Vietnamese Postpartum Tradition

I decided to capture my journey in this traditional 30 days postpartum care.  A lot of these restrictions are preventative care for later in life.  I decided to follow the practice to entertain my parents who all of a suddenly became very traditional. I guess it's first time grandparents syndrome.

First, let me tell you that I gave birth in July.  When I left the hospital, I was dressed in a velour jumpsuit and hood on. I'm supposed to put cotton balls in my ears to prevent wind from entering my body. Instead, I wore a bright orange Tough Mudder headband to match my Tough Mudder dri-fit shirt so I don't sweat in the hot weather.  I wore the thickest socks possible. I was dressed if there's a blizzard outside.  

Some of the Diet and Restrictions:

- not allowed to leave the house for 30 days except doctor's appointments

-no showering, no washing of the hair

This is preventing random headaches. My friend who's a nurse got me this but I haven't cave in to use it yet. Washing your hair without water!

-steam bath everyday (song); 

  My mom bought herbal leaves to boil in a pot of water for about 30 minutes. Once it is ready, I pitched a tent with a blanket, stay uncovered and opened the lid for the steam to come out. I'm under covered for 10 minutes and the pot has to be heated up again for 5 minutes and repeat the process one more time.

I was dripping in sweats and reeked of the herbal smell.

-dietary restrictions (no cold foods or drinks, no juice, citrus fruits or sour food since this may cause you to pee in your pants later in life, chicken and ginger, black peppers everything since this warms your soul and help you recover from the intense blood loss from birth, lots of pork-Thit kho, Carmelized salmon  with lots of whole black peppers, drinking ginger tea which helps shrink belly and warm drinks to balance out the cold in the body)

- charcoal under your bum bum 

So I sat on a wooden chair and had charcoal burning underneath. This shrinks the uterus. Hey, I'm all game especially when I don't have to pay for a vagina rejuvenation.

- no touch watering; if you must wear gloves

  This prevents arthritis and veiny hands. I've broken this rule. It's not hygienic and I am used to working with little booger monsters. I guess this worked back in the days when other took care of the baby and the mother just lay in bed. I love to hold my baby.

- drinking Thuoc bac (Eastern Medicine)

I had to drink the Thuoc bac for three consecutive days. I believe it's to help the healing, blood recovery and remove all toxic waste from your body.

I can't describe the taste. It was extremely bitter as you can tell from my face.

- bed rest (very limited walking and sitting)

Beside the obvious recovery process, my mom keeps telling me to lay in bed to prevent my uterus from falling down.  I feel like I'm going to get a blood clot from staying in bed. I'm an active person and am having a very hard time staying still.

- keep your legs closed

 You don't want to spread your goodie out. They mummify my legs with the blankets to ensure my legs were side by side.

- Always wear socks and layers of clothes

It's the middle of summer. Hot, hot, HOT! 

I will wear socks and a robe for partial of the day but I need to wear shorts especially when I can't have the AC on.  Imagine 90 degrees F and I'm only allow to drink warm/hot drinks.  I'm burning inside.

- Rinse and gargle your mouth salt water

 This prevents toothache. Yeah, I don't think this is good on my gums so I will pass.  I did leave packets of salt in the kitchen sink so my mom thinks I've been following this.

There are no scientific research done on this practice as far as I know from Google. My mom, grandma and aunts keep telling me this is why Asian women are so healthy later in age and have less health issues.

I'm only on Day 11. 19 more days to go. I have a very strong feeling that I will be modifying some of these practices.