Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Confinement Miseries And Irony

Something on Facebook today brought me back to my confinement memories. Confinement is pretty much misery for all new moms. First of all you are already suffering from post partum recovery and whatnot. And then, for Asians, we have this strict diet and massage regime that makes it worse. You are required to be all covered top to bottom, and sweat your heart out. And to add fire to the heat, our diet is consist of food that encourages more heat and sweating.

Mom was quite particular about me not getting my hands and feet wet, about always wearing socks and long sleeves, about being coop-ed up in the room. The rebel in me, went against all of this. I washed my hair on 3rd day and even did some handwashing of baby's nappies and my poor mom, gave up, then again, I am sure she is secretly hoping that my kid would give me the same hell I always give her.

Everyone has baby blues during this period. Sometimes it is the feeling of incompetence or overwhelmed of being a new parent, worry of not being able to provide the baby. It does not help that this is also the time when babies have weird sleeping patterns, either stay awake the whole night, or wake up every 2-3 hours for feeding (and crying their lungs out). Or sometimes it is just the result of being confined. There would be times where we feel happy, and just the next moment we would be down, for no apparent reason. At times like this, it is important to talk and share your feelings with your spouse, mother or a friend.

Back to bad-mouthing confinement, to add more fire to the all sweaty heat, we, the mothers have to struggle with weight loss during confinement. Which is not easy for most of us. I had put on like 18 heavy kilograms during my pregnancy, and my weight after delivery was a whopping 60kg, which means 10kg more to my normal weight. Desperately looking out for some tummy tuck, I went out shopping for corset during my confinement. Ironically, most of the corset sizes that I found in Jusco were of size M and L that did not fit a 60kg lady. Pray, why? Someone of smaller size would not be looking for a tummy tuck, would she? Irony of all ironies...

2 comments:

Cas said...

I hear ya! Hated my confinement too coz there were so many things I couldnt do, and let's not forget going out too. Anyway I guess all that together with the new responsbility would make alot of people not feel so great.

QarezmaV said...

now we know, perhaps better informed for #2?

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