I must admit that finding confinement lady to care for me during confinement period was the last thing on my list and I wasnt doing it very well. I wasn't prepared for this. And I regret this the most.
Two months before my due date, baru sibuk nak cari confinement lady. Mallas btol nak buat research semuanya macam sama aje. Tak tahu nak pilih yang mana. I was honestly hoping someone would just decide for me and say "ok, Izrin. use this lady's service for your confinement." haha punya malas.
Finally my mom's friend introduced me to a lady, Kak Shila who apparently has a post-natal service. She said she will give me good price, RM100 for massage, tungku and bengkung, adds RM50 to care for my baby and she would send me two therapist for that. I didn't think it was cheap, it was rather a standard price, tapi sebab dah last minute, I just agreed.
Agreed on few things:
1) Daily massage from the third day after delivery for 14 days, then selang tiga hari until the 44th day
2) She will bring in 2 therapist, 1 to take care of me, the other to settle my baby (bathe, tuam perut, jemur etc)
3) She will help me help me order jamu, the best that she knows
4) She will help me buy the big and long bengkung
5) She will help me buy cream untuk sapu kat perut before bengkung
6) She will bring something for me to apply at my vagina
She did not do ANY of the above!
1) She came the third day (Saturday) after i insisted, initially she said she could not come. She did not inform me that she is off on Sundays and public holidays (what kind of service is that?) Urut pantang wajib 3 hari berturut-turut the first time! She told me she couldnt come the next day until 3rd Jan (I gave birth 26th dec, btw)
2) She only brought 1 therapist with her to urut me, and she said she will take care of the baby herself. She only took my baby for jemur. RM50 for that MY ASS!
She did not bring anything that she promised to bring for me. So I was left with no jamu and no cream, no bengkung, and nothing for my vagina. Nasib baik, hubby ada beli bengkung from farmasi.
And so she didn't come the next day which was on Sunday. So we called another lady that used to massage my aunty, I call her Aunty Kama. Luckily she was available. She massages, tungku and bengkung and she charges RM80 for that.
Of course I didnt have a proper person to look after my meal, so sometimes, I eat according to pantang, sometimes, I just eat whatever people in my house eat. Nobody really knows how to prepare pantang food. Nobody also really takes care of my recovery, what ubat to eat, what ubat to apply to my vagina (I only know the khasiat of manjakani at the last week of my confinement period, how sad is that?) I feel sad that I am missing all these. They say that confinement period is the time that you regain everything. Get back your body shape, ensure that your body recovers, ensure tightening of your vagina...
I believe this is the most important thing to prepare. Based on my observation, those who really able to get someone to stay in, to look after you (body inside out) and your baby, is the best. So overall, I did not really enjoy my confinement. I shall do it better for my next baby. InsyaAllah...
