Monday, February 14, 2011

On Air

It's really true that our son is sleeping in 40 minute bursts. Saturday night I stopped counting at 9 wakings.

More on our trip
I have all these things I want to tell you about our trip to South Africa. Firstly, Noah grew up so much in so little time. He went from terrified of the beach to absolutely in love with the freezing cold water, and he learned to eat a lot of different foods-- mainly because we weren't able to make puree for him. This was the view from our window:
Noah got to see his great granny (below) and great grandpa (as well as his granny and grandpa)

On burns
You'll notice that in all the pictures in South Africa (to come), I have a bandage. I managed to burn myself the morning after we arrived, with super-heated microwave water (apparently the microwave can make the water hotter than boiling, because it heats from the inside out). Eug was changing my bandage every few hours to prevent it from sticking, and I was generally in a fair amount of pain for a few days. What's remarkable is that 1) When the burn happened and I thought I was going to pass out from pain, the pharmacist immediately found what I needed, put it on, bandaged me up and had me on my way. No charge. In Boston that would have been a day at the E.R. (and we wouldn't have gone to the E.R. for fear of copays) 2) They gave me some kind of silver sulpher cream when the burn started to ooze a few days later, and basically overnight I was healed. We'd been anticipating some kind of terrifying burn scar, but there's almost no remaining scar. Amazing.

On travel
In other South Africa news, Eug and I had 2 shirts and one trousers (and I had one skirt) on the trip, and it was just right. We have these remarkable wool tshirts that dry in hours and never smell.

In contrast, Noah had 20 Bumgenius diapers. We only really needed about 10, as the diapers dried fast. It worked just fine to wash the bumgenius diapers in the bath. We used disposables for the flight, for fear of lugging poop across continents, but we probably didn't need to worry too much. South Africa was warm enough that Noah spent a significant proportion of his trip without a diaper, and we even found cute tiny Noah-sized underwear for him. I took way too many pictures of Noah in his tiny underwear.

Now that we're getting back into routine here in Boston, I'll get into a regular posting schedule again. Sorry for the absence, and thanks for checking back...

1 comment:

Vanessa said...

I have heard stories about superheated water from microwaves, but have never actually met anyone with firsthand experience! I guess from now on I will take those stories very seriously. I'm sorry you got hurt!!!

As a semi-related side note going with the health-care theme, I am realizing more and more that doctors in America (the only ones I can really comment about) seem to try to get the most out of you and your insurance whenever they are given the chance. Sort of like going to get your oil changed and the technician recommending all sorts of "critical maintenance or repairs". Sometimes it's really difficult to judge what's truely necessary and what is just them trying to get the most out of you and your insurance. Take for instance my dentist appointment yesterday. I haven't had a filling since I was 6 years old, I brush twice a day and floss relatively often. The dental hygenist didn't see anything cavity-like and gave me a running commentary of anything she did see in my mouth. But then the dentist came in and he found three stains that "looked too dark for comfort", and he wants to give me three fillings! Three fillings in my sofar unblemished mouth! :( He also recommended a bite-guard and teeth whitening, and did 5-year full-mouth x-rays (just because my insurance indicated that I was elligible for them) as well as regular checkup x-rays.

Well, after talking to several relatives I have decided to wait 6 months, whilst brushing and flossing more paranoidly and trying to reduce my sugar intake. I will then go to a different dentist and see if the same recommendations are made. I figure in 6 months dark stains will not eat away my entire tooth, so I should be safe. And if I still need the three fillings then so be it.

In my opinion the best automotive technician is the one who tells you what is wrong with your car, and then tells you if it is imperative to your safety that it be repaired, or not. Technicians like this are very difficult to come by, and I currently drive an hour to one that I did find, just because I know I can trust him (and I could literally put thousands into my car to fix everything that is wrong with it, but don't need to to be safe). Finding doctors like that is in my opinion even more important. Because you can do a lot of cooky things to your body in the name of medicine, that are not really necessary (such as frequent antibiotic prescriptions, etc).