Great feedback from the swimming pool experience so I’m back with some more French experiences for you. A haircut, midwife and a pediatrician. Sounds like the start to a joke.
haircut
I’ve gone to this salon for the three years we’ve lived here and I found a great coiffeur who I saw regularly. But sadly, last time I was at the airport I saw him behind an easyjet desk and feared (correctly) that I’d lost him forever. Alas, I took the haircut with “whoever’s available”.
A rule to remember is that you might think customer service is about the customer being satisfied, but in France I would argue the customer is at the will of whoever they are paying.
After a late start due to her prior client and smoke break, it felt like a lot more shampoo was washed into my ears than my hair as the coiffeur du jour nonchalantly scrubbed at my hair between discussing her lunch options with her coworker.
Long story short, I wanted my hair thinner and shorter but the first snip felt SO short. And it was. and at that rate the rest of my head needed to match that length. About 45 min later she asked me if the length was okay. Meaning I might have wanted it shorter?! Anyways, after a few days of looking in the mirror thinking I looked like a psych ward patient, I’ve eased into the summer chop. It will be the perfect length in a month or so.
sage-femme or midwife
In France, doctors prescribe six visits to the midwife (to be fully reimbursed by the government) for postpartum women for the reéducation de périnéale or reeducation of the pelvic floor.
I am a bit behind on mine but decided to finally get around to it a whole 6 months postpartum. My midwife, who I had worked with during pregnancy, greeted me with a smile and proceeded to ask me 30 min of questions about every aspect of my pregnancy, birth experience, intimacy, bowel movements. you name it. Somehow, someone asking these questions in a language that isn’t your native tongue meant I didn’t bat an eyelid and directed most of my energy towards translating and trying to think of my answers. I swear if this had happened in English I would have been cringing in my seat. But it felt so….matter of fact and clinical.
She explained to me how the pelvic floor is the powerhouse of a woman. And maybe she’s a bit granola but so our journey begins. She gave me some homework exercises for the week ahead.
pédiatre or pediatrician
I took a morning appointment this time, sacrificing Charlotte’s nap in the hopes that I wouldn’t have to wait quite as long to see the doctor. However, I rolled into my 10am appointment at 9:58, proud of my maternal promptness since I’m usually running late to everything. And proceeded to wait there for another 32 minutes. Unlike in our American pediatrician’s office, the waiting room is for well and sick children unfortunately. I was chatting with a mom waiting for the 10:15 slot and she reassured me that the pediatrician we see is great.
The visit was pretty standard and at the end I asked my dr if there was anything I could give Charlotte while we fly to the states or to help with jetlag while we’re there (ie melatonin, benadryl, something sleep inducing) and she assured me that in France noone gives their kids anything for that. She reassured me by telling me she had recently taken her children on a 12 hour flight. “they’ll be fine, you won’t”. Very encouraging…
joy reports
(stealing this name from friday candy podcast because they make me laugh and I think of it every time I write these)
a stunning bouquet of lilacs, tulips and peonies on my table as I write
we’ve been really into eating bowls as dinner…picking a cuisine and then loading rice with veggies and protein and either gochujang if it’s korean or salsa for mexican style or a dill yogurt sauce for mediterranean, topped with some salad and some kind of pickled thing
pizza + pet nat nights-really can’t go wrong with for that one day a week we can’t be bothered to cook and pop open a bottle of pet nat while we wait for pizza delivery
got to take a walk on my own after dinner last night and listen to this Ezra Klein podcast and talk to my sissy on the phone! An hour outside watching the sun set completely cleared my head space
the start of iced coffee season here! afternoon oat latte chez moi is best poured over a large cup of ice
watching Charlotte eat a pouch of applesauce in .2 seconds, or the excitement she gets from chewing on pieces of steak her father makes her
we’re going to Texas in less than one month and the whole house is counting down!!
cicaplast hand cream- for these lizard mom hands
got to write a home story for kd weave and had so much fun setting the table with all her pretty goodies! check it out here.
Anyways, signing off to go see some sunshine.
Until next week, xxf
Love reading your posts!
Can you please share the pelvic floor exercises recommended by your midwife? Thank you :)