I spoke with Sue, the director of our agency, today and finalized our plans.  Sue suggested that we hire a translator to talk with the foster mother and/or our lawyer.  She said our lawyer speaks some English, but it is very broken.  The fee for translation is only $15 per hour.  It's a small price to pay for good communication.  We have a lot of questions to ask the foster mother and our lawyer.  Sue thought that we should have Bella by 10am.  She gave me contact information in case there is an emergency while we are in Guatemala.  She also said that we would be able to take a trip to Antigua if we went with the translator that she recommended.  She said it was only safe to travel with them and not on our own.  I can't wait.  We will be setting up a trip for Sunday.  My mom has no idea and we are going to surprise her with it.  I think if we tell her too far in advance she will just be nervous, or should I say, even more nervous than she already is.  It will be a chance for us to see some of Bella's homeland and to take lots of pictures.  We may not get a chance like this again.  We have been tossing around the idea of taking some extra time when we go back to pick her up, but I really think we will want to get home as fast as possible when the time finally comes.  Bella's family will be very anxious to meet her and we will be very anxious to bring her home.

My plan is to bring my laptop with me so that I can post entries about our visit trip and so that I can communicate with family back home without having to make international calls.  I am hoping to also post a bunch of new pictures of Bella.  I have a feeling the poor girl will hate cameras once we leave.

We received the results today from the DNA testing and it's a match--99.99%!!!!  Yippy, we are so happy.  The test was complete in just 4 days.  The sample arrived on 7/14, completed on 7/18 and results were in our mailbox on 7/22--that is a very fast turnaround.  Let's hope the speed continues with the rest of the process.  We want Bella home as soon as possible.

With the results, we received a photo of Bella with her birthmother.  She has her birthmother's eyes.  Her birthmother is beautiful and now I see why Bella is such a beautiful little girl.  Her birthmother looks a little scared in the picture, but it's really hard to say what she was feeling at the time.  I can't imagine how hard it must have been for her to see Bella.  I pray for her birthmother on a regular basis and hope she understands that Bella will be well taken care of and loved so much. 

I spoke with LabCorp (the place where DNA is analyzed) today and they confirmed that the samples of Bella and her birthmother arrived on 7/14/06.  The woman that I spoke to thought that the testing should be completed by the end of the week or the beginning of the next.  It would be great if we had the results before our visit trip.  The reason this part of the process is so significant is because if it was not a match, essentially we would not be able to adopt Bella.  As I understand it, her case would become an abandonment case and it could take up to 2 years for her to become available for adoption and our agency would ask that we accept another referral, because the process would just be too long.  Let's pray that everything comes back ok!

We finally got our video footage of Bella.  It's only about 6 minutes long, but it's so wonderful seeing her moving around.  There was a limited amount of information in the video.  We found out the following:

She weighs about 10 lbs (as of 6/30)

She is eating 5 oz every 2-3 hours

She sleeps with the foster mother

She is not a very fussy baby.  She doesn't cry much.

She likes to be held when she is fed and throughout the day.

She sometimes goes to sleep on her own, but sometimes she wants to be rocked.

She sleeps mostly on her side or her tummy.

We aren't sure what size clothing she is wearing though.  It  sounded like there was a lot more information in the video, but most of it was in Spanish.  The only English that was spoken was when Sue repeated something the foster mother said into English.  I am hoping to have someone translate it for us.

We just got an email from Sue that said that DNA was done on 7/12.  Wow, it took a long time for that to happen.  It has been over a month since it was paid for, but who knows how far away the birthmother lives.  It may have been a lot of logistical coordination to get her to Guatemala City.  Now we just have to wait for the results or basically a confirmation stating that it was a match.

We also found out that our case is entering Family Court.  At this stage a social worker interviews the birth mother, the foster mother, and reviews our homestudy before it gets the courts "stamp" of approval.  Most likely, the birthmother interview will take place on the same day that DNA is drawn.  Let's hope so at least. 

Well, we had a little problem with our plane tickets for our visit trip.  I found out (by complete accident) that Orbitz change our plane tickets from the ones that we booked way back in May.  We were supposed to arrive in Guatemala at 10:55 am on 7/27, but instead we were not arriving until 3:55 pm.  Needless to say, I was not a happy camper.  Not only because I had no notice of the change, but mainly because we would be getting to Guatemala so late.  I didn't want the foster mother to say that it would be too late to bring the baby and wait until the next morning.  If that happened, it would basically be a wasted day for us.  So, I called up Orbitz and the airline and after a fewe hours on the phone (no joking), I got all of our money refunded and I booked another flight.  It was only a little bit more money per ticket, but we will arrive in Guatemala by 7:30 am on the 27th and we have a non-stop flight on the way there.  I think it's actually a good thing this happened.  I talked with our agency and they said that we would probably be able to have Bella in our arms by 10am!!!!  WOW!!!!!

So, we got the new plane tickets today and we have confirmation of our hotel room.  We are staying at the Westin (another change...previously we were going to stay at the Raddisson, but the Westin has a pool and a casino).  We will be staying until 8/2.

We received new photos today of Bella!  Just in time for all the family that are visiting for Fred's birthday party (his 30th birthday).  She has grown so much and she looks absolutely beautiful.  It looks like the foster mother is taking great care of her...she has cute chubby cheeks.  She looks so alert and has a wonderful color to her.  It's so amazing seeing her now after 2 months, my does she change quickly.  Not too long before we will be able to hold her in our arms!

At this point we have not received any other updates.  Sue said that there was a lot of information in the video footage and we should have that about a week after she gets back to the US.  We are hoping to hear what her new weight is and any information on our case.  We still don't know if DNA was drawn yet...we know it was paid for, but to our knowledge it still has not been drawn.

I mailed off a package for Sue to take to Bella when she visits her.  I put 3 disposable cameras in the bag with the hopes that the foster mother will take photos of her and return the cameras to me.  It would be great to have photos of their house and their family to add to her lifebook.  I also sent down some clothes, toys, and a list of questions for Sue to ask the foster mother.  We hope the answers to these questions will help us take better care of her when we visit.  The questions were:

1. What are her sleep patterns? Is she sleeping through most of the night?

2. What time does she wake up in the morning?

3. What time of day is she most awake?

4. How much formula is she eating?

5. What type of formula is she eating?

6. What are her eating and napping patterns?

7. What brand of bottles is she using?

8. How much does she weigh now?

9. What size clothes is she in?

10. Do you stay home or go out a lot?

11. Does she like being inside or outside more?

12. Does she like to be held? Does she like to be close to you?

13. Does she like to be rocked?

14. What are some activities that she really likes?

15. What is her daily routine? (i.e. what time she eats, how much she eats, how often she is changed)

16. Is she easily burped?

17. Is she easily soothed?  What sooths her?

18. Is she gassy or constipated?  How many bowel movements does she have a day?

19. How is her overall health?

20. Does she have any favorites?

21. Does she need to be rocked to sleep or does she go to sleep on her own?

22. Is she eating cereal?  If not, when will she start on cereal?

23. Does she take a pacifier?  If so, what kind? 

 

Sue's husband was not able to see our baby on his trip, but we did find out that Sue is going to be going to Guatemala to see a bunch of babies on June 26th and she promised she would see our baby since we have not received new photos or a video of our daughter yet!  YIPPY...at least it's some good news.

I emailed Sue, the director of our agency, today because her husband is in Guatemala on a mission trip.  She posted to our chat group a few days ago that he may be visiting babies on his trip.  I asked Sue if she thought he would visit our baby and she said today that she wasn't sure if he would visit our baby, and she wasn't even sure if he would have time to visit any babies.  I was really hoping for some new photos soon!