Monday morning finally arrived and we got up early to get ready to meet Sasha and Lena in the lobby of the hotel. We were both so nervous it wasn't even remotely funny. I couldn't stay out of the bathroom, Michael just wasn't saying anything. I can't imagine being any more jittery if I was in labor myself. :o)
We went downstairs at 9:00am to meet our ride. The orphanage was only about 10 minutes away from the hotel so we hopped into Sasha's little car and away we went. We traveled into a more rural area of Stavropol. It was unreal the poverty that the people here live in and for the most part the areas we were going through were considered middle class. We finally arrived at the orphanage. It was an old school house that had been coverted into the baby home. It was a rundown looking building, the grass was not mowed, the drive was not in good condition. We went up to the door and rang the bell. One of the workers opened the door and her and Lena talked back and forth for a minute and Lena showed her the papers that we were allowed to be there to see the director and meet our son.
Finally we got to go in. We were ushered up a flight of stairs and into a waiting area. Lena disappeard to talk with the orphanage director and let her know that we were there. It seemed like forever. Michael and I paced back and forth while we waited. From time to time a worker would walk by with several little ones. Finally Lena came back and we were off to meet the director. We went up 2 more flights of stairs and finally ended up in a conference room where we were told to have a seat. The director came in along with the orphanage nurse. They had a file on "alex" with his medical history. They went over everything with us and some of it sank in some of it didn't. I think they could have told us he had 3 eyes and it wouldn't have mattered one bit to us. They did say that he was born premature at 28-30 weeks, deprived of oxygen at birth and had an abnormally place chord in the left chamber ofhis heart. We just wanted to see him and finally we were on our way to his nursery.
They took us into a little room and made us put on booties over our shoes and finally we were ushered into the playroom. We went over and sat down on a bench against the wall and everyone was just standing around. All of a sudden here came the nurse with the most precious little boy we'd ever seen and just plunked him down in my lap. I just started bawling. Michael even got misty eyed. He just had this dazed and confused look on his face but also this little smile. There was no turning back now. This little boy had stolen our hearts in less than 5 minutes. Almost as quick as they brought him in they whisked him away and us back off to the conference room. Here they went over his parents information. He was the 9th pregnancy and 5th premature delivery and the first child that they had relinquished. No drug or alcohol abuse they just couldn't afford another child. We were then asked if we wished to sign the intent to adopt. Uhhhhh YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Where do we sign????????? It was love at first sight. I can't imagine it being any different than if I'd just given birth.
Next stop is the Minester of Education's office to get their approval to visit each day while we are here.
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