Baby Shower!

I feel so incredibly lucky to have friends over here who not only THINK to give me a baby shower for my THIRD child, they also try and plan it to cater to my own culture. Culturally, the chinese celebrate a baby's birth one month after their baby is born. The primary reason for this is because they usually have a "confinement" period where they hire a special woman to cater to all their needs and the needs of their child as well. The primary purpose of the confinement period is for the mother to recover and heal completely and thoroughly. I'm not sure where this started in the chinese history, but women are finding themselves paying a lot of money these days for a confinement lady. It's a luxury...but one almost every modern woman splurges on these days. Their confinement lady provides them healthy teas to drink, brings the baby to and from the mother, cooks specials foods for the mother with special herbs, etc. Some of the items on the list of things the mother CAN'T do during this confinement period is...they can't watch TV, they must stay in bed with only short periods of walking around, they can't read any books, they can't tend to their newborn baby other than to feed him/her, they're not supposed to take a shower or bath for a month, they can't receive any visitors, etc. Yikes! And they PAY a woman to enforce these rules???

Obviously, there are some cultural differences. So, the mother celebrates the birth of their child when they CAN get visitors and they CAN move around freely and take a shower...one month later. That's when all the relatives visit to see the baby, gifts are given, etc. Gifts for the baby is usually in the traditional form of gift giving here in China...a red envelope with money inside. Births, weddings, chinese New Year, etc...people are given red envelopes with money. Another cultural difference.

So, when my local friends approached me about throwing me a baby shower, I was most certainly "touched" by the thought and eventually their efforts. They didn't know exactly what should be done and had to keep asking me about certain traditions back home regarding baby showers. It was so sweet.

The big day came around and several mutual friends had come to help celebrate. A large gift was purchased by all, food was catered by our local tea house and cake was brought in as well. It was a lot of fun to spend time with the girls in one place.

I mentioned to them that if I were back home, many of my friends and family would probably not even think to host a baby shower for me, since it's my THIRD child and especially since it's my THIRD boy! haha They moved me when their reply was, "Well, we weren't there for Brandon and Ryan's birth...so this one is special to us." Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! How sweet is THAT!?

Yes...I'm lucky...and I can't say it enough...these women are genuinely wonderful.