What is Confinement Period?

Q: What is Confinement Period?
A: Confinement Period or also known as "Puerperium", which is a health care guideline based on traditional Chinese knowledge & wisdom passed down by generations to post-childbirth women.


Q: What are the benefits of having Confinement Period?
A: It helps to restore health, beauty & youthfulness after immerse efforts, sweat, tears & loss of blood & "Qi" during labour.

Besides, confinement period also crucial to help reduce women's diseases related to limb numbness, water retention, pain, infections related to a polluted environment & incorrect diet.

Elderly people believe that the future health of the laboured women are largely depends on the care taken during her confinement (eg. nutritious foods & supplements) , in which not only helps to reduce the occurrence of diseases, but also provide therapeutic effects for chronic illnesses.


Q: What will likely be happen if a post-childbirth women fail to do well during confinement period?
A: A lack of care during this period may lead to wound infections, colds & flu, lochia, discharge problems, continuous lochia discharge, insufficient breast milk or worst, it may cause depression.

Therefore, it is crucial for a post-childbirth women to convalesce during confinement period, so that her organs & tissues can recuperate & be restored to their original state of health.

Preparation !

Now, it is the time for both me & my wife getting even more busy in preparing ourself for the arrival of our baby boy. It's only about a month left to baby's due date. There are still many things that we have not done yet. E.g washing & drying baby's clothing & napkins, finalising all the necessary items to be purchased, arrangement of our confinement nanny, hiring a house-cleaner, list and buy all the herbs & supplements needed to consume before & during confinement period, finalising on our baby's name, & many many more.






We have also prepared a check-list on items to bring to hospital when it's time to deliver. Picture shown on the left is another photo showing some of the baby stuff we have bought.

The 2 pictures below are the 1st baby's clothing we have purchase for our baby during our shopping at Jusco, Seremban 2. The picture on the left is a long-sleeve shirt with long pants, whereas on the right side one is a short- sleeve with a cap, booties & mittens. And only after the experience of shopping for baby clothing only I realise that these baby clothing can be more expensive than adults clothing! But, they are just cute right?! :p

Infant Massage

The trend of getting an infant massage for babies is getting more & more popular these days. These centres offers a wide variety step-by-step courses to the parents, to practice at home, & they even provide infant massage services done by qualified instructors.

Benefits of an infant massage are:
1. Massage relief from discomfort like teething, congestion, colic and emotional stress.
2. Relaxation and enhancement of neurological development.
3. Stimulates digestion.
4. Helps tone muscles and aids growth.
5. Enhances the bonding process between parents & infant.
6. Strengthens the immune system.
7. Increases oxygen and nutrient flow to the cells.
8. Improves sensory awareness.

Christmas Fever!

Today, there's a group of more than 15 hospital staffs at Sunway Medical Center were busy singing Christmas songs from 1 department to another & from 1 floor to another. It has drawn many visitors' & patients' attention. Some of them even gather along with the group & sing along with them. We saw a few people start taking photos, and of course, we are one of them! :)

Personally, I think they are doing a great job. They have managed to make a stressful place to a more lively place. They have brought up a lot of smiling faces in the hospital. Me & my wife definitely welcome the idea!
Cheers & Thumb up for their hard work!

Baby's 9th Scanning

Today is our 9th visit to Dr Jason's clinic at Sunway Medical Hospital. Our baby is now 35 weeks & 5 days old, weighing about 2.59kg. He is approximately 600 grams heavier compare to previous scanning result.

Another 2 more days to go, our baby will be 36 weeks old. Dr Jason Lim told us that, anytime after 37 weeks onwards, the baby is called a "Full Term" baby, which means he's a full-grown baby & safe to be born without any danger. Whereas, on the other hand, if a baby that is born before 37 weeks old, he/she is called a "Pre-mature" baby.

p/s: A "Pre-mature" baby's life could be in danger if he/she is not being treated properly. Therefore, an incubator equipped with life-supporting facilities is needed for the baby in order to ensure his/her organs will continue to grow until it can function independently.



During this visit, we have requested Dr Jason Lim to scan some beautiful pictures of our baby for us to keep. Pictures shown on above were the latest images of our baby face. We can clearly see the head, eyes, ears, nose, both arms & we are so lucky to capture a picture with his mouth open, as shown in the 1st picture. Pictures below are some images of the baby's feet length (approx. 6.67cm), baby's waist length (approx. 31.3cm) & a close-up image of our baby's heart. You can even see the main arteries/veins & heart chambers in the picture.




p/s: All pictures were taken on 15th Dec 2007

Baby's Corner

In preparing for the arrival of the new member to our house, we have bought quite a number of things needed for the baby care. And, we also need to think where to keep all these baby's stuff. As such, one of the corners of our house has unofficial becomes the baby's corner, but that will be a temporary solution at the moment. haha...

Picture beside shows a number of our baby stuffs we have purchased for the past few months. We have baby napkins, wet wipes, baby cot, mattress, towel, milk bottles, steriliser, shampoo, lotions, powders & many many more. Oh ya... and also the Stemlife package that we have signed up for the baby! :p

However, there are still many more to come. E.g baby stroller, car seat, breast pump, milk powder, diapers, etc & etc. All these for sure, will come in the later stage.


So, now in my house, we already have a Baby's Corner! Strictly for baby's stuff only...
Hahaha!

Baby's 8th Scanning

From the 7th scanning onwards, me & my wife are require to visit Dr Jason Lim once every 2 weeks. My wife is now in the 3rd trimester of the pregnancy period. Extra cautious need to be taken into consideration, e.g healthy eating habits, cannot sit or stand too long, proper sleeping positions, sleep early, reduce in workloads, etc.

I have started doing simple foot massage for my wife almost every night to help on improving the blood circulation. This will also prevent or reduce the chances of her getting backache, numbness or cramps. As usual, I'll then sing nursery songs or telling stories to my baby before going to bed. He is now 33 weeks & 3 days old, weighting approximately 1.98kg.

Keep it up, Lau Po! & my Boy Boy!

Confinement Cookbook

Approximately 7 weeks to go before the delivery date. My wife's GM has recommended a confinement cookbook to us. We have read through it & found that all the recipes were written in simple & easy steps, in Mandarin and English as well. Even, a guy like me who only know how to cook very simple meal like omelets can also transform to become a more professional chef to cook a more sophisticated dish by just following the instructions from the book.

We then bought the book from Popular bookstore at IOI Mall Puchong. It only cost us about RM20 & we have a better idea now about the confinement meals.

Start wearing your apron & make a good meal now.
Engkau Boleh! Nanny Boleh! Daddy pun Boleh! :D