We arrived at the Prokopyevsk baby house around 1:00pm in the afternoon. Prokopyevsk is 13 hours ahead of Illinois time so it was around midnight at home. Keep in mind we had only slept about 5 hours in the past 36 hours!
We met our translator Alonya (a different Alonya than in Moscow) before we went inside. Dr. Ludmilla, the orphanage director was with some of her staff so we had to wait about 10 minutes to meet her. We used the bathroom and it was in a room with an above ground pool and a Little Mermaid mural painted on the wall. So cute! The pool was not filled as the Baby House was being renovated, but they did say they use it during normal times. Its great that they expose the kids to water and swimming in Siberia! Overall the Baby House was very clean and well-kept.
Once Dr. Ludmilla was available we were all brought in to meet with her. She asked if we were ok reviewing the information for both children together and we said of course. They started with Sandra's daughter Victoria. After about 5 minutes, there was a knock at the door and someone asked Dr. Ludmilla a question in Russian. Aloyna turned to us and said, would you guys like to meet your son while Sandra reviews her information with Dr. Ludmilla and we said "OF COURSE!!!!" 1 minute later, Elena (a caretaker) came in with the cutest little boy I have ever seen and set him down on the ground. He just stood there swinging his little arms and looking around.
I don't know how to describe what we were feeling other than "life altering happiness and elation" at that point! I went over to pick him up and he let me. He didn't cry, just looked at me. Their nap time was usually from 1pm-3pm so they had woken him up to come to us. He was a little sleepy but overall just interested in what was going on. I can't post any pictures of him, but let me say...he is perfect. Absolutely perfect. We could not have wished for anything different or better. I'm starting to tear-up just writing this, we miss him so much already.
Dr. Ludmilla went over all of the information they had on Maks with us including how often he had been sick, when he started teething, when he sat up, when he started walking, etc... And then we were taken to the playroom to spend a few glorious hours with him. It went SO quickly. If you are waiting to travel, take your video camera and video as much as possible. We keep watching ours and it just doesnt seem like enough. We have about 45 mins of video from the 2 days, but when you can't see your son for 3-4 months every single minute is precious.
They came to get us and let us know it was time to leave around 3:45pm. Maks went back with his caretaker and we headed to Novokuznetsk, a town about 1 hour away. We had to exchange some money still as we had trouble doing so in Moscow. Aloyna took us to a bank and then to the hotel, the Guest House, it was called. Our room was nice (freezing but nice). We had a bedroom, a bathroom and a separate living room with a refrigerator. There was a restaurant downstairs and Sandra, Sandra, myself and Jason went down to eat around 5pm. At this point I cannot tell you how tired we all were. I literally was falling asleep at the table and went back to bed before dinner was even over. We fell asleep around 6:30pm.
November 16, 2009 is going to go down as the best day of our lives. Really.
Pictures of our Room/Hotel in Novokuznetsk
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