Well, we have been back for about two weeks now and it still seems like a dream. When we got the news that the boys were here on Tuesday, February 26 - we were totally unprepared. Brian was working that week in D.C. so he rushed home and began to gather all the paperwork we would need for "Operation: Bring Babies Home". I started packing and packing and packing. We purchased plane tickets for a Thursday departure which put us in Delhi on Saturday at 1:00 am.
We stayed at Svelte and their service picked us up at the airport and took us to the hotel. We were still on East Coast time when we arrived so at 4:00am we ordered dinner and then took a nap before going to meet our boys.
We stayed at Svelte and their service picked us up at the airport and took us to the hotel. We were still on East Coast time when we arrived so at 4:00am we ordered dinner and then took a nap before going to meet our boys.
Angus Cruz
Henry Gibson
It was surreal going to Eden Hospital. First when we arrived in Delhi at 1:00am - I kept thinking that everyone had exaggerated the traffic situation. The traffic was fine at 1am - the traffic at 10am was completely mad! I kept trying to take a movie on my phone but there was no way to capture it on a camera. You have to experience it to understand it. Anyway - we visited our boys on Saturday and took them "home" on Sunday. Room 506 our home away from home for the next week.
It took us 11 days to get out of Delhi and those were the longest 11 days of my life. I kept thinking Brian was going to pop a gasket. He is a very orderly and A type personality - he was not handling the chaos of Delhi bureaucracy very well. The one saving grace that totally expedited our escape was Poonam. She was a blessing - we only had to worry about a few things on our end and she took care of the rest.
Just a note to all IPs headed to Delhi - the American Embassy is only doing DNA testing on Tuesday. We found this out when we arrived! Luckily, Rachna rushed our birth certificate through in one day so that we could have it Tuesday morning to take to the embassy for our DNA test.
The DNA test was quick and easy. The only draw back was that I did not order a next day test - If I had our trip would have been shorter by a few days. We used Chromosomal Labs in Arizona. The DNA swabs shipped out from the embassy on Tuesday and arrived in Arizona on 9am Thursday. If I had ordered next day we would have gotten the results by Friday.
The U.S. Embassy takes only a few hours to print out the passports once they get the results. Our results were received Tuesday morning 8:30am and we had the passports in our hand by noon. We went to Poonam's to get our paperwork and then on to the FRRO by 2:00pm. We were out by 5:45 and it only took that long because we had to wait for the guy in charge of Counter 12 to come back from a 1 hour smoke break!!!!! Counter 12 is the guy who physically stamps your babies passport with the exit visa and signs off on it. I am thinking of sending Counter 12 a care package of nicotine patches - so future IPs don't have to wait so long.
All in all Delhi was beautiful and yet horrifying - it was worth the stress and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Our boys are amazing and every time I look at them I think that they are truly miracles.
