Our Trip to Ethiopia: The Beginning

The new family outside of Layla House, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Well, all of you are anxious to hear the tales of our trip to Ethiopia to meet our dear little Noemi. I thought I would break the trip down into threes—The Beginning, The Middle and The End, as our time in Ethiopia seemed to have three distinct phases. Let’s begin where we started: The Beginning

I will be honest. Our moment of meeting Noemi was no unicorn, rainbows and stardust moment as many of us adoptive parents imagine. Instead, Donovan and I were handed our baby on a sunny Monday morning by a doctor in the orphanage infirmary who said, “This is Sosina, we think she has the measles.” Our adorable wide eyed girlie had a rash all over her body and a high fever. Poor baby. It was no glorious moment of sweet bliss. I can only think to compare it to a mother who gives birth and then the baby is unexpectedly rushed off to the NICU. You are so overcome with joy, yet confused and panicked. Measles? I thought measles were eradicated 50 years ago? Does she really have the measles or is it something else? If it is measles, will we be able to bring her into the USA? How will we get her the treatment she needs? Our minds went wild.

Our sick girlie, moments after meeting her.

And so, our first few days were spent driving around a city with limited resources including rolling power outages, frantically trying to find internet access/phone service in order to connect with our doctors in the US. We eventually connected with our doctor (via the generosity of a British man who lent us his satellite phone when he saw our distress) and went to a Swedish clinic in Addis Ababa. The doctor there felt that Sosina appeared to have a major double ear infection and strep throat so badly that it eventually erupted into what we were seeing. We got her on new antibiotics and spent the remainder of the week invading every orifice of her body 4 times a day. We gave her little reason to like us. Sweet girl—so sad for her. In between medicating our peanut, we attempted to sanitize just about everything in a land where the water is not drinkable and shuffle meds around from fridge to freezer and back again as power went on and off.

Our first snuggle, in the infirmary of the orphanage. Her medical charts hang on the wall behind us.

Our intentions to stay at a nearby hotel for the first week and spend the days at Layla House (the orphanage) playing with her so as to ease the transition were immediately kiboshed. She was quarantined and our only option to be able to be with her 24 hrs. was to stay in the infirmary or move to the guesthouse where we were allowed to have her stay with us. After spending one day in the infirmary and playing the awkward “smile fight” game with the caregivers/nurses over who got to care for Sosina, we made arrangements with the guesthouse. I was committed to Donovan and I holding her and being the ones to feed and change her so that we could begin to bond —even if Layla House staff were sweet people who loved Sosina. So I threw the girlie in my carrier and toted her out of there so that we could care for her ourselves.

Leaving the orphanage with our baby to go to the guesthouse.

Sleeping in our new room in the guesthouse. It consisted of a bed, a bookshelf and a crib. Note the sick girlie passed out on Momma's chest.

The guesthouse was full, but they made a room available for us by opening the extra room in an out building for us to use. We took Sosina with us to the tin roof, concrete floor, one light bulb lit room. It sucked. Let’s just say it. Caring for a sick baby in a dark, damp room without easy access to water s-u-c-k-e-d. She cried and slept for the first 4 or so days, not giving much, if any, eye contact. She eventually smiled on day 5 (and made this mommy’s heart all a-flutter). Such a bitter-sweet to be untied with your longed-for child, but for her to be so completely miserable much of the time. We felt so sad for her and weren’t sure how to meet her needs. Not only was she sick but she didn’t know us or her surroundings. I can’t imagine what she must have been feeling.

Our Guesthouse, just a quick walk from Layla House. We had local children and a herd of goats greet us each morning.

And so, that was the beginning of our time in Ethiopia. It does get much better, obviously, but I’m not going to sugar coat the first half of our trip. We were prepared for a lot—but not for this. I am just so thankful that we had the love and support and humor of other adoptive families around us and that we arrived the day that we did so that we could get her the medical care that she needed. Thanks be to God. Our baby is on the mend and doing well.

Noemi hanging with Daddy on the road between the guesthouse and Layla House after her fever broke.