I've started to get quite nervous. Not about the baby yet (I'm sure that will kick in soon too) but more about getting ourselves ready to leave the house, having everything we'll need in India prepared, and getting there before the baby does (but not too much before -- every day I'm in India before the baby arrives is one day less that I can spend at home with the baby.....)
This week I learned from two different sources that the previous straightforward process to obtain the baby's birth certificate, which was taking about a week, has now become more complicated and is now taking 3-4 weeks. At issue seems to be a crackdown by Mumbai officials on the officials in the birth certificate office who were "helping" get the intended mother's name is on the birth certificate even if she wasn't the genetic mother. This could end up costing us a few thousand dollars more in legal fees if an official adoption will be required in the US. I just hope it doesn't also extend our stay in Mumbai.
Thinking about being nervous, though, reminded me how bold, adventurous, and downright nervy it was of us to pursue this path. Back when I was a little girl whose idea of adventure was to settle down in Daddy's big leather chair to read the Phantom Tollbooth, the idea that someone might use any of those words to describe me or my life would have been just ridiculous. I'm proud that I've grown into those descriptions (although, to borrow from the Phantom Tollbooth, I'm probably either the most timid adventurer you've ever met or the most adventurous timid person).
This weekend will be a busy one for me of getting things packed, making some final purchases for baby, and doing some creative scrapbooking to try to get the baby's pre-birth scrapbook done before we leave.
I think you have grown more adventurous in the last few years without you realizing it. The first time you get off an airplane in a foreign country, not knowing the language, without a tour guide waiting for you, is an adventure. You've done tons of those sort of trips now, such as going to Mexico without any plans and China where language is a much bigger issue. So going to India wasn't as big a leap as it would have been 10 years ago.
ReplyDeleteYou also learn that you do what you need to do for your child(ren). If that means going to India in a Monsoon, oh well. It will all work out and I think you know that now. It's just the getting thru it that will be stressful. But it will all work out and be wonderful when you get home!