Pregnancy Report- Week 33

Trien has had some pain this week. It has been under her ribs, on the right side. There is something like a little bubble there. I can feel it when I rub my hand over her tummy. It feels like a hernia, or something else that shouldn't be there. Naturally, I was concerned.

She asked me to massage it, and when I did, she gave a little yelp of pain, and asked me to rub lighter. Not that I was doing a Chuck Norris on it in the first place.

I asked her if she wanted to go to the doctor. She said she was OK, and would be all right. In the mean time, I was privileged to see the complete range of every pained expression she could manage. All the while she kept insisting she was all right, but that did little to calm my anxiety.

Finally she said she wanted to try a remedy that the local Filipinas recommended to her, one that they had used during their pregnancies- some Chinese "black oil".

The next day we went to one of the Chinese pharmacies located throughout Taiping. The older woman behind the counter was a bit taken aback to see a westerner, and what she took to be a Malay woman, entering her establishment and asking for a Chinese remedy. Nonetheless, she was friendly, and curious, of course. Why would we be walking in there asking for something only Chinese knew about?

So we told her the story- we live here, she's a Filipina, we met in the Philippines, our friends recommended the remedy, etc. Anyway, we got the "black oil" home, and Trien used it right away. It seems to be an all natural herbal remedy, different herbs dissolved in an alcohol base. It makes Trien smell like a spice store, but in a good way. For me, it is a strangely comforting smell. I like it, but I can't tell you why.

It didn't work right away, but it does work! The pain is mostly gone. She farted really loudly a couple of times, quite unlike the lady that she is, and that really helped. Relief comes before propriety in any case. I know that from experience, too.

So now Trien uses this black oil stuff 6 or 7 times a day. Hey, if it works, what do I care? Let me try some of that stuff, too!

The label on the bottle makes it sound like this stuff will cure whatever ails ya. Seems like they claim it cures everything from flatulence to minor pains to headaches to skin diseases to anything short of cancer. If that's true, then I should get a gallon of this stuff, and just rub it all over my body.

Or better yet, have Trien do it for me!