May 20, 2010 - Alesha Day!!!!

After a VERY LONG night of little sleep, we all awoke at different times and made an assessment of our health situation.  It appeared as though the medicine did its work, the vomiting stopped,and it looked like we were finally on the mend.  Martin had his appetite back and wanted to go with Darin to the buffet downstairs and get something to eat.  Luke, was still not feeling all that great.  His issues were compounded by his IBS and the meds were not helping the situation. He was past vomiting, but felt very nauseous mostly due to IBS.  I was feeling much better, but VERY weak, as we all were.  Luke and I stayed in the room and asked Darin to bring us back a piece of toast to see if we could eat anything at all.  I am TOTALLY bummed that I missed out on the breakfast buffet.  It sure sounded amazing!  Anyways, a knock was at the door.  Who I thought was Darin, turned out to be an employee standing there with a tray of food.  Later I found out that Darin tried to just bring it up, but they refused and said they would do it for him.  All the while I am looking just awesome after the night I had and have not even started to get ready for the day.  He leaves the tray and Luke and I take a few bites and call it good.  Still not much of an appetite.

We are not scheduled to go to the orphanage until 2:00 p.m.  As we try to pass the time the boys watch their favorite episode of Pink Panther and Darin and I each write a letter to Alesha.  It is amazing that this day is FINALLY here.  I am nervous, excited, antsy all at the same time and am struggling to find energy to get through this big life changing day.  I am thrilled that our prayers were answered and we are well enough to make it to the orphanage as a family.  As we continued to wait, I double checked all of our donations for the orphanage, Alesha's bag, the carrier, and made sure all  the paperwork was in order.  We then took our last family photo as a family of 4.

The time had come for us to grab all our stuff and head to the lobby to meet our driver for the day.  Let me just say that we had the BEST driver!  He was the sweetest man and had been driving the streets of Kolkata since 1969.  He was really excited for us when we told him that we headed to the Children's Home to pick up our daughter.  Once our bags were loaded and we were safely buckled in, our driver began talking with us in perfect English.  We first chatted about the differences in transportation compared to Delhi.  In Delhi you see a lot of green auto rickshaws and in Kolkata you see yellow cabs.  We discussed Hinduism, Jesus Christ, and the difference between the two beliefs, he told us about his family and gave us some history on India.  We arrived at the orphanage without a hitch :-)  Did I mention I LOVE this driver!

We were asked by our caseworker prior to travel if we would be willing to take photos of all the children at the children's home.  My husband who has a photography business on the side was delighted and honored to take the photos.  I was so excited that he could use his gift of photography to bless the waiting families.  Darin and I were very aware of how precious and meaningful each image was of Alesha during our process.  We had only received a handful of photos during our wait so we were determined to get several images of each precious child. Any photo or video clip you get is priceless during the wait.  These are the life line to your child.  What was really exciting for me was that I could meet, hold, and tell some of my friend's babies how much their mommy and daddy loved them and they would be coming soon to bring them home.

The Children's home is split into two building a couple blocks away from each other.  Upon arrival at the 9B building we were joined by an employee who traveled with us to the other building.  This was our first glimpse of where our daughter had been staying.  With the list that Tami emailed me with the specific photos that needed to be taken of specific children, etc and with the famous name signs in hand, we proceeded into the building.   At this point I am half expecting to round a corner and see my precious daughter standing there.  Alesha, had been in this building since her arrival at the Children's Home. So as we moved from room to room I was expecting to see Alesha's sweet face.

An overall picture of the room with the babies

Our boys with some of the Ayahs and babies

The photo below is very meaningful to me.  When we first entered the building we stopped in a room where the newborns were located. This sweet women was feeding this precious little one.  She chatted a bit with us and helped me get the photos of the infants and helped me with names of the babies.  We then walked throughout the other rooms and got additional photos of the children.  When we were about to leave I hadn't seen Alesha anywhere and was told that she was in the other building now.  As we were leaving we passed the first room again and this sweet Ayah was still there.  She asked me who my baby was and I said "My baby is MugdhaMugdha.  The weight of her comment really hit me at the point and when I see this picture of her holding this tiny little baby it gives me a visual of her caring for my precious baby girl.  What a blessing it is to have such beautiful and caring women caring for our children until we are able to bring them home.  They are truly a treasure and my heart breaks for them as each of "their babies" leaves the home to be joined with their forever family.  It takes somebody special to care so deeply for someone and have them taken out of your life over and over again.  Although it is a beautiful thing that the children are going to a forever family, they still grieve that loss.

This photo was taken as we left the building to go back to our car.  I just love all these tiny little clothes hanging out on the line.

We all piled into the car and headed back to the 9B building.  We knew we had arrived as we saw the famous sign that I had seen in so many blogging friend's photos over the years :-)

WOW, this was it! This is where our daughter is and we will finally be united with her.  As we entered the home we walked up a long marble stairwell and into a small lobby area.

We were directed into Ms. Roy's office, the door on the left, where we were greeted by her sweet smile. She had all the paperwork set out and we began our meeting.  I had my list of questions to ask and fumbled through the list as my nerves were shot.  After my list of questions we signed the book saying that we were Alesha's parents.  We saw the most precious little newborn photo of Alesha.  So glad we were able to see another photo of her.  After all the signing was completed I asked Ms. Roy to please write Alesha's name and those of my boys in Bengali.  It is a treat to have that paper as a memory.  We then presented Ms. Roy with our donations.  It was so awesome to present her with an entire duffel bag full of diapers and wipes that were donated by the hospital my husband works at and to also give a milk donation.  These items are so expensive in India and it felt so good to give back to the home that had cared for our daughter for so many months.  Ms.Roy then gave us our box of cereal and formula and then brought out the most precious memory book for us.  It had photos in it of Alesha's friends and some tid bits about our girl.  It brought tears to my eyes.  What a beautiful gift for them to give us on such a special day.

By this point we have already spent 1 1/2 at the other building and have now been here for about an hour.  My sweet, Luke, was feeling sicker by the minute.  His IBS was really acting up and the heat was not helping things a bit!  As we left the office Luke made his way to the bathroom where we thought he was going to throw up.  Thankfully he didn't, but my husband (being the documentary photographer that he is) documented the moment.

My emotions were running really high at this point.  My boy is not feeling well and he felt horrible that he was sick on the day he was going to meet his sister so his emotions were high and lots of tears from pain and sadness, it is hotter than anything, and now I am seconds away for seeing my baby in real life.  We proceed into the first room and took the photos of the children on the list and then entered the larger room where the other children were located.  When we walked into the room my eyes scanned  the room in record time looking for my girl. There she was!  One of her Ayahs was holding her and she looked a bit nervous.  I walked slowly over to her, smiled, and said "Hi, Mugdha"  I knew that she had NO idea who I was and had seen many of her friends leave with people with white skin so I wanted to take it really slow.  She just looked at me and clung to her Ayah.  Notice how curled her feet are in the below photo.  She did this a lot when we first got her. When she was scared or felt uncomfortable those little feet would just curl up really tight.

Our first glimpse of each other.  Our son, Martin, was in charge of the video camera and did a fantastic job!

My first touch of her beautiful skin.

Alesha, with one of her Ayahs

Alesha, with one of her Ayahs

Alesha, with another Ayah

We decided that Alesha would just stay with her Ayahs while we continued taking photos of the rest of the children.  It was so fun interacting with all these precious children and getting them to smile for the camera!  When our photos were complete it was time to hold my precious girl!  Boy, when her Ayah handed her to me I instantly felt how TINY and frail her body was.  She was light as a feather.

There was a bit of hesitation from her, but there were no tears, which surprised everybody.  Ms. Roy was pretty confident that Alesha was going to cry and have a really hard time leaving.  I just talked to her and tried not to hold her so tight.  The top button of her dress was missing and I noticed the tag inside and quickly caught a glance at the size and was shocked when I saw 0-3 months!!!!  YIKES,all the clothes I brought were 6 months.  This could be an issue, I was thinking in the back of my mind.

After some little games with the mirror and more talking, the most incredible thing happened.  Alesha, just layed her head down on my shoulder and totally relaxed.  It is funny, because months before we got the all clear to travel, I felt as though I could literally feel Alesha in my arms in this EXACT position, and now it is actually happening.  My baby girl is in my arms at last.  The other thing that stuck me was that just the day before the little twin of Alesha's at the Mother Teresa home did the exact  same thing.

This is one of my favorite photos my husband took.  It captures so much with the reflection and moment.  The clock and the Ayah in the background just bring this photo full circle.  What I really love is that look at Alesha's feet, they are completely uncurled and relaxed.

Alesha, met daddy and her brothers, but didn't want them to hold her or touch her. That was really hard for all of them, but they understood and didn't press the issue.  The boys kept saying how adorable she was and they were SO happy to finally have her.

After we chatted some more with the Ayahs and asked more questions, it was time to leave and to say our good byes and thank yous to the Ayahs. We took a few pics with Ms, Roy, gathered all of our things from Ms. Roy's office, and we were off to start a new life as a family of 5!

Hugging Ms.Roy goodbye and telling her thank you!

As I turned to walk out of her office, I was overcome with emotion. The reality that I was taking my little girl from everything she has ever known and all of the changes that would be coming her way in the days to come hit me really hard.  I think I was also feeling the grief of the care givers as well.  It was really overwhelming!

I remember walking down those final steps to the entrance of the building and thinking this is it, Alesha is in our care from here on out. It was a mix of excitement, grief, anxiousness of how she would react, etc.  The interesting thing was is that I just walked right out of the home with Alesha in my arms and nobody followed, no guards, nobody, just me and my family.  

The boys so excited to see their sister

One of my favorite photos from the trip.  Thanks to my husband for capturing these first precious moments as mother and daughter.

Our driver was all smiles as he drove us to the passport place to get Alesha's photos taken. He took us right to the location, but there was no parking.  Unlike the crazy driver we had the day before, this driver made sure exactly where the place was and instructed us how far to walk and told us that he would drive around the find another parking spot. We found the place, the photos were taken quickly and without a hitch.  Once our transaction was completed we exited and there was our driver flagging us down from a bit down the street and ran up to us to guide us to our car.  What a blessing this driver was this important day.

One of the rare photos with my husband in it

Love this sweet smile

Walking to our car.

Our next stop was the Kenilworth Hotel.  As we entered the hotel all the staff were full of smiles and congratulated us.  They said how beautiful Alesha was and said a few things to her that I didn't understand.  We made our way to the elevator, which Alesha found fascinating.  At last we were inside our room and could relax for a bit before getting some dinner. It as amazing how well Alesha did.  She cried a couple of times, but overall was all smiles and relaxed.  She did not have an appetite outside of bottles and a couple Gerber stars here and there.

The boys trying to get as close as they could to their sister.

Could her bottom lip come out any further?  This was the warning before the loud cry :-(

Laughs and smiles didn't take long at all.

Daddy feeding Gerber stars to Alesha.  These things were an absolute life saver!

Our little girl with frog legs.  So cute!

Getting paperwork in order for the next day.

We headed downstairs to update our blog and let everybody know we had Alesha.  Next, we decided to take in the dinner buffet.  It was amazing!  Unfortunately, the boys and I didn't have a big appetite, but the food we did have was fantastic.  It was later in the evening so we sat out on the patio area and listened to live music and vocals. It was really a surreal moment. I wish we had photos, but nobody had the energy to go to the room and get the camera.  We will just have those images in our minds.

After dinner we returned to the room where I got everybody settled for the night and frantically packed all of our bags and got the remainder of our paperwork in order.  See we were flying out of Kolkata at 8:30 a.m. the next day for Delhi.  Unfortunately, with all us getting sick the extra day I had scheduled to bond with Alesha before we put her on a plane, was used up with our recovery from illness :-(

I felt horrible putting Alesha on a plane after only being in our care for about 14 hours, but there was nothing I could do at this point.   I just prayed everything would work out and she would do okay on her first plane ride.