Confinement

Ancient wisdom always somehow survives the test generation after generation. Of all the weird or bizarre Chinese traditions or even superstitions, the postpartum confinement after giving birth or "sit the month" is what I deeply believe it.

Actually, let me slightly correct myself - I deeply believe in the concept, not so much the entire practice, if you know what the entire practice entails.

I grew up helping my grandma and my mom prep the confinement meals for my 4 uncles' wives, watched them go through that month with all the things that they were not allowed to do.  Of course, being in a traditional family like ours, these daughter-in-laws dared not to disobey. All of them really followed the instructions of not washing hair, not showering, not being exposed to cold air, not leaving the house, not drinking water (but rice wine) and lying in bed all day.

My mom volunteered to help me sit the month and offered to buy all the Chinese herbal medicine so that she could make all the "drinks" for me. She was going to cook too but I found a lady from Taiwan who lives in Queens who prepares confinement meals for 30 days based on different stages of postpartum needs during the month. She also delivers to your doorsteps so it works out for us. I recently had a tasting and it was actually pretty good - the black bone chicken soup, the beef soup with some kind of roots, and so on, were all pretty delish.

Regardless the fact that I know for sure I will sit the month, I still couldn't quite convince myself to do exactly what my mom will tell me to do and not do. Not leaving the house alone will drive me crazy enough. And then my sent me a document listing all the things NOT to do.

I was horrified.

I could not believe what I was reading and I could not believe that my mom wanted me to do all that. Now, I am reconsidering having my mom over for that month, because I think we will get into argument every frigging day and that would totally defeat the purpose of me resting. I am not sure if I can deal with her.

She said to me "why don't you just listen to me for once in your life?".

But if I already never listen to you, why would I even do now?
The document was in Chinese and let me just highlight several things on the list for you so you get an idea how an suffer it will be for me.

- Drink less water: because water makes you bloated and it expands your stomach.

- Rest: the mom should be guarded by the mom-in-law, the husband, the relatives to make sure she does not leave room.

-Lie flat for 2 weeks straight: standing up will cause the shifting of organs owing to the gravity. And also, wear a belly band.

- No washing hair because that causes the opening of the pores which let in the cold air which will lead to headache.

- No showering or bathing for the first 2 weeks, showering is allowed starting the 3rd week. Same idea to the above.

- Never ever use cold water, not even brushing teeth and washing face.

- When absolutely have to walk outside, cover every inch of the skin. Nothing can be exposed to the cold air.

- No holding the baby: the mom's body is the weakest and fragile after giving birth. Not holding the baby is the same idea of not lifting anything heavy. It will cause muscle pain and back pain.

- No lifting, no climbing stairs. no crying/tearing, no watching TV/reading books.

Now, you tell me, would you be able to live like that for one month? I know I couldn't.


#fucksitthemonth
DearJulie


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upper body workouts (update later)
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