Give Birth and REST

Two and a half months ago, I gave birth to our beautiful baby girl Aria. Giving birth is exhausting, no wonder they call it labor. For all the mothers out there, give yourself a pat on the back, unless someone has been through it, no one really can truly understand what you had been through and what you are going through now.

With my newborn in tow, I was excited yet sad to bring her home. I was excited about her and all the moments moving forward, but I was sad that I didn't have a proper place to take her home to. We were going back to an apartment that I had been wanting to move out of for over five years. It was not a place that gave me excitement when I came home. Instead, it was usually a place that give me moments of joy but usually followed by some anxiety and stress. Despite all that, I was happy to be back and anxious to move forward.

The Chinese tradition requires that new moms refrain from shower, eat lots of nutritious foods and get LOTS OF REST!! In the beginning, I planned to hop out of the hospital bed and resume my regular life. After giving birth, I felt all the pains and aches but being restless made me a little rebel against all the rules my mom tried to enforce for the new mom. Although I did my best to eat well and made sure I stayed away from showering to frequently to prevent getting sick, I failed to really rest. I was excited to start functioning like a family and since I saw my husband work so hard, I wanted to help him too. Little did I know, that rest was one of the most important factors moving forward.

Labor is hard, your body needs time to recover. In order to do so, you need to sleep and rest. The rest can wait. The work will still be there and no matter how much you get done now, there is always going to be more work. While the baby is still resting most of the time, have someone take charge of the housework and comforting the baby so you can rest when the baby does and regain your physical and mental sanity. It will be hard, but trust me, you will thank yourself for that after when the help is no longer available.

Now at two and a half months, I am angry and frustrated that I didn't take that opportunity when it was there. My husband has trouble balancing tasks and taking care of the baby. In some ways, his routines has not changed too much. I find myself, still with little opportunity to go to the bathroom or take a shower. I would either be so busy I would forget or be too tired.