I feel for you Mister Barfly, possibly more than I feel for your wife, cos she is Chinese I would assume she is used to all these stupid rules and possibly doesn't even think they are stupid (or does but is used to pretending to do as she is told ha ha). I just had my third baby back in the UK but received my antenatal care here and am now attending baby clinics with my 5-month old son and the crap they come out with amazes me. Some of it is just different ways of doing things, fine, but some of it is UTTER NONSENSE.
When pregnant, I was told not to walk too fast, not to get too excited, not to get too depressed, not to have sex, not to lift things (including my two other children, one of whom only weighs 12kg), not to eat too much rice/bread/potatoes/fruit, eat three eggs a day, not have too much sugar but oh, the powdered milk for pregnant woman that's sweetened, that's fine! Doing any of the things they told me not to do would very possibly cause a miscarriage, blah blah blah. I used to laugh at the pregnant women walking around like they were 90 years old - very slowly, holding someone's arm for dear life, I'm sure you've all seen them - but after hearing all the nonsense spouted by doctors I am more understanding! If this hadn't been my third child I might possibly have been so scared by all the advice from doctors and family that I would have worried that sneezing would cause me to lose the baby!!!
What makes all this nonsense about having a miscarriage seem especially over-the-top is that so many Chinese women are still doing manual labour all the way through their pregnancies and beginning again very soon after having their babies. My nanny worked in her family's fields until she was 8 months pregnant and returned to work, with the baby on her back or being looked after at home by someone else, a month after giving birth.
Now with my baby I am forever told he isn't wearing enough clothes, yet at the same time they obviously think I am doing something right as everyone wants to know how I feed him. I should say here he is a very plump, good-sized baby, and when people hear he is now on formula milk they want to know what brand I use and get quite disappointed when I explain that I brought it myself from the UK (so they have no chance to use the same one).
Sorry for going on but you've touched a nerve here, now that most city dwellers only have one child they really do take the business of being pregnant and raising a child FAR TOO SERIOUSLY. So good luck for surviving the next 5 months (and beyond, cos the interfering won't stop with the birth, oh noooo) and here's hoping Mrs Barfly has an easy pregnancy.