed at how well she was doing; clearly another answer to prayer!  She slept for shorter periods throughout the flight.  She never once cried.  She makes this precious hungry bird face when she is hungry, so we made sure we responded right away and she ate well throughout the flight. 

As daylight caught us, we got a breathtaking view.  Kevin took a few pictures, but no photo could do it justice.

When we were about 30 minutes out from D.C. and they made the announcement that we would be starting the descent, I went to change her one last time.  I took off her diaper and wiped her and noticed a little trace and thought, that’s odd…..  I slid the new diaper under her bum just in time to catch a little present!  LOL…..this girl loves to keep me on my toes!  I quickly secured the diaper and t her redressed.  Kevin definitely thought that was pretty hilarious!  Always happens to me…..

We made it!!!  As we landed, Kevin snapped a picture of Meaza as she became a U.S. citizen!  Woo hooo!!!!  We tried to take a picture under the ‘Welcome to the United States’ sign, but we were told we were not allowed.  Unfortunately, that was the only sign, so we will just have to remember it.  Because of our little poo poo debacle, I wanted to change her again in case it was a big one (keep in mind we were also blessed with no blowouts on the plane, or while in Ethiopia).  Turned out, it was almost nothing, but I felt better for having checked and cleaned her up.  As I was picking her up, she spit her pacifier out on the floor (note to self, need a pacifier clip!), so I took her to the sink so I could wash it.  Okay, I can do this, right??  Hold baby, need to hands to push soap.  Right….  I sat Meaza on the counter and bear hugged her as I pumped soap with one hand and held the pacifier with the other.  I must have looked like such a goof, but I needed to wash my hands!  Alright, U.S. immigration here we come!!

Of course, since I had to change her, the immigration line got longer on us.  It took about 30-45 minutes to get through.  I started feeling feverish again as we stood in line, but I could tolerate it.  Finally, our turn!  Immigration this time was definitely faster than it was with Nicolas.  It only took a few minutes and we were through.  Welcome our Ethio-merican girl!!!!

Since we were at the back of the immigration line, our luggage was already out by the time we got through.  Kevin grabbed a cart, loaded up the bags, and we headed to the customs line.  Customs went faster, yay!  Next, we rechecked out bags and got our boarding passes for our last flight.

Once we got back into the main area of the airport, we looked around for the other family we traveled with to say goodbye.  Thankfully, we were able to find them!  They live in New York, so the remainder of their trip would be in the car.  We so enjoyed getting to know and spend time with them!  And, they graciously provided the meds that I so desperately needed to get me home!!!!  Can you imagine that – of all the meds I brought, I didn’t bring regular Tylenol or ibuprofen?  Fail on my part!

I got drinks for Kevin and I and made a bottle for Meaza.  I took some more meds and had some ginger ale to get my fever under control.  What I wasn’t thinking about was that we had just bought liquids before going through security.  Oops!  So…..we hung out there for a bit.  We called Nicolas to talk to him before his soccer game and got the scoop from Grandma P.  About two hours before our flight, we headed to security.  WOW!!!  They have a lot more questions when you go through with a baby!  Can we check this?  Do you have this?  What’s in here?  No worries, we made it out unscathed J.  We headed to the trains to get to our terminal and arrived at our gate with about an hour and a half before our flight.

In our down time, Meaza and I changed into clean clothes and we called our parents to let them know that we were in D.C. and that I was doing better.  Our flight was slightly delayed due to a mechanical issue, but we got off the ground relatively quickly after that.  As we boarded, Meaza did get a little fussy.  Again, I couldn’t blame her.  This was the longest day ever!  She fussed on and off for about the first 45 minutes before she finally fell asleep.  She also woke up and we were passing over Eastern Michigan.  She was definitely ready to be done with the whole flying thing!  We landed in Grand Rapids about 15 minutes later than scheduled and knew that we would have a crowd to welcome us.  We prayed that Meaza would be calm and that it wouldn’t be too much for her.  As we walked down the ramp one of the TSA agents said, “I think this crowd is for you!”, and it was!!!  We were warmly welcomed home by a large group of family and friends.  It was exactly what we needed!  The first one to approach was the one I most wanted to see, Nicolas!!  He gave us all big hugs and was anxious to see his baby sister.  He took her in his arms, but quickly gave her back saying she was too heavy….LOL!  Hugs and tears from grandmas came next.  As we approached the rest of the crowd, Meaza just looked around in amazement at all these people who seemed so happy to see her!  We took lots of pictures as we introduced her to everyone.  I cannot explain the joy and comfort we felt not only because all of the people came to welcome us, but also because our family was finally home.  It brings tears to my eyes even now.  After three years of waiting, our family is together.  Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow!!