Fatherhood, health-care, traveling to the US
In response to reader demands (read: Mom), I bring you more musings on fatherhood.
It's fun watching Hallel grow and develop. He's figured out more advanced ways to identify a breast than sucking and waiting to see if milk comes out. He can now identify his mother's voice, smell, and the look of the desired body part. He now knows that Abba (Daddy) does not provide milk, and rejects my finger out of hand when he is truly hungry.
Other than that, we have been having adventures with the medical establishment. Getting vaccines, going to doctors, getting things checked out. Apparently not going to a hospital during or immediately after the birth means you have to make a gazillion separate appointments to get the kid screened for all the things they normally do at the hospital. Well worth it. As far as I'm concerned, hospitals are for sick people and are to be avoided unless you have no choice.
The medical system for babies is strange here. There are essentially two, overlapping but not entirely redundant systems. Before everybody in the state was covered by the national health-care plan, the state had a program called 'Tipat-Chalav' which provided medical care for babies. It was a great system, and made sure that all babies got vaccinated and screened for serious problems, even if they had no insurance and couldn't normally afford health-care. Since the introduction of the sal-ha'briut (national health basket), doctor visits are free for all citizens. But, the individual health-care providers don't want to take the responsibilities of Tipat-Chalav onto their books, so they only provide doctor visits, and make you go to Tipat-Chalav for weighing/measuring, vaccinations, etc. So, we have monthly appointments with Tipat-Chalav to get shots (for the first year), and we have check-up appointments with the doctor through our national insurance at the normal times (1 month, 2 months, 6 months). In theory I don't have a problem with all this medical care, but I don't think they could make it less convenient if they tried...
B"H, so far he's healthy as a little, tiny horse.
Also, we're planning a trip to the states for the first few weeks of August. I am intently looking forward to travelling for a day and a half with an infant... We'll be stopping in NYC, Denver, and Tampa/St. Petersberg (Florida). If you're in any of those places and want to meet up, please let me know!
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B'ahavah,
-Eitan
It's fun watching Hallel grow and develop. He's figured out more advanced ways to identify a breast than sucking and waiting to see if milk comes out. He can now identify his mother's voice, smell, and the look of the desired body part. He now knows that Abba (Daddy) does not provide milk, and rejects my finger out of hand when he is truly hungry.
Other than that, we have been having adventures with the medical establishment. Getting vaccines, going to doctors, getting things checked out. Apparently not going to a hospital during or immediately after the birth means you have to make a gazillion separate appointments to get the kid screened for all the things they normally do at the hospital. Well worth it. As far as I'm concerned, hospitals are for sick people and are to be avoided unless you have no choice.
The medical system for babies is strange here. There are essentially two, overlapping but not entirely redundant systems. Before everybody in the state was covered by the national health-care plan, the state had a program called 'Tipat-Chalav' which provided medical care for babies. It was a great system, and made sure that all babies got vaccinated and screened for serious problems, even if they had no insurance and couldn't normally afford health-care. Since the introduction of the sal-ha'briut (national health basket), doctor visits are free for all citizens. But, the individual health-care providers don't want to take the responsibilities of Tipat-Chalav onto their books, so they only provide doctor visits, and make you go to Tipat-Chalav for weighing/measuring, vaccinations, etc. So, we have monthly appointments with Tipat-Chalav to get shots (for the first year), and we have check-up appointments with the doctor through our national insurance at the normal times (1 month, 2 months, 6 months). In theory I don't have a problem with all this medical care, but I don't think they could make it less convenient if they tried...
B"H, so far he's healthy as a little, tiny horse.
Also, we're planning a trip to the states for the first few weeks of August. I am intently looking forward to travelling for a day and a half with an infant... We'll be stopping in NYC, Denver, and Tampa/St. Petersberg (Florida). If you're in any of those places and want to meet up, please let me know!
---
B'ahavah,
-Eitan