Victory at last

After nearly 11 months of diligent searching, of scouring every grocery store and pharmacy I could find in Cairo, I have finally found them -- clothlike Pampers!!

Mike was sure I would never find them, and scoffed at my neverending efforts to find the perfect diaper. But today I feel vindicated.

When we were in the process of adopting Maya in 2005, long before we moved to Egypt and well before we even had a referral, I sent Mike out to the store one night to buy diapers so we could 'practice' playing parents. We wanted to be prepared. He came back with Moltex diapers, and I was VERY disappointed when I pulled them out of the bag. They did not feel like the plastic-coated diapers I remember from my childhood. They felt like soft paper. They were thin. They would certainly leak. I was sure Mike had made a total new parent blooper and picked out the absolute worst diapers in the universe. Why hadn't he just got Pampers? Surely they would be the proper plastic kind that I was sure was best.

But I later discovered that diapers had changed a lot in the nearly three decades since I was born. The best diapers now are not plastic, but a thin cloth-like material that leaves baby skin feeling dry inside and that very rarely leaks. These diapers are the best, something I didn't realise at the time. And after we adopted Maya, at least until she was eight months old, we put her in the cloth-like Pampers.

When we moved to Egypt, I was dismayed to find that only the plastic-coated Pampers were available -- the exact same sweaty, leaky, plastic Pampers in the exact same Arabic packaging that we found on store shelves in Addis Ababa when we adopted Maya. Since we arrived in Egypt, I have forced Mike to drive me all across Cairo in search of my precious clothlike Pampers. Here's how it goes: I hear of a new modern grocery store off in the far reaches of the city and I force Mike to drive me there on a weekend, whining and pleading when he protests that he would rather spend the day at the park or having a leisurely breakfast of waffles at home. Once we get to the store, however, it becomes clear that the Pampers they have are the same plastic ones available everywhere else.

Eventually, we did manage to find clothlike Huggies. But they are not the thin, microfiber Huggies that are available in the US. They are thick and bulky and uncomfortable. But until yesterday, they were the best we could do.

Then, at Maya's toddler art class, when all the babies got undressed to slide in the bubbles, I saw them -- clothlike Pampers on another baby. At first, I thought her mother must work for an embassy and have some special privileges. I discounted those Pampers. But then I surreptitiously glanced around the room. Two other babies also had clothlike Pampers. Amazing! Did their parents all work for embassies? Had they carried the Pampers into Egypt in their suitcases? Did visiting grandparents bring them in? I asked one of the mothers.

As it turns out, they told me, clothlike Pampers ARE available in Egypt. They are intermixed with the plastic ones in stores. The key is this: Clothlike Pampers are made in Saudi Arabia and imported to Egypt. Plastic Pampers are made in Egyptian factories. The key is to look for the Saudi seal. We bought four boxes that evening.