November 11 (Day 28)

November 11 (Day 28) Last day in Awassa

Poor Solomon had another bad night and didn't sleep so it was a rough day as I was sooo tired. His eyes were watering, nose running, and wouldn't really eat anything. We had plans that day to visit the area where Solomon was from. We drove through the area with the Gladney social worker who works in Awassa. Word of advise..he does not like tardiness :) The area he was from was more countryside with houses that actually have yards..you don't really see that in Addis. 

If you look closely at the house above you will see a drawing of a man shooting a lion. We asked what that was about and were told that it represented courage. We saw drawings similar to this on most of the houses. People were curious about us and would run up to our van. We stopped a few times to look at fresh fruit that was growing and khat. Lots of kids tried to sell us some khat. We then went back to the orphanage and said goodbye to the kids and workers. I thanked them for taking such good care of Solomon while he was there. I asked if there was anyway that we could go visit the hospital where Solomon was born to see if they could tell me anything about him. So off we went. There were tons of people sitting outside waiting to be seen.

Labor and Delivery room

Prices 

We got to walk inside the room where he was born and all I could think about was what his birthmom went through. Solomon's birth name is Selamu which means peaceful. His birthmom named him this because she had such as peaceful delivery. (Solomon means peace - a name we had picked out before seeing him when we were just dreaming of our child...I love that they mean the same thing). So when we got to the hospital we asked if they had any information on him. The hospital staff was able to give me a birth notification card with his time of birth 7:10am and how much he weighed 4.4kg (9.7 pounds).  Such a big boy!! So glad I got to find out this information.

My poor baby smiling even though he was so sick.

After getting some lunch..as there is really no where to eat on the way back to Addis, we headed out. Solomon seemed to get worse on the drive he had diarrhea in the van..egh.. and felt like he had a fever, but my thermometer was packed up in my bags somewhere. I asked my driver Solomon if he would call the Gladney doctor. The doctor agreed to meet us at the hospital once we returned. After what seemed like forever, we arrived in Addis and checked into the New Flower guesthouse late that night, dropping Joanna and John off. On the way to the hospital, Matt called, and I just burst into tears in the van on the way to the hospital. I was sooo tired and poor Solomon seemed so sick, and I just felt all alone. I was ready to get home. Driver Solomon was so wonderful and helped me so much with Solomon at the hospital. Dr. Mykias (sp?) met us at the hospital and diagnosed Solomon with a double eye infection, double ear infection, throat infection and wheezing. He gave us a prescription for his ear infection, wheezing/cough, and eye infection. We agreed to see the doctor on Saturday back at the hospital to check on how he was doing. After getting the prescriptions we went back to the New Flower and went to sleep.