The nice flight attendant let me wear her hat!!
Just through customs and see our friends!!
A moment we had waited a long time for... Our babies are in our arms!!!
We made it home safely. It was quite a journey. Addis to Dubai was a quick 4 hour flight. Our driver from the guest house to the airport was an hour late picking us up. We were pretty nervous about missing our flight, but he finally made it. It was a rainy day, with lots of traffic including goat herds in the streets, but we got to the airport on time. Once at the gate there was a power outage. The electricity flickered on and off for about 30 minutes and finally stayed on. whew. We were a bit nervous about how baby girl would handle the flight. To our surprise she LOVED taking off. Her eyes lit up, she raised her eyebrows, and made funny cooing/giggling sounds. It was like she was on a ride at the fair. We think she will have a sense of adventure in her life!! She slept the entire flight and woke up to the busy crowds and lights of the Dubai airport. She looked around with much wonder and a bit of confusion. We had an 8 hour layover so we got a hotel room inside the international terminal to shower and catch a few zzz's.
Our wake-up call seemed to come right after we closed our eyes... it was time for our final leg home to California!!
We reserved an isle and window seat... in hopes nobody would be in the middle seat between us....we lucked out!! Thank goodness because someone would not have had fun sitting next to us! Little miss thang slept MAYBE an hour on our 16 hour journey!! Thus we did not sleep. She is not the kind of baby you can "take turns" watching while the other sleeps!! She is a live wire. We made it with NO diaper blow outs....thank god! We did keep a disposable changing pad on our laps just in case!!
We had the most amazing welcome at the airport!! Our very dear friend Erica organized a welcome home Ruby party!! It was the most amazing gift ever!! There were smiling/crying faces greeting us, a welcome banner,a bag of groceries,much needed hugs and a flower wreath for the bug. We were sad some people didn't make it, but were ever so thankful for those that made the journey in the rain to welcome us home. Thank you Erica for all of your love, and never ending support!!
Plane Labor you ask?? As many of you know I was a labor and delivery nurse for years. Before this I was a Doula and now work in a high risk outpatient pregnancy clinic. I have attended hundreds of births and had the blessing of being present at many friends births. This journey was my/our labor!! We were brand new parents who had just been through the experience of a lifetime. We were exhausted, up for over 24 hours, in pain, looked like crap, felt like crap, had been peed and poo'd on... BUT had the most beautiful baby girl in our arms!!
All the love in the universe,
Cori
Oh these pictures made me smile and cry all at the same time. So happy for you all. Hope you are getting some rest!
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