I cannot believe I have been here three weeks! This past week I have been taking care of our fussy baby Emmanuelle. He is absolutely adorable and has horrible colic. I offered to try and get him on a schedule and give the mama’s a break. It has been so much fun, but also I seem to be in a constant state of sleep deprivation. Wednesday I was asked to rush Emmanuelle to the medical clinic in Karatu because he had been throwing up all night. I use the term “rush” very loosely as we have to drive for 45 minutes over a dirt road with ruts as huge as cows in them. Along the way we stop and pickup every person we see who is heading in the general direction we are…which is great, but in a life or death situation, not an ideal scenario!
It turns out that the baby has Malaria! He is only 3 months old and a vast majority of the babies die here of Malaria as they can get dehydrated within a very, very short time. So we headed home, packed up all of his baby clothes, formula, diapers etc… and moved him into my room for three days. The first night was really fun, he woke up every 15 minutes and either screamed or puked and if I was really lucky, he did both! It is a wonderful thing he is so cute because it is really hard on the old body. I now know why women are only supposed to have babies in their 20’s or 30’s because we are way to old in our 40’s to do the whole no sleep thing!
After three days of medicine he has drastically improved, very little fever, the puking has stopped and very little diarrhea...now we just have the plain ole colic again! I didn’t realize how nervous I really was until he was better. I have taken him back to stay with the mama’s and look forward to an excellent night of sleep, however I have a feeling that I will really miss having him so close to me….such is the life in Tanzania.
It turns out that the baby has Malaria! He is only 3 months old and a vast majority of the babies die here of Malaria as they can get dehydrated within a very, very short time. So we headed home, packed up all of his baby clothes, formula, diapers etc… and moved him into my room for three days. The first night was really fun, he woke up every 15 minutes and either screamed or puked and if I was really lucky, he did both! It is a wonderful thing he is so cute because it is really hard on the old body. I now know why women are only supposed to have babies in their 20’s or 30’s because we are way to old in our 40’s to do the whole no sleep thing!
After three days of medicine he has drastically improved, very little fever, the puking has stopped and very little diarrhea...now we just have the plain ole colic again! I didn’t realize how nervous I really was until he was better. I have taken him back to stay with the mama’s and look forward to an excellent night of sleep, however I have a feeling that I will really miss having him so close to me….such is the life in Tanzania.
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