A first-time mother practiced isolation after giving birth and did not leave the house for 30 days.
Amy Nguyen, 30, began her period of isolation the day after she gave birth and had a nanny with her and husband Mike Nguyen, 29.
Postpartum confinement is a tradition that originated in China, where the mother spends 30 days resting and recuperating after giving birth.
Amy only left the house to go to doctor’s appointments and had a nanny to cook all her meals.
Amy says she now feels “well recovered from the birth” and that the isolation “served its purpose”.
Amy, a public health manager in Sacramento, California, said, “It’s been a great experience overall.
“It was definitely a bit difficult at first as all three adults were getting used to living in the same space.
“But once we got a good system down, it’s been smooth sailing ever since.”
Amy gave birth to her first child Tommy Zhang just over a month ago on November 7th.
She and her husband Mike went home the day after the birth, and Amy began the closure immediately.
Throughout her confinement, Amy had a nanny who cooked all her meals and helped her care for her newborn.
Amy said: “My mum helped me find a babysitter on the Chinese social media app, MiChat.
“Once we found him online, my husband and I met him for lunch almost as an informal interview to see if we all clicked.
“Everything went well, so we went ahead and hired her for 26 days, so she stayed with us for 30 days, but with a four-day break in between.
“Nanny cooked all my meals for the month and kept telling me to go back to bed and she’d look after Tommy with me.”
Amy put a modern spin on traditional postpartum isolation by continuing to shower, but then rinsing off with warm herbal ginger water.
Amy said: “In traditional isolation you don’t have to shower as you will be cold when you get out.
“I solved this by rinsing with warm herbal water right after I showered.
“I’d also blow dry my hair straight away so I’m not left with cold hair.”
Amy, who was born outside of San Francisco, California, always knew she wanted to do postnatal isolation to connect with her Chinese heritage.
Amy said: “It’s a mix of always being told I was going to do this by my parents and also wanting to do it myself.
“Growing up in the states, I don’t get to experience as many cultural traditions as I would in China, so it meant a lot to stay close to my heritage.
“But I wanted to modernize it for my needs, which I think every mother considering this should.”
Amy has greatly appreciated the experience, but is now looking forward to trying it alone with her husband and becoming more social again.
Amy said: “I’m looking forward to being able to go out for more than just the couple doctor appointments I’ve had over the last month.
“And I want to see how we work now without a nanny.
“I feel like these 30 days have been a precious, relaxing time and considering how exhausted we were in the first few days, it was just a massive help.”
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Image Source : nypost.com