Baby, Court, and Exhaustion

Six cities, four countries and six days later, we are home as the new parents of one Julia Ann Skidmore. On Saturday, August 15Th at 11:11 AM, we left here with huge butterflies in our stomach. We had a layover in Detroit and Amsterdam, then arrived in St. Petersburg, Russia on Sunday at 3:25 PM on Sunday, August 16Th. We spent the rest of the day sleeping.

On Monday, we spent some time with our girl. We arrived at the baby home just after 11 AM. We were told that she would have lunch and a nap at noon, so we could only have about 45 minutes with her. But, we could come back after her nap at 3 PM if we wanted more time with her...uh, yes! So, we spent about 45 minutes with one tired little girl, then went to have lunch of our own. We went to a small little place just down the road from the baby home. We had some very strange, but good Armenian food. After what had to be the longest lunch of our lives, we finally made it back to the baby home. The baby home director spent a few minutes with us to help prepare us for court. She told us what questions this judge would most likely ask and what we should should and should not say. She also wanted to make sure we were fully prepared and went over Julia's file with us again. I did learn more about our girl. She was born in an ambulance at 4:10Am. Her first baby home named her because the birth mother did not want to. I really have learned more about her than I ever thought possible. I am so thankful! She asked us if we had anymore questions and seriously I could not think of anything!...They had answered them all! So, then it was time to see our girl again.

Julia was much more alert this time. They had changed her dress...it was too small, but very cute. She was still a little shy, but did eventually warm up to us again. In the room we were allowed to play in, there was this really large alligator stuffed animal. She was just mesmerized by this thing. So, Andy and I played a game with the alligator that she just loved. We rolled a ball back and forth with her. We played peek-a-boo. We did just about everything we could to try to get her to smile. There is nothing like that shy little smile she has! It's just precious! Well, after a few hours, they told us it is time to go. So, reluctantly, I handed her back to her caregiver and tried to keep my emotions to myself. Anyway, we had court the next day and we needed to prepare.

We went back to our hotel room, ate a dinner of beef jerky and pringles and got started on the dreaded speech. I had already wrote a rough draft at home so I figured it would not take us very long...boy was I wrong. The director at the baby home had given us a list of things that we should include. So, we had to add them all. Well, a few hours and a few arguments later...we had it, the perfect speech. What judge wouldn't want to give us a baby now?

Morning came WAY TOOOO early! But, soon adrenaline kicked in and we had a job to do...get that baby! We had a very American breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel, added the final touches to ourselves, and off we went! We arrived at the courthouse at 10 AM, great (insert eye roll), we were an hour early. Well, we walked in a very old building (This seems to be the trend over there.) Our coordinator explained to the security guards...Russian, Russian, Russian, Americans, court, Russian, Russian, Russian,...sigh, if only I'd learned more Russian. Oh, I forgot to mention...our agency is short staffed right now so we didn't have a translator for most of the day. (I should have asked for a discount.) Then, we were led to a common area with tables and chairs and told to sit...and sit we did! There was another couple there for court as well and until the judge called us, we had NO idea who was going first. Well, it turned out to be the other couple. They were called back right at 11 AM. Their session lasted about 1 hour and forty five minutes. The judge told them yes.

Well, at this point the judge decides she needs a lunch break. So, we were told to be back in an hour and a half. Great (insert eye roll, again), we had to wait even longer. So, here comes the fun part...the translator that works for the court took pity on us and took us to lunch with her. We walked two and a half blocks on the roughest sidewalk I have ever seen in brand new shoes to a Russian vegetarian cafe. The menu was very odd, so we ate Blinis (very thin pancakes) and water. NOT what I call lunch...this girl likes her grub and that wasn't it! So, then we walked (well, to be wearing heels it was more like a sprint) back to the courthouse using the same route (Where was that stinking driver I paid for?) I am pretty sure I will not be able to wear those new shoes again as they were filled with my blood. We were led back to that same table and chairs and told "sit". (My butt is bruised at this point from those wooden chairs.) I think this was also the point I started to feel like a dog..."sit", "follow", "come", "eat", etc... The independent translator looked over our speech for us and removed a lot of what the baby home director told us to add. So, basically , we sat up for hours rewriting our speech for nothing.

FINALLY, at 2 PM, the judge is ready for us...I wonder what she had for lunch? I bet it was better than vegetarian Blinis and water! Anyway, we walked into a room that couldn't have been larger than 10' X 8'. There were eight of us inside...the baby home director, the social worker, the prosecutor, the court reporter, the translator, us and eventually the judge. "This was going to be interesting." The judge's chamber door buzzes and we all rise. She sits and we sit. My poor husband took the brunt of it. He had to petition the court to add the photos of our visits with Julia to our petition to adopt, give our speech and answer a ton of questions from both the judge and the prosecutor. I only had to answer three questions, which was probably a good thing as I seemed to be really emotional. The judge's questions were to clarify a few of our documents, about the boys, if we fully understood her medical diagnosis, and if we were sure. (Yeah, flew to Russia twice, but wasn't sure...hummmm??!!) Then the director of the baby home read Julia's file and said she recommends the judge grant our petition. Hearing Julia's file read out loud in court was harder than I thought it would be. To hear that her family didn't want her and four other Russian families didn't want her was enough to have me crying yet again. I was sure they were going to say no just because I couldn't turn off the waterworks. Next, the Social worker said she recommends the judge accept the petition and gave her supporting evidence. The prosecutor then said she supports our petition. Now, the judges read through our ENTIRE dossier. Keep in mind, this stack of documents was so thick that I had to send it to my agency in a large box! No envelope in the world would have held that many pieces of paper. I was getting really bored with this!...just give us your verdict already!!! So, after an eternity of reading, she says she is going to take a break to make a decision. Everyone in the room breathes a sigh of relief. After about five minutes she returned. There we stand in the tiniest room in St. Petersburg, Russia about to hear the verdict. She read the entire petition, including the baby's new name, Julia Ann Skidmore. At 3:35 PM (7:35 AM ET), and said, "I accept this petition, you have ten days to appeal this decision." Then looks at me and said, "Enjoy your baby girl, Mama!" If she didn't think I was crazy before, I'm sure she did then...I was sobbing! Two years of emotions were coming out of me in that one moment. Oh, the relief and joy!

Well, everything that happened next was quite a blur. The director of the baby home hugged me and nodded. I guess a hug is the same in any language! We went down the street and signed a document at the Ministry of Education's office. She told us that she would remove Julia from the waiting child list and congratulations. Then our driver (the same one that was missing earlier) took us to a souvenir shop. I went crazy! I bought a painting, a hand made Russian doll, a Russian Fairy Tales book, and much more! "New mommy syndrome" I guess! Finally, we went back to the hotel, packed and crashed!

At 7:20 AM, I cried as our plane left the ground. I knew I would be back very soon to get her, but I still really hated leaving her there. So, I tried not the think about it and started making plans for our pick up trip.

Oh, I can't wait to have her in my arms again! The next time I hold her, I'll never have to let her go!!!