diff --git a/lib/mongo/cursor.rb b/lib/mongo/cursor.rb
index a120a40..acb7b03 100644
--- a/lib/mongo/cursor.rb
+++ b/lib/mongo/cursor.rb
@@ -18,9 +18,6 @@ require 'mongo/message'
 require 'mongo/util/byte_buffer'
 require 'mongo/util/bson'
 
-require 'logger'
-LOG = Logger.new('recv_file.log', 'daily')
-
 module XGen
   module Mongo
     module Driver
@@ -163,15 +160,12 @@ module XGen
         end
 
         def read_message_header
-          MessageHeader.new.read_header(@db.socket)
+          MessageHeader.new.read_header(@db)
         end
 
         def read_response_header
           header_buf = ByteBuffer.new
-          read = @db.socket.recv(RESPONSE_HEADER_SIZE)
-          header_buf.put_array(read.unpack("C*"))
-          LOG.debug "resp head: #{read.inspect}\n"
-          raise "BAD SIZE" unless read.length == RESPONSE_HEADER_SIZE
+          header_buf.put_array(@db.receive_full(RESPONSE_HEADER_SIZE).unpack("C*"))
           raise "Short read for DB response header; expected #{RESPONSE_HEADER_SIZE} bytes, saw #{header_buf.length}" unless header_buf.length == RESPONSE_HEADER_SIZE
           header_buf.rewind
           @result_flags = header_buf.get_int
@@ -206,21 +200,10 @@ module XGen
 
         def object_from_stream
           buf = ByteBuffer.new
-          read = @db.socket.recv(4)
-          LOG.debug "size: #{read.inspect}\n"
-          raise "BAD SIZE" unless read.length == 4
-          buf.put_array(read.unpack("C*"))
+          buf.put_array(@db.receive_full(4).unpack("C*"))
           buf.rewind
           size = buf.get_int
-          # TODO debugging here for a bit
-          begin
-            blah = @db.socket.recv(size-4)
-            buf.put_array(blah.unpack("C*"), 4)
-            LOG.debug "body: #{blah.inspect}\n"
-            raise "BAD SIZE" unless blah.length == size-4
-          rescue => ex
-            raise "#{ex.class}: #{ex.message} ***size was #{size}*size string was #{read.inspect}*res_flags #{@result_flags}*cursor_id #{@cursor_id}*starting_from #{@starting_from}*n_returned #{@n_returned}***"
-          end
+          buf.put_array(@db.receive_full(size - 4).unpack("C*"), 4)
           @n_remaining -= 1
           buf.rewind
           BSON.new(@db).deserialize(buf)
diff --git a/lib/mongo/db.rb b/lib/mongo/db.rb
index 6fa7329..212c1ec 100644
--- a/lib/mongo/db.rb
+++ b/lib/mongo/db.rb
@@ -301,6 +301,16 @@ module XGen
           @socket != nil
         end
 
+        def receive_full(length)
+          message = ""
+          while message.length < length do
+            chunk = @socket.recv(length - message.length)
+            raise "connection closed" unless chunk.length > 0
+            message += chunk
+          end
+          message
+        end
+
         # Send a MsgMessage to the database.
         def send_message(msg)
           send_to_db(MsgMessage.new(msg))
diff --git a/lib/mongo/message/message_header.rb b/lib/mongo/message/message_header.rb
index 8696c0b..cf1ffc0 100644
--- a/lib/mongo/message/message_header.rb
+++ b/lib/mongo/message/message_header.rb
@@ -28,12 +28,9 @@ module XGen
           @buf = ByteBuffer.new
         end
 
-        def read_header(socket)
+        def read_header(db)
           @buf.rewind
-          read = socket.recv(HEADER_SIZE)
-          @buf.put_array(read.unpack("C*"))
-          LOG.debug "header: #{read.inspect}\n"
-          raise "BAD SIZE" unless read.length == HEADER_SIZE
+          @buf.put_array(db.receive_full(HEADER_SIZE).unpack("C*"))
           raise "Short read for DB response header: expected #{HEADER_SIZE} bytes, saw #{@buf.size}" unless @buf.size == HEADER_SIZE
           @buf.rewind
           @size = @buf.get_int