The walk of shame, and AMAZING friends :)

We are so humbled to share a huge gift that our sweet friend Tisha has given our family. I met Tisha thru our adoption of Baby girl. We used the same agency for Ethiopia. She has 3 beautiful little boys and beautiful twin girls :) She has decided to help us out by asking for small donations to make a big difference in our diaper and formula costs. We are stunned and humbled by her sweet heart. She also has a heart for orphans and understands the costs once home, can be staggering especially with a special needs little one like sweet Taya :) please check out her blog to read or if you feel moved to please re post. Thank you to all our friends for your thoughts and prayers :):) Bottom line-we are all saving  orphans one child at a time. Or well 2 at a time :)
Tisha's blog :)

After we had custody of the children, Taya was sick with a cold and seemed more reserved and sorta out of it. We had our Embassy apt and the Dr. apt and the Dr cleared her as fine ? That night we took the train back to the capitol city. Oh my. The train from hell ;) my husband thought it couldn't be worse to be dragged BEHIND the train. It is bumpy and creaky and hot and smells like fuel...I am sure we hit a few locals or large animals the way the train slammed forward then creaked to the side quickly! Seriously sucked. We did have a first class car, which gave us 2 small cots and a normal , although metal freezing cold toilet :) Oh and my sweet Benji didn't sleep a wink-which means mama didn't sleep. He was terrified, and kept patting my face saying "mama kaca" which mean -potty.again.and again. :) Taya slept fine :) even rolled off after one big lurch and landed on the floor. ASLEEP! :(

~We had a horrible apartment in the capitol , the bed smelled like mildew and felt like laying on wet lumpy cotton balls. Gross. And all the outlets were hanging out of the walls which thrilled Benji :( 220 volts ..dangerous.
~We woke up at 2am to head to the airport at 3. As soon I as woke Taya up I realized she had vomited in her sleep. Quick change, a bit of ibuprofen and tried to give her a bottle of apple juice/water. She drank about 3 oz which thrilled me since she didn't take one the night before. Quickly she vomited it up. ALL OVER US BOTH. Change again. Threw my pj's away. Well the vomiting continued for the next hour. We got in the car w Nicko and told him. He said "it will be fine" luckily she didn't vomit in his car :) got to the airport and waiting in the LONG SLOW line to check in, she vomited about 4 times...no one even noticed or offered a paper towel :( even the workers walked by. My hubby gave me his coat to keep the vomit off me and clean Taya up. She was in the Ergo front carrier, so it was tricky NOT to wear it. Each time she vomited, my heart sank and the dread became thicker. I was getting scared. Scared for my baby who I could tell was in trouble. Scared to be so far from home with a sick baby. Scared knowing in my gut, that we were not going home today. Scared for my kids at home, who were so excited we were coming home.
~Long story short we make it on the plane and Taya is lethargic and now vomiting bile or just gagging. The flight attendant asks if she is OK? I said she is dehydrating I think, and might need electrolytes. Taya gagged again, nothing comes out. A nice flight attendant asks if we want some coke and salt to drip on her tongue...the other flight attendant comes back and says

" I have talked to the captain and due to the small size of your child and her illness which could infect all our other passengers he thinks it would be best if you departed the plane at this time"

I am stunned and scared. She is saying what I am thinking. Oh my word. Please Lord let my baby be OK ! I am freaking out too afraid my husband is going to be mad. He has to go to work. But I know he is scared for Taya too. We don't even say a word to each other, just gather up the kids and walk THE WALK OF SHAME...off the plane with my very sick vomiting baby, covered in vomit myself, with a little boy who is stealing all the in flight magazines, while everyone stares, worried about their OWN health. not.fun.
~They walk us out of the terminal where a Dr from the airport is waiting. She tells us that Taya is fine, no temperature and she can ride the plane. What?? She is clearly very sick. And our plane has left! I lost it now. I start to cry. Hard.

~Then the young lady who speaks no English walks us back thru the airport to the front door where we came in. Are ya kidding? Now what? I ask for a taxi to a hospital and they say there are no hospitals in the capital city. Seriously?
~The serious situation we are in, sinks in. I start to cry the ugly cry. I am so scared for my baby. So scared to have her treated here where no one blinks at a 4 1/2 little girl who weighs 21 pds and can not walk. Where 2 doctors say she is fine. Fine?Really?
~I have no phone numbers they  are in my luggage which the airline cant find...
~I scan my iPhone and find Nancy's number in Florida. I risk it and call her :) love her! She answers ! She gives me all the facilitators numbers and a hug over the phone :)
~I call Marina who is a doll, she answers and goes into action. She says do not worry we will get you to a Dr asap.
~Nicko comes back for us in 1 1/2 hours and takes us to a clinic for foreigners. We have to wait until 9:30 for a Dr. They decided she should be hospitalized. They do not speak English so Nicko translates. It is scary. I am numb. Taya is laying on the table like a zombie in and out of it. Her eyes are rolling around and her lips are chapped and dry. No cute tongue clicking :( we head to the hospital for foreigners IN THE CAPITAL btw. Very nice place, clean, new and not crowded. Everyone pays in cash so it isn't busy. After a bit we are admitted. For a 3 day stay.

~Diagnoses is bacterial infection, severe dehydration, severe constipation and inflamed organs. Not sure what the last one was? They were very nice and I even had one nurse who spoke English :) My husband and Benji could not visit, so it was lonely and surreal to be away from my husband when our baby was so sick.  Taya was on IV fluids constantly and antibiotics. She had an enema to clear her out :(  She would not eat or drink at all.

~Yulia came to visit us and Marina and Serge called and made sure the doctors knew to take very good care of Taya and that we were comfortable. The facilitators were AMAZING. Truly made us feel so much safer. Yulia would speak to the nurses for me which helped so much.
~ Nicko put Michael and Benji in another apartment. It wasn't very nice, but hey we hoped they wouldn't be there long, so they made due. Daddy did a great job parenting all alone.

~After 3 days we were picked up at 2am to go to the airport. We got to travel with Ashley's hubby to the airport. Super nice guy :) Our hospital stay cost us *8500 grivna which isn't too bad for 3 days :) but that was the last of our money :( 

~When we finally sat down on the plane heading to Germany on the 20th we were so afraid to move for fear of jinxing it Lol :) Taya and Benji did AMAZING on the flights, they mostly slept or stared at Cars the movie while it played on the in flight screen.  Taya was still dehydrated a bit, the Dr wanted her to stay longer but I knew we needed to get her HOME. So armed with packets of electrolytes, and an antibiotic and a dropper we made it. She refused all drink so every 15 Min's or so I would slowly put a full dropper full in her mouth little by little. She had a close call at one point , she started gagging after a long nap so I pushed fluids for about a half hour then she was better.

~She is drinking her bottles and eating baby food or blended foods wonderfully now :) Gretchen was sweet and sent me a Rival mini food processor. LOVE IT. I blend a lot of the foods the kids are eating for Taya then add a jar of baby food or fruits. I put a whole breakfast oat round with cream cheese and jelly, piece of apple and yogurt then blend. Yum :)

If you read all that whew ! Thank you :) now enjoy the pictures .
shoot-all my pictures are on my hubbys computer. I will add more later these are from when we first arrived at the hospital from my iPhone.

HUGS !!