04 June 2008

A little bit about a bed...

As you have read here, sleep is really important to me, whether in the USofA or in Africa or anywhere else in the world. And sleeping here has a few extra features added in, namely the mosquito net...now, if you’ve never slept in a bed covered by a mosquito net, there are a few things you need to know to make the most of your sleep experience.
1. It’s really helpful to have a frame of some kind to provide some tension/structure to the net, otherwise it drapes/falls however it pleases all over you in the bed.
2. If you are a mobile sleeper, such as myself, moving around quite a bit in the bed throughout the night, and you have no frame/tension for the net, the net can often be mistaken in your sleepy stupor for a sheet or other light cover. It obviously cannot serve this purpose and therefore clearly leads to tangling, which leads to frustration, which leads to waking up, which clearly is not good.
3. If you plan to stay up and read or do anything inside the net before going to sleep it is helpful to take everything you need in with you in the first place. For instance, if you’re going to read and take your book in but forget your glasses, you’ve gotta flounder around with the net to find the edge and reach out to get the glasses, then you get back in and realize you’ve forgotten a pencil to underline noteworthy portions of whatever you’re reading, so you go through the whole process again of finding the end of the net and reaching for whatever it is you need…then if it’s not in arms’ reach you’ve gotta climb out of the net and then climb back in…really, I’m not as lazy as it sounds but if you get me on the wrong day, it gets a bit frustrating. Much like lots of other things in Africa this requires planning in advance and being prepared for things to change ☺ It’s kind of like my work as a floor nurse back in St. Louis. When we have kids in droplet isolation, or TB isolation is even worse…you get all gowned and masked and gloved and into the room, and then you realize you’ve forgotten a small little connector piece you need for the appropriate IV tubing, or the linens you needed to remember to change while you’re in the room…so you’ve gotta take everything off and go out and get it(or to stand in the doorway and look for Pam and hope she's in a good mood and is willing to get it for you :) and then put all the garb back on and then go back in only to realize the patient has changed their mind and they really do want a straw with their chocolate milk when minutes before they said they didn’t…aaaaaaahhhhhhh!

In addition to the mosquito net, the beds themselves are an extra feature to be reckoned with, not necessarily a “bonus” feature. Now, the Babwisi, and people in Bundibugyo in general are known all over Uganda for being short. It seems rare that I speak to anyone, male or female, taller than I am and I’m not that tall. But it seems to me that the beds all over the country are made for short statured people…how unusual. I’ve never noticed this before but my bed had both a headboard and a footboard, and I don’t think I’ve ever had a bed with both before. I sleep on my stomach and like to dangle my feet over the bottom of the bed, which when you have a footboard is impossible, but may be tolerable if the bed is long enough to stretch out in…not so in Bundibugyo. I’m not sure but I think I sleep also with my arms above/under my head, so that adds some length also…needless to say, a 6 foot long mattress is too short, and I’m only 5’6 ½” tall ☺ I only know because I’ve been having low back pain that cleared after 2 weeks of not sleeping in my bed, and returned after we got back, and it’s worst when I’m just getting up in the morning…Pat has been super generous and traded me my bed for the bed in her extra room and now, not only do I have a longer bed, but no footboard, and a frame for my mosquito net…jackpot! I’m very much looking forward to going to bed here in a few minutes…and stretching ALL the way out ☺ -written 3 June 2008 at 10:30pm my time :)

7 comments:

Phvern said...

It's the small things in life that really make a difference. You can tolerate, tolerate, tolerate, and then one little thing happens....

And we don't think you're lazy. I mean, maybe when you're at your parents house in St. Louis, I don't know, it's possible. But right now? You're definitely not lazy :)

Anonymous said...

I wonder if when you wake up 06/04/08 you are saying "I love my bed"? It runs in the fam.
m.

angela said...

this is so funny! i can totally relate. another problem might be getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom...if you're at all uncoordinated, groggy, or confused without your contacts/glasses, you can scrape your face on the net. not that i've done that ;)

love reading your updates, heidi. could you encourage jess to do the same...and actually WRITE on his blog? the family nagging hasn't seemed to work!!

LucasNeece said...

I remember chasing mosquitoes which had made their way into the net before going to bed...a little exercise before going to sleep...

Leslie said...

So glad you got the longer, no footboarded bed.....sprawl out girl! I laughed out loud reading this entry. : )

Courtney Patch said...

heheh! This made me laugh. Well said, as usual. I would sometimes think a bug (or roach or rat...) had touched my leg if the net would touch my skin at night. Or trying to find that place that wasn't tucked in just right could be tricky when those dang misquitos would get in somehow. Keep it coming!!! love you Heidi!

Anonymous said...

Heidi,

I'm going out tonight to get me a mosquito net to see if I can get the hang of it.

dad