Postpartum Care -- Part 1

Usually after my preggo yoga class, we all slowly float out of the health center, high on endorphin. Yesterday was unusual 'cause a few classmates were still sitting around the coffee table by the shoe cabinet; their torsos leaned forward and their heads met in the center of the coffee table. They were actively engaged in a discussion. The few words that managed to escape out of the circle of heads were birth, occasional numbers and names of food.

I was high on endorphin as usual, and I was too curious not to eavesdrop.

Suddenly a head emerged as if the owner needed to come up for air. I took the opportunity to ask what they were talking about. Then the rest of the heads parted like flower petals, revealing the fan of soft-colored pamphlets that were laid out on the coffee table.

The pamphlets featured different "professional" postpartum care centers in the Greater Taipei area. The reason I put quotation marks around the word professional is that, in the current market, there is yet a clear or credible definition of a "professional postpartum care center". Some care centers define professionalism by the quality of food mothers receive, while others define it by emphasizing the presence of a 24-hour on-site medical team. While my classmates continued their enthusiastic discussion, I sat passively listening to the discussion while mindlessly leafing through a few of these pamphlets.

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I have to give you some background information before we come back to talking about these postpartum care centers.

The Chinese.... okay, more specifically East-Asian ethnic groups... believe that a woman goes through three "golden periods" in which she is given a chance to be reborn. These 3 golden periods are: when menstruation starts, after giving birth, and during menopause. Among them, the month after giving birth has received the most attention since ancient times. In the old days, when a daughter-in-law's job was solely to reproduce, only those who produced a male heir would receive postpartum care. A woman who gave birth to a daughter would simply be ignored.

The length of postpartum care ranges from 30 to 100 days, depending on the local customs. Like pregnancy, there's also a list of "Dos and Don'ts" that comes with the traditional Chinese concept of postpartum care. For instance, a new mother is not allowed to wash her hair and/or body, she's not allowed to go up and down stairs, she's not allowed to read books (or, in modern days, watch TV), and she's not allowed to cry or go outside. While staying indoors, a new mother must cover herself from head to toe. In some fishing villages, a new mother is only allowed to wear black.

There are certain foods a new mother should eat, most of which involve pig organs (such as livers and spleens) or pig knuckles cooked with herbal medicine. Chicken is also a great source of protein. A new mother should have black sesame oil chicken soup (a whole chicken including organs simmered with ginger and a thick layer of black sesame oil on top).

Traditionally, it was the woman's mother or mother-in-law who took care of her postpartum care. Nowadays, many couples choose to go to postpartum care centers because they don't want to trouble their mothers or mother-in-laws or because they don't have anyone who can take care of them. In other words, postpartum care centers are products of the 21st century to meet the needs (and ease the fears) of city-dwelling new parents.

Like other things in life, convenience usually comes in a high price. These postpartum care centers provide rooms that resemble hotel suites (rooms with windows are obviously more expensive), 5 or 6 meals a day (the ones that are specially designed by nutritionists cost extra), and 24-hour infant care (baby live-cam an extra charge). The average price is NT$5,000 (approx. US$167) a day. If a new mother chooses to spend a month there, the minimum cost is NT$150,000 (about US$5,000), more than an average Joe's monthly salary.
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While I was doing all the calculations in my head, a classmate told me that she'd already booked a room in one of these care centers for the end of August. When she heard that I haven't even looked into it, the pitch of her voice went up one octave, "Well, hurry!! You have to book at least 6 months ahead. I was late, but I was lucky to get a room. Otherwise,..." she panicked, "what are you gonna do?"

"I'll be home with the baby," I said plainly.

Almost instantaneously all the heads propped up from the coffee table and every single mouth started moving all at the same time. All four of my classmates were telling me how incompetent I'm going to be as a new mom and how scared and depressed I will be.

My endorphin high was gone.

One classmate's voice rose on top of everyone else's, "Do you know how to give a newborn a bath?" All of a sudden, everyone quieted down and all eyes were on me.

I smiled, "Not right this moment, but I can learn."

They were obviously unhappy with my answer 'cause, for the next minute or so, they started shooting all kinds of questions, some of which were merely ridiculous:

"Do you know how to change diapers Do you know how to breastfeed How are you going to sleep when your baby is with you 24/7 Do you know how to tell if your baby is sick Do you know what to do when your baby doesn't stop crying How are you going to pay enough attention to your husband so he won't cheat on you while you take care of the baby How are you going to have time to wrap up your belly so you can regain your shape faster if you have to take care of the baby all the time ?"

I sneaked out while they talked about the importance of belly-wrapping and the necessity of ordering custom-made corsets and push-up bras. As the elevator doors were closing, I heard one of them talking about a book she bought, written by a female celebrity on how she went back to her pre-pregnancy weight in 3 months by constricting her body with various garments.

-- to be continued --