Pregnancy, Taiwanese Style

At my language exchange, which usually functions more like a casual conversation in English, with a few Chinese words thrown in for me to promptly forget, I asked Nichole, who is seven months pregnant about baby names. She was debating what English name to give her son, and I asked what Chinese name she had picked. She let me know that she wouldn't be picking the name at all, that her husband's parents would be handling that. They will be going to the fortune teller to have her determine the most auspicious name for the little guy. I asked about her name, wondering whether her father's parent's had picked her name, and she told me that her father did it instead. He didn't go to a fortune teller, but rather counted the strokes of each character and (I'm a little unclear on this one) came up with a lucky number and an auspicious name. Her Chinese name is Autumn Millions and her sister's name is Beautiful Moon. Sounds like he did a good job to me! When her son has a child, it will again be the fortune teller that chooses that baby's name.

Also, there aren't baby showers in Taiwan before the birth of the baby. Friends and family will give her gifts, of course, but not on any specific day. The big celebration happens after the baby is one-month old. The party is usually only for baby boys, with the parents of new girls giving special honeycakes to friends and family instead. This seems to be changing though, she said, and now more baby girls have parties too. I happened upon one of these parties a few months ago in Kenting...

During the time before the one-month party, the baby and the new Mom aren't allowed to leave the house. Friends and family can visit, but Mom and baby stay put. What does Mom do in the house for a month? Read. Sleep. Eat. She can't watch TV, and no air-conditioning (making July births particularly horrible). She must also eat a specially prepared chicken everyday. She doesn't need to eat the whole thing, but no one else can eat it until she is done. Her family stays close to help out with the baby so she can rest, but one imagines she might lose her mind in a different way...

I found most of the bed-rest stuff a while ago while talking with Nichole and another pregnant friend of hers. During the conversation, they were careful not to touch each other. When her friend flinched when Nichole jokingly tried to touch her she explained why they couldn't touch: "If we touch each other, the babies might change places." I asked if they touched twice if the babies would switch back, but she said laughed and said it was better not to risk it.