Day Five- Second Half

The last couple of days have been really good. I finally feel like Ruby is trying to settle into a routine. She isn't sleeping through the night or anything, but she is a little easier to put back to sleep once she wakes up and she is taking a couple naps everyday. I am really thankful her sleep habits seem to be improving.

The past weekend with Mark's parents was great; I have pictures I will post, but I figured I should finish up my updates about Ethiopia first.

So, back to day five. After the embassy we drove to the hospital to talk to the doctor and see Ruby. To our surprise, the doctor was ready to discharge her! This meant today was the day we would take her back to the hotel with us. We were hoping this would happen, but we were still a little surprised. It was exciting, but also scary and overwhelming to think of taking this tiny, fragile little bundle home with us. Before we left with Ruby, the doctor pulled us aside to share with us some concerns he had about Ruby's development. He said her muscle tone made him wonder if she had any neurological problems; he didn't have the resources to test her in Ethiopia, but he told us we should get a thorough evaluation of her when we got home. This was very scary to hear, but we knew that her little body had been through so much. We couldn't judge her development yet; we needed to give her time to heal first.

Next, we packed up Ruby's few things and left to take her back to the hotel. We promised to bring her to the hospital twice each day so she could get antibiotics. Before we got back we stopped at two different pharmacies to get the syringes and medicine she would need. It seemed crazy that we were buying syringes for a hospital, but their resources are so limited that they didn't have any so we had to buy them.

When we got Ruby back to the hotel, Mark and I laid her on the bed and just looked at each other. It was an incredible feeling, knowing we had waited for this moment for the past year and a half and now it was here. We started off by giving Ruby a "bath". It was a little scary to see her naked for the first time because she was covered with a rash, her diaper area was flaming red, she had an abscess on her shoulder, her belly was a little bloated and her legs were sticks. I realized that we were dealing with a sick little girl who needed lots of love. After the bath we slathered her in diaper rash creme and lotion and then put clean clothes on her. Everything we brought with us was way to big on her, but at least it was clean. We also clipped her fingernails and toenails, which were super long. Then we wrapped her up tight in blankets and held her and cuddled her for the rest of the night. That night we thanked God for the blessing we were finally holding in our arms.

First moments with Ruby at the hotel:

Day Four and Five (first half)

On Sunday we woke up and had breakfast again in the hotel. By the way, I think I had fresh bread, a cheese omelet, fresh squeezed OJ (super fresh--and very tart!) and tea every morning; breakfasts were very good. Aberra picked us up and we, along with Milkiyas, went out for coffee before church. Then we went to church, which was quite the experience. It was in a tin building, with wooden benches and a dirt floor. We got there around 9, which I think was when the service was supposed to start, but no one was around. When the prayer finally started around 9:45, about a fourth of the church was filled. By 1:00, when the service was over, the whole place was full. It was a long service in a language I didn't understand, but the worship was powerful and the passion for God was evident.

Here is the church:





After church we went to the hospital for a little while to visit Ruby. The doctor wasn't around, so we didn't get to talk to him, but at least we got to spend some time with our daughter. I think we were going to go to Milkiyas' house for lunch, but church went so late and then we wanted to make sure we made it to the hospital, so we didn't make it to his house.

Next we visited Bethany's Transitional House where the kids that are referred to Bethany's families will stay until their new families are allowed to come and get them. Here we met 4 beautiful boys that were waiting for court dates. It breaks my heart to say that since our visit, one of the boys has passed away and two more of them are in the hospital. Please pray for these hurting families who feel so far away from their kids during this tough time.

Here are a few pictures of the transitional house.









Monday, we went to the embassy first thing in the morning to make sure all of our paperwork was in line and to pay our embassy fee. The embassy was about a 45 minute drive on a busy Monday morning and it was very fascinating and eye opening to watch out the window as we drove. There are people walking everywhere and the traffic was crazy. Everything was in order at the embassy so we were only there for about an hour (we had to do some waiting in line and we had to fill out some paperwork). I was surprised that the embassy building itself was large, but not very nice. It was basically just a big cement building-- I am not sure what I was expecting, but this was different.

The entry to the embassy:

Views from the car on the way to the embassy.




This is getting so long; I will post the second half of day five later :)

Day Three in Ethiopia

Saturday morning we were wide awake at 4am because of the jet lag. We went to the hospital around 10am to spend some time with Ruby. We did get a chance to talk to the doctor again and he said Ruby was doing much better!! She really turned a corner, we believe, thanks to all the people that were praying for her. The doctor even talked about us being able to take her back the hotel with us early next week, which was very exciting for us.

After we talked to the doctor we spent maybe two hours just holding Ruby, rubbing her fingers, feeding her and just trying to love on her. It was a little more comfortable to be in the hospital this time, maybe because the shock of meeting her there for the first time wore off a little. I think we felt a little more confident to ask questions and be Ruby's parents then we did the day before.

When we left the hospital we went with Abbera to the market to buy a few Ethiopian things. It was a lot of fun and Aberra helped us barter to get better prices. (I am so bad at bartering, so I am glad him and Mark did it for me :) We ended up buying a few different baskets, a scarf, some carved wooden coasters, a few bracelets, and a wooden giraffe and zebra. While we were at the market it started to downpour so we got pretty wet, but we had a good time anyways. After the market we went back to our hotel, relaxed a little, had pizza in the outdoor restaurant by the hotel, and then crashed early. All in all, it was a much more encouraging day than Friday because the doctor had given us hope that Ruby was going to recover enough for us to be able to get her home.

Here are a few pictures of our third day in Ethiopia.

We're Still Here

Sorry for the lack of posts. Mark's parents are here from MN so we are enjoying some quality time with them. I have sat down a few different times to write about day three in Ethiopia, but things like explosives diapers have kept me from it :)

We enjoyed going to Crane's Apple Orchard today and then walking downtown at the Zeeland Pumpkin Fest. Tomorrow morning Mark and his dad are going golfing and I would think his mom, Ruby and I will do a little shopping. At night Mark and I have a banquet at church so Mark's parents will stay home with Ruby-- her first babysitters :)

I will try to post about Ethiopia again after the weekend. Maybe life will start to calm down a little then. Anyways, we are enjoying spending time with family and our precious daughter.

Have a great weekend!

Day Two

12:00 update-- The doctor's appointment went great! Everything looks like it is heading in the right direction so we don't have to go back for a little over a month. There are a few tests that haven't come back yet; in the meantime we will meet with physical therapy and Early On. Praise God for a good report so far.

Ruby Update first-- Ruby gained over a pound in one week!! We knew she had gained some weight, but we were shocked to see that. Her health seems really good; she is eating like a champ (hence the weight gain :). We are going to her pediatrician today so then I may know more, but so far things have gone well. Her hands are much looser than they were last week. She is even starting to try to use them a little; she holds my hand when she eats, she has put them in her mouth a couple of times and when she is really relaxed she will put her arms all the way down. This progress is so exciting to see. Next week she goes to physical and occupational therapy and we meet with Early On to help her development and muscle tone. Her sleep has also been much better the last couple of nights. Last week she would cry so hard as soon as we set her down so it was very hard to get her to sleep. This past night I only got up with her twice! She has had a few times of crying inconsolably, but lately she just seems more at peace; she is getting less and less worked up and just seems more comfortable in her crib and in her house. These things are all answers to prayers. We are so excited to watch her continue to thrive!

Day Two in Ethiopia-- This is when we met Ruby for the first time. Our driver, Abbera, picked us up around 10am and we headed to the hospital to meet Ruby. I had different feelings because we were meeting her in a hospital. I was very excited, but also scared and worried about her health. To get to her hospital room we walked up 4 flights of stairs (no elevators:). We were in a women and children's hospital and I kept thinking of the poor ladies in labor that had to walk up these stairs!

When we got to the fourth floor we walked through a door labeled "ICU". This was also scary because I didn't know she was considered that sick. A nurse was feeding Ruby (Fendisha) when we got there but I was able to go and hold her for the first time. It was very surreal; again we were so excited, but taken aback by the oxygen and IV lines she had in and by how small and frail she looked. We held her for a little while, took some pictures and video, and then went to talk to the doctor. This is when he told us that she was pretty sick with what he thought was pneumonia and he didn't know if she would be ready to go home with us next week. This was not what we were expecting to hear. At this point, we were wondering if we would have to make some tough decisions, such as taking her to MI against the doctor's wishes, just so we could get her into a US hospital. Thankfully, we didn't have to make that decision.

Next we had to take her to get a chest X-ray. I assumed we would just take her down the hall, but I was wrong. The nurses unhooked her oxygen and her IV, wrapped her up and then we walked her down 4 flights of stairs and crawled into our van. We took her on a 10 minute drive in the smog to a cement building where the X-ray machine was. We waited in a germ filled waiting room for her name to be called and when it was her turn the nanny that was carrying her took her into the back room to get the X-ray taken. Then we bundled her back up and made the trek back to the hospital. Later that day we picked up the X-ray and brought it back for the doctor. We ran into the doc in the stairwell of the hospital where he pulled out the X-ray, held it up to the window and said, "this confirms she has severe pneumonia". What a crazy experience.

After spending a little more time with Ruby, we headed back to the hotel to crash. We were spend emotionally and physically. We were able to send some emails to our parents which was such a blessing because then they were able to pray for Ruby. We also spend a lot of time in prayer that night. Wow, this experience has made us so thankful for the US health care system. Going from this hospital to the DeVos Children's hospital in one week was quite the shock.

Here are a few pictures of day two. Thanks for putting up with the long post!

Our first glimpses of her:






The hospital:

Day One in Ethiopia

I am sorry it has been a few days since I have last posted. We have been busy trying to get used to life with a baby. Things have been going fairly well. Ruby's sleep schedule is a little off yet so we are working on that. As far as her health goes she seems to be doing fairly well. She is done with her antibiotics for the staph infection and all of her rashes are gone. She is eating really well and we are hoping that means she is gaining weight. Next week we meet with the pediatrician again and then the following week Ruby will go to occupation and physical therapy. Early On, an agency that works with child development is coming to assess her also. It was nice to have all of these referrals after our hospital stay. She is wearing her hand braces/splints most of the time and they seem to be loosening up her hands. She is even trying to use her hands a little which is something we haven't seen before. We continue to hope and pray that she makes strides in the right direction as far as her development and weight gain go. We also just want to love on her as much as we can.

I thought I would tell you all about our trip by explaining it a day at a time. So here is the first day...

After a long flight, we landed in the Addis Ababa airport around 7:30 pm on Thursday. After we got off the flight we went directly into the visa line where we waited about 1/2 hour to get our visas; they cost us $20 a piece. I would recommend getting visa here as it went fairly well for us. Next we exchanged some US dollars into birr. We got enough to last us a few days and then later in the week we exchanged more and it wasn't a problem. We ended up paying for all of our food, transportation, hotel, and shopping in birr. I think we could have paid for the hotel in US dollar but it would have been a little more expensive that way. Finally we went through customs (no big deal) and then got out luggage. Once we had our luggage we waited for about 10 minutes before we saw our driver, Aberra, and Milkiyas, Bethany's program coordinator. They helped us haul our luggage to the van and they took us to our hotel. It was dark out when we were driving, but it was still fascinating to look out the window and get a few glimpses of Addis.

Once we got to the hotel we made plans to be picked up the next morning to go meet Ruby. They did inform us that Ruby was back in the hospital with pnuemonia, which was very disappointing to hear. So the next day we would meet her for the first time in the "ICU"; that was scary to hear. Even with this news, it wasn't hard for us tofall asleep because we were pretty exhausted from traveling. Most nights we were wide awake by around 4am because of the time change and the first night was no exception.

Here are a few photos of the hotel and Milkiyas and Aberra. By the way, we stayed at the Dagim Millenium Hotel and were very pleased with things there.

A Few Ruby Pictures

One picture is from the hospital in Ethiopia and then a couple are from the DeVos Children's hospital (quite the difference).