the point at which my head explodes

We just got word from Haiti – Mark and I need to appear IN PERSON to sign before a judge in order for our papers to move to the next stage. I’m not surprised by this – I’ve been hearing rumblings that it might happen for a few weeks. Haiti is notorious for inventing steps in their adoption process, especially when they get pressure from certain anti-adoption “charities” that I will not mention but rhyme with goonicef. Someone decided this month that all adoptive parents have to sign an affidavit that they have met their child and want to adopt them. Granted, yes, we’ve met him. Several times. But we didn’t sign before a judge, you see. TIH.

So.

We are scrambling right now. Mark is already set to leave for Haiti in two weeks. It only makes sense that I go out there with him. I could wait until our next trip, which we were planning for in November, but as you can imagine I am not wanting one more second to go by when his files could be moving. The hitch is that Karis is still nursing exclusively. And not vaccinated. And does not have a passport.

So.

We spent yesterday running around like crazy. We drove to the county clerk to pick up a copy of Karis’s birth certificate, because it hadn’t arrived yet (of course, in came in the mail later that afternoon). We applied for an expedited passport for Karis – which takes 2-3 weeks, and we have less than 2 weeks to travel. We took her to the pediatrician and came up with a vaccination game plan (because you can’t afford to be anti-vax when you take your kids to third world countries). We called around and found a pharmacy that could crush up the adult malarial pills into a suspension for the kids. We searched for flights, we emailed the folks in Haiti, we schemed and planned and scratched our heads about how to best make this work.

So.

Now to decide how long I should stay in Haiti, whether or not I should really take Karis, or pump and leave her in Orange County for five days, or fly someone to Miami to hang with her while I’m in Haiti so that I don’t miss her feedings during the travel days. Flying to Haiti is a two-day ordeal from our side of the country and there is always an overnight in Miami.

And then there is India – who is the hardest to travel with, and who I’d rather leave home. But at the same time, who was really bummed the last time she was left home. We’ve come a long way in the past four months with her adjusting to a new baby and a little less attention. I hate hate hate to leave her for a couple days while her brother and sister take a trip with us. She’s old enough to be hurt, but not old enough to understand our reasons.

So.

Did I mention we leave for Las Vegas tomorrow morning so I can attend a trade show? And then when we return Mark has a couple days of training in LA? And then we would leave for Haiti? And Karis has no passport? And malaria is all over and I want to see my son and I will do anything to get those papers moving and I freaking hate this country’s adoption process and I am still adjusting to having a new baby and all of us seem kind of sick right now and Jafta’s asthma is acting up and I can’t afford to have ghiardia right now and I can’t afford this flight right now and I want my son home so badly and my head really hurts is this a migraine or just my head exploding???