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.

Adjusting to Motherhood

...is fun and exhausting.

Ahmad Haris is now almost 2 weeks old. I know I've been turning visitors away *ehem*James*ehem but (half) confinement is a lot of work and not-so-pretty, y'know.

Every morning, after my massage, the lady 'simpan pilis' on my forehead, which is supposed to be there for the rest of the day (but I usually wipe it off when it has dried out) and I tell you again, it ain't pretty. I am in my kain sarung most of the time because with all the things they put on me, I don't want to spoil my good clothes. And when they put the bengkung on me- OH MY GOD! Oh, have I mentioned that I so do not know how to use kain sarung. It definitely gives 'inda terkain-kain' a new meaning.

But in my babu's words- 'namanya beranak' and 'karang nda mau kurus'.
Enough of me.

Ahmad Haris is one very hungry baby! He feeds every two hours or so and few nights ago- every hour! They said maybe my BM is not enough for him so they said to mix with formula. Unfortunately we did but Ahmad Haris doesn't really like formula or plain water (yaaaay!). Now, I drink like 10 cups of plain milo a day and eat chicken & some sort of daun soup for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I try to EBM 2 or 3 times a day as well, just in case Ahmad Haris is with his nini babu and his mummy wants to sleep :p

Oh, Ahmad Haris has lost weight too. At birth, he was 3.130kg but last Wednesday he was only 2.9kg. Babu said that they call it 'tuhus aying' and the husband said that it happens when you breastfeed (he got it from one of the readings. i'm impressed, husband. hehe. love you!).

I am expecting Ahmad Haris to wake up for his feed soon. Hehe. My life now runs around his feeding time. Will have to slowly adjust before going back to work!

p.s. photos of Ahmad Haris are on facebook. The husband took more but he doesn't really have the time to process 'em yet.

And oh, people have been asking me about my labour experience. Maybe one of these days, I will write about it. It is not really something one can forget.