i just gave birth. ok you guys knew that.
so that means, i have to go through the berpantang period (confinement). which sucks because i can't eat A LOT of yummy stuff like ice-cream and McD and mandy rice, but necessary to get my body back in my old super-hot curves. hihi. honey, stop sniggering! no, seriously it's an important part of reviving energy and health.
org tua2 says during pantang you cannot take baths, cannot drink more than one glass of water per day, and never leave the bed. even if you do, don't walk so fast and keep your legs together. so a person who follows these rules to a T would end up very smelly, completely dehydrated and practically comatose on the bed. right. good luck, babies.
the one at tokcik's place
when i had khaleef i spent 2 vigorous pantang weeks in taiping at my tokcik's home. tokcik is my mak's youngest aunt - and basically my one and only beloved gramma now. a fit and energetic golden girl, i remember this joke of hers: "dari belakang nampak macam 17 tahun, dari depan macam 71 tahun!" she's hillarious! while i was there, she did the mandatory 3-day urut, taught me how to handle the tungku and bengkung. also fed me wit yucky jamu. hihi. i remember eating nothing more than biskut cracker and milo all day all night.
the pict that truly describes my relationship with yong ;-)
the one at yong's place
after the 2 weeks i 'escaped' and moved my pantang to yong's house. i wouldn't say it was less rigid here because yong has her indon maid 'makcik' who was strict about berpantang too. here i eat more rice coz she made this yummy ayam masak kicap. but it was so much fun with a big room upstairs all to myself, internet connection and notebook to watch dvd with (i watched wil smith's hitch and tom hanks' 'the terminal' over and over again) plus yong would come up after work to chit chat. it was the best.
i have to admit i was realllllly confined while in tokcik's place - in the best sense of the word. now, i wish she was here to tell me what to do. thankfully mr khairul's mom flew to dubai and help out. i also had FAQ skype sessions with yong. sometimes you just need experienced folks to tell you the do's and don'ts, even for the obvious things - just to be sure.
what is bentan?
this is my second time going thru the pantang process, and believe it or not i don't even know what bentan means. org tua2 kata 'don't do this, don't do that - takut bentan." oh, ok. by the way, what the heck is this bentan thingy that they're so afraid of?
upon investigation, (correct me if i'm wrong) i discovered that bentan is a condition whereby a mommy experienced sudden extreme chill or very bad headache. if such a thing happens, it is advisable to rest, take a cup of coffee or a glass of warm 'air gula'. also, wrap yourself in thick blanket until you sweat.
ok i might be in trouble as i DON'T drink coffee and i don't know what is 'air gula' unless they mean literally? now, to avoid this bentan condition, mommies are advised to watch what they eat and avoid showering with cold water.
watch what you eat - check.
don't shower with cold water - check.
so, i'm good.
now what is gila meroyan?
there's also a scary condition called gila meroyan - roughly translated as...erm...erm...emotional stress caused by fatigue? mommies may experience paranoia and hallucination. man, that's straight out of 'supernatural'. also, mommies who gila meroyan will lose appetite and have difficulty sleeping at night. other symptoms include excessive crying and a deep sense of loneliness.
to avoid this is fairly easy - lots of support from your loved ones especially the daddy - mommies' belly looking like melting jelly, smelling like minyak gamat gone bad and wearing kain batik all day long - it ain't pretty! but the love, understanding and support of the other half will ease all emotional stress.
thank you, mr. khairul
speaking of husband's support - i must dedicate this space for my wonderful husband. before my mother in law arrived, he was the one who cooks and cleans and completely took over taking care of khaleef - bathing, playing, tuckin him to sleep - he was such a happy helper. since my confinement help - kak jah is still away in msia (as she figured that i wouldn't be giving birth til january) so for the time being i do not have any tungku* or bengkung* needed during confinement.
through no suggestion of mine or anyones, he got me a rubber thingy people use when they're having fever...oh heck just look at the picture - he filled it up with hot water up to 3 times a day. for now that suffice as tungku. for bengkung, he bought me a girdle - so i guess right now i am going thru a 'modern' pantang while waiting for kak jah to drag me back to confinement days of yore...
my tummy buddy
* tungku is basically a stone the size of a baton, heated up and tied up in bundles of cloth with special leaves inside - then pressed to the abdominal area said to help shrinking the womb and to ease the post-natal bleeding.
* bengkung is traditionally a looooooong piece of cloth the size of toilet paper, wrapped around the abdominal area after the tungku process, said to support the womb from going further er...south, and also to avoid buncit!
and he cooks! in all my years with him he's been bragging about his cooking 'talent' since his michigan days - and vows to prove it. my fav of his cookings is this yummy black-pepper vege soup and fried ikan bilis with a LOT of fat ginger. simple, yet anything cooked with love tastes awesome, right?
ikan bilis - yum. ginger - yuck! love you, honey and i do appreciate!
mr. khairul helping out in the kitchen during hari raya
anything else coming from the kitchen today, chef khairul?
so that means, i have to go through the berpantang period (confinement). which sucks because i can't eat A LOT of yummy stuff like ice-cream and McD and mandy rice, but necessary to get my body back in my old super-hot curves. hihi. honey, stop sniggering! no, seriously it's an important part of reviving energy and health.
org tua2 says during pantang you cannot take baths, cannot drink more than one glass of water per day, and never leave the bed. even if you do, don't walk so fast and keep your legs together. so a person who follows these rules to a T would end up very smelly, completely dehydrated and practically comatose on the bed. right. good luck, babies.
the one at tokcik's place
when i had khaleef i spent 2 vigorous pantang weeks in taiping at my tokcik's home. tokcik is my mak's youngest aunt - and basically my one and only beloved gramma now. a fit and energetic golden girl, i remember this joke of hers: "dari belakang nampak macam 17 tahun, dari depan macam 71 tahun!" she's hillarious! while i was there, she did the mandatory 3-day urut, taught me how to handle the tungku and bengkung. also fed me wit yucky jamu. hihi. i remember eating nothing more than biskut cracker and milo all day all night.
the pict that truly describes my relationship with yong ;-)the one at yong's place
after the 2 weeks i 'escaped' and moved my pantang to yong's house. i wouldn't say it was less rigid here because yong has her indon maid 'makcik' who was strict about berpantang too. here i eat more rice coz she made this yummy ayam masak kicap. but it was so much fun with a big room upstairs all to myself, internet connection and notebook to watch dvd with (i watched wil smith's hitch and tom hanks' 'the terminal' over and over again) plus yong would come up after work to chit chat. it was the best.
i have to admit i was realllllly confined while in tokcik's place - in the best sense of the word. now, i wish she was here to tell me what to do. thankfully mr khairul's mom flew to dubai and help out. i also had FAQ skype sessions with yong. sometimes you just need experienced folks to tell you the do's and don'ts, even for the obvious things - just to be sure.
what is bentan?
this is my second time going thru the pantang process, and believe it or not i don't even know what bentan means. org tua2 kata 'don't do this, don't do that - takut bentan." oh, ok. by the way, what the heck is this bentan thingy that they're so afraid of?
upon investigation, (correct me if i'm wrong) i discovered that bentan is a condition whereby a mommy experienced sudden extreme chill or very bad headache. if such a thing happens, it is advisable to rest, take a cup of coffee or a glass of warm 'air gula'. also, wrap yourself in thick blanket until you sweat.
ok i might be in trouble as i DON'T drink coffee and i don't know what is 'air gula' unless they mean literally? now, to avoid this bentan condition, mommies are advised to watch what they eat and avoid showering with cold water.
watch what you eat - check.
don't shower with cold water - check.
so, i'm good.
now what is gila meroyan?
there's also a scary condition called gila meroyan - roughly translated as...erm...erm...emotional stress caused by fatigue? mommies may experience paranoia and hallucination. man, that's straight out of 'supernatural'. also, mommies who gila meroyan will lose appetite and have difficulty sleeping at night. other symptoms include excessive crying and a deep sense of loneliness.
to avoid this is fairly easy - lots of support from your loved ones especially the daddy - mommies' belly looking like melting jelly, smelling like minyak gamat gone bad and wearing kain batik all day long - it ain't pretty! but the love, understanding and support of the other half will ease all emotional stress.
thank you, mr. khairul
speaking of husband's support - i must dedicate this space for my wonderful husband. before my mother in law arrived, he was the one who cooks and cleans and completely took over taking care of khaleef - bathing, playing, tuckin him to sleep - he was such a happy helper. since my confinement help - kak jah is still away in msia (as she figured that i wouldn't be giving birth til january) so for the time being i do not have any tungku* or bengkung* needed during confinement.
through no suggestion of mine or anyones, he got me a rubber thingy people use when they're having fever...oh heck just look at the picture - he filled it up with hot water up to 3 times a day. for now that suffice as tungku. for bengkung, he bought me a girdle - so i guess right now i am going thru a 'modern' pantang while waiting for kak jah to drag me back to confinement days of yore...
my tummy buddy* tungku is basically a stone the size of a baton, heated up and tied up in bundles of cloth with special leaves inside - then pressed to the abdominal area said to help shrinking the womb and to ease the post-natal bleeding.
* bengkung is traditionally a looooooong piece of cloth the size of toilet paper, wrapped around the abdominal area after the tungku process, said to support the womb from going further er...south, and also to avoid buncit!
and he cooks! in all my years with him he's been bragging about his cooking 'talent' since his michigan days - and vows to prove it. my fav of his cookings is this yummy black-pepper vege soup and fried ikan bilis with a LOT of fat ginger. simple, yet anything cooked with love tastes awesome, right?
ikan bilis - yum. ginger - yuck! love you, honey and i do appreciate!
mr. khairul helping out in the kitchen during hari rayaanything else coming from the kitchen today, chef khairul?
1 comment:
Hihihi..my berpantang period tak le pantang sesangat..and guess what ..kak arin mandi air shower yg sejuk..( mak marah..tapi..kak arin kan DEGIL..nnt dah lenguh2 badan..padan muka aku!) ..and few other thing yang membuatkan mr hubby n mak geleng pale..
But one thing yang kak arin jaga..is makan..i eat a lot!dari nasi ke roti ke semua jenis ikan yg boleh di ngap..coz i'm fully bf kan zara..and i eat ice cream too..mak kata the ingredients dlm ice cream ada susu and it's good too..kehkehkehkeh..( my mum is a modern + rock ex staff nurse )
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