You know the only time you will hear more about silly superstitions is when you are pregnant. And suddenly all those ridiculous, kaypoh aunties, friends, relatives, strangers will have some so-called ‘ancient wisdom’ to share with you. Most likely the ‘ancient wisdom’ is some silly superstition and really stupid unproven myths and old wives’ tales.
I mean, hello? What century are we in now? If I recalled rightly, I thought we are no longer in the Dark Ages but some of these superstitious lot insists on living in the dark ages. Really. They might as well stop watching TV, stop staying in the modern world and retreat to some cave in some jungles to live in.
Here are some of the superstitions (pregnancy myths and general myths) I was forced to listen to…
1. Using the scissors to cut something when pregnant will cause cleft palate for the baby – YEAH, RIGHT. Blame it on the mother. I don’t understand why all these stupid superstitions will ALWAYS blame the mother for everything and in such unproven, illogical ways too. If it’s something the mother ate or smoked, then I agree but using the scissors (and not to injure the baby but to cut something like paper )??????? COME ON. Use your brains to think logical thoughts, will you?
The real cause of cleft palate or cleft lips are as below:
The cause of cleft lip and cleft palate formation can be genetic in nature. A specific variation in a gene that can have abnormalities causing the Van der Woude Syndrome increases threefold the occurrence of these deformities has been identified by Zucchero et al. in 2004[8] as reported by the BBC.[9]
Environmental influences may also cause, or interact with genetics to produce, orofacial clefting. Some environmental factors that have been studied include: seasonal causes (such as pesticide exposure); maternal diet and vitamin intake; retinoids- which are members of the vitamin A family; anticonvulsant drugs; alcohol; cigarette use; nitrate compounds; organic solvents; parental exposure to lead; and illegal drugs (cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, etc).
If a person is born with a cleft, the chances of that person having a child with a cleft, given no other obvious factor, rises to 1 in 14. Research continues to investigate the extent to which Folic acid can reduce the incidence of clefting.
In some cases, cleft palate is caused by syndromes which also cause other problems. Stickler’s Syndrome can cause cleft lip and palate, joint pain, and myopia. Loeys-Dietz syndrome can cause cleft palate or bifid uvula, hypertelorism, and aortic aneurysm. Cleft lip/palate may be present in many different chromosome disorders including Patau Syndrome (trisomy 13). Many clefts run in families, even though there does not seem to be any identifiable syndrome present. – Wikipedia
2. Sewing while pregnant will cause the needle to injure the baby’s guardian angel and the guardian angel may disappear and leave the baby unguarded – Yeah, RIGHT. I am sure guardian angels are SO FRAGILE and BLIND that they can get injured by the poke of a needle…that is if there is such a thing as guardian angels.
3. Swimming can cause miscarriage – yes and I am sure, sleeping will also cause miscarriage. In fact, the mere fact of me breathing may cause miscarriage. Honestly…the things that people believe.
4. Looking at ugly living things like monkey will result in the baby looking exactly like that and looking at cute baby pictures will result in baby looking exactly like that – so, if I am having a girl, I should stare at Megan Fox…no wait, bad idea. We don’t even know if she’s a she or a he…but back to the looking at whatever will influence the baby’s looks. This really reminds me of a joke I read a while back:
A Chinese couple got married and on their honeymoon night, the couple decided to watch porn to ‘heat’ up their night. However, the husband couldn’t find any porn with Asian couples and so bought one showing African-American couples.
Nine months later, the wife delivered a very dark-skinned baby with thick lips and features resembling African-Americans and instead of the husband getting all worked up, the wife promptly slap the husband.
“This is all because of your African-American porn. See? Now we get a dark-skinned baby because we were watching that when the baby is conceived,” she screamed.
Enuff said.
5. The number 4 is extremely bad luck because it sounds like death in Chinese while the number 8 is good luck because it sounds like prosperous – and I suppose we must not forget the western superstition of 13 being unlucky and 666 being the number of the devil. I know we humans tend to discriminate against a lot of things but numbers too? What next? D is a bad alphabet because its the fourth in the alphabets?
6. Sex during pregnancy may give the baby bad skin / may scare the baby / may cause the baby to have a smashed nose – sure, as if the man’s penis is SO exceptionally long that it can reach right into the womb, go into the amniotic sac and smash the baby’s nose. I know all men think their ‘equipment’ is large, big, long, whatever but please. Get over yourselves! The baby is so far up and protected in the amniotic sac that whatever you do down there won’t affect it. The only danger of having sex during pregnancy is when you have pregnancy complications and the doctor advised you to abstain.
7. Any form of exercise for pregnant women is dangerous – unless you have a very problematic pregnancy with all sorts of complications and threatened miscarriage, then this may be an advice given out by the doctor. But if you have a healthy pregnancy and everything is as normal and as it should be, not all exercises are prohibited. In fact, safe exercises like walking, swimming, pregnancy yoga and even certain strength training specifically for pregnant women are actually good to strengthen your body, muscles, health, etc.
8. Eating oranges and drinking coconut juice when pregnant will cause the baby to have plenty of phlegm – although some of the foods we eat do affect the baby in a way, there are just some myths that we should not simply follow without checking with the right people – the doctors. I checked this with the doctor and he said it is pure utter rubbish. Phlegm is caused by a reaction by our body when we are under attack by a virus. What the heck does it have to do with oranges and coconut juice? Beats me.
9. It is absolutely bad luck to open an umbrella indoors – If by that you mean it may poke the eyes of someone nearby out, then I have to agree. Unfurling an umbrella in a confined place is pretty dangerous, what with all the pointy parts and such but if there’s no one else around and it’s a big huge room, what’s so bad luck about it?
10. Drinking coffee or eating anything that’s too dark (like dishes cooked in soya sauce) will give the baby dark skin – yes, sure. So, if I want a fair baby, I just drink bleach.
Well, that’s it for now. If you have any stupid superstitions to share, please do. I shall have every pleasure of debunking it and trampling on it.
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