The couple left their Costa Mesa home to travel to Kyiv to witness the birth of their daughter by a surrogate mother. As they waited for their newborn to arrive, tensions between Ukraine and Russia grew every day.
Minutes after Jessie Boeckmann started her trek with her 4-day-old infant toward the Ukrainian-Polish border in 30-degree weather, she questioned whether she’d made the right choice.
The couple were 26 hours into an ordeal that had begun early Thursday, when artillery explosions rocked the capital of Kyiv and woke them as they slept at a hospital with their newborn. The couple left their Costa Mesa home on Feb. 13 to travel to Kyiv for the baby’s birth the following day. But when they arrived, the doctors said the baby needed more time to gestate and refused to induce Lilya early.
After waking up to the sound of explosions Thursday morning, the Boeckmanns knew it was time to leave. They had Vivian’s birth certificate. But they didn’t have the doctor’s discharge order.“The baby is OK,” Jessie said. Anxious, she knew they had to get out soon.Their original driver to the border, a man named Alex — who spoke English — could no longer pick them up, but he sent another driver, Val, who spoke only Russian.
The Boeckmanns looked at each other but didn’t say much. They felt guilty for taking Val away from his family, but they were scared. They passed a sea of vehicles — all them packed with people and possessions. At one point, the fumes from vehicle exhaust became overwhelming. It was colder than they’d expected. They’d left their only shelter behind. Jessie cried.
As Russian air raids started in nearby Lviv, the crowd tension grew. On the other side of the gate, Jessie pleaded with the guards to let her husband through, but they brushed her off and told her to get in line to clear customs.
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