Amina's Amazing Birth Story

And then there were three!



How did Amina join our family? Well, I'll tell you the story...

First week of March 2009 - Jacob and Laura are finally approved as an adoptive couple and our profile is published online. Happy day!

March 11 - We are contacted by a birth mom living in Utah who is interested in placing with us if adoption is what she decides. We wait and hope for the best.

May 28 - Things work out for the Utah birth mom and she decides to keep her baby. We are happy things worked out for her but we are, of course, disappointed that we don't get to be parents yet.

Sunday June 7, 2009 - We get our first email from Amina's birth mom from the Oregon Coast. After our last experience, we try very hard not to get excited.

July and August - We wait and hope, getting encouraging emails here and there. Our sanity is just about to go out the window when

August 31, 2009, 4 pm - We get confirmation from the doctor that our birth mom is pregnant and that she is due "any day"! We get a car seat from our friend that night - "just in case."

September 1, 2009 (the next day) - I (Laura) am scheduled to work at the hospital and my coworkers give me the easiest assignment - an easy delivery - because they can see I have "baby on the brain" and am pretty much good for nothing difficult. At 10:45 pm my patient is minutes away from having her baby when Kathy, my coworker, comes into my patient's room, taps me on the shoulder and says, "Can you step outside for a minute?" Once outside, she says, "It looks like you are going to Newport tonight: your husband is on the phone." I run down the hallway to where my coworkers are grinning and giggling at the nursing station and Katherine is holding the phone out to me. I say, "You guys are pranking me, right?" But then lightning goes through my body as I hear Jacob's voice on the other end saying, "She's in hard labor and she's driving herself to the hospital."

What happened next is a blur. I paced around for a little bit unable to think straight, called the caseworker and confirmed, finished my charting, waved goodbye to my fabulous coworkers who were saying, "go on, get out of here, we'll take care of everything," and got out to the car by 11 pm. I tried very hard not to speed home where Jacob was furiously packing. Soon we were all packed and on the road toward Newport via Tillamook. I remember the drive was gorgeous. The moon was shining brightly, casting brilliant light on the trees and the ocean, creating a moon path to the horizon. I thought to myself: A herald of our baby's birth. As we got near to Tillamook, we decided we had better think of names. The girl name was easy. Jacob has always liked Amina. It is a special name to him. I have always loved the name Liana. I woke up one morning and saw it written in my head and loved it. When I found out what it meant, I loved it even more. Amina Liana works so well and so lyrically, we didn’t have to discuss it any more. That was it. We felt very warm and happy about that name.

Trying to decide on a boy’s name was much harder. We had thought about Joseph Jacob in the past, but those names are so common. We wanted our baby (if it were a boy) to have a name that he could call his own. We thought and thought and talked and talked, and we even resorted to reading all the store signs and street names as they went by: "Hmm, maybe Fred, how about Meyer?" trying to think of something good.

We were about 20 minutes away from the hospital when I called Julie, the caseworker, who was also on her way to the hospital. She said, “I was just about to call you. I just got word from the hospital, and she has just been born. You are the proud parents of a baby girl! Congratulations Mom and Dad!” I looked over at Jacob and said with astonishment, “We have a GIRL!” Jacob had thought she would be a boy, so this news was a little shock, but it took about a split second for him to get over it and we were both so happy. We were so so happy. One of the first thoughts I had was, well, no wonder we had such a hard time thinking of the right boy’s name; Our little girl had already been born! She was born at 0106 in the morning on September 2, 2009. Eight pounds, one ounce, 20 1/4 inches long, with brown hair that stuck up on top. We didn’t know this yet, though. All we knew is that she had been born, and we tried really hard not to speed all the rest of the way to the hospital. Julie the adoption caseworker beat us there by a few minutes and we met her outside the hospital room door where Amina's birth mom was waiting inside. We went in and met her and gave her hugs and thank you’s. There is nothing we could do or say to express the depth of our gratitude for such an incredible gift.

The nurses said they would bring our baby girl to us but that we ought to wash our hands first, so we went into the bathroom to wash our hands.



Daddy got to see her first. He saw her as they wheeled her into the room. He whispered to me excitedly, “I saw her! She’s really cute.” So with our hands clean, we went in to meet our little girl. When I touched her I felt so happy that my throat choked up and my voice wouldn’t work. Could it be that here was my little daughter? It was, and she is.

The Reason Why Exploratory Walks are Important

We had been living in our apartment for over a month and a half before I got around to exploring. One day at the end of April I finally ventured up the road beyond the driveway. We can only see a grove of thick trees from our apartment windows, so I was not expecting to find what I found. Not 200 yards up the road I saw this:




Here's the panoramic shot - three photos spliced together. You can click on it to see it in full scale:



Our apartment is located just to the right of this picture, inside the thick grove of trees:



Who knew this vista was just beyond that clump of trees:


And that, my friends, is why going for walks up the road is a good idea. You never know what you might find!

Living in the Country

Living further away from Portland makes for a slightly longer commute. The payback, however, is well worth every extra mile. Every evening I drive through beauty to work. When work is done I relax and refocus as I drive through beauty on my way home. Every day the wheat grows a little bit taller. I can see the earth come alive before my eyes. The drive is a perfect way to transition from the hustle and bustle of the world to the peace of home.


Scenes along our daily drive:






























Now, doesn't that make you feel better after a long stressful night at work?

If You Don't Brave the Rain, You Miss Out on the Rainbows

The tale of today's glorious walk in the gorge:

It had just finished raining so the sun made everything sparkle as the cloud shadows chased themselves across the vivid green grass. How could I refuse a walk on such an afternoon? I sprinted beside the field adjacent to the house where Jacob grew up pausing a moment to admire:



Upon climbing a long hill I saw this:



And this:



Springtime walks are not complete without stopping to say hello to the flowers:




I also paused to admire someone's very imaginative lawn ornament:



The gorge has many steep hills to climb. The breeze was picking up. By the time I got to the top of this hill I felt a little bit winded and windblown:



When I rounded the peak of the hill I realized why the wind was picking up. Great angry clouds were making their way up the gorge:



I quickened my pace, but soon the great storm fingers captured the sun and blocked it out:



I was soaked to the skin in minutes and then it was over as quickly as it had begun. The sun came out dazzling. I swung around searching for the rainbow and found it - a brilliant arc that lasted less than twenty seconds before the clouds lifted away. By the time I reached for my camera it was already fading:



After pausing to take it all in, I happily sloshed and dripped my way back home, stopping only for a minute to admire Hannah's garden before going inside to dry:


Life is beautiful. So is Spring.

Just a Little Bit Off the Top

Jacob has been in desperate need of a hair chop. Each time I cut it I comment on how he has less on top to chop :). We finally got around to chopping the other night and the camera happened to be sitting nearby. We took an initial picture to document the event, which, of course, degenerated into us trying to be as goofy as possible. Which picture is your favorite?

Exhibit 1




Exhibit 2





Exhibit 3

That last one is truly scary looking. Especially with the red eye. Jacob looks like he's about to get a lobotomy! Don't worry, the haircut turned out just fine, scalp intact, and we dissolved into giggles after seeing that last one :)

Here's something else in our kitchen that needs a haircut.

This must be what happens when you leave onions out in the warmth and sunlight. I must say, we have enjoyed watching them sprout over the last few days.

The trip to Zanzibar

(From the Summer of 2003)

Jacob lived in Makunduchi the summer before we met. It is a small rural village on Zanzibar Island, off the coast of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He was doing a field study through BYU at the time. While there, in addition to learning Swahili, he collected data regarding dietary intake and nutrition practices of Muslim children. There was a small piece of data that he failed to get at the time that he wanted to get now to make his data complete. He was hoping to develop a measurement tool for food consumption in the absence of precise measuring equipment. So we traveled from Nairobi all the way back to Makunduchi for that single piece of data, and I was thrilled to be able to see where Jacob had lived before we met.

To get to Zanzibar we took the overnight bus from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam and then we took a ferry across to the island. It is a shame we had to take the overnight bus because I would have loved to see the scenery better. But we were poor students at the time and we couldn't afford the nicer bus. As it was, I still saw some awesome sights. I awoke to the sun rising over the Serengeti - a moment I will never forget and cannot describe - and saw as the scenery changed from plains to very green and very beautiful diverse forests as we passed a very old mountain range. I saw people of all kinds walking along the road, Maasai villages, and a large variety of dwellings. We were now near the Maasai Steppe and for the duration of our stay in Tanzania we ran into one or a few Maasai in full traditional clothing everywhere and anywhere we went.

The Maasai are known for continuing to wear their traditional tribal clothing regardless of how integrated they become into society as a whole. While on the ferry to Zanzibar I found myself needing to use the bathroom. I searched around and finally found one just off the outer deck. It was occupied so I waited just outside for my turn. I must say I had a bit of a start when it was a tall Maasai man in full traditional atire who popped out of the loo. I shouldn't have been surprised, but I just wasn't expecting to see him in such a modern setting.

These children in Makunduchi were some of Jacob's neighbors and study subjects back in the summer of 2001. They were very instrumental in helping him to learn Swahili. You can just hear them gleefully shouting, "Mzungu! Kupiga picha!" which literally means, "White person! Take a picture!"

The villagers were glad to see Jacob again and to see that he had a wife. He confided to me that he had been offered a few wives while he was there last. All of which he had refused. We had brought a few yards of fine green and gold patterned cloth with us as a gift for Jacob's old housekeeper and cook, Fatuma. We had purchased it on the streets of Dar es Salaam the day before. To our disappointment Fatuma had gone to a neighboring town the day of our visit. Her family said she would cry when she found out she had missed our visit. There was no way we could have sent word ahead of time to announce our visit. There is no electricity where they are and the mail system would have been too slow.

But Jacob saw many other old friends. Upon seeing him again, the first thing everyone said was "Yakubu! Umenepa!" which means, "Jacob! You have gotten fat!" It was true. Jacob had been very skinny (6'3" and 180 lbs) when we got married and was now about 40 pounds heavier. Still not fat, but definitely less skinny. They were giving him a compliment and everyone attributed it to being married. But we know better. He gained most of his weight while living with a Luo man named Ashiembi in Western Kenya in the previous months. (Barak Obama's father was also a Luo man, and all the Luos we know are extremely proud of that fact.) Ashiembi was a veterinarian and was wealthy enough to support his mother and two wives. Jacob reports that for dinner, he and Ashiembi would visit the second wife's house and be fed a great dinner of rice, vegetables, salt fish from lake Victoria, and hot whole milk, fresh from the cow, boiled with cinnamon and sweetened with sugar. Afterward, they came home to the first wife's house and were fed another huge dinner of the same. Then they would be invited over to Ashiembi's mother's house for yet another feast. It is rude to turn down food. What was Jacob to do? He had to keep eating even if he was so full it hurt.

After collecting the data we needed from Makunduchi, we spent a little time with some of Jacob's friends in Stonetown. Jacob was very pleased with the effect my presence had on the trip as a whole because I increased our access to the world of the women. I can access different parts of life that Jacob cannot because I am a woman and he is not.

Jacob took this picture of me with the women of the household in Stonetown. We had just finished eating a meal together from a huge communal plate of coconut-cooked rice with fruit while sitting on a mat on the floor as is the tradition there. It was delicious.

While in Zanzibar we stayed in Stonetown at a very comfortable bed and breakfast. It was near Forodani - the best eating spot in town. Every night at sunset the seaside would come alive at Forodani where the fishermen and their families sell their freshly prepared catch from the Indian Ocean along with glasses of freshly pressed sugar cane juice flavored with lime. Heaven in a glass. At Forodani you find all kinds of amazingly fresh and delicious seafood at impossibly low prices, roasted on a grill. You go past the rows of food, point at which piece of octopus, squid, lobster, or fish you want, and they put it on a plate for you with a savory sauce.

Here I am in the bedroom at the bed and breakfast, displaying the bites I got on my leg from an overzealous insect who traveled with us on the overnight bus from Nairobi. He must have gotten stuck inside my sock and been mad about it.

This is the view from Stonetown on the Zanzibar coast looking west over the ocean toward the African continent. Dar es Salaam is too far away to see.

Our stay in Zanzibar was far too short. It is a fascinating and historical place - the birthplace of Swahili and a place of trade among different cultures and continents for centuries. I'm so glad we went, even if it was for a little while.

Home Sweet Home

I took these pictures during May and June of 2008 during our visits and travels in the weeks following our return from Africa. I share them now to help explain how lovely our homecoming was. It was like the spring and summer were shouting, "Hello! Welcome home!"

The view just down the road from Jacob's parents' house where Jacob grew up


Just a little bit further down the road

The Columbia River Gorge as seen from the top of the hill in Jacob's parents' back yard

Mt. Hood peeking through the trees also as seen from the backyard

Here you can see the setting of Jacob's childhood home and the place of our residence in 2007. I miss it. We had a lovely time living there.

Flying over the Cascades is always a treat. This is Mount Hood as seen from the air above Hood River Valley. You can just see Mount Jefferson in the distance.

And here is Mount Hood and Mount Adams as seen from the South, with the Columbia River flowing between them.

Flying is wonderful, but driving also has its own delights. The next four pictures were taken while traveling westbound on I-84 through Idaho and the Blue Mountains in Eastern Oregon.

Last fall, our dear friend Kristen came to Portland for orientation for a new job she was taking in Uganda. Jacob and Kristen went to grad school together and we've stayed in touch. We really enjoyed her visit and we took her to see the sights and do some short hikes along the old highway.

Kristen at Crown Point


Waterfall Pics




It's good to be home.

Coming Home to Ava's Birth

As springtime comes I am reminded that we have been back in the United States for almost a year now. We returned from Africa in May last year. Upon our return I realized afresh that the United States is a remarkably amazing place, and that there's no place like home. In the first few weeks after our return, and while looking for a job, we visited family in Utah, Idaho, and Oregon to help ease our transition.

When returning from a place like the DR Congo, one must expect a bit of culture shock. This was the worst I had experienced yet - I was so overwhelmed by the new city, the different culture (even though it was familiar), the fast pace of life and all the technology, and reverting to speaking English and Spanish again. I do believe my new coworkers believed me to be a very shy person at first, because it was all I could do to learn and absorb the new tasks of my job in the fast-paced high-risk labor and delivery department. Interacting with my environment beyond that was too much for me to handle at first. I got over it, though.

The timing of our homecoming could not have been better, because a day or two after our return my brother James and his wife Katie called with the news that Katie's water had broken and they were off to the hospital. We quickly drove from Salt Lake to Idaho Falls so that I could be present to help Katie (and my brother James, too) through the labor and delivery process. It was such a special experience to be present at Ava's birth and to be able to meet her and greet her as she came into the world. Ava eventually came via cesarean section, and since I'm a labor and delivery nurse I was allowed to enter the operating room with Katie and James and stay with them, explaining to them everything that was going on. Usually hospitals allow only one family member into the operating room so it was a great privilege to be there. I was also deeply honored by James and Katie for inviting me to be a part of this amazing experience.

Proud Aunt Laura holding beautiful Ava - just minutes old.

Jacob's Surgery

Ever since I've known him (and for as long as he can remember), Jacob has had trouble breathing through his nose. He gets dust in his throat when hiking on a dusty trail, and he feels like he's suffocating when he eats because he always has to breath through his mouth. Poor guy. Every once in a while he can breathe through one nostril but the rest of the time his nose is plugged. Until now!!! He visited an ENT (ear nose and throat) specialist (and his name was not Treebeard) a couple weeks ago who said, with a scope in hand, "Yup, I can see why you have a problem. Things are pretty crooked inside there. I can fix your nose, no problem." Our jaws dropped and we said, "Could it really be so easy?" The "septoplasty with turbinate reduction" was scheduled for a week later and done last Wednesday afternoon. The surgery lasted about an hour and Jacob was home a few hours later. He should finish healing within a week or so and be able to breath easy at last! Yay! When he woke up from the anesthesia he said he felt like thanking the whole world.

The surgery was done in the same hospital where I work so I got a tremendously big kick out of seeing my husband wearing the exact same pattern of hospital gown that I see all my pregnant and laboring patients wear. I of course, had to take a picture while he struck a very "manly" pose to counteract the fact that this gown had probably been worn at some point by a woman in labor.

Here is a much more thoughtful and serious Jacob just minutes before going back to the operating room.
The man you see in the background helped with the operation. After taking Jacob's health history, he told us a hilarious joke to break the tension:

Knock knock.
Who's there?
Interrupting cow.
Inter--
MOO!!

We laughed all the way until it was time for surgery. The doctor came out to the waiting room and chatted with me after the surgery. He said that the inside of Jacob's nose had been smooshed over to the left side but that things were looking really good by the end of the surgery. I asked him how his nose had gotten that way and he said it could be one of two things. Possibly a childhood injury, or we could blame his mother - something about the way babies' faces get smooshed as they come through the birth canal. We may never know. But the cause is not as important as the fact that Jacob will now be able to easily smell things, chew with his mouth shut, and keep dust out of his throat! Hooray!