traditional beliefs about pregnancy

now that i'm pregnant (about six months now!), i've been introduced to whole new area of taiwanese culture -- traditional beliefs about pregnancy and childbirth. i feel like what i've learned so far only touches the tip of the iceberg on the subject. but thought i should start blogging about some of the superstitions and beliefs people here have. here's a list of some of the things i've heard and read, in no particular order:

-don't lift your arms/hands above your head while you're pregnant. this could cause the umbilical cord to get wrapped around the baby's neck.
-don't stand on a chair or a ladder while pregnant. (this one is pretty logical.)
-don't run or jump while pregnant. this can cause miscarriage or premature labor.
-don't work too hard or stand too long when pregnant. (again, pretty logical.)
-don't use scissors or a knife while pregnant. one reason is that this may cause the baby to have a clef palate. i've also heard someone say that using scissors will cause problems with the baby's sight.
-eating too much pineapple can cause a miscarriage. (i've been craving pineapple like crazy and eating a ton. guess i've broken this one already.)
-eating shellfish can cause your baby to have bad skin or a bad rash.

-drinking 100% pure fruit juice often will give your baby good, beautiful skin.

-do no touch anything sticky or adhesive, or use glue while pregnant. this will cause your baby to have birthmarks.
-look at pictures of beautiful babies and children while pregnant. this will make the baby in your womb beautiful as well. (this one is from my mother-in-law.)
-don't get upset or stressed out while pregnant. this will cause the baby to have a bad temperament or an unstable personality when they grow up.

there are also other "no-nos" that have been revealed to me...not from verbal warnings but from people's responses to certain things i have done. one of the main ones is bending over. it seems that people think it's not good to bend over when you're pregnant. i can't tell you how many times i've leaned down to pick something up in the past couple of months only to have someone come running over to stop me and pick it up for me. i know it will get harder to bend over soon, but for right now, i can still manage. oh well, it's still nice to have people help me out. another thing i've noticed is that people are now even more majorly interested in what i drink and eat (as if they weren't interested enough before--trust me, they were.) if someone sees me drinking a carton of milk or a bottle of juice, they nod approvingly. but if they see me with a small cup of green tea, they usually comment. i always tell them that i let myself have one *small* green tea a day and that my doctor said it was ok. actually, my doctor said i could have up to three cups of coffee a day, but i'm definitely not doing that. to be fair, i guess people in the US would have these concerns as well.

there are also traditional beliefs that involved determining the baby's gender:
-people try to see how you're carrying the baby -- if your belly is pointed, they'll say it's a boy. if it's more rounded, it's a girl.
-another, more comical one is, how pretty the mother looks. if you look beautiful and your skin is glowing, people will say you're having a girl. if you have acne, or if your face changes and looks a little bloated or "ugly," people will say you must be having a boy. this is supposedly contributed to hormones. a boy will make a mother look more masculine, whereas a girl will make a mother look more feminine and lovely. this is in direct opposition to the western adage, "a baby girl will steal your beauty," explaining that a girl will actually make your look "uglier." :)
-there's also a chinese gender chart that was supposedly found in an ancient chinese tomb and is claimed to be 90% accurate. it is based on the mother's (chinese) age at conception and the month of conception. i checked out this chart early on in my pregnancy. turns out, it was incorrect for us. :)

one question i keep getting is whether or not i will observe sitting month. sitting month (坐月子) is a 30-day period of rest and confinement following a baby's birth. it is practiced by some asian cultures, including chinese, taiwanese, vietnamese and more. i know that practices like these are not limited to only asian cultures; they are practiced by women in many different parts of the world. however, this practice is virtually unknown by most women in north america. i know that most of my friends at home would find sitting month preposterous -- even most of my western friends in taiwan laugh at the practice. i want to give my blog readers some insight into this phenomenon. i, for one, am fascinated by it. and like a lot of things in taiwan, the longer i live here, the more i believe that certain practices and beliefs -- especially those related to health -- have a lot more truth to them than i first believed.

so what happens during 坐月子? well, during sitting month, the mother is supposed to eat certain nutritious, "hot" foods to rejuvenate her body. (not necessarily hot in temperature, but hot in their chinese medicinal quality.) the mother is also supposed to get LOTS of rest to help restore herself after giving birth. during this time, a woman's mom or mother-in-law will be with her to take care of the baby so the mom can rest. it makes a lot of sense. a woman does need to rest and take care of herself after her body goes through so much. many people claim that a woman will have better health in her later years if she takes good care of herself during sitting month. they also say a woman will age better if she observes sitting month. i definitely can buy that. however, one thing i have a hard time with is the mother or mother-in-law being the child's chief caregiver during this time. the first month is so crucial, and the baby needs to bond with his mother, not his mother-in-law. another problem is that if sitting month is observed in the traditional way, it is actually very strict and difficult for some mothers to deal with. especially when their bodies may be telling them they crave different foods ("cold" foods like certain fruits and veggies, or even worse--things like ice cream or an icy drink) or if they are going stir-crazy and just want to go out for a short walk. it is a very interesting practice, and one that i am trying to learn more and more about. right now, i am planning on doing a modified version of sitting month, as some of the sitting month restrictions i already know i will certainly not be able to handle. i hope to blog about this in the coming months as i try to decide exactly what sitting month is going to look like for us!