Women between cultures:
Experiences in pregnancy and postpartum care

by Hee-Jeung K. Kim

Taegyo (fetal education) is more important than the education for ten years after birth.
- Taegyosingi

The postpartum care during Samchilil (21 days) significantly influences the woman's health.
- an old Korean saying

Who am I?

It is an afternoon in May. Three people are watching the woman with the big belly. She is telling her husband she can bear the pain and that she wants to wait for anesthesia later when the pain will be more severe. She believes that bringing forth a new life should not be easy and that modest responses to pain during labor should be valued. For nine months she has waited for her new baby, doing Taegyo (Korean fetal education) for him. She believes in the influence of Taegyo on her baby's heath and mental development, although there are a few aspects which seem unreasonable to her.

After nine hours of labor, she sees her second child's face. After the delivery she moves to a private room in the hospital. Although the weather is warm, her mother, who values the ways of traditional Korean postpartum care, asks her to wear long sleeved underclothes inside her hospital gown and to put several blankets over her. Every nurse who comes into her room exclaims, "This room is so hot! Why do you have so many blankets? Why don't you use the air-conditioner like other people do?" She is very embarrassed, but she can't follow the advice of the nurses. They also recommend that she take a shower in the hospital, but she can't do that either. Why?

The above short story is based on my experience delivering my son in the U.S., quite a different experience from delivering my daughter in Korea. This story tells of my identity, my ambivalence, and my difficulty as a Korean woman in the U.S. I asked myself why I tried to follow Taegyo, the Korean ways of fetal education, in the U.S. I also asked myself why I followed Korean methods of postpartum care instead of the nurses' advice. Because my mother warned me to? Or because I had been immersed in Korean culture before coming to the U.S.?

Traditional Taegyo and its meanings
Taegyo is a very familiar word to Korean women. When I needed to translate Taegyo into English, I initially wrote down Taegyo as "fetal education" without hesitation, because Tae- means fetus and -gyo means education-- but, later I found that Howard and Berbigilia (1997) define Taegyo as "a system of pregnancy rituals and taboos in Korea" in their article, "Caring for childbearing Korean women." This made me realize that I was so familiar with Taegyo that I hadn't considered it Korean "rituals". But I also think Taegyo should be described as rituals regarding Korean fetal education rather than about pregnancy. Taegyo is based on the belief that fetal education is more important than the child's education for ten years after birth, and it emphasizes mental and behavioral attitudes of parents necessary to bear a baby with many virtues. Taegyo respects the mother's hopes for a healthy and smart baby.

Taegyo has a long history. I could easily find its history and the contents transmitted from generation to generation through literature and folklore on several Korean websites*. Taegyo dates from the Koryo dynasty (918-1932. A.D.) in Korea. The old Korean literary works, such as Taegyohunnyo, Taegyosingi, Kyuhabchongseo, and Donguibogam provide mental and attitudinal guides for pregnant women. The most important point is the behavior of pregnant women; there are guides for maintaining the emotional stability of pregnant women, including having good carriage, guides for clothes for promoting pregnant women's health, the prohibition of certain foods and medicines, and so on. In addition, paternal Taegyo has been considered important from old traditional times until now, because it is believed to significantly influence the physical and psychological condition of the baby as well.

According to Taegyosingi, which was written in the Chosun dynasty (1932-1910) and became the foremost guide for fetal education, pregnant women need peaceful and comfortable surroundings and special care from other family members. It also recommends that pregnant women read good literature, follow the teaching of sages, look at good pictures, listen to good stories, and eat beautifully shaped foods with vivid colors. There are also many prohibited points: not to sleep with your husband; not to take any medications without caution; not to sit in cold or dirty places; not to go outside when it is dark, windy, or rainy; not to wash with cold water; not to sleep on your stomach; not to sleep after eating too much; not to whisper; not to lie or deceive; not to use abusive language. These prohibitions are based on the belief that the fetus feels exactly what the mother feels; thus pregnant woman should be careful in everyday life, and listen and speak good things and behave and think properly.

When I was pregnant in Korea, I learned the traditional Taegyo rules from my mother, mother-in-law, and grandmothers. I often talked to the baby inside my belly, listened to good music, read books, tried to sit and stand straight, and tried to eat foods that looked pretty. But it is also true that sometimes I felt traditional Teagyo had outdated or too-strict rules.

Still, my findings from doing web research have changed my opinion about Teagyo significantly. Before this I didn't know Teagyo had such a long history and more important meanings than scientific ones. I was surprised that from ancient traditional society, in which there were no methods for proving its effects scientifically, Koreans realized the importance of fetal education and recorded the recommended rules. Old Koreans understood that the fetus can see, smell, taste, feel and listen inside the mother's belly and encouraged pregnant women to listen to good music and stories, read and write poems, look at beautiful pictures, eat beautiful and fresh foods, not to think bad words, not to cry or be frightened, and so on accordingly. AlsoTaegyo enables pregnant women to avoid psychological difficulties such as depression by getting help and support from their extended family. How scientific Taegyo is!

I asked Sunoh, my mother, her opinion about Taegyo . She is 54 years old and delivered two daughters in the early 70's in Korea. Since she lives in Korea, I interviewed her by phone. After I had explained my project, she asked me why I became interested in this topic. I told her that one of reasons was that I wanted to learn from her. She seemed to be glad that she could help my study and also seemed to be proud as a woman to represent Korean culture. My interview with Sunoh revealed that she had in-depth knowledge about traditional Taegyo. There are many common points between what she said about Taegyo and what I found though the Internet, including prohibited and recommended behaviors and foods for pregnant women. I didn't realize that she had such a comprehensive and accurate understanding of Taegyo. Sunoh insisted that the behavior of a pregnant woman influences the unborn child's emotions and health and that Taegyo recommendations for pregnant women were scientifically meaningful.

I also interviewed two Korean women in the U.S.-- Seong-yeon, a 31-year-old housewife who came to the U.S. five years ago and delivered her two children here, and Dong-gyu, a 30-year-old housewife who came to the U.S. four years ago and experienced delivery both in Korea and in the U.S. I have been acquainted with both women for more than a year, and we have shared the joys and difficulties of life as the wives of graduate students in the U.S.

When I asked Seong-Yeon and Dong-kyu whether they believed in the effect of Taegyo on the baby's health, they both laughed at first and then said yes. They seemed curious why I would ask that kind of silly question. As a Korean woman, I also asked myself why I needed to ask a question I already knew the answer to. To my question about her opinion of traditional Taegyo, Seong-yeon replied, "…in some ways, Taegyo seems like superstition. But it should not be criticized, because it warns pregnant women to behave carefully and prudently." Dong-gyu presented a similar opinion. " Of course, there are superstitious respects. But I don't want to criticize it, because Taegyo is based on the experiences of old Korean peoples and has long history." This reminds me of something I read on the web: that we shouldn't regard Taegyo as merely superstitious or non-scientific beliefs and overlook its importance. Rather, we need to learn the wisdoms of our ancestors through Taegyo. Both Seong-yeon and Dong-gyu know that traditional Korean Taegyo still has a lot of meaning in modern society.

Taegyo in the U.S.
When I was pregnant in Korea, I bought many pregnancy books and read them repeatedly until I had almost memorized them. Besides traditional Taegyo from old Korean people, I learned information about modernized Taegyo from those books. Modernized Taegyo is a changed form of traditional Taegyo suitable to modern society. It includes doing moderate workouts, talking to the fetus, maintaining mental stability, reading books, and so on. I did Taegyo for my daughter based on my understanding of Taegyo, a combined form of traditional and modernized Taegyo. Later, when I had my son in the U.S., I couldn't get any of the Korean books and thus looked only at American pregnancy books. But still, what I did for my son's Taegyo had a basis in my knowledge from living in Korea. Similarly, Seong-yeon and Dong-kyu mentioned they got information about Taegyo from Korean sources, such as Korean pregnancy books and old people in their families, even though they currently lived in the U.S.

When I asked about what aspects of Taegyo they had actually followed, Seong-yeon said, "I tried to eat good foods, such as foods with protein, milk, fruits, and vegetables. And I also tried to make my mind peaceful and comfortable…". She didn't seem to receive much influence from traditional Taegyo, even though she said she heard Taegyo from old Korean people. Rather, her methods looked more similar to the recommendations for a healthy pregnancy in American pregnancy books and the Internet. To the contrary, Dong- kyu's experiences in Korea showed significant influence from traditional Taegyo. "In Korea, I often learned of foods prohibited during pregnancy, and I thought it had better follow those rules. Actually, I tried not to eat prohibited foods, such as tails of ox, feet, and so on. But in the U.S., you know, there are not many Korean foods, and thus it is easy to avoid these foods. In Korea many of the old people around me, such as my mother and mother-in-law, often told me about traditional Taegyo. But, here in the U.S, there were not as many opportunities to learn from them. You know, the situation was different." Similarly in my own experience, although my understanding of Taegyo hadn't changed, the situation made a difference in the Taegyo I actually followed between Korea and the U.S. In Korea, I spent much time with older people and tried to follow the traditional rules, especially regarding prohibited foods. But in the U.S. I didn't concern myself much about them because of the differences in the food here and also because I had a daughter to take care of. I might say that the surrounding environment, possibly "American culture," influenced our understanding of fetal education, even though we came from Korean culture.

From web research I learned that there are many common features between the Teagyo currently popular in Korea and recommendations for pregnancy health in the U.S. For example, both suggest that mothers try to be comfortable and happy, talk to the fetus inside their bellies, quit smoking and drinking, eat a well balanced diet, and so on. A common universal culture of fetal education exists across these diverse cultures, although each culture has its own specialty. I was also interested to learn that Baby's Sound, a product that enables parents and their unborn child to communicate, was made by a Korean company, MC Square (Ahn, 2000), and is getting much attention from people in the West. A mother's love for the baby inside her belly is the same no matter which culture she is in.

Postpartum Care
Samchilil ("twenty-one day") is a word that represents Korean methods of postpartum care. Koreans have long believed that a woman who has just delivered a baby should be specially cared for at least for twenty-one days following and that after that time she can lead a regular life. All the Korean websites I found explain the postpartum care based on the concept of Samchilil, although the content online about hygiene differs from the traditional postpartum care I learned from my mother and grandmother. Traditionally, it was prohibited to shower for 21 days after delivery. The 21 days of special care include rest and moderation of movement to allow for the contraction of the uterus, not eating cold or hard foods, no exposure to cold weather, and so on. It is emphasized that women who suffer exposure to cold during Samchilil tend to complain of severe joint pain, such as knee and wrist. This reminds me of an old Korean saying-- that the postpartum care during Samchilil significantly influences the mother's health.

I asked Sunoh her opinion about traditional postpartum care. I was very curious about it, because there had been some tension between us during my postpartum period-- I had disagreed with her on the issue of not taking a shower for at least a few days after delivery. She said that even though traditional postpartum care seemed nonscientific in some respects, it held important scientific truth for traditional peoples. In traditional society, where hospitals were not available to everyone and medicine was not advanced, both prohibiting a woman in childbed from taking showers and going outside during Samchilil and prohibiting outsiders from coming in to visit her and the baby were measures for preventing infection. She also told me it was not necessary to follow the traditional rules exactly, but that there are many rules that still have significance in current society, such as eating soft foods. After the interview, I realized how I ignorant had been of my own cultural heritage.

The postpartum care both Soneg-yeon and Dong-kyu followed was similar to mine. Although we delivered in the U.S., we were significantly influenced by the traditional Korean postpartum rules: for 21 days rest, don't work, stay at home, avoid direct exposure to cold, eat warm foods including brown sea-weed soup, and so on. When I asked Dongyu where she got information for her postpartum care, she replied, "Usually in Korea women have heard about traditional postpartum care from old people, and there is a strong tendency to follow that." Seong-yeon also said, "I learned about it from old Korean people in Korea, mostly traditional Korean ways of postpartum care." Howard and Berbigilia's (1997) study confirms that most Koreans expect to rest for 21 days after giving birth.

Based on my experience, I decided there was a big difference between Korean postpartum care and American; while Koreans believe women after delivery should be cared for with warm environments, warm water, and warm food, Americans don't. I asked Seong-yeon and Dongyu their opinions about this. Seong-yeaon said, "Maybe rest… In Korea, women in childbed rest a lot. But I think American women don't. An American mother takes care of her baby all alone after delivery. Also, I know an American woman who went to the recreation center with her baby three days after delivering. You know, it is common in Korea to isolate new-borns from non-family for 21days after birth. We don't even go outside with the new-born baby for 21 days." Don-gyu said, "I think there are differences in baby care. In Korea, we think a woman in childbed should not care for her baby alone. Old people say not to hold the baby for a long time. Other family members care for the new baby more than the mother does. In many cases, the mothers of women in childbed help care for the new baby, or some women in childbed go to postpartum care centers after leaving the hospital. But in the U.S. I think there is a tendency for women to care for their babies alone, such as nursing by in privacy."

When I asked Seong-yeon and Dongkyu the reasons they based their postpartum care on Korean tradition, they both laughed-- because we all agree on the answer. Seong-yeon said, " In terms of postpartum care, Korean ways are better for Korean women. I cannot say American ways are not good. But western women's constitutions are different from asian women's, and thus the American ways are not good enough for us." Don-kyu similarly said, "I think rest is important. Stay inside and lie down. I don't think recovery from labor and delivery can be done within a few days. I think Korean women need to rest after delivery for a long time. Since Americans' conditions are different from Koreans', in terms of physical constitution and diet, they might not need postpartum care like Koreans do. But I have heard that some diseases American women get in their 50's, such as osteoarthrosis, could be caused by insufficient postpartum care. I think it is better to rest for at least a month after delivery. That's good for a Korean woman's body."

Postpartum depression is one of the main issues addressed by websites dealing with pregnancy and delivery in the U.S., and so I asked Seong-yeon and Dongkyu about it. Seongyeon didn't seem to think postpartum depression was a significant issue. She said that her family, including her mother who came from Korea, helped her overcome it. According to Watkins (n.d.), "there are much less postpartum blues or depression in more traditional cultures. In these cultures, there may be special rituals that help transition the woman into her new roles as a mother. Extended family gather to provide support and instruction." Like Seong-yeon, I didn't have much difficulty in overcoming postpartum depression. In Korean culture, it is still common for extended family to help new mothers, and postpartum depression is not considered a critical issue in Korean web sites.

Me, I am Korean!
While doing this project, I felt sorry that I had thought Taegyo and postpartum care were ways of restricting a pregnant woman's life to certain limited boundaries within traditional society and that I hadn't realized their positive significances. At the same time, I felt angry that I couldn't find web sites presenting Taegyo or Korean postpartum methods in English. Without translated explanations about Taegyo and Korean postpartum care, how can people from other cultures know about these wonderful Korean heritages? Someone needs to do it. How about me? Yes, I will do it. I will translate them to bring my culture to people from all around the world.

That tells my identity-- me, I am Korean.


Reflection
After watching me doing web research about Taegyo and Korean postpartum care, my husband said to me, "You should have done that when you were pregnant for our son and for yourself." He was right, I should have. Why didn't I do that? I had biased opinions and information about traditional Korean pregnancy care. This research has been more than academic for me. I have learned a very important lesson about my culture. Even though I was raised and educated in Korea for twenty-three years, I hadn't recognized the wonderful heritages from my culture. Now, I am very proud of them.

In addition, I learned how to begin ethnographic research. I am not sure how this study should be continued in order to be ethnographic research, but I believe this short essay provides a starting point. In this essay, I focused on Teagyo and postpartum care even though I got much data also about labor and delivery experiences in the hospital. The reason for this focus is that Taegyo and postpartum care better served my goal of describing the culture of Korean women in the U.S.

During this research, I struggled with the question of how I should represent the interviewees' words in the essay. To me, and also to my interviewees, Teagyo and Samchilil are familiar words, but to readers who are not Korean these words aren't. How could I give readers accurate meanings of these words with my limited English? Still I worry about whether I have represented the cultural meanings sufficiently and whether my readers can have the image I wanted to give them about my culture.

Finally, I want to say something about the future study I will do. This topic, Women between cultures: experience in pregnancy and postpartum care, is very appealing to me, and I would like to continue researching it. To capture the culture of Korean women in the U.S. the study needs more fieldwork for longer periods of research. Probably also interviews with nurses and doctors who work in labor and delivery in U.S. hospitals, interviews with Korean women in Korea who have never been exposed to U.S. culture in terms of pregnancy and labor, interviews with American women who delivered in Korea, and fieldwork at hospitals would be useful. In addition, I would like to get a copy of the original old literature which recorded traditional Taegyo in Korea and interview scholars who have studied it. For better analysis, I think I need one or two Korean translators. I am so excited about doing it…

 

Work Cited
Ahn, S.M. (2000, March 8). "Tech Pioneer Readies for Another Quantum Leap." Korea Times. Retrieved April 9, 2001 from the World Wide Web.
Howard, J., and Berbigilia, V. (1997). "Caring for childbearing Korean women." Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecological, and Neonatal Nursing, 26 (6), 665-671.
Watkins, C.E. (n.d.). Postpartum depression. Baltimore, ML: Northern Country Psychiatric Association. Retrieved March 25, 2001, from the World Wide Web.

Web sites with information on Taegyo and Korean postpartum care:
http://www.kidsi.net
http://www.yeozawa.com/mom/pregnancy/
http://www.babynow.co.kr
http://www.us.women21.co.kr/pregnancy
http://www.sdn.com/homepage/WWW_kor/woman/ega/child
http://www.chealth.co.kr/postpartum

Home