I promised I'd write about the trip to Ethiopia, and I will. But it's so difficult not to write about Layla as she is right now. I don't know what the heck I expected, but I certainly did not expect:
- her to be so doggone CUTE and SWEET and LOVING
- to LOVE her so much in such a short period of time
She is amazing. I swear she is an adult soul in a baby's body. She has such a sense of humor! Her absolute favorite thing in the world is to make someone laugh. When I laugh at something she is doing, she crinkles up her nose and explodes in laughter herself, which makes me laugh even harder. So we have these little laughing matches that can last for several minutes. This of course occurs when she is not cranky over not being held or not having slept or not getting her food as she desires. There are so many sweet and loving things about her personality that you just have to experience her to understand.
She is getting better with the sleeping and not wanting to ever be alone, which I believe is due to an increased sense of security in her new home with her new mama. She now sleeps at least 12 hours at night and has been taking at least a 2 hour nap during the day when we aren't running around. The end result is that she is much more pleasant during waking hours. She still has ear issues as well as some congestion, but we are going to the doctor next week for another checkup and to plan and possibly begin her vaccinations and blood tests, depending on the status of her infections.
Well, I guess that's a good lead-in to one of the experiences we had in Ethiopia - our interactions with the healthcare system there. But first, I must write about our first day together. Immediately upon arriving at the guest house, we went to the orphanage to pick up our kids. Elena, the other woman with me, was picking up Amanuel, a 4 month old baby boy. When they took me to Mekdelawit and put her in my arms, I know I cried a little. It was a weird feeling to have this child handed to me who was a stranger but yet was my daughter. I think I also panicked a little -- it was finally real and I didn't know this child or how to take care of her! In fact, when they said "Mekdelawit is in here" and opened a door to a room, I immediately saw her, but didn't know if it was her since I had never seen her hair that way in any of the pictures. I was pretty sure it was her, but part of me wasn't certain and that made me panic a little, too. How could I not know my own daughter?? Understandably, she didn't want much to do with me that day (or for the remainder of the trip for that matter) because the caregivers were there that she dearly loved. Here she is with some of them on that day.
Having seen firsthand how much everyone at the orphanage loved her and her reactions to them, I can understand her current neediness. After all, so many people that she loved so deeply are no longer in her life and she's suddenly now stuck with just me. She's been through so much in her short little life, and I keep having to remind myself that she's only been here for two weeks, and I've only known her for three.
Little Amanuel was very dehydrated so it was decided to take him straight to the hospital. So we all poured into the car -- Mekdelawit was on my lap in the back seat as there were no car seats. We drove around the entire week in the crazy Ethiopian traffic with these babies on our laps in the back seat! We went to a hospital where they admitted Amanuel for two nights to hydrate him with IV fluids. In the meantime, Mekdelawit and I were so exhausted -- her from not having a nap and me from not sleeping AT ALL for the entire journey (I didn't sleep Thursday night due to having to drive to the airport, and I didn't sleep AT ALL on the flight over, I was sooooooo miserable). She and I fell asleep in the waiting room at the hospital, then later in the Ethiopian Air waiting room at the Hilton where we went to confirm our flight that night. Here's little Mekdelawit when we finally got back to the guest house. She was such a trooper that day and the entire week!!!
I soon discovered that Mekdelawit had explosive diarrhea (yuck!), that we struggled with all week and yes, even on the plane ride home. I took her to the "hospital" there twice. Both times, Dawit (our driver and "manny") helped me with her, as she screamed and fought against the physician, even when they just used the stethoscope on her. (Getting her caught up on vaccinations and doing blood tests will not be fun!) Here she is later in the week with Dawit.
Dawit loved her dearly and she loved him. Since he drove for the orphanage and spent time there, he knew her before our week there. He cared for her like a father the entire week I was there, more than I can ever explain. He was also a huge support for me. Since Elena had her friend Gwen there to help her with Amanuel, Dawit and I spent a lot of time together with Mekdelawit. On the last day at the airport, I literally had to pull her away from him kicking and screaming. I know that he felt the loss, too.
I get tears in my eyes just thinking about taking her away from all those people that loved her.
More on our experiences with Ethiopian healthcare later. This post has kind of taken on a life of its own.
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