“I was going to wrap up . . . but they
wouldn’t let me.”
Many women reported that they relied on traditional
knowledge to understand their health during
recovery and to cope with the transition of
the postpartum period, and they “just don’t mention”
their postpartum customs when they enter
the clinic setting. Of the women who participated
in this study, not one was comfortable discussing
her postpartum practices with her health care
providers. At prenatal appointments, during labor
and delivery, and in the immediate postpartum period
in the hospital, it was reported consistently
that it was important to be guarded about the
expectations of la cuarentena. Women reported
encounters with providers who discouraged them
from using herbs, taking sweat baths, and particularly
discouraged use of the faja to wrap the
belly. Without these tools for closing and healing
the body, they felt they weren’t addressing the primary
task of recovery, which was to ensure that
aire didn’t enter the body and cause serious health
problems. Although they relied on the clinic as the
ultimate authority for their child’s health, the clinic
was often referred to as irrelevant formaternal care
in the postpartum period. Women expressed sympathy
and genuine pity for the inherent knowledge
limitations in the understanding of clinicians: “they
just don’t understand,” “they don’t know,” “they
think they’re right, but they’re not,” and “they don’t
know la cuarentena.” Ultimately it was implied
that the clinicians’ limited perspective prevented
them from being of much help during postpartum
recovery.