Harrowing Journey For Costa Mesa Couple After Baby Arrives Amid War In Ukraine

COSTA MESA (CBSLA) - It's been a nerve-wrecking week for Jacob Boekmann and wife Jessie Miller Boekmann. Their new baby girl was born on February 22 in Kyiv, Ukraine, via a surrogate mother. Just two days before Russia invaded Ukraine.

Inevitably, the family experience the trauma of the war head on.

The young family from Costa Mesa attempted to hightail their way out of Ukraine and into Poland.

Along the way, they ran into the chaos the people of Ukraine are encountering everyday as people fled for safety.

Fortunately, the couple is now in Poland and will soon be boarding a flight to return to Southern California with their daughter.

But before the family was able to get into safe waters, the Boekmanns felt the immediate impact of Russia's invasion.

"I woke up around six 6:00 a.m. (Eastern European standard time) and I heard bombs and I heard explosions," Miller Boekmann said. "We saw a mass exodus of people going into the streets, going into the grocery stores. The line at ATM's were wrapped around the corner."

From the onset of their departure from Ukraine, the Boekmann family encountered long lines at gas stations and their driving time increased dramatically.

A car ride went from eight hours long to 27 hours to get to their destination. However, with thousands of Ukraine civilians looking to get out of the country, traffic to get to the border came to a standstill.

As a result, the Boekmann's opted to walk their way to their destination.

"We walked eight miles based off Apple Maps," Miller Boekmann said. "Each time it was just worse and worse and worse. There were kids in cars. People camping out in cars."

"By the time I made it up to the gate, only women and children were being allowed to pass," Jacob Boekmann said. "There were thousands of thousands of people continuing to arrive. The situation was continuing to get more volatile. People were getting more desperate especially when you can the bombings started in Lviv."

Along their journey, the young family met new friends. Ukranians looking to leave their homes.

The apartment building of the Boekmann's surrogate was bombed by the Russian army.

Fortunately, she was not in the building. She is safe and in her home village.

But after experiencing the invasion head on, the Boekmanns are happy to be out of Ukraine and close to returning home.

"That really drove up the amount of despair and sense of urgency to try and escape the border," Boekmann said. "We're overwhelmed that we're in a position of safety now. There's also a sense of guilt for being able to escape and knowing that we're going to be ok and be able to go home. ... while there are still so many that will not be able to escape and have nowhere else to go."