Storytime episode with Dr Kristal Lau where she shares her brush with grief for her "old self" during her Matrescence and motherhood journey.


EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• Why I felt grief despite having a healthy pregnancy and smooth birth experience
• Stages of Grief
• How to hold space for a mom if she's experiencing this type of grief

QUOTES

"I'm gonna talk about grief that's not related to a physical loss. In fact, it's grief related to feeling like you losing your old self before you became a mom or dad." 

"It's not just made up and you're not feeling selfish or dumb for having the sense of loss for your old self or your old life."

"When I first started feeling this intense sensation of loss. I didn't know what to do with it because I had a healthy pregnancy. I didn't understand why I was feeling this way because I really felt it not just a deep, heavy feeling in my chest, but this pit in my stomach, like something is gone forever and that I was never gonna get it back. "

~~~

Please seek help from your family and friends, your health provider, or your counselor and therapist, if you need to talk to someone. Even your religious or spiritual advisor or community member if you're more comfortable with them.

Read the blog & transcript: https://www.mamaswingwoman.com/ep14

~~~

I offer postpartum coaching to help new moms and their families adjust to the big changes when a new baby arrives. This takes time and someone to really care about the unique-ness of what you and your family need and want.

Book a free 30-minute Discovery Call with me to see if we jive and how you can reach your postpartum goals with me! [https://calendly.com/drkristallau/ppconnect]

CONNECT WITH KRISTAL

• Get Your FREE RESOURCE: 3 Essential Postpartum Changes That No One Really Talks About And What To Do About Them
• And Grab Your Free Confinement Planner Here!
• Book Your Free 30-Minute Discovery Call to start your Confinement & Postpartum Planning, and Postpartum Wellness journey
• Buy My Book 'Postpartum 30: Thirty Days To A Nurtured Fourth Trimester'
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Learn why many Chinese and East Asian parents want a baby born under this zodiac sign and how this cultural belief leads to a baby boom that affects mothers, families, population census, services, and businesses.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• Why the Year of the Dragon is a BIG DEAL
• A Brief Introduction to the Significance of this Chinese Zodiac Sign
• Effects of this cultural belief on individuals up to population level

QUOTES

"The dragon is the most revered and majestic animal and Chinese mythology and culture. It symbolizes power, nobility, honor, luck, and success." 

"...roughly 25% more babies were born among the Chinese populations of Singapore and Malaysia during the 1988 year of the Dragon compared with the previous year. In response, Singapore, three quarters of which is ethnically Chinese, opened nine new primary schools."

Want to DIY your confinement month? Buy my book 'Postpartum 30' to learn how! https://www.mamaswingwoman.com/postpartumbook

Read the blog: https://www.mamaswingwoman.com/ep13

ARTICLE LINKS

• China Highlights: https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/dragon.htm
• National Post: https://nationalpost.com/news/world/many-chinese-believe-dragon-babies-destined-for-greatness-but-baby-booms-have-unintended-consequences
• BBC World Asia: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-16589052
• Al-Jazeera: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2012/1/23/year-of-the-dragon-roars-into-asia
• Medium Master Steven Chen: https://medium.com/@thechinesezodiac/is-2024-a-good-year-to-have-a-baby-befd6abbca65
• Courtly: https://www.courtly.com/resources/couples-rush-to-have-baby-dragons-chinese-zodiac
• The Star: https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2023/11/01/getting-wed-to-get-little-dragons
• Mothership: https://mothership.sg/2023/11/luxurious-confine

CONNECT WITH KRISTAL

• Get Your FREE RESOURCE: 3 Essential Postpartum Changes That No One Really Talks About And What To Do About Them
• And Grab Your Free Confinement Planner Here!
• Book Your Free 30-Minute Discovery Call to start your Confinement & Postpartum Planning, and Postpartum Wellness journey
• Buy My Book 'Postpartum 30: Thirty Days To A Nurtured Fourth Trimester'
• Instagram @mamaswingwoman
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Christmas has just passed but the end year festivities continue! Here's some quick tips of joining in on the fun even while you're doing your confinement this holiday season.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

Quick tips on how to head out for the festivities during your confinement month.

QUOTES

"If you really wanna go out and enjoy and you're still in your confinement month, please do. I know it goes against the rule of leaving home because you know it's gonna be cold and everything, but we are in 2023. This is the modern times..."

"Most importantly, during this time when you wanna head out during your confinement month, is dress really, really warm. Even for those of you living in the southern hemisphere..."

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Postpartum 30 Book Owners! Please Email Dr. Kristal Lau HERE to get access to her private FB group!
.
READ THE  BLOG POST HERE

CONNECT WITH KRISTAL

• Get Your FREE RESOURCE: 3 Essential Postpartum Changes That No One Really Talks About And What To Do About Them
• And Grab Your Free Confinement Planner Here!
• Book Your Free 30-Minute Discovery Call to start your Confinement & Postpartum Planning, and Postpartum Wellness journey
• Buy My Book 'Postpartum 30: Thirty Days To A Nurtured Fourth Trimester'
• Instagram @mamaswingwoman
• TikTok @drkristallau
• LinkedIn @klyql

There are 2 major celebrations for the baby after completing the confinement month; the full moon and 100th day. And Dr. Kristal Lau brings a modern twist to these baby-centered celebrations by reinstating you, the mother, back in the spotlight during this time.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• What is the full moon and 100th-day celebration?
• Why it's important to celebrate the mother as much as the baby.
• Ideas for throwing a full moon and 100th-day celebration.

QUOTES

"The 100th day is huge for many East Asian families; hotel ballrooms can get booked out. "

"This full moon period also marks the end of the new mom's confinement month, and she's now able to bathe, wash her hair, and be presented together with the baby to the family."

"I feel really strongly that by doing things this way, by bringing the woman and the mother back into the picture, it's going to help our next generation of women and mothers to feel really appreciated and to look forward to this."

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Email Dr. Kristal Lau with your questions!
.
Get your FREE CONFINEMENT PLANNER HERE
.
BUY POSTPARTUM 30 BOOK HERE
.
Need more help with your confinement planning? Book Your Free 30-Minute Discovery Call to start your Confinement & Postpartum Planning
.
READ THE  BLOG POST HERE
.

Resources mentioned in the episode:

• The Book of Rites: worldhistorycommons.org/book-rites-birth-child

CONNECT WITH KRISTAL

• Get Your FREE RESOURCE: 3 Essential Postpartum Changes That No One Really Talks About And What To Do About Them
• And Grab Your Free Confinement Planner Here!
• Book Your Free 30-Minute Discovery Call to start your Confinement & Postpartum Planning, and Postpartum Wellness journey
• Buy My Book 'Postpartum 30: Thirty Days To A Nurtured Fourth Trimester'
• Instagram @mamaswingwoman
• TikTok @drkristallau
• LinkedIn @klyql

The Chinese confinement practice is essentially a postpartum recovery program steeped in tradition and traditional Chinese medicine principles. Learn why you should create and personalise your confinement plan and how to do it with my Postpartum 30 method.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• Why you should create and personalise your confinement
• Confinement planning as a family affair
• How to create your confinement using my Postpartum 30 Method

QUOTES

"...what I wish for you to take away from today's episode is to have a rough idea on how to approach your confinement month as though it is a recovery program."

"...personalizing your confinement month helps you retain a lot of your family's traditions and beliefs as well. It also really allows you and your spouse, husband, or partner to come up with a 30-day plan that makes sense to what you need in your modern life. "

"I think it's wise to have a look at your finances. Can you afford to do a full 30 days traditionally? Because... you have to get all your herbs, you have to cook. If you want to follow specific Chinese diet, the confinement diet. Are you able to cook those meals fresh? "

.
Get your FREE CONFINEMENT PLANNER HERE
.
BUY POSTPARTUM 30 HERE
.
Need more help with your confinement planning? Book Your Free 30-Minute Discovery Call to start your Confinement & Postpartum Planning
.
READ THE TRANSCRIPT AND BLOG POST HERE
.

Resources mentioned in the episode:

• Ng Siong Mui's book: The Chinese Pregnancy and Confinement Cookbook
• Eu Yan Sang
• Gary Chapman's 5 Love Languages

CONNECT WITH KRISTAL

• Get Your FREE RESOURCE: 3 Essential Postpartum Changes That No One Really Talks About And What To Do About Them
• And Grab Your Free Confinement Planner Here!
• Book Your Free 30-Minute Discovery Call to start your Confinement & Postpartum Planning, and Postpartum Wellness journey
• Buy My Book 'Postpartum 30: Thirty Days To A Nurtured Fourth Trimester'
• Instagram @mamaswingwoman
• TikTok @drkristallau
• LinkedIn @klyql

Learn about the challenges and benefits of following a traditional confinement practice in our modern time after you've given birth. And why this paves the way for a modernised confinement practice; an approach I take in my book 'Postpartum 30' to respectfully adapt a traditional and cultural practice to fit the needs of modern mothers and families!

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• 3 Challenges of following a Traditional Confinement Practice.
• 3 Benefits of following a Traditional Confinement Practice.
• Why it's important to make space for a Modern Confinement Practice.

QUOTES

"Modern women everywhere these days also have to think about how much maternity leave they and their partner or spouse can get. Is it financially feasible to carry out a very traditional confinement month? Can modern moms and modern women get the physical support to do it, especially for those of you like me who have migrated overseas?"

"...a lot of confinement centers did not allow fathers to stay overnight or really participate, which we now know that paternal participation in the postpartum period does make a difference, both in their own postpartum journey"

"...for those of you who want to follow the very traditional style of confinement, there are also some benefits to it, and it's mostly related to feeling of fulfillment and honoring your elders."

"If you and your spouse or partner are the first to raise a mixed-race family like mine, this holds even more value because you're able to pass down your joint heritage once you've tailored a confinement practice to your family."

.
BUY POSTPARTUM 30 HERE
.
READ THE TRANSCRIPT AND BLOG POST HERE
.

CONNECT WITH KRISTAL

• Get Your FREE RESOURCE: 3 Essential Postpartum Changes That No One Really Talks About And What To Do About Them
• And Grab Your Free Confinement Planner Here!
• Book Your Free 30-Minute Discovery Call to start your Confinement & Postpartum Planning, and Postpartum Wellness journey
• Buy My Book 'Postpartum 30: Thirty Days To A Nurtured Fourth Trimester'
• Instagram @mamaswingwoman
• TikTok @drkristallau
• LinkedIn @klyql

Learn about the origins of the confinement practice and some of the taboos and superstitions behind this Chinese postpartum recovery practice.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• Why is confinement usually performed for 30 days?
• The ancient Chinese origins of confinement. 

KEYWORDS MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE

• Integrative care
• Integrative medicine

ARTICLE CITATION

• Lee, J. (2006). "Childbirth in Early Imperial China". In Medicine for Women in Imperial China. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789047409922_006

QUOTES

"...the postpartum period, where the postpartum confinement recovery is expected to happen, ranged from three days, seven days, 30 days, the whole month, 100 days, and up to half a year, or even as long as a year of resting after childbirth."

"...when women back in ancient China days did not go to a delivery house or a birthing house, and they could not go home to their family's home to give birth, it was customary from the Han Dynasty onwards to set up a special birth room either inside the house where they're currently living with their husband and their immediate family or outside the home."

"...the reason for them to do a confinement practice away from everyone else. It was absolutely related to the cultural belief and the taboos and superstition around how dirty the childbirth process is."

.
READ THE TRANSCRIPT HERE
.

CONNECT WITH KRISTAL

• Get Your FREE RESOURCE: 3 Essential Postpartum Changes That No One Really Talks About And What To Do About Them
• And Grab Your Free Confinement Planner Here!
• Book Your Free 30-Minute Discovery Call to start your Confinement & Postpartum Planning, and Postpartum Wellness journey
• Buy My Book 'Postpartum 30: Thirty Days To A Nurtured Fourth Trimester'
• Instagram @mamaswingwoman
• TikTok @drkristallau
• LinkedIn @klyql

Learn about the confinement practice and some of the principles behind this Chinese postpartum recovery practice.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

- Why is Zuo Yue Zi also called confinement?
- The traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) principles behind some main confinement practice rules
- Introducing the importance of mental health support during the confinement practice

QUOTES

"This practice is rooted in traditional Chinese medicine, which underlies a lot of health philosophies and practices in the East."

"...definitely have a chat to your TCM providers about what foods in the Western grocer falls under Hot, Warm, Yin, and Yang. And then you can create your menu from there and start preparing your food that way."

"So, strong emotions are definitely going to happen during the confinement period and all the mental health advances that we know today encourages us to not ignore those feelings, to address them and have healthy and safe outlets for them."

READ THE TRANSCRIPT HERE
.

CONNECT WITH KRISTAL

• Get Your FREE RESOURCE: 3 Essential Postpartum Changes That No One Really Talks About And What To Do About Them
• And Grab Your Free Confinement Planner Here!
• Book Your Free 30-Minute Discovery Call to start your Confinement & Postpartum Planning, and Postpartum Wellness journey
• Buy My Book 'Postpartum 30: Thirty Days To A Nurtured Fourth Trimester'
• Instagram @mamaswingwoman
• TikTok @drkristallau
• LinkedIn @klyql

It's storytime! A casual and conversational episode to break up the heaviness for information and discussions. Today's episode is about my health journey from my first pregnancy till now, 2 years postpartum after my second child. I also share about the medical devices I've accumulated.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

• Blood pressure machine and gestational hypertension experience
• Blood glucose machine, accessories, and gestational diabetes experience
• CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine and sleep apnea due to pregnancy experience

QUOTES

• "I truly understood and also was really thankful that my diabetes wasn't to a point where I needed medication or insulin shots. It was well controlled with diet, so it really made me appreciate how difficult it is to keep up with pricking yourself every day, how much it actually hurts."
• "As much as I don't fit the bill of a stereotypical unhealthy person, I have a lot of things that I've accumulated in the journey of becoming a mom that I need to watch out for as I get older so that I don't develop those health conditions."
• "For 28.8 times within an hour of sleeping at the sleep clinic where I did my sleep study, I stopped breathing. For 28.8 times, and during those times, my oxygen levels in my body dropped below 90%."

READ THE TRANSCRIPT HERE

• YouTube video to see the medical devices I talked about: https://youtu.be/cztOXGc8Bg8

CONNECT WITH KRISTAL

• Get Your FREE RESOURCE: 3 Essential Postpartum Changes That No One Really Talks About And What To Do About Them
• And Grab Your Free Confinement Planner Here!
• Book Your Free 30-Minute Discovery Call to start your Confinement & Postpartum Planning, and Postpartum Wellness journey
• Buy My Book 'Postpartum 30: Thirty Days To A Nurtured Fourth Trimester'
• Instagram @mamaswingwoman
• TikTok @drkristallau
• LinkedIn @klyql

It's not just your OBGYN and midwives who look after a mother after childbirth. There are a lot more health practitioners, health providers, and services providers who can help you and your family manage the chaos that is postpartum. You and your family will need a team to help you achieve physical, mental, and social well-being during the postpartum period!

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• Why is it important to know who you can turn to for help?
• What does it mean to have good postpartum health and who can help you achieve that?
• Red flag behaviours to watch for when you're seeking help. For your and your family's safety!

QUOTES

• "This is why in many parts of the world, the postpartum care model is led by the midwives, maternity nurses, community nurses, and other primary care providers. "
• "And service providers? They are also absolutely crucial in helping you maintain and improve your social well-being and your mental health. These are babysitters, dog sitters, dog groomers, cleaning services, food delivery services, grocery delivery services, daycare, and even laundry services."
• "The biggest red flag to look out for is if someone tells you not to trust your medical doctor or medical health provider and if they discourage you from engaging with modern medical healthcare. This is unethical, irresponsible, and downright dangerous."

EPISODE LINKS

• Mamas, get your free 15-minute postpartum wellness strategy call here at www.mamaswingwoman.com/freecall
• If you'd like Dr. Kristal Lau to speak at your organization or event, email her at [email protected] or get on her calendar to chat about your idea! www.mamaswingwoman.com/freecall

FREE RESOURCE 

• 3 Essential Postpartum Changes That No One Really Talks About And What To Do About Them: www.mamaswingwoman.com/pplist1

CONNECT WITH KRISTAL

• Get Your FREE RESOURCE: 3 Essential Postpartum Changes That No One Really Talks About And What To Do About Them
• And Grab Your Free Confinement Planner Here!
• Book Your Free 30-Minute Discovery Call to start your Confinement & Postpartum Planning, and Postpartum Wellness journey
• Buy My Book 'Postpartum 30: Thirty Days To A Nurtured Fourth Trimester'
• Instagram @mamaswingwoman
• TikTok @drkristallau
• LinkedIn @klyql