Monday, October 02, 2006

First scary mommy moment!!

Friday started like any normal day. I worked, I went home, I pumped every 3 hours. Friday night, I got online and checked my Yahoo groups I'm on. I see a post about a storm heading towards Vietnam. Then I read this storm was a category 4 typhoon (same as a hurricane, just in a different hemisphere, I believe) heading straight for DaNang. It had already ripped through the Phillipinnes and killed dozens of people (the count is now up to over 100). The eye was forecasted to hit Sat. night/Sun. morning in DaNang. My heart stopped. I started bawling and was scared to death. I've never felt so helpless in my life. Here I was, sitting in a nice house, in a nice neighborhood, with beautiful weather, and my precious son was halfway around the world, in an orphanage, with the worst storm in 3 decades heading right for him, and there was NOTHING I could do. It's the worst feeling in the world.

Saturday morning I got up and checked the weather. The typhoon was still a category 4 and still heading for DaNang. I called Carl, our agency director. He didn't seem to be aware there was a typhoon heading for the city (he didn't have access to a computer that day and communication was down with the folks in VN). He said he would try his best to get in contact with GT, our in-country facilitator. He was there with 2 families adopting their babies from the same orphanage. I had heard they had already left and were in Hanoi (northern VN). I knew hundreds of thousands had been evacuated, but I didn't know if the orphanage even could.

All morning and evening, I looked for articles, scouring internet sites, just trying to find any info I could. It wasn't looking promising, though. Sunday morning I got up and saw the storm had hit as a category 2. Several people were dead, dozens injured. Hundreds of homes were destroyed, buildings were missing roofs, people were missing. I called Carl again and he told me he finally got in touch with GT. The babies were all safely evacuated to the hospital in DaNang about 5 miles inland (the orphanage is only 1 mile inland). He promised me they were all safe, but didn't know about the orphanage. Hearing that news filled me with such relief. I don't think I realized how worried and stressed I was until I heard he was ok.

Today I found out the orphanage was badly damaged. The roof is gone, the windows are gone, stuff inside and out is broken. I shudder to think what would have happened if Dylan had not been taken to the hospital before the storm. I thank God that my baby is ok, and hope the orphanage can get put back together soon. I also hope this doesn't delay any adoptions. This weekend made me really realize (if I didn't already) that I'm a mommy and I love and care about that little boy more than anyone in the world.

6 comments:

Ange said...

I'm glad that the babies/children from the orphanage are o.k. I hope they get things back to normal quickly.

Kelly said...

This storm has been absolutely terrifying. I am so relieved that they got the babies out of there.

Sherri said...

I am so thankful that Dylan and the others are safe!

Brenda said...

Whew! I'm so glad all the babies got out of there in time and little Dylan is ok. You're scary mommy moments are just beginning! But it's all worth it.

Melanie said...

I just read about this. What scary news. I'm glad everyone was able to evacuate. You must have been so concerned. Thankfully they are o.k. now.

Anonymous said...

Thankfully the babies had been evacuated before the typhoon hit and they are safe.

Please is it the orphanage located near the marble mountain
283A Le Van Hien Street
Son Thuy Hoa Hai
Ngu Hanh Son District
Danang City ?

Florence adoptive mom of 3