Rub-a-dub-dub

I got a text message from my mother-in-law a few days back that caused my brow to furrow so deep, if my face had frozen in the position, I'd look like one of those pug dogs.

The message read, " Are you going to bathe in any special herbs during confinement*? Some ladies bathe in pomelo skins. If you'd like to, I have to start collecting skins now." This caused the above reaction and prompted an immediate phonecall to my own mother. Unable to keep the hysterical puzzlement in my voice, it became rather high-pitched when she picked up the phone to her daughter semi-screaming "What the heck is this whole bathing in pomelo skin thing about?" This led to her hysterical too. But with laughter. That seems to be the choice reaction when I tell people about this pomelo skin thing. Packrat guffawed for a full 10 minutes when I told him and that settled into an occasional chuckle as he imagined his wife sitting in a bathtub with husks of pomelo floating about. It's apparently increased his desire to go out there and buy a new camera because this apparently, needed photographing.

Anyway, the reason behind the bathing in fruit skin, particularly pomelo (which is actually like grapefruit) or lemongrass or for the rich, XO, is one of astringent purposes. It is believed that after delivery, there is much "wind" in the body. I think that has got to do with the very drastic loss of water and blood circulating in the body, plus the fact that the run up to the delivery, a pregnant woman is running on a higher basal temperature than the average Joe. So all that shock to the body can slow down recovery after childbirth. Hence the bathing in elements with astringent properties.

My response to my mother-in-law was to go and collect the fruit skins if that was what she wanted although I warned her that she was not to, under any circumstance, lurk around the bins of fruit stalls to scavage for tossed out pomelo skins. The rationale- you gotta let the woman think what she does is helpful and it's good that she feels needed. And at least, she's gonna let me bathe! Which is a big big big enlightened step as is!

Actually, there wasn't going to be 2 ways with that one. I was going to bathe whether or not I was allowed to bathe. The reason for the lack of bathing is along the same lines as the bathing in the aforementioned items. And this is a battle I'm going to let slide because I can deal with it. In fact, I quite like eating pomelo and if her going around collecting pomelo skin means I have pomelo to eat, sure why not?

*Confinement- the first post natal month where traditionally, in Asian cultures, it's a time of convalescence and recovery where mother and child are taken care off by a older women in the family.


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