My Confinement Story

CONFINEMENT. The very word suggests immobility, trapped, caged, etc. If you googled the word and look at the images returned, 90% of them are really, really sad.

I am almost through my third week of confinement. Today is the 20th day. In the first week, I was still weak from the hard work on the 11th, the idea of total rest and inactivity is totally welcomed. Starting from Monday, 14th of February, I began my massage therapy session. For the first week, I am a body that needs recuperating.

Second week came, and it started to get tough. Though we had our first taste of outdoor after twelve days of “house-arrest” it just left me with wanting for more of the polluted air! Ha ha ha… How exhilarating it was to be able to be out there, and feel normal again! Within this week, I got a little bit emotional, especially when people started to criticising that I’m cheating on my confinement.

The rule was, to wear socks day and night, to cover the head day and night, to wear sweater day and night. Initially I was okay with it, but the weather got too warm and I started to feel suffocated. I am eating meals with black pepper every day, day and night, combined with the humid weather it got too much. I didn’t realise I kicked off the socks while I was sleeping or let the head scarf loosen. I was supposed to block my ears with garlic, but I didn’t get around to doing that; it is said that it will expel wind from the body and to avoid post partum depression, or meroyan as known amongst the Malays. I had to sleep with 4 pillows under my head for the same reason. I tried, oh, I did my best, but my coccyx started to ache and the pressure was too much for my back. So, I took it upon myself to only use two pillows earlier than prescribed.

Into the third week, I started to make myself comfortable, and I believe Mak does not want to put too much pressure on me. For I have been eating right all the time, with few exception where I asked her permission to eat a little sambal goreng… I do my berganggang (sauna) every morning, I do the hot stone therapy (bertungku) every day even when Cik Yati does not come for massage session. Instead of wearing socks I use a pair of hotel slippers. I have decided that for me to get through this confinement period, I need to feel comfortable and relaxed. So, I’m changing my mindset; My confinement period is my spa holiday and the time to bond with my beautiful daughter. It is working well so far.

What’s also helping is my massage sessions, which are continuous throughout the confinement period. I have 18 sessions altogether and have completed nine sessions so far. I’m also taking herbal drink at every meal; akar kayu that taste like tea without sugar. Luckily I’ve been sugarless tea drinker for quite some time (green tea, chinese tea, floral tea) so this herbal tea is just like one of those. I’m taking herbal pills too, three times a day. And every morning, I drink a shot of turmeric juice with a dollop of honey. Yummehhh!!! My tummy, hands and legs are also covered with herbal concoction in the morning, not to mention pilis for the forehead. I am allowed to remove the residue once they are dried. A plus, coz need to kiss my hubby before he goes to work, kan?

When I weighed myself at the doctor’s office last week, I have actually lost 8kg! 6kg more and I’ll be at my pre-pregnancy weight! When I look at my pictures during the first week, my face was so pale. But now, I can see the difference, my lips are getting redder (surprise!) and my skin is brighter. My tummy, is getting smaller and smaller every day, I know for sure because the corset (bengkung) I’m wearing is getting narrower every day. Mak has to alter the bengkung to make it smaller. And this is only after 15 days! So, whoever says that pantang is an old wives’ tale, they better get their facts checked.

All in all, my confinement is not so bad, as long as I don’t entertain the need to be out and about. The food, I’m loving it. I have baked fish, baked chicken, poached fish, all served with sour sauce. They are all cooked with black pepper, ginger and garlic. All my favourites! Only thing is, I miss eating spicy food, but apparently I can still eat curry (cooked with milk, not coconut milk), so seriously, confinement food, they are not bad at all! I’m following the rules where I cannot eat beans, potato, anything watery or windy, etc. So the only vege that I can take is sawi, pak choy, and their siblings.

I have 25 days left. 25 because I delivered Baby Hana at night. I’m determined to loose all the pregnancy weight, at least. Get healthier and be more vibrant. So I can take care of The Hubby and Baby Hana. :-)

[Reposted from my personal blog]

According to my confinement lady, I should not go to the gym for the next six months after my confinement finishes. I’m pretty sure she meant more on the heavy duty exercises. I believe, like my co-author does, simple basic yoga moves should be okay, since they are not stressing the body at all. In fact, it’d be a good time to start regain and reshaping all the muscle, right?

So, I hope I will not bore people with stories of me new baby. I am determined to stay in shape and be fit even with a baby on tow. ;-)

Updates

I know that I have not been updating this blog as often as I should.

My co author recently welcomed a baby girl, so like any self respecting new parent, she will now be blogging more about her baby and her experiences as a new mother.

As for me, I am still single and still working out trying to maintain my weight, if not constantly trying to get slimmer, more toned and stronger.

I am still trying to figure out how to eat right so that I would get enough strength to keep up to my cardio and weight exercises. I don't eat rice as all the starch is bad for my system. Bear in mind that the reason I lost weight was because I stopped eating rice for the whole 6 months. That and exercise 7 days a week.

No pain no gain. I love the feeling of fitting into a size S dress and to be able to carry off a bikini with confidence.

Looking at co author, I was wondering how I would be handling it if I ever get married and got pregnant. I have a feeling that I will freak out looking at the scales pointing to a frightening 69 kilos which was my weight when I started off. I am now at a healthy weight of 56 kilos and I still think I am fat.

I am bottom heavy so I think all big butt-ed girls would attest that no matter what weight you are at, if your butt can form its' own country, then chances are we would feel fat most of the time.

Which is a far cry to our so called confidence, but what the hell. We are human, which human is completely satisfied with their body?

I hope in the next update, I will be able to be more constructive and encouraging. Trying really hard to.

Live life hard. Salud!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Another few hours to the end of the first day of the new year. But it’s still not to let to wish everyone a very happy new year!

May this year be more prosperous and more exciting with lots of happiness, love and money! All the best everyone!

Image was googled.

Several hours before 2011... I Feel like...

Eating...

But... I don't know what to eat...

Right about now... a plate of pasta would be......... Nais...

BUT... I am lazy to cook.

Maybe...

Owh bloody hell... I don't know what to eat...

Wedges!!! But... buttttt... have to draive!!!!!

DAMMIT!

I will come up with a seconds after New year post tonight... while at work... with my friends and colleagues...

Until then...

Squat and Lunges

Two more moves that can be done, with great care, while one is pregnant are:

• Squat
• Lunges

(Honestly, I hate them. But they really do work wonders… But that does not mean I have to love them. I still hate them. I complain every time Mr. Trainer asked me to do it. The more he knows I hate them, the more he ask me to do them.)

Why do I say “WITH GREAT CARE”? Because, as you grow into your pregnancy, your balance and equilibrium are challenged. If you were not exercising frequently before, and do movement that increase your ability to balance and increase your muscle strength, you will wobble when you perform these two movement.

I am happy to say that my balance is still good at 34 weeks of pregnancy. I can stand on one feet, and I can still do the yoga tree pose! Yeay for me!

To help with balance, while doing squat, you could hold on to the back of a chair, or if you are really a beginner, support your back by standing against the wall. Make sure you have chairs on your right and left side to hold on to, just in case.

When doing squat make sure your knees are bent at 90 degrees angle. Do not let your knee to move further from your toes. Go as low as you can. As much as you can, keep your back straight, that’s why having a wall behind you is easier. Otherwise, let your body bend forward only slightly. I find putting my arms at 45 degrees angle helps to better position my torso as well as balancing. You might want to try that. For extra resistance, hold on to a pair of light dumb-bells.

Lunges is more of a challenge as you get heavier. Use support if you are not sure of your balancing ability. Seriously. Use it.

Although this movement looks simpler than squat, trust me it’s not. Again, be careful not to over-extend your front knee. Make sure it is at 90 degrees angle. If you cannot bend as low, it’s okay, just go to the maximum you can. As you progress, you will in time, improve. 

So, these are some of the moves that I do to keep my legs strong, and hopefully to ensure my thighs do not enlarge more than they need to! I have big task in front of me once I finished my confinement next year. My target is to lose all my pregnancy weight within three months and go back to my pre-wedding weight (between 55kg – 58kg) in three months after that.

I know I have to be patient. It takes me 9 months to complete the full pregnancy weight gain, so it’ll take me as much to lose them. But I can speed it up with good diet and consistent exercise. I must.

Inspiracionale!

Recently, my co-author YM'd me a and we were OMG-ing on Kelly Osbourne.

She is the cover girl on January's Shape Magazine and she looked AWESOME.

I mean, look :

Unlike her mother, Sharon Osbourne who had to undergo a gastric bypass, she chose to exercise and to eat right. You don't have any idea how much that has inspired me.

Seriously, to see another fellow female to achieve such drastic change, feels good because in turn, it can give me more inspiration for me to follow suit.

This is my progress as of now. I have been slacking a lot, due to my hectic job schedule and all, but compared to back then (I do not take any photos in a bikini or gym bra when I was fat), this is a HUGE change for me.

Of course, I still have fat on my tum tum, ass, hips and the irritating sag under my arms... but I am hoping I will be able to zap it all off in time.

My co - author thinks that I have done enough. I think I just need to re-educate myself.

Re-educating...

Do Your Kegel!

I have been absent for a long, long time. My co-author feels it is such a waste that we have the blog here and I’m not updating it. True, I must say. But in my defense, more of an excuse actually, my current condition makes me “lazy” to update this blog. Just because I no longer visit the gym.

You see, I am now into my 32nd week of pregnancy. And I have not been to the gym eversince my trainer kicked me out when I went to see him, with gym bag on my shoulder, and told him I have a bun in the oven. :-p

Anyway, for this post, I’d like to share with you one exercise that any women can do, even when she’s pregnant. Yup, you know it! The Kegel Exercise.

Kegel is something that you can do anytime, anywhere. No one will know it but you. What you do is actually do a muscle contraction as if you’re stopping your urine flow. If you have not done this exercise before, it’s best to practice while you’re doing your business… Seriously. MayoClinic explains in detail including how to recognise which muscle to activate. But easier method is to practice while you’re in the loo.

Anyway these are amongst the benefit of doing Kegel:

• Strengthen your pelvic floor muscle which supports the uterus, bladder and bowel
• Said to enhance experience in the sack (he he he)

So, you can see why this exercise is beneficial for pregnant women too! This matter was stressed by the nurse in the antenatal class that I attended.