My Day-to-day Confinement Regime

7.15 a.m - Aiesyah wakes up for breakfast. If I'm lucky, she doesn't get up till 8.00 a.m.

7.30 a.m - I pester Hubby to go fetch the specially prepared air teresak (hot water boiled with some fragrant leaves and kaffir limes) for my morning bath. My daily outfit is a buttoned shirt (to aid in breastfeeding), a batik sarong and socks to prevent 'wind' from entering my feet.

7.45 a.m - Have breakfast myself, consisting of two slices of bread, hot Milo and a small glass of yellow-orange jamu. Cannot have eggs due to stitches.

8.00 a.m - Kak Yam, an Indonesian midwife, arrives for my daily urut (massage) and barut (abdominal wrap) session. Kak Yam is also the person who prepared the jamu, a traditional concoction of herbs, turmeric and other stuff designed to return the post-natal female form to pre-pregnancy bootyliciousness (one can hope). She uses a massage oil derived from young coconut, and after a good one hour rub she'll proceed to apply pilis (herbal paste) to my forehead. This helps to get rid of 'wind' and prevent darah putih (white blood cells?) from entering the head, thus causing headaches and poor vision (a bit too late where my vision is concerned). Apparently reading during post-natal confinement can bring the same effects, but that doesn't stop me.

Kak Yam will also apply a paste consisting of ground herbs, kaffir lime juice and I think ground limestone to my abdomen before wrapping it up in a bengkung/barut. The first layer barut is a piece of cloth, the same width as my abdomen, with strings on either side that are tied across my tummy. The second layer is a long piece of cloth, about 12 m long, that Kak Yam wraps and twists tightly over the first layer, from my buttocks way up to just under my chest. It works very much like a corset really, complete with the forcified erect posture and breathing difficulty.

I'm supposed to keep the second bengkung on till at least 8 p.m., while the first layer stays on till the next day. By the time I take it off, the paste has dried and flaked, and my skin feels all raw and itchy.

In the meantime, Cik Dah gives Aiesyah a waterbath and takes her sunbathing. The morning sun helps to prevent jaundice, and after the session Aiesyah comes back in looking red as a lobster.

10.00 a.m - Kak Yam packs up, and I get to read, play Sudoku and blog/websurf to my heart's content. Or I may just take a nap (depending on how much sleep I get the night before).

10.30 a.m - I take a mid-morning snack, usually some cream crackers and another cup of Milo, to make sure that I don't go too hungry and get any 'wind' trapped in my stomach.

1.00 p.m - Lunch for me consists of half a plate of rice, grilled ikan selar or ikan gelama, a vegetable dish (of the non-cooling variety) cooked with lots of garlic, ginger and no oil, a dry sambal made of black peppercorns and some ulam - typically bittergourd, pegaga, ulam raja and daun selom. I wash it all down with an infusion of dried Chinese red dates. This diet is supposed to restore blood circulation, prevent wind and help me produce breastmilk. Chinese radish apparently works too.






4.00 p.m - My tea-break consists again of crackers and a cup of hot Milo. If I'm good, I get some nice juicy orange slices too.

7.00 p.m - Dinner is served, consisting of a similar menu to lunch. Sometimes I get free-range organic chicken instead of fish, which is a nice change. Of course, it is either steamed, grilled or made into soup. Nothing fried or oily for me.

8.00 p.m - I get to take off the long wrap. Hooray, I can breathe again!

10.00 p.m - I get ready for bed, but so far I've been stayng up till almost midnight. Last night was worse - I couldn't sleep till after feeding Aiesyah at 3 a.m!

3.00 a.m - Aiesyah usually wakes up for a feed and a diaper change. I usually pester Hubby to do the latter for me, citing my confinement as an excuse. According to Malay custom, during the pantang period of 40-44 days, the new mother is supposed to restrict her movements. In some cases she's not even supposed to get out of bed in the first week!

So far Aiesyah hasn't caused too much trouble. She sleeps most of the day, getting up only to feed about three or four times or when her diaper gets too dirty for her. Sometimes she'll poo-poo away in her sleep but continues with her slumber. It makes for interesting noises during the night.

P/S I get a treat tonight - sira pisang!