Sunday, March 17, 2013

Pregnant

No, not me.

When people are pregnant there are lots of dos and don'ts.  And when you go to another country, their dos and don'ts are different then your do's and don'ts.  It makes you think about yours and wonder if there is any logic to them.

For instance, in America pregnant women are warned not to sit in hot tubs.  I guess the heat isn't good for the baby.  Or maybe there is some other reason.  But in Japan women sit in hot water all the time.  They don't seem to boil their babies.  So which is it?  Should pregnant women sit in hot water or not?

Here in India I have heard several weird (to me) beliefs.  One is that women should eat a lot of butter or ghee the last month of their pregnancy.  It somehow makes the baby come out easily.  One lady told me that when the first pains start you should drink chai with ghee in it.  And drink it hot.  She has never heard of a lady needing a c-section with this method.

In America many women crave pickles.  Here in India they crave tamarind.  Recently I heard people say that pregnant women should not eat papaya.  Then I heard they shouldn't have lemons.  Some people won't eat sushi because it has raw fish.  Many Asians eat raw fish during pregnancy without problems.  And last, I heard that tamarind is bad for pregnant women.

In America we tell pregnant women they should exercise.  Many women jog or run throughout their pregnancy.  Here women are told to lay around and do nothing, especially no jumping.

I'm not a doctor and haven't read a bunch of books on safe pregnancy, but I can tell you what I did.  I drank a Dr. Pepper almost daily when I was pregnant.  I played racquetball in the beginning and exercised through the whole pregnancy.  I ate whatever I wanted.  I didn't have an opportunity to sit in a hottub but I took showers and baths.  I did not drink tea with ghee in it nor eat lots of butter.  However, I did end up with a c-section so I wish I would have tried the butter.  I tried jumping to get Micah go drop.  I drank a chocolate milkshake to try to start contractions.  And we survived.

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