My son turned 3 months old today so I thought it’s time to share my postpartum experience on the blog. I’ve had a smooth post-childbirth recovery, Alhamdulillah, all thanks to my husband who did the chores whilst I only needed to take care of the baby to the point where I dreaded not doing anything at all and started doing chores again. I love my routine and I miss doing it.
I did traditional confinement, much to my dismay because there were a lot of food and drinks that I can’t have until I finish the 44 days confinement. I had all sorts of fish and my favourite would be salmon and dory. My husband cooked my breakfast, lunch, and dinner all throughout my confinement. I had rice porridge with pieces of fried dory on top at the hospital so I made my husband recreate it. It’s so good!
Since I had a C-section, I can only get traditional massage 2 weeks postpartum so on the 14th day, I had a massage, ‘bertungku‘, and ‘bengkung‘ for 3 days. I dreaded the massages because they hurt, I didn’t like ‘bertungku‘ because the stone that was used was too hot, and I hated ‘bengkung‘ (which is basically a girdle to get you back in shape) was too tight for my C-section wound. I couldn’t even breastfeed comfortably because the girdle made me sit up straight. Hell, I can’t even sit down properly or lie down. I’m so not about that life LOL.
As for traditional preparation (we called it ‘jamu‘), I did not have any during confinement because my son was diagnosed with neonatal jaundice and the doctor strongly advised against eating ‘jamu‘ as it could worsen his jaundice since I am fully breastfeeding. My son was admitted to the hospital 3 days after he was born because of jaundice and my emotional mom self cried for 3 days that my son was in the hospital. They put him under a blue light naked and I was just bawling my eyes out. During those time, obviously I couldn’t breastfeed him all the time so I had to pump. I dread pumping because it only soothes just a little bit of your boob. Right now I have come at peace with pumping because I need to keep some milk stock just in case I need to leave my son at home. He likes feeding bottle as well so that’s good!
I did not have postpartum depression, Alhamdulillah again. I asked my husband once if he saw any changes in my emotional or mental state of wellbeing and he said that I am exactly like how I was before I gave birth. I have to admit that the first two weeks after I gave birth, I sometimes cried alone looking at my son because I’m scared if anything happens to him and if I couldn’t be a good mother to him. Once I finished confinement, I finally feel more like myself again and I swear everything gets better. I got over the overwhelming feeling of being a new mom and am now enjoying it even more. He smiles a lot and he’s learning to laugh, I learn what he likes and what he doesn’t like, and overall it’s a learning process for me and my husband. We also have a solid routine now so our lives are more organised and I have ample of time to do chores and focus on my blog.
During third trimester of pregnancy, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes (GDM) which means that I have diabetes because of my pregnancy. I flunked my glucose intolerance test thus resulting in my having to take Metformin every night after dinner to help with my diabetes. It was just a nightmare for me because my husband controlled my food intake and I basically can’t consume any sugary drinks except on weekend where I got to be treated to my sugar of choice and that would usually be any Starbucks or Costa Coffee drinks or iced coconut water. 6 weeks postpartum, I had an appointment with my gynae to do another glucose intolerance test and I passed! I get to drink all the sugar in the world and my pancreas won’t let me down, LOL.
As for weight loss, I gained 10 kg during pregnancy and have now lost all of them and more. I’m planning on losing another 15 kg so wish me luck! I wanna be a hot mom! Hahaha. Breastfeeding really helps with weight loss, I can attest to that. I think that is all for my postpartum experience! I have a very chill after birth and to be honest I didn’t really follow the traditional Malay confinement. It made my life a whole lot better because I wasn’t glued to rules and regulations of ancient traditional confinement, LOL.
