Search for a Confinement Lady

This time round we decided to get a confinement lady (CL) as my parents find it really tiring to do it all over again and we have Arielle to take care of. We already decided this in January but me being last minute only decided to act on booking one only in May, 2 mths to delivery, which is already quite late. I did search the Internet though and did obtain certain contacts from various forums and blogs. A friend of mine who had her son in February did forward me a list of CLs, also from the net. But I did not get round to calling them. I wanted an English speaking one and based on the names I gathered that none of them could speak English. Furthermore I was advised not to get someone of which I could not have references for. So I procrastinated. PN gave me an English speaking contact but when I called, she was already taken. Then I remembered, one of Jon's ex-ex housemate telling me that she was going to stay in a confinement house in Puchong which also do provide CLs. I called her, asked for her opinion and also contact of the confinement house. Its Fong Chai Confinement Services at Puchong Jaya. Its owned by an elderly lady by the name of Mrs Wu, who do not know English but her daughter, Jeslyn, can communicate in English. Jon & I dropped by the place, met the owners, and a few days later decided to put in the RM500 deposit for a CL. Our condition was..try as hard as possible to get an English speaking one though haed to come by. What was good abt this was, if we are not happy, they can send in a replacement. Apparently I was also not able to meet the allocated CL before hand as she was on other engagements. So all I could do was pray for a good one.

God answers prayers! My allocated CL can speak English and she is pretty good especially in cooking and taking care of the precious little one. She is Aunty Cheong. She has been in this line for 4 years already and being a CL is a calling from God. She is a Christian and she shared with me that she was a cook before in a household but she wanted to give up the job as she found it difficult to serve the various needs of the membrs in the household. She prayed about it and twice in a 6-mth period she saw the words of "cho pooi yee" (be a confinement lady) and since then she started to be one. She helps to clean and wash the clothes daily and is efficient in preparation of meals. She cooks heaps of food so much so I have no chance to feel hungry. In fact I am stuffed all the time and I am supposed to be loosing weight! She also takes care of the little one really well - bathe him twice a day, changes his diapers regularly etc. She also prays a lot so its good.

However, there are certain downsides to having a CL - all my standard operating procedures of running my kitchen has been breached but I have to close one eye lor. No 2 cooks can survive in one kitchen. So this month its my CL's kitchen and next mth I will have it back. Like washing the oily dishes...I normally wash at the kitchen sink at the back but she washes in the sink of the dry kitchen, the back grill...I like to keep it closed but she likes to keep it open for convenience as she goes in & out very often. I dun want to tell her as I want her to be comfortable working here. If I told her I know she will follow. Anyhow, she is doing a good job with baby and that is the most important thing. This month is truly a "holiday" month...lots of relaxation and good food!

It is not easy to be a confinement lady - need to cook, take care of baby and the mummy especially if you dun have a good night's rest.