40 Days!

Yes, it has been 40 days and you know what that means?

1. I can now go out..... without people saying '40 hari sudah kan kau berjalan-jalan ani?'

If you're not from Brunei, there are many pantangs when one has just given birth. I, have followed some only. Har har. Initially, I couldn't be bothered to follow tapi takut jua. Haha. Ikut saja tah.

2. A black material is tied around both of your big toes with pepper inside it. This is believed to scare off those that needs to be scared. Unfortunately, it doesn't work with that you can actually see, i.e. your boss (kidding boss, if you're reading this! haha.). Besides that, it is also a way to tell others that you have just given birth and is still in pantang. I was just told today, it is also to help you not bump your toes, which may cause 'tumpah darah'. Phew, luckily I only found out after 40days. Kalau nda beruri kali.

- I took mine off few days ago because it just kept on slipping off!! When my babu said 'buka tia', I took them off straight away. Now I only need to get a pedicure before I can wear slippers again. Bye-bye fully-covered shoes!

3. You are not to 'play' with water a lot, which includes showering for the first 40 days, except day 7 and day 40. I was told- 'bagas beranak, urat banyak putus'.

- I didn't shower for the first 7 days (ewwwwwwwwwww. I KNOW!) but merely wiped my body with warm towel day & night. On day 7, both of my nini girls, my babu and B Ajah did the 'mandi daun' on (?) me and I was just oh-so-relieved to have a shower again. From that day onwards, I showered every morning (har har har) because the lady who took care of me during my confinement said that morning showers are good as it increases your breastmilk supply. Apa lagiiii. Mandiiii! Hehe.

4. You are not to go out for 40 days. There are many reasons for this, I believe. One of them is that you're bleeding (darah nifas for us Muslims) and may attract those-that-shall-not-be-named. Another one is that because labour is such hard work with thousands of urat putus, we are not very healthy, are we? Plus a baby just passed through DOWN THERE, sit still and let it heal!

-As my baby was diagnosed with jaundice on his 7th day, I was out & about on day 7 already, to clinics and subsequently RIPAS for 2 nights. Then there was his review, a temperature scare and and and, mummy got bored and looked for excuses to go Hua Ho, Mall, Soon Lee, First Emporium (because they just have the best Avent collection! Dulu nda mau ni ke mari ah. Nda shiuk. Haha.) and anywhere, really. Plus, the BIL got married earlier this month so, I had to leave the house to go to Jerudong.

I suppose these are the main pantangs I was told (which I hardly followed. Hehe.). There were little things that I had to do (or could not do) that do not constitute as pantangs but helped a lot, particularly in increasing my breastmilk supply.

1. MINUM MILO. Hahaha. Initially, I would drink 7-9 cups of milo kosong a day. Now, I have reduce to about 5-6 cups a day. I don't think I will be able to drink milo with susu manis anymore. Hehehe.

2. Eat chicken soup with some sort of leaves. OMG. I think the first 2-3 weeks, I was on soup, soup and more soup. It was mostly chicken soup or beef soup with lots & lots of those leaves. Initially, I would have lots & lots of ginger in my soup too but I was advised to reduce it when my baby was diagnosed with jaundice.

So, breakfast, lunch and dinner would be the same- soup and milo! Plus...

3. Jamuuuu! I so do not know how I could stand them. It smells horrible, it tastes horrible but yes, it needs to be consumed. It did help in making me feel much better though :) I also had to cut down my jamu when my baby had a temperature scare. Now, I just have to drink lots & lots of water when I take, which is like.... never... hahahahaha...

From here, my Nini Girls gave me the mandi daun again, with some of the daun water saved for my baby. Apparently the daun is called 'daun beranak' when you ask for it from the tamu and it is supposed to make you 'cakah' semula.

Alhamdullilah, I am feeling much, much better now (who am I kidding? I was out at the mall after 2 or 3 weeks, I think? Bengkung-ed and all).

Confinement (half-confinement) was definitely HARD WORK. hehe.