Hello readers. Here is another blog post of my sharing, well, after delivering my baby. My baby was delivered on 15th January 2014, and for the moment, he is 43 days old already. I have been a mum for more than a month. After my baby was born, I wasn't fully taking care of him due to confinement. Confinement seems to be a complicated, and also a simple topic. Like what my mother said, "If you believe in it, then you need to follow the advice for confinement properly, otherwise, you can don't follow it". Those believes in confinement are actually carried down and passed down from our ancestors to our grandparents, to our parents, and finally to us. Believe it or not, the choice is yours. For me, I choose to believe it. No harm following those advice since it can be a good thing to us. From what I understand, women is very weak after they have delivered their baby and their bodies are so called 'cold' and easily catch 'wind'. Which is why during confinement, women are advised to always keep warm by eating and drinking warm food. Warm foods include key ingredients sesame oil and ginger. These two items can give 'heat' and keep the body warm during confinement. In addition, they are encouraged to take alcohol like DOM or rice wine because alcohol can promote blood circulation and make the body warm. =)
Besides keeping warm through diet, I also keep warm physically by wearing thicker clothes, sarung, wearing socks and slippers all the time. Also, I wrapped my head with towel, to prevent wind from blowing directly to my head. In addition, for the first 12 days after delivering baby, it is not advisable to bathe and wash hair because cold water can make our bodily easily catches cold and wind. So, I have been saying so much about catching wind, what is the big deal about catching cold and wind during confinement? We might not experience the consequences right away but later in life (eg. like in middle age time). Most common effect are body ache and severe headache which could not be treated with 'over-the-counter medications'. The elderly in my family told me that if a woman caught wind in the body during confinement, it would be a tough issue to heal the problem. Treatment includes drinking some special wine called 毛鸡酒. The problem is that, this wine is not easily found anymore. Sort of like 'antique wine' and people always said, if you caught wind during confinement, you cannot be treated due to no wine. =( Even if you could find, it cost about RM20 per one small cap and I am not sure how many caps need to be taken to remove all the wind. *No idea*
Besides keeping warm, confinement lady need to eat healthily and sufficiently. Do not think about dieting during confinement. Confinement is the time to heal your body after delivery, so, eat more foods that are good for you. For this time, chinese herbs are coming in - like red dates, goji, black fungus, ginseng, and etc. It would be handy to get a confinement recipe book in hand as it gives a lot of ideas on the cooking recipes and also it explains the benefits of all the herbs to our body. I took alot of food and drank lots of herbal teas which can promote blood production and would healing in this 30 days. Heaty food can be taken in the first 30 days after delivery and one miracle thing is that if you continue eating those food after 30 days, you will start getting sore throat and get fever due to the heat. But the first 30 days, no matter how much ginger or sesame oil you take, you won't feel heaty at all. =)
In addition, I could not simply eat other food other than confinement foods. I was unfortunate as my confinement month was in the middle of Chinese New Year, so, all the delicious new year cookies and biscuits are OUT from my menu. Sobz ='( Besides that, I was advised to rest as much as possible- sleep and lie down is the best. My mummy told me that lying down can rest the back to prevent back ache after confinement.Talking about confinement will take a long time, but thank God, confinement was over. If you would like to know more about confinement, it is best to seek advice from the elders.
OK, going back to the main topic: Entering parenthood. One word: Sacrifice. Entering parenthood = Sacrifice.
1. Sacrifice time for own self
2. Sacrifice from movie marathon
3. Sacrifice from going out dating esp baby now is too young to go out
4. Sacrifice sleeping time (gotta feed baby middle of night)
5. Sacrifice lots of money to buy baby things & milk
And the list goes on. But, those sacrifices are meaningful because the little one gave us a lot of happiness and makes us smile. My hubby came home everyday with a smile when he sees little Biri. He makes both of us so happy. Of course, being parent is a new thing for both of us. We are learning to be better everyday. Like I said before, I was not fully taking care of Darren during confinement as I need to rest and recover. But now, before I start working again, I took the challenge to take care him all by myself for a week. I am proud to say that I can be a mummy. I can take care of him- from his feeding, to bathing, to giving him potty train, changing diaper, washing his nappies and cleaning his buttock from poo poo. It is really tiring taking care of him the whole day. Sometimes can be a little stressful esp. when he cries SOOO LOUDDD, as if like being beaten. The cry makes me scared and nervous, don't know what is wrong with him. When I manage to soothe him and he stops crying, I felt relieved! Phew!
But anyway, these sacrifices are worth it! We love him very much.So far, Darren eats, sleep, cries, pee and poo. Occasionally he will stares in the blank and make baby noise to get our attentions. Such cute baby. If you want me to comment about him: He is very active, strong and smart baby. Being just one and half month old, he can kick and raise himself up when we rest him on our lap. Now, he is learning to turn and lie down on his chest. He is half way through though. =P
More sharing to come next time. So long for this time. Got to take care baby again. Crying again =P
Lets see some of his photos =)
Take care,
Grace
