Moon Yut: The 30 day Birthday

Our Little King is already 1 month old!

To celebrate we are planned a Moon Yut celebration also known as a Red Egg and Ginger Party.  Traditionally, the reason why we celebrate the one month was due to the high infant mortality rate in China before the 1900s. After the one month, it is safe to say that the child will live. This is also a time to reintroduce the mother after her resting period (see my recovery period post).
 At the Moon Yut, guests attending usually bring gifts of lucky money in red envelopes. As a thank you, the baby's parents give red eggs and ginger as gifts to the guests hence the name. The eggs are important because they represent renewal of life and fertility. Its round shape means harmony and happiness in life. The egg is dyed red because the color means good fortune and prosperity.This egg is also rubbed on the baby's forehead.\

The baby's head is usually shaved during the feast. The girls head is shaved before the image of the 'Mother'-the goddess of Children and the boys head is shaved before the ancestral table. This is to mark the point of the child's independent existence. 
A child's formal name is picked out by grandparents. This is not announced until the one month mark.   Instead of shaving and rubbing his head at the restaurant, we did these traditions at home. My mom made a set up of sugar cane, two boiled eggs, and rice. The egg and rice was rubbed across his forehead and my mom fed him a bit of sugar cane. They also snipped a piece of his hair and was given red envelopes.

He didn't really enjoy the head on his head but he did like the sugar cane and red envelopes!

Recovery Process: 30 day confinement period

I volunteered or 'my mom made me' go through the 30 day confinement period. I wanted to research it and see what the meaning of it was and the rules.

History lesson:

This is a Chinese custom called the 'sitting month' lasting 30 days in which the mother and child stay home and recover after childbirth . Depending on family and which part of China you are from, traditions may be different. What is common among the differences is it involves the yin (negative/cold) and yang (positive/hot) and to be a healthy individual you need a balance. 

 After childbirth your body is imbalanced, more yin and less yang, due to the lost of blood and energy during labor =so your body is more cold.  

During this month you are trying to get:

MORE YANG =eat hot foods/stay indoors 

AVOID YIN=avoid the cold and outside.

The reason behind this is to increase breast milk for nursing, helps restore the energy level of the mother and child, promote blood circulation, and strengthen your joints. Basically to make sure your body is back to being balanced.

This is my experience with it.

1. No washing of hair or body because it is believed the water will put more yin into the body and cause arthritis, asthma, and severe aches and pains in the future. Warm boiled water or water boiled with ginger root or Chinese herbs are okay.  

This takes a lot of dedication. It took my mom about an hour to prepare everything and get it boiled. So I would bathe about every three days. Ingredients were lemongrass leaves, ginger roots, and orange peels. Surprisingly I didn't really mind this. It was nice to be in the steam. The ginger bath definitely made my hair and body very warm and hot. My hair actually became very soft.

2. Along with avoiding the outside, make sure to put on layers of clothing, such as long sleeve shirts, socks, and slippers. 

Even if your house is 70 degrees, I still had to wear socks and a sweater. Thank goodness it's the winter. I can't imagine doing this during the summer. It is because you want to kept the warmth in and make sure you don't get any wind.

3. Eat foods that are more yang/hot. Eating raw vegetables and fruit is not allowed because they are considered cold foods. Foods that are more yang are chicken, ginger, dates, rice wine, eggs, vinegar, red vinegar.

It/s definitely not easy because some of the Chinese herbs and ingredients used are expensive. And not everything tasted so great so my mom would make me eat everything. No leftovers!
Since I don't eat meat my mom made salty fish for me and steamed it in ginger. Basically anything cooked in ginger is okay because ginger is a hot food. Ginger rice, ginger fish, ginger soup, everyday ALL DAY!
All the ginger my mom prepared. Right is the image of dried ginger peels on a 5 foot long table.

A photo of my 30 day meals:

These are the main ideas of the 30 day period and I am done!
My take on it is that it only lasts 30 days so it doesn't hurt to try it. I do feel relaxed especially since I don't have to worry about cooking and I am down almost to my pre-pregnancy weight. Can't wait until I fit into my jeans again!

My Birth Story

2:45am

I shot up and ran to the bathroom. I had intense stomach cramps. I had Chipotle for dinner so I thought it may have been the cheese or sour cream from my burrito bowl.  In the back of my mind I did think 'Maybe I am in labor' but today is my due date and babies are never born on their due date. I still kept track of my stomach cramps and the pain was coming every 5 minutes, lasting about a minute each time. From birthing class, they tell you that that is the time you should be going to the hospital.  

Instead of listening to reason, I took a shower and washed my hair. 

The hot shower made me feel a bit better. Afterwards I blowdryed my hair and then went to bed. 

3:30am

Shot right back up and ran to the bathroom. I was literally bearing down against the bathroom sink. The mister woke up and found me on the bathroom huffing and puffing. 

'ARE YOU IN LABOR???' He asked

My contractions were now 3 minutes apart and still lasting about a minute long. 

That 10 minute car ride was the longest 10 minutes. Contractions were so painful- like you had bad sushi and couldn't get off the toilet all night pain. I was holding his hand the whole ride there and yelled at him for slowing down when it was a yellow light. He later told the nurse he didn't know I was that strong. 

Conversation on the way to the hospital:

 Me: You know when we go running and you tell me that I'm doing a great job and to keep running?

Hubby: Yes.

Me: And I tell you to shut up because it's distracting? Well, SHUT UP!

4:00am

After entering in through the ER entrance, the nurse Christine from labor and delivery came to pick me up with a wheelchair. I kept grunting and flailing in pain. After checking me thoroughly I was 6 cm dilated. 

Here is a visual aid:

Basically, an object the size of a watermelon comes out of that 10cm hole so 

YES I GOT THE EPIDURAL!!!! 

Receiving it didn't hurt as much as I imagined it to. The pain in my stomach subsided but I could still feel the pain waist down. I felt a little cheated because my sister told me I wouldn't be able to walk or feel my legs. Well, I was able to feel everything below. 

Me: It just feels like I need to poop.

Nurse: Well this is going to be the biggest poop of your life

Time went by so fast. 

I went from 6cm to 7cm to 8 cm within an hour. 

There was a pressure to push so my nurse asked the doctor to break my water. 

5:35am

Pushing didn't hurt as much as the contractions, it was more exhausting because your breathing each time you have the pressure to push. 

Nurse: "Don't scream. Try to breathe in through your nose and out through the mouth' 

Me: "BUT I CAN'T HELP IT!!!!" You just want to grunt it out. 

6:00am

The doctor comes to you when it is go time. Before then it is all nurses. The doctor mentioned that the baby had a lot of hair and I'm like how do you know?

They brought out a mirror for me to see. It was amazing.  I used it as a tool to help me push because when they tell you how great your doing,  you can't tell how far along you are. I could see the head 

come out each time I pushed and all that hair on its head!

At one point I couldn't push because I was so tired I asked them to take the baby out but it hadn't 

come out far enough. 'Can you push it back in?????' The last final pushes were the hardest but when 

it happened I heard the baby wail so loud.

6:19am

It's a boy!

He was so teeny tiny but I loved him so much. And of course the husband cut the umbilical cord.

I feel very lucky to have created this handsome little man with few problems. No 22 hour labor, no hemorrhoids... just a very healthy baby boy.

Nurse: 'Next time you have a baby, come at the 3rd contraction.' 

And that my friends is our birth story. 

Can't wait to watch him grow up.