i know this is now the third baby-post in a row... but please bear with me. my life has suddenly gone all baby baby poo poo baby. currently everything else has kinda been put on hold.
i will try to dish up something different to keep you on your toes for next time. (can't promise, but we'll see)
i used to think that those little black stumps of dried-up skin on a babies belly button were kinda freaky and "untouchable". if it was any old babies stump i would probably shudder at the thought of having to touch it and clean it, but as it's kou-chan's beau~tiful stump i was surprisingly good as gold.
so everyday since that life-changing day on may 11th i have been applying a 70% alcohol solution to his tiny belly button waiting for his little umbilical cord stump to fall off.
well it's happened.
as i was changing his nappy for the umpteenth time i noticed that his delightful little stump had fallen off, but it was no-where to be seen!
after a wee bit of frantic searching i found it stuck to the inside of his baby pajamas. what a relief. for a moment there i thought i had chucked it out with his poop or washed it down the drain.
now if i was from haiti i would bury the umbilical cord along with part of the placenta under a tree. actually this is what the native people in my home country (the maori) also do.
i really like this idea (not that i have the placenta on hand), but i don't see it going down too well in hong kong...
native american indians on the other hand sew something called a lakota pouch in the shape of a lizard for a boy or a turtle for a girl. this pouch contains the dried umbilical cord, some tobacco and herbs. mmm.
the japanese however keep the hesono o (臍の緒) or the cord in a little wooden box to ensure a close relationship between mother and child for the years ahead.
k-chan's dad hand-crafted the little box above especially for kou-chan's hesono o; and no, that is not a raisin!
for those mum's (or dads) out there, what did you do with your little ones dried-up hesono o once it had fallen off?
anyone out there got any umbilical cord traditions from your part of the world?
14 comments:
I have Shou's and I even think I have Marina's but Ryu's.... when it fell off I wrapped it in a tissue and put it on the table for safe keeping and well the mayhem that goes hand in hand with trying to bath and feed three small children and the tissue got biffed by mistake. I hope Ryu doesn't grow up pissed about it. But mummy of course I turned into an alcoholic pothead, you threw my cord stump away.
At my Japanese clinic we got little boxes with gold embossed writing.
I was seriously thinking about asking for the placenta third time round so could plant it around Shou's 'birth' tree. All I could do after ten hours of labor was ask to see the placenta and despite being really very amazing sloppy organy thing I suddenly didn' feel the need to get it wrapped in newspaper to bring home.
my baby just pooped while I was in the middle of reading your post!
Congrats on the new baby and welcome to parenthood. Had any good sleep lately? Hehehe
Congratulations on the birth of your lovely boy! My 臍の緒 is also in the little wooden box somewhere, I'm sure.
ai
xxx
omg. freaky post! lol!
but seriously, who am i to talk, i do posts about guys peeing in my bed and me getting molested in nyc clubs! haha.
it's interesting, though, that you'll be keeping that thing in a box.
in norway, i think parents just throw the thing away, but i know in the olden days vietnamese people used to bury it in the village where tha family was from. but that tradition has died out, and since my parents were city people, they didn't do it to my thing.
anyway, hope you're having fun being a dad. are you getting enough sleep? :)
My, this is an informative post! Hehe. I think we just throw it away, but I'm never too good with ancient Chinese or Malaysian customs. Gonna ask my parents the next time I head home. :P
* Gaijin Wife
oh heck, you are gonna be in ryu's black book for that mishap! but i can kinda see how it could so easily get chucked out with the trash, i mean it does look like something which should be discarded of.
and re placenta, i saw it first hand... not a pretty sight. i don't think i can ever eat liver again.
* jen laceda
isn't it amazing how often little babies poop! and usually right after you have put on a nice new clean nappy...
judging by the dark circles which have taken up refuge under my eyes, no, sleep is a long lost luxury.
* ai
コメントありがとう～
you'll have to dig it out someday and check it's still there.
i'm a bit worried about the high humidity here in hong kong... don't want to get a moldy 臍の緒！
* Luuworld
guess it is kinda freaky, nothing quite like your stuff though!
you know, i was telling my mum how we had kept it in a little box and how we have some traditional things to do after 100 days etc and she said that it seems most non-western cultures have all these little traditions etc and we both agreed that it is a shame our culture is slightly dull.
oh and sleep? you gotta be kidding me...
i'm starting to wish someone could come and rock me to sleep, give me a bath and shower me with kisses!
* Life for Beginners
oooh, i'm sure your mum will be able to tell you some ancient malay traditions in regards to the "hesono o".
if you remember, let me know when you find out, will be interesting to hear about your culture. who knows, she still might have your little one hidden away somewhere!
Oh how adorable! I got a wooden box from the hospital. Not so touching as receiving from dad, hehe.
Keep doing your baby posts when you can because in a year's time you will be amazed how you are so into the new moments, the older moments will become somewhat hazy. This is a great way for Kou-chan to read back what happened to him :)
* pascale
yeah, ojiichan is pretty good at his crafts so this will be something to treasure.
i can't imagine this little old blog being around when kou-chan get's old enough to read it.
you know i have really gotta get my a-into-g and start a photo album. i'm taking loads of photos but hate just storing them on my pc.
Keep the baby posts comin man. I assumed you woulda changed your banner to "World of Kou-chan" by now.
* GL
mmm, that banner title does sound slightly more appropriate doesn't it. if only i had the time to fiddle around with the blimmin banner...
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