3 days until we leave

I cannot believe that we are leaving in three days.  Two bags are packed and weigh in at 49.5 lbs.  We are trying to get every pound that we are allowed onto that airplane!  (=  Our girls are so excited to go meet "their" baby, as are we!

We went to the travel clinic a couple days ago to see what we might need in terms of infectious diseases.  I'm an ER physician, but there is not a lot of information on the Marshalls.  Even the experts had trouble finding information!  Last typhoid surveillance was dated 2005.  Here is what I learned:
--no malaria risk
--dengue is a risk; they had a big outbreak in 2011 (day biting mosquitoes)
--typhoid risk is very very low.  In 2005 they had 40 cases per 100,000 people.  Vaccination not recommended
--chikungunya is a big risk.  Spread by mosquitoes. 
--Hepatitis B is a risk if you are going to be in contact with blood or body fluids of somebody who has Hepatitis B.
--no Yellow Fever
--no Japanese Encephalitis Virus
--Hepatitis A is a risk, just like it is here in the U.S.  Vaccine preventable.  Spread through food and water.

So, big take home points were:
--mosquito control!  We bought mosquito repellent bands in three different varieties.  We also have Bite Not stickers which contain Vitamin B1 and reportedly mask your smell from mosquitos.  Also bought lemon eucalyptus oil and another deet free mosquito cream.  I didn't want to put deet on the kids and since we'd be holding our new baby a lot, I didn't want to accidentally transfer it to her.  Besides, I don't like deet on my skin!  
--stomach bugs.  The water is not drinkable. We have a portable water filtration device by Travl-L-Pure that we have hauled all over the world with us and so far, so good.  We will also be bringing powdered azithromycin for our two older girls in case of diarrhea, and ciprofloxacin for us grown-ups, as well as antidiarrheals and nausea meds.  Also bought lots of hand sanitizer, which is great for bacteria, but not good for viruses, but since we cannot wash our hands in the sink, will have to do for now.

Three more days of work before we jet off on our greatest adventure to date!  So excited to go meet our new baby girl!!!

Travel Informational Meeting

Oh boy, this is really starting to feel like it is really happening!  We had our travel meeting today with AI.  I have to admit, I'm getting pretty nervous.  Will the birth mom like us?  What if she takes one look at us and changes her mind?  What if the judge decides that we are not suitable adoptive parents?  We also discussed bonding issues with adopted children.  Our child is very very young so we don't anticipate any bonding issues, but what if there are?  We discussed appropriate attire for women as well as behavioral differences between Americans and Marshallese.  We have traveled extensively, but this is different on so many levels.  The people that we are meeting will be connected to us for as long as we live.  I just don't want to offend anybody.  Back to packing, just with a lot more nerves!

Gift Suggestions

As we're packing, we're also trying to purchase meaningful gifts for the birth mother and her family.  We know that there is not a single gift in the world that can truly thank her for her selfless sacrifice, so it is a hard thing to do.  Some ideas that were suggested, were things that I would not have thought of myself in a million years.  Yes, there are the typical gifts of candies, fancy soaps, a locket, that we fully intend to do.  What I wouldn't have thought of was Tylenol.  Just plain, over-the-counter, Tylenol. Apparently the hospital ran out of Children's Tylenol at one point in time this year!  Along with Tylenol, loperamide (anti-diarrheal) and Motrin were suggested.  Feels so strange to say, "thank you for your beautiful child.  Here's a bottle of Motrin!".  Picture frames.  Apparently, they are very hard to come by in the Marshalls.  Kit-kat bars.  Apparently, U.S. candy is a big hit over there!  I had purchased some fancy Sees Candies, after somebody suggested that, but turns out, the other little candies are an even bigger hit!  Just have to find room for everything.  We can bring 4 pieces of checked luggage.  Time to get creative!

Court date has been set!

We have a court date!  It is just a couple days after we arrive in Majuro.  Just working like crazy until we leave.  I moved all of my work shifts from the end of the month to the beginning.  I work almost every single day until we leave.  So much to do before we leave in 10 days!

Plane Tickets Purchased!

Plane tickets x 4 purchased.  We are flying into Honolulu a day before our scheduled flight to Majuro as I don't want any flight delays to stymie us catching our flight to Majuro, especially since there are only three flights a week!  We ended up booking the flights from Seattle to Honolulu and Honolulu to Majuro separately as it was much cheaper than buying a combined ticket through United (the only airline that flies to Majuro) and the only way to get direct flights.  United wanted us to have a layover in New Jersey, which if I'm remembering my geography correctly, is not on the way to Hawaii from Seattle!  We bought round trip tickets and will just hope that things go smoothly and we don't have to eat a bunch of change ticket fees.  It was again, much cheaper, than two one way tickets and easier than buying last minute seats for 4 people.  As was, it was hard to find seats together for such last minute ticket purchases!  Next step is to get our court paperwork notarized.  We have a travel notary coming to the house tomorrow morning.  We then need to scan this form and send it in pdf format to Adopt International so that John (the lawyer in Majuro) can submit it to the court first thing on Monday and apply for our court date. 

REALLY PACKING!!!

Oh my goodness, we got the call!  Technically got the call 5 days ago, one day after my last post, but we were out of town so I didn't post.  Had our medical consult today and got two thumbs up for a healthy child!  Sorry, no details about the baby until everything becomes official.  Waiting on our court date and travel details.  I should have started packing weeks ago when I was told to start packing!  For those of you who are on the list, be prepared to leave at any time.  We were still not family #1, #2, or #3, but the birth mom was looking for something specific and so they skipped over everybody to us.  Gotta go pack!  And shop!

Packing!

Well, we have been told TWICE now in the past two weeks that we need to start packing!  No referral yet but we've been told that it could happen any day now.  We were just given a more refined packing list which mentions no swimming suits for women.  Board shorts or swim skirt and swimming shirts over swimsuits only.  Not even a one-piece suit will fly.  Found some cute stuff on Amazon.  My skin will thank me, I'm sure.  Also no tank tops or shorts. Shoulders need to be covered as well as legs past the knees.  Now I need to dig out our baby clothes from the storage closet and start sorting by age and gender.  Since we don't know either of those two things, I'll just have to have labeled piles that I can quickly throw into a suitcase.  I was told that after we receive our referral, we have two weeks to have it reviewed by a physician and to accept or decline it, but that we should really accept within 7 days.  After we accept, they will apply for a court date, which depending on timing, could mean that we need to be in Majuro within 7 days!  So we really should be ready to be in Majuro within 2 weeks of receiving our referral.  It'll be a whirlwind couple of days but I've been assured that after that, everything just slows down to island time.  We were told we'd be updated again in mid-June unless we get a referral before then...