Post-Pregnancy: Confinement for 30 days

As soon as I gave birth, my mother became a police over what I could eat, do, go, the lot!

So exactly what does confinement for 30 days mean? Basically it means just that.. confined at home for 30days. That means I'm not allowed to go out at all. Not even out to my own backyard just in case the dreaded spring chills get my insides!

The Chinese (Mostly South East Asians) belive that confinement is all about keeping the body warm since the baby & placenta bag as well as all the amniotic fluid has been emptied out of your body which means your body is the most vulnerable to getting sick. It is also about keeping the wind out both internally & externally so that in the longer term (eg. older years) your body will not deteoriate faster & suffer severely.

As a near ABC, I only started to know my Chinese roots during two points of my life. 1) Wedding - All of a sudden you discover all the cultural way of doing things & its etiquettes. 2) Confinement - All sorts of Chinese rituals/herbal medicines make me realise I'm actually very Chinese after all...

So as soon as I gave birth, my mother who has been highly influenced by her sister, that is my KL aunt, automatically controlled everything that I ate, grounded me to be home (except for the one day that Mr M & I had to go to Knox to register Zachariah onto our Medicare), made me bathe in very very hot Ginger water from day 2 of my post delivery. The water is so hot that it really could burn your skin. What's more is that in the water, there are bits of ginger too so sometimes it gets stuck in my hair! But I tell you the 'sting' that ginger gives do make one feel very warm & hot both on the inside & outside after you bathe in it which is exactly what a post delivery woman need.

My father who is the master chef of the house continously make me Ang Jiu Mee Sua - Home made Red wine noodle soup for me to eat every 3rd day. Once again ginger is one of the key ingredients in all of my meals as ginger ensures my body is kept 'warm' and it also acts to minimise wind in my insides.

The funniest thing during the 1 week Mr M & I were in hospital was that my parents would come to the hospital like a typical Chinese parent bringing their pot of rice cooker, vacuum flask, bucket (for the ginger bath etc) making the Aussies think we are mad... it's so funny! But the most funniest when my parents couldn't come to see me during lunch times so they would make Mr M go back home to pick up my lunch. If Mr M decides to stay a bit longer at home (eg. preparing the nursery for his son's home coming) my very cute bah-bi would rush him out of the house so that I would have my lunch on time!

Thus, my confinement looks something like this:

> Meals - consist of a lot a lot and a lot of MEAT - in particularly chicken & pork as they're all believed to be 'repairing the body'. I have minimal veggies except the leafy greens. All the rest I can't have as they're all 'cooling' foods which are a No No during confinement. The foods that are my staple during this one month are: Ginger, red wine, D.O.M whisky (by the tablespoon), Durian, herbal soups & drinks, chicken, red meat, fish, pork, pork leg with ginger & vinegar (sweet & sour - tastes really good), milk and hot chocolate/milo with egg. That's basically main food.. all the rest are out (eg. Any takeaway food are a no no, no junkfood except chocolate, no fizzy drinks & not even water unless it is very very hot but I can only drink small amounts to ensure all the swell in my legs & hands go down since there's still a lot of water in it).

> Bath - I can only take a bath with very Hot Ginger water only, three times a week & wash my hair twice a week. I can only take a bath in the afternoon where the weather is the warmest. I also need to soak in salt water to ensure the stitches heal quickly every single day for at least 10 minutes. Oh & I am not allowed to touch cold water so my darling parents & hubby has to wash the dishes/wash my clothes & baby's clothes on my behalf until my confinement is over... I ain't complaining about this one! ha! Oh and I need to hair dry my air immediately after washing it too. If my mum sees my hair half dry, she would literally take the hair dryer out and dry my hair on the spot (eg. if I'm breastfeeding, she would come into my room hair drying my hair while I breastfeed baby.. it's so funny!)

> Outings - totally banned. The only access to the outside world is via internet!

Anyway, as much as I love to complain to my parents about how boring my confinement is, nonetheless I still thank my parents for looking after me soooo well especially in feeding me with 'proper food' & doing so many of my chores on my behalf. I've never seen them fussing over me so much in my entire life up until now. I absolutely appreciate & love my mah-mi & bah-bi.

Making Ang Jiu (red wine):
My mum had already preserved the red wine at least 6mths prior to this day.
Then it is my dad's job to squeeze all the wine out once they've reached its maturity.

Final step of course is to use the red wine & cook it with noodles & chicken!
This is actually really really yummy!