September 21, 2006

The Countdown to Travel!

Well, we finally got the medical report from Ethiopia regarding DD#2's recent illness. She had a "hyperactive airway" (english translation = wheezing) and was given Ventolin. Don't know alot about that drug or the whole situation other than that, but our pediatrician reassured me that there's nothing to worry about. Anyway #2 was never in the hospital, thank goodness, but just treated there.

So, everything is in to the agency, we were approved by US CIS in a record setting 4 days, the dossier is off the Addis Ababa, and we are just waiting for a travel date. I'm so excited to go to Ethiopia again, but wow will I miss DH and DD#2! I'm not sure that I will be able to be away from them for an entire week, but since I will be an ocean away guess I'll have to adjust. haha Now I'm looking for a cellphone that I can use from Ethiopia and am having a very challenging time. Hmmm. If anyone knows anything about this subject, I'd love to hear it! Packing up donations, etc. and have collected some lovely/fun decorations for the children's homes. The coordinator at the agency told me that the walls are stark and the babies have nothing in their cribs, so at least I have something specific to look for. I've been looking at the baby einstein mobiles (nonbattery operated), but good grief those things are expensive!!! How do you guys with babies do it?

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

So glad to hear DD#2 is well! I think ventilin is an inhaler of sorts -- I believe it is the rainy season in Ethiopia, and lots of damp weather can lead to wheezing. It certainly does for me!

Good luck on your trip,
e

Beth Gallagher said...

Thanks, Erin. The rainy season comes to an end toward the end of Sept. and Oct. Thank goodness! I am really relieved, but just want to get her home.

~Beth

Anonymous said...

Yay for you! I can't wait to find out when you will go. I'll check with my Ethiopian connection to see what he says about cell phones.
Lots of love to you!

sourpatchbaby said...

YAY! I don't know about cellphones in Ethiopia, but I decorated The Kid's room in a jungle motiff. It was very cheap. I got paper bags and rolled them up into a long tube and then push pinned it on the ceiling to make it look like vines. I got a lot of beanie babies that went with the motiff at a garage sale (a whole bag for a dollar) and just put those on the walls with push pins.

Jo said...

Ventolin is Salbutamol/Albuterol. It's the stuff they use for asthmatics to open their airways. I wouldn't worry about it. When you get your baby here, your doctor will talk to you about any treatment she might need for asthma.

Cara said...

(Hi, perfect stranger wandering over from Little Bit Pregnant. Nice to meet you.) I just wanted to take a second to tell you that this story is so full of love - between you and Kali, with Kali's bio family, that you would maintain the relationship with the bio family, and that you would bring her sister home to you when there's need. I can't quite get over it. And your girls are so beautiful. I'm so glad you stepped out on faith to bring DD2 home to you. I'll be rooting for you. (p.s. - I often used Albuterol - aka Ventolin - as a child, for asthma. I remember that it tasted really awful, but it was not a signal of a big deal illness.)

Anonymous said...

We have bucket loads of ventolin here, and I've never heard of it being used for anything besides asthma. A lot of children develop asthma when they have a cold or flu and may need ventolin on a daily basis, at night time, before exercise or just when they're sick. Most children grow out of it by their teens.

My husband had chronic asthma when he was younger but has played sport, gone on long camping trips and was an active kid. Now he uses ventolin a few times a day and hasn't needed to go into hospital for years.

If you need any more information about asthma just google it and I'm sure there are many sites out there that can show you how to deal with it, if it becomes a problem.

Anonymous said...

Hi! I'd love to donate some artwork for the baby home -- when are you leaving? I could paint some durable rolled canvases for you so they'd be easy to travel with.

Anonymous said...

Heck for that matter, I could make mobiles for you! Email me if you're interested... creative@tiffanyard.com

Anonymous said...

Just visiting your blog via Julie at 'A Little Pregnant'. I will now be looking in regularly to see how things go with you and your lovely family!

You and your daughters are very lucky! They appear to be lovely girls, with the classic beauty of their Ethiopian heritage.

You are doing a wonderful thing by the way in which you are keeping them in touch with their origins, and I wish you all the very best.

Anonymous said...

So glad she's okay. I have something along the same lines - irritable airways. Its basically a low-grade asthma and for me is triggered by a cold, allergies or rapid weather changes (and I live in Vancouver - don't like the weather: wait 15 minutes). Ventalin works on a short-term basis and provides fast relief. For more long-term relief, my doctor put me on an inhalable steroid - Qvar. Flovent is another one (dad's on it). You might want to look into that when she gets home. Of course, she may be 1000x better when she gets to a less-polluted environment.

I don't know anything about cell phones in Ethiopia - maybe your agency can help?

So happy for you.

(Oh and I wandered over here from Julie's)

Sarah Mackenzie said...

You need to have a tri-band gsm phone which must be unlocked (there are places in the US where you can do it for about 5 dollars- check out little corner shops or anywhere where there is an expat population - and I know there are websites / email places that you can get a code to unlock). Then in Ethiopia you just buy a regular local sim card.

Good luck. Your family is growing and you are all getting so much out of each other. Love and happiness make the world go round.

Sara said...

I wandered on to the site from A Little Pregnant - the story posted there is wonderful in so many ways. Do you have that story posted here anywhere?

I've also thought of adopting - for just the reason in the story - that some child somewhere would be so happy to be saved by having a new mommy. But I always worried about the trouble of going through it, getting selected as not appropriate to adopt, all kinds of things. Your story helped me realize that those are things to just deal with and get over...that it's all worth it after all.

Michelle said...

What a wonderful story you have! Good luck to you and yours.

Calico Sky said...

I found your site via Building a Family. I watched your video two times and cried through it all (both times!!). I find your utterly insperational, your daughter is beautiful and I love how you have adopted a family.
You are really really inspirational and I will be praying for you each and every night.
I have just started the adoption process and would love to adopt from Ethiopia (as well as many other countries). Adoption is such an amazing way to build a family.
My blog is
http://aspecialfamily.blogspot.com

amazedlife said...

On the phones... whether your phone is tri-band or not depends on your network in the US. some US networks (NOT veriz@n, but several of the other big ones) sell mostly tri-band phones and will tell you how to unlock your phone if you call them and insist. Otherwise you can buy a GSM phone there for about $50-100 or on the internet here. And Sarah was right about the sim card - they are pretty cheap (maybe $5-10) and usually require you to buy scratch cards for the airtime to call out from the phone. You can buy the phone and the sim card in the arrivals hall of the airport.

Good luck!