Ge Lai

So I married a Chinese guy with obviously Chinese parents. Nothing to it. I am also part Chinese. They are great people and I love them to death. When you marry someone, you accept them for who they are, if you're Asian, family included.

No worries.

Until I got pregnant.

Then I found out about the Chinese tradition of the Ge Lai. Yikes!!!

What is Ge Lai? For those who do not know, Ge Lai is the one month ritual women who give birth undergo right after the delivery. It is a month long way of life that includes bathing (or lack thereof) and food. What is the purpose of the Ge Lai? Well as explained to me by my mama-in-law, when a woman gives birth, the process takes out all the heat or warmth in the body. The Ge Lai is done in order to bring back the warmth to the body, to bring back the balance of cold and heat in the body after childbirth.

Lets tackle the no bathing ritual first. No Bathing. Literally no baths or showers allowed!! What you are allowed to do is a minimalist sponge bath. Depending on your regular bathing habit, this can either be easy or very difficult. For me, it was the most difficult part of the Ge Lai. I was used to bathing at a minimum of twice a day. I could not sleep comfortable at night if I did not have my evening bath. So imagine going from daily bathing to no bathing. It was excruciating. If you are going to undergo this as well, I suggest arming yourself with lots of alcohol. Ethyl and isopropyl are about the same with some differences. Ethyl is more natural but when used on the skin, I find that it gives a more warm feeling. Isopropyl, on the other hand, has a more cooling effect when applied on the skin.On the nitty gritty side, the alcohol will also minimize if not remove any body odor you might have. Simply apply on the underarm. Apparently the alcohol will kill whatever bacteria that is causing the odor in your armpits. This is really useful for those who will undergo their Ge Lai during the summer.

I tried some dry shampoo also. I used the Oscar Blandi Pronto Dry Shampoo. I don't recommend it. The dry shampoo is essentially powder that you put on your hair. So if you don't wash the hair, build up occurs. I suggest just getting a face towel, rinse it in water, and just wipe your scalp with it. What I actually did was I got a toothbrush, made a water and shampoo solution, dipped the toothbrush in the solution, then applied it to my scalp. Same principle as when you are coloring your hair. Then rinse it off with the wet face towel. Truth be told I don't know if this was allowed, but what can I do, my hair and scalp were beginning to be an oil mine.

One of the better things with Ge Lai is the diet. You must eat only foods that are "warm." This includes hot chocolate drinks, chocolate (YUM), lapu-lapu fish, black chicken soup, fried rice, and  fried everything. I didn't mind the food, except in my third week of Ge Lai, I got really fed up with having lapu-lapu in every meal.

After the month is done, you must undergo the Chinese massage then take a bath using some boiled leaves. The leaves actually smelled sort of nice. Like you are taking a bath with brewed tea.

At the beginning of the month, I was full of trepidation and could not see how I could survive the whole month without taking a bath. However, after the month is done, you get a sense of superwoman feeling for having survived and passed it. In any case, taking care of the baby and just watching your baby grow and develop each day help pass the time more quickly. Before you know it, the month is over before you can even say Ge Lai.

It has been quite a while since I visited this blog and wrote anything. The fact is I have been very busy. The fates have decided that being a mother is the next task on my to do list. I gave birth in November and have been a full time mom ever since. Everyone I know, including myself, did not really see me as a mother figure type of person. My family will say that I have a very snooty temperament at the very least. But lo and behold, I have become patience personified to my infant daughter.

For people who undergo c-sections, it is advised that there should be no heavy lifting, lots of rest, and more rest so that the wound caused by the operation will heal faster. Aside from this, it hurt the heck a lot after the painkillers wore off. Despite these advises and pain, I had to buck up and do a lot of carrying for my 8.5lb baby as we couldn't get a nanny to help me. So thanks to good genes for a relatively strong constitution, I was able to care for my baby all by myself with the occasional help of my in-laws and one of their salesladies.

So this is the reason why I have been missing in action all this time.