Q&A

1. How are the preparations for the Pillsbury event going? --MyBuddyMimi

Very well, thank you! (And there is still time to vote for Scott's recipe!) Scott's even been on local TV. We'll be going to Dallas in a month so he can compete and I can laze around the hotel with only a newborn to keep me company. Aaahhh.... [Edited to add: Yet another photographer came to take pictures last night. Good thing I cleaned the kitchen.]

2. Helen's birth story? --Mommy Daisy and Saly

My induction was scheduled for 7 am on January 25, so my mom and my sister arrived at our house at oh-god-thirty (as my grandmother would say). Mom stayed with the kids, and Scott and Emily and I headed to the hospital. Because I love my particular OB/GYN, we had to travel to a hospital about 30 minutes away from our house, yet a different thirty-minute-away hospital from the one where Eli was born. So, three deliveries, three different hospitals. Anyway, we arrived and a very nice woman checked me in, saying, "In just a few hours, they'll be calling me with the registration information for your baby." Yeah....
We went to the maternity ward and after answering a billion questions, my lovely nurse, who looks like my college roommate, started the Pitocin. (Also, my doctor checked in before he went into surgery.) Aaannd, they upped the Pitocin and kept upping it all day long. By mid-afternoon, I was one or two clicks away from the highest level, and... nothing. My doctor stopped back in and prepared me for the possibility of stopping the Pitocin, letting me rest overnight, and starting again in the morning. Because of my earlier experience, this did not thrill me. The nurses and dr. kept asking if I wanted an epidural, but what little contractions I was having were not painful at all, and if I had to stay overnight, I didn't want to be coming off an epidural. So, we waited. (Emily and Scott are old pros at waiting around the hospital, so they came armed with books, movies on the laptop, and money for the cafeteria.)
Around 5:30-6 pm, my doctor came back in and checked me, and I'd made it all the way to three centimeters. He said we could wait overnight, or he could break my water. "Break it!" The contractions immediately became stronger, and yes, I wanted an epidural. The anesthesiologist was on his way in to the hospital to give an epidural to another woman; he'd see me after her. Did I want other pain meds? I decided I didn't at the last second. They tend to make me really loopy, and I didn't want to be out of it. Instead, I got to have lots of undulled Pitocin contractions. The anesthesiologist came to see me around 8ish. The night-shift nurse (who was awesome) checked me before he began, and I was at 4 cm. By the time he was done setting up the epidural, it was 8:45 pm. The nurse checked me again and said, "You're at 10 cm!" Me: "????" They hurriedly called the dr. and started bringing in all kinds of equipment and supplies. At a little after 9 I was told that the dr. was in the building and that I could go ahead and push. I pushed 2-3 times, and Helen was born at 9:17 pm.



3. Enough of this baby stuff. How about some new recipes and dairy-free content, Girlie? --Various

Dairy-Free Meat Pie (from my neighbor, Tracy, who is a saint)

1 lb+ ground beef
2/3 lb pork sausage (Tracy recommends Jimmy Dean.)
Brown meat and add a sprinkle of minced, dried onion. Drain off fat, reserving about 1 tablespoon.
Mix together with:
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/4 teaspoon sage
black pepper
Set aside.
To the 1 tablespoon of reserved pan drippings, add:
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon beef bouillon
1/2 cup water
Boil down for a few minutes into a gravy. Add the gravy to the meat mixture. Put the filling in a double-crust pie (Pillsbury refrigerated crust is dairy free). Brush the top crust with egg white and sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds. (Optional, of course.) Bake at 425 for 40 minutes.

Tracy delivered it to us assembled but unbaked, so we could cook it when we wanted to. We served it with applesauce and green beans. It is sooo good. I can't wait to make it myself.

I've made some new dairy-free contacts over the past couple of months, or rather they've contacted me. Say hello to WEGO Health, Whey Out Chocolate, Boys Rule My Life, and The Boy Loves to Read, who reminded me that I need to order some Mabel's Labels for the fall.