Confinement is Tough!

Traditionally, chinese believes that after giving birth you need to go through a month of confinement which  personally some of the "rules" of confinement I find it quite ridiculous.  Having said that, I was lucky enough to have my mum as my "confinement" lady which means I am able to break some of the rules.  Anyway, even during my pregnancy I tried to mentally prepared myself to go through it however in reality is tougher that I thought.

Confinement rules include:-
1. Only red dates drink is allowed as a replacement of water
2. No shower & hair wash is allowed
3. Do not carry heavy items (inclusive of pouring a cup of red dates water from the flask)
4. Do not touch water direct from tap.  (only boiled water is allowed)
5. No fan is allowed
6. No chicken and eggs allowed (only applicable to C-Sect)

Well, I actually observed the above rules for 10days and that 10 days was a very tough 10 days.  I felt so disgusted with myself because I was dirty and smelly with bad breath! Even though, I was allowed to just "wipe" my body as a form of cleansing it wasn't good enough.  The first time, my mum boiled me some herbs to wipe...I regretted it.  It made my body sweat even more and I felt so hot after that and I got really frustrated all the time.  After that, I just use boiled water and the more I take my "wipe" the more frustrated I got in the bathroom because it just doesn't do any good at the end of the day! At the same time, my head felt like there's a huge rock sitting on it because it felt so heavy.  My hair was oily and smelly.  It came to a point where I don't even bother combing my hair! As for my bad breath... because I cannot touch tap water I had to rely on my hubby to pour me some boiled water into a mineral water bottle for me to brush my teeth.  It was very torturing because I had to ration the water to make sure it's enough for the whole ordeal ie to rinse my mouth, wash my toothbrush and my mouth and hands! Needless to say with that I didn't even bother washing my face as how clean can it get without splashes of water on it! This rule really hit me hard.  I mean can you imagine every time after using the toilet I had  to pour boiled water over my hand as form of cleaning! Honestly, I didn't even use any soap because there's only so much boiled water one can get in a day.  At the end of the day, I had to rely on hand sanitiser to clean my hands before touching my baby.  With all this negativity in me plus the stuffiness of my house because all the windows were closed plus the heat I was one frustrated and depressed mama!

Around the 8th day or so I beginning to feel really down and depressed.  At times, I will just cry for no reason and this lasted for a few days.  I will give excuses to friends who wanted to visit me saying that I'm tired or about to sleep so that they will not come over to see me.  All I did was just lie on my bed and went online when my baby is asleep.  At times when it gets really bad I will just cry my heart out silently  without anyone knowing.  This went on for a few days until one day hubby found out because I couldn't control my emotions anymore.  Hubby was very supportive and consoled me.  I also decided to confide in a friend through SMS because I just couldn't make myself talk on the phone.

I finally get to shower and go on with life as a normal human being ie I no longer need to use boiled water to wash my hands! Hooray! I felt much better after things gradually turn back to normal.  Although, I still feel sticky and hot all the time at the very least I manage to wash my hair not daily but better than nothing.

Today is 23rd day of my confinement.  I told myself that I will only observe 28days.  I can't wait for all this to be over.  Honestly, I will definitely think twice whether to have another child or not as I seriously do not want to go through this terrible experience again.