What Was the Last Meal You Ate Before Giving Birth?
Before my first child, Max, was born (three weeks early via unexpected C-section), my sister-in-law showed up at the hospital with take-out from my favorite Chinese restaurant. Crispy spring rolls! General Tso’s tofu! Stir-fried noodles! What a perfect meal to indulge in before welcoming a baby into the world. Unfortunately, I had forgotten about the no-eating-before-surgery rule. My last meal turned out to be ice chips.
Curious, I reached out to six fellow food writers to ask about their last meals before giving birth. From a feast of Georgian dumplings to a dinner at the same Italian restaurant where the couple ate before conceiving their baby, the answers did not disappoint…
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“My plan was to meet friends at a hole-in-the-wall Georgian restaurant at the far end of Brooklyn. It was five degrees out, the subway got screwed up, and I wound up walking alone in a neighborhood I was not exactly familiar with. But when I arrived, it was like a big party. We talked and toasted, and I ate my weight in khinkali dumplings, lamb soup, borscht, sausages with plum sauce, and lots of pickles. When I finally went to bed, I woke up three hours afterward and thought, ‘Is this indigestion or am I in labor?’ I think you know the answer.” — Sarah Karnasiewicz, features editor at The Wall Street Journal and writer of Magpie
“In early July, I was 39 weeks pregnant, so we were taking all the walks to bring on labor. We passed an ice cream shop, and I was struck with this deep, almost violent craving for chocolate ice cream. I ordered a cone and my husband said, ‘We will share it.’ And I said, ‘Absolutely not, get your own.’ Six hours later, when we were heading to bed, I leaned forward to give my husband a kiss good night and my water broke!” — Rachel Tepper Paley, Digital Editorial Director at Wine Enthusiast Magazine
“I was fiercely willing my daughter to join us before I’d need to be induced, and one piece of advice I got for speeding things up was: ‘Babies like to come when it’s inconvenient, so make it inconvenient.’ After contractions woke me up at 6 a.m., they stayed weak and fleeting all day, so my husband and I made things inconvenient by going to the legendary Park Slope restaurant Al Di La. When I sat down with a bowl of pasta bolognese, my contractions suddenly became more insistent. By the time my husband’s profiteroles dropped, we knew we had to grab our go bag and rush to the hospital. Later that week, we went back to pick up the credit card we’d left in the blur.” — Kristen Miglore, author of the Genius Recipes cookbook series and co-author of the forthcoming The Montessori Kitchen
“My due date was the following week, and my dad had already come to town. We all went out to a local BBQ spot. My sweet tooth was insane, so for dessert, I ordered a mini buffet of everything they had — I remember the pecan pie was so good. I told my sister that I was having Braxton Hicks at the table, but now I know they were real contractions because my water broke the next morning. Looking back at the family photo from that night, I can see it was so obvious that I was gonna pop!” — Jerrelle Guy, author of Black Girl Baking and the forthcoming We Fancy
“Two weeks past my due date, I strolled to a nearby bakery solo for the perfect chocolate croissant. On my way back, I had my first contraction. Forty-four hours later, our baby girl was born. Her birth was a marathon, and that single chocolate croissant kept me going for nearly two days. Fifteen years later, it’s still one of my favorite foods, and now hers.” — Sarah Copeland, author of The Newlywed Cookbook and Every Day is Saturday, and writer of Edible Living
“My evening induction got canceled because there were no available beds. So, my partner and I decided to go out for one last meal before the baby arrived. We went to Frankies Spuntino in Brooklyn, and I ate their decadent eggplant parm. Frankies is also where we ate the night our son was conceived. It was one of the first dinners out we’d had since the beginning of the pandemic; I drank an ice-cold olive oil martini and was giddy with the freedom of eating in a restaurant. Needless to say, I did not have a martini with dinner nine months later, but I did leave happy and ready for the promise of a new life in the morning.” — Sari Kamin, author of the forthcoming Honey & Schmaltz
Leah Koenig is the freelance writer and the award-winning author of seven Jewish cookbooks. She also writes the newsletter The Jewish Table. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.
P.S. Five gifts for new moms, and what was your first meal after giving birth?
(Photo by Amor Burakova/Stocksy.)
Comments
84 commentsI’m embarrassed to say a McDonald’s Egg McMuffin, lol. I’d been contracting all throughout the night, but they stopped before morning. I had complications with the pregnancy, so I was already scheduled for an ultrasound that day. Our doctor told us to come in for the appointment and that I would likely be induced, so on the way to the hospital we stopped through McDonald’s for the Egg McMuffin, which was one of the only things I could stomach (I was nauseous throughout the entire pregnancy). When we got to the hospital, I checked in for the u/s, stepped into the bathroom, and my water broke. Our son was born later that afternoon.
I ate a McDonald’s Bacon Egg and Cheese Biscuit, which is one of my favorite foods in the world! My water broke early that morning, so we stopped to get breakfast at Micky D’s. It was nice because I also had a BEC Biscuit the morning I found out I was pregnant with my son 9 months earlier :)
My sister, brother-in-law, and 11 month niece had just left from a lovely visit. We watched the 2006 World Cup final game between France snd Italy. The one when the player from France charges his head into the Italian player. Italy won so we went out for Italian. When we got home, I had a sobfest that my sister had left and that I was never going to go into labor. I think the sobfest was actually part of early labor. My son was born the next afternoon.
The last meal I ate before my oldest daughter was born was taco salad. I ate it completely not in labor and then had a baby a few hours later. Despite the fact that I threw it up at the hospital, I still insist on eating the same exact salad every night before her birthday – my last meal before becoming a mom.
Aspargus. And after I had to pee in a cup in the hospital EVERYBODY knew, too!
We have a tradition of serving the last meal I ate before the baby at that baby’s first birthday party. Nothing too wild so far – BBQ and chili bar!
Chinese takeout eaten on my in-laws sectional on New Year’s Eve! Our baby girl surprised us New Year’s Day with a semi urgent c-section in the afternoon. We still can’t believe she was born on 01/01 but celebrating her birthday now is SO much fun.
I remember what I ate before (and after!) with each of my four, but the best story is my second— my mom was in town to help and for some reason I was bound and determined to make a very complicated meal for us all that evening, with a recipe I had never tried that involved multiple pots and pans and chopping all the things + roasting other things, all while in early labor! I kept having to sit down for little breaks and it took forever. My husband and mom knew better than to argue but I think they really wished we had just ordered a pizza or something.
2 weeks late and dreading my 5 pm induction, I was delirious from unknowingly being 8 cm dilated, but with no beds available I was stuck waiting. I live in Toronto, an amazing food city, with everything on Uber Eats, but my mind randomly chose Panera bread? Needless to say I did not have a single bite of the Mac and cheese or broccoli soup I ordered. But I did go into labour at exactly 5 pm :) My last meal was SUPPOSED to be Pearl Morrisette, but I guess it’s best to go when I can enjoy the wine course.
I chose the hospital where I delivered my second child for three reasons: 1. Great reputation 2. My doctor delivered babies there 3. It is located three blocks away from a little market that makes my favorite sandwiches After giving birth, my husband brought me my favorite meal from that market: A Parisian Sandwich (baguette with mayo, brie cheese, sliced turkey, lettuce, and cranberry chutney), a bag of Route 11 sour cream and chive chips, and a large, unsweetened iced tea. It was the best meal of my life!
You know what, I don’t remember for sure. Here is what I do recall: that Thursday I made happy hour at home for my husband and I. Some appetizer I do not recall. Previous to this I had taken a nap in fresh sheets and my husband and I had great sex that evening. Such a perfect last day just the two of us. The following day I had a membrane sweep and I would bet we grabbed our favorite burgers after, I craved cheeseburgers, fries, and sprite with my first. Contractions started that night and I gave birth 42 hours later. I am now 30 weeks with number two and want to have a beef and root vegetable stew in early labor to sustain me!
My mom ate at the same steak restaurant the night before both my brother and I were born. I also ate there the night I felt my oldest baby kick for the first time! We obviously leaned into the superstition and I insisted on a steak dinner near my due dates. Sadly it didn’t work for either of my deliveries, but I still highly encourage other parents to keep trying anyway.
12 days before our due date and 5 before our planned c-section with my third baby (following 2 un-planned c-sections her brothers), we went out for Lebanese food on my birthday. We talked about baby names and joked that I would surely go into labour that night and have to go in with garlicky breath after eating all the hummus etc. And of course my water broke a few hours later and baby girl arrived the next morning. The best birthday present ever.
For my first, we had just finished leftovers from a delicious and spicy « poulet à l’arachide » (chicken in a creamy peanut sauce) cooked the night before by a friend who visited from Mali. I was putting my plate in the dishwasher when my waters broke spectacularly! I cannot remember what I ate for my second and for my third, I was induced and my main concern was that I had to be fasting 12hours before. It’s for security reasons officially but I still find it quite stupid as in not induced labor you cannot prescribe this. Anyway, still thinking about the chicken !
Not my last meal, but my first after Max was born was strawberries and whipped cream that my husband had a friend bring over while we were in labor. They were sweet and delicious. Barry is neonatologist and when the baby emerged he knew immediately that he had Down syndrome. He didn’t tell me for our first hour. I ate strawberries and enjoyed my perfect baby for a blissful hour before I had to face the difficult future. It is the greatest gift he ever gave me.
This is so lovely and so moving, Sue.
My mom vividly remembers that they went to a Mexican restaurant, and she ordered enchiladas. When the food arrived, hers was floating in grease. Being overdue, she wasn’t having it. So my dad ate it, on top of what he’d ordered, and got food poisoning. Then they got some TCBY, and that’s when my mom’s contractions started.
For my first, I had some chilli that a friend had brought over the night before. lol I will never forgive her for having the stinkiest labor of all time. For my second I had the hospital’s meal: roast beef au jus with mashed potatoes. It would normally never appeal to me but it was SO DELICIOUS at that point.
The night my second son was born we had gone out for our last dinner as a family of 3. I ate The Perfect Storm pizza – a bit of spicy pepperoni must have moved things along – and he was born, all 9 lbs of him, about 4 hours later!
Left work early and felt nauseous/hungry so I stoped for fries and a chocolate milkshake to see if that helped, baby was born the next morning – two weeks early!
As a result of several complications, my first pregnancy ended in stillborn twins, however at the end we knew they wouldn’t make it, and my saint of a sister brought us Thai food from our favorite restaurant which happened to be around the corner from the hospital I delivered at. We thought that would be our last meal with them, but our last meal actually ended up being the biggest “feast” of every vegan food option the hospital had available (we eat a mostly plant-based diet)—knowing the circumstances of our pregnancy and impending delivery, our angel nurse raided the cafeteria as well as the nurse’s kitchen and pulled out all the stops to treat us as a sort of a last supper with our babies. (Side note: We ended up sending a thank you note and flowers to this angel nurse and she sent us a response with a sweet ornament that reminded her of the names we gave our twins). Nearly two years later, 39 weeks pregnant with our twins’ little brother and approaching Christmas Day, my partner and I were watching holiday movies on the sofa and had just finished a hearty dinner of pan seared gnocchi with sautéed vegetables in a *very* spicy jerk sauce. As I sat on the sofa waiting for him to brew us each a mug of herbal tea, my water broke—it was a trickle, really. Our son would be born 23 hours later, so that large last meal was a saving grace as I—like others who have shared their own stories here—could not eat during labor, not because of doctors’ orders but because I couldn’t keep anything down. And as far as the first meal after delivery, hospital food never tasted so good. However, upon our return home, we were nourished by the biggest act of love: My mother and that same saint of a sister had spent hours cooking us recipes from The First Forty Days book and stocked our fridge and freezer while we were at the hospital to get us through some of those first weeks and months of winter hibernation with our rainbow Winter Solstice baby. Love this prompt for gathering so many lovely souls and stories together and inviting one of the most delightful meanders down so very many sweet memory lanes.
Hollly this brought me to tears and made my heart expand to the moon. What love. What tenderness. Sending sooo much love your way!
I had heard that our local Italian hole in the wall had an eggplant parm that put you into labor so on my “due date” we went for a big dinner along with our closest family friends. I ordered “the thing that starts labor”, finished it, woke up in labor 6 hours later and 11 hours after that my baby was born. My midwife, 3 coworkers and a friend later told me they had similar paths to labor!
I was induced with my first baby 3 months ago and was directed by my OB to eat “something you wouldn’t mind seeing come back up later.” Chicken pho seemed like a great choice. My husband and I enjoyed our last supper before our son joined us 17 hours later!
That made me laugh! I almost forgot that I threw up after my first delivery from the deliriousness of it all
I was eating a giant bowl of vanilla ice cream covered in peanut butter when I realized it was time to head to the hospital! I couldn’t finish it, but was totally worth it:)
i don’t remember what i ate before my daughter was born, but i remember that just after, a friend swung by the hospital with a coconut popsicle and a split of champagne, just for me. It was August, that popsicle was perfect and i really enjoyed secretly sipping my personal bottle of wine.
I’ll never forget what I ate, because like many other commenters, it all came back up through the course of my labor. We drove from MA to CT to my sister-in-law’s house, where we ate lasagna. About halfway home I started to wonder if I was in labor. When we got home around midnight, my water broke and we had the answer. I spent the next five hours in and out of the shower, barfing and more. Once I got to the hospital and there was no more getting up, I clung to the little kidney bowl. It took a while for me to try lasagna again. The night after our son was born, my husband brought food from our favorite neighborhood Lebanese restaurant and it tasted so good! Funny thing, for years and years, my son always wanted dinner on his actual birthday to be at that restaurant. He must have had a taste of it in my milk and started his love of their food a few days in.
With my first baby, my water broke in the morning so I went to the hospital, but they sent me home because I wasn’t dilated and I wasn’t really contracting – with strict orders to return in 12 hours or when I felt contractions pick up. Knowing it would likely be my last meal for awhile, we went to Jersey Mike’s. I had such bad acid reflux the whole time I was pregnant and I lived off of their turkey sandwiches (warmed, with extra mayo (don’t even normally like mayo)). When we went to the restaurant they asked when I was due and I told them I was in labor right then!! They were so excited the manager came out and gave us a bunch of free sandwich coupons. So, for my next two kids, naturally I made sure to get Jersey Mike’s as our last meal before the hospital (both induced with various degrees of warning). It really is the best meal because it’s very filling but is pretty bland in case you get sick later!!
Saltines and a cheese stick in the non-stress test exam room, followed by a self-administered blood sugar test. Insulin-controlled gestational diabetes had me on a short leash and a schedule. An hour later, I was texting my spouse to drive over and getting prepped for a very necessary c-section three days early than planned.
Why is this so oddly fascinating?! I was in the hospital after my water broke at 33 weeks (but I wasn’t in labor – didn’t know that was a thing!) and my husband and I both chose to believe the babies were gonna stay put for a few weeks, despite the odds, so at my insistence, he went to a work party (!!!). My parents came to the hospital with Panera for me. Several hours later and voila! Suddenly I was a mom of two perfect little premies :)
With my third baby, I went to dinner at a Thai restaurant, ate too much, went to bed, rolled over, something squashed, waters broke , into labour, the end.
lol this made me literally laugh out loud- the end!
Before my first (also three weeks early!), I had a waffle with peanut butter and honey. It was filling and powered me through my quick labor. Second I woke up to my water breaking so I didn’t eat until after she was born. Luckily it was only 2.5 hours! My last I also woke up to water breaking (oops) but my midwives were worried I needed some energy so they feed me watermelon during labor. It was so sweet and juicy and delicious! And then after, when I was showering, my doula fed me trail mix. I. Love. Midwives.
I have no idea what my last meal before either of my kids’ births was. I do, however, remember vividly how GOOD the post-birth apple juice tasted!
Everything about both of my labours is so vivid to me EXCEPT my last meals before they started! I had two home births so I was able to keep eating while I was in early labour, but once I was in active labour I wasn’t thinking about eating at all. My first labour with our son was twenty three hours, and I was a week past my due date, so I was especially grateful for the energy! With our daughter it was very quick though, she was three weeks early and labour was just an hour and ten minutes (our midwives do one midwife at a hospital birth and two at a home birth, but she came so fast that she was already born by the time the second midwife arrived!). The meals after I remember more clearly – bagels after our first was born in the morning, and sushi after our second in the late afternoon. But the most vivid food memories are the lemon cake I made after I passed my due date with our first (smitten kitchen’s ciambellone) and the hundreds of snack plates my husband made me postpartum, both times – each one was absolutely loaded with persian cucumbers cut into little rounds, tomatoes, different kinds of cheese, salami, multiple kinds of crackers, etc. Everything was bite-sized and such a good mix of fresh, crunchy, salty, creamy – it was such a nourishing act of love, and the most satisfying thing ever while nursing!
My birthday cake! My second child was a precipitous birth; I knew I was in early labor but didn’t realize how far along I was, so we ended up having friends over for pizza and chocolate cake to celebrate my 30th birthday. Just as the last of my friends were finishing up the dinner dishes and leaving, the contractions hit HARD. My daughter was born just over an hour later, on my birthday :)
When we had our first, we were living in a 1925 bungalow right outside of Chicago and the previous owners had spent a lot of time and money preserving the historic charm but also modernizing it a bit too…except they didn’t add a microwave? We lived with it that way for almost 2 years but once I got pregnant, I decided I’d probably need quick access to re-heated beverages :) and there was space above the stove to add one. Well…that sucker ended up getting delivered and installed the day I went into active labor at 41 weeks (induction was scheduled that night!) so my last meal was….Easy Mac and a chicken sausage – prepared in the blessed new microwave before I left for the hospital LOL
Am I the only one that doesn’t remember? The last few weeks of my pregnancies were tough– I had food aversions, heartburn, and my stomach was squished. In labor, nothing stayed down anyway. But man, those breastfeeding days– I’ve never been so hungry as when I was nursing a 3-month-old. Burgers, milkshakes, giant bowls of ice cream. Never enough!
I had my first in May of 2020. I was a week out from my due date with no signs of any labor. We were all working at home and my lovely colleagues sent me an entire CASE of Magnolia Bakery banana pudding because they knew I liked it. It arrived right as I checked a missed voicemail from my OB (did the phone ring? how did I miss that call earlier today?) telling me to come to the hospital ASAP. My labs came back and they needed to induce. So as we rushed around the house getting ready to go, I ate an entire pint of banana pudding:)
This feels very timely as I’m writing this with my 11 day old asleep on my chest. :) My last meal ended up being a surprisingly good pork carnitas bowl from the hospital cafeteria! We went in with a suspected partial rupture of my membranes on New Years Day and my sweet boy ended up coming into the world a day later. What I really remember though is the apple juice an amazing nurse got me a two hours into my 2.5 (!!!) hours of pushing to get him here. By that point I was soooooo exhausted and that little bit of sugar really helped get me across the finish line. I honestly still can’t believe I did it! It’s crazy that everyone comes into the world this way. Also, I had posted on the “Low Key Winter Checklist” post about having a newborn in January and I want to thank whoever suggested making a thermos of herbal tea for the late night feeds! It feels like such a luxury to have a hot beverage while feeding a snuggly baby in the middle of a chilly night.
Before my first birth I ate sweet potato curry my husband had made. I was so nauseas (HG) I could only eat a little and we had leftovers. After she was born (at home because I decided mid labour I did not want to go to hospital) the nausea was gone and I was so intensly grateful for that leftover curry. Before my second birth (also at home, decided long before the birth) I ate homemade vegetable soup, just as nauseas. And as I am typing this I realise I threw up both last meals during labour! Haha, but food was so incredibly delicious once the nausea was gone.
I liked this article and reading the comments so much. When my first child was born my mom visited us all the way from Europe to spend the first days with me as a new born mom. When I went into labor she cooked a big pot of creamy vegtable noodles (a childhood classic of my family) and between my contraccions I ate 2 or 3 big plates before heading to the hospital. I was over 24h in labour and her dish helped me to power trough this marathon. =)
The only food I remember was snacking on like two dried mandarin oranges during labor and then promptly puking them up. I have no memory of eating until about a week later when my father in law made pork sandwiches with broccoli rabe and it is still one of my favorite meals ever.
I made homemade pizza and all through labor I was smelling red onion on my hands…don’t recommend. Have someone else dice your onions if you’re close to the end. :D
When waiting for my first I was so in my head at the unknown of labor and the change of motherhood. I was overdue for an induction but the hospital didn’t have room for two days. On the second day, I let my parents know and my mom threw an impromptu family dinner. It was so nice to be cooked for and distracted by my parents and sister while waiting. I still remember sitting in the sun and finally relaxing into “what happens, happens”.
We ate Thai food for dinner on the day our son was born. We went shopping for baby supplies. And then we were told we would need to wait for him for another week. We finally held our son for the first time when he was 9 days old. We were so happy to adopt him and bring him home.
Thank you for writing this lovely response. While I enjoyed reading everyone’s reply I wasn’t going to comment as I didn’t give birth to my child. We got the phonecall for an adoption match. He had just been born and we could meet him the next day. We had plans to join friends for dinner at a barbecue restaurant and enjoyed a surreal meal knowing we were about to become parents to our son the next day!
ohh, I love this prompt and reading all of the responses! I haven’t often included this when thinking of my two birth stories, but the prior meal is absolutely part of the story. before the birth of my first son, my husband and I went out to dinner at our favorite restaurant and I enjoyed my favorite crab cakes, a photo of which is the last picture in my phone before pictures of my sweet boy (who was born prematurely). The evening before my daughter was born, my husband, son, and I went out to eat – and this time the last photo on my phone is of the sunlight in the trees as we walked past a park to our car after dinner. (meal not so memorable, but since we didn’t eat out often due to my son’s allergies, the experience is one I treasure). Crazy enough, both of my labors started at basically the same time (10:10pm and 10:15pm) and in the same way (sitting on sofa, jumped up when water broke) — AND I had the SAME amazing labor and delivery nurse with me for BOTH experiences!!!
My grandad, a Yorkshireman who needs at least three square meals a day, never forgave me for being born at dinnertime. All he had to eat was a Mars bar from the vending machine, which is “not a proper tea”. I’m 40 now and he still hasn’t gotten over the day he had to go without his dinner.
I have no memory of my last meal before my first because my water broke unexpectedly in the middle of the night two weeks early (and it was like a flood, not a trickle at all!) and due to baby’s transverse position, I was off for a quick c-section. I do remember the hospital giving me the most mediocre tuna sandwich the next day and while I was eating it with baby snuggled in one arm, I thought “ahh this is the life.” I laugh also at the fact that the idea of ordering food to the hospital did not cross my mind. Here I am eating a lame sandwich and my husband eating junk from the cafeteria, and we did not even considering ordering delivery! I’m pregnant again now and already thinking so much more about food! Snacks to fuel me in labour (if we have a home birth as I hope)! All the sushi I want to eat afterwards! All the food I want to prep to have on hand for postpartum! I was so unprepared last time since he surprised us early, plus it was during the pandemic so no one was really around to help cook or bring us food. This time will be better!
Jealous of all these women! I had zero appetite for both pregnancies and even threw up the morning of my scheduled c-section with my second. It took a long time get my appetite back. Sending love to all the moms dealing with “morning sickness” that actually lasts all day long and the entire pregnancy. You’ve got this!
I have no recollection of the prebirth meals, but the post birthmeals I remember because I was soooo hungry and they tasted so good! With my oldest son I recall a cold corona and sushi. With my younger son I believe it was a roast beef sandwich. And also, I am glad I had the foresight to bring the banana muffins I had made with me to the hospital because after he was born I think I ate one muffin per hour for 12 hours, I was so ravenous and there is no food service at 2 am lol. Also a side gem, this post prompted me to go look at photos from my last birth and I found a photo showing me holding my little guys hand for the first time. I recall feeling numb and overwhelmed after that precipitous and painful 3 hour labor so it was nice to just feel the emotion of meeting him for the first time, how glorious ❤️
Couldn’t be more timely! My due date for my second bb girl is tomorrow and I keep wondering what my last delicious meal will be! Will report back when she joins us…!
So bummed to say my last meal was moussaka from my favorite Greek place in Astoria because roughly 5 hours after eating it, it all came back up and I haven’t been able to stomach it since!!
I don’t remember my last meal because baby came a few weeks late, and we had a home birth so I snacked all throughout labor. But one of the warmest memories was getting in bed with my minutes old baby while my husband fed me soup and sourdough I made the day before.
First baby I was laboring at home and my husband warmed up some bone broth for me to sip out of a mug that said “you rock”. A little while later, I threw up all that nice warm bone broth all over him. He had to hop in the shower and I was like, I’m coming with you because I don’t want to have this next contraction without you to help. Baby was born later that day in our bathroom but the plan was a hospital birth. 2nd baby we were on our way to the hospital (hahah lesson was well learned I want some pros around me) and I had my eyes closed to focus. We had been on our way to lunch when the contractions had made it clear we needed to scoot so I was also hungry. My husband feed me grapefruit pieces, baby was born with a midwife rubbing my back in a (battery powered) candle light bathroom with jasmine oil and jazzy blues playing. After both babies I ate Korean Seaweed Stew I made, recipe from the 40 Days book.
I gave birth in Tokyo, and the night before my scheduled delivery they brought me a traditional Japanese “teishoku” meal — a platter with a main, side dish, pickled vegetables, miso soup, rice, and a cup of warm hojicha. This kicked off a week of teishoku 3x a day for the entirety of my stay in the hospital. I couldn’t read the menu and needed a pocket translator to communicate with the nurses and doctors, but we managed to figure things out with our new baby, and man those meals were good!
I had terrible maagzuur (acid reflux) the last three months of my pregnancy, so eating wasn’t a wonderful experience at the end of my pregnancy, and large meals were out of the question! I gave birth to my second born in Amsterdam, and right after I did, they brought in a tray of coffee, beschuit met blauwe muisjes (a biscuit with sweet, anise seed flavored sprinkles colored blue, because I had a son), and a glass of champagne! At 9 in the morning! It was delicious and I felt so pampered. My first born was born in our Amsterdam apartment and after a terrible labor the midwives celebrated my daughter’s healthy birth by eating the banana bread I had made for them and drank coffee, but I was too weak to eat and just wanted everyone out so I could rest!
My last “no” meal was lunch with my husband at our house. It was 27th of August so we had gorgeous tomatoes and green peppers stuffed with rice and aromatic herbs. Unfortunately I could not eat a single bite. After 2 hours my water broke and we left immediately for the hospital to have my son after 6 hours.
First baby I followed the rules and didn’t eat during labor. Second baby as soon as the contractions started I sent my hubby out to get bacon, egg, and cheese on an everything bagel from our nearby and extremely delicious deli!!! I knew it was ice chips as soon as we got to the hospital and I was hangry.
Never gave birth, don’t have kids, can’t relate… but this has got to be one of my favorite COJ posts! Every comment was like a little short story–so much detail and imagery, emotion and cogitation, glimpses of other characters and their personalities and relationships to the laboring partner, hints about the architecture of other peoples’ lives… so wonderful. I really like these posts where readers are encouraged to share a memory–nothing more. The comments section feels like a group of friends sitting around a fire sharing stories.
Exactly why I stay for the comments. It’s so special.
We went out to dinner with my brothers-in-law and their wives the night of the birth of my third & final. I ordered a plate of loaded huevos rancheros fries, with eXXXtra jalapeños, convinced it might help eject the baby. Got home at 10:30, floodgates opened at 11, baby born at home at 1. Jalapeños still HOT on my breath, baby
Wow what a story!! Way to go mama!
With my older daughter, I was in the hospital for hours before I went into labor and by the time I did I was soooooo hungry. With my younger daughter, there was no way I was letting that happen again. I went into quick labor at home with contractions coming fast. My husband and I ordered dinner, he (literally) ran to get it, and I housed a cheesesteak in the car on the way to the hospital. A true Philadelphia birth! NO REGRETS.
Awesome! Where’d you get the cheesesteak?
Miss philly cheesesteaks so much ! I love this story.
Cheesesteak was from Saad’s Halal @ 45th and Walnut- the best!
Based on my experience, and that of many others I’ve read here, with that dinner not staying down during labor, I would NOT recommend having a special meal of something you loved! I had take out Chinese before starting labor with our daughter. I have no idea what I had before our son was born, but I do remember the middle of the night ham sandwich at the hospital after he was born. I was ravenous!
with my first child, my last meal was Jenny Rosenstrach’s pan-fried chicken with lemon, a chopped cucumber-pepper-tomato-feta salad, and bread. And then more than 24 hours later when he finally emerged and I was finally allowed to eat again, it was so late at night that all I got was cereal and milk. With my second child, my last meal was my breakfast of yogurt, granola, and blueberries. Her timing was better, because I was able to have a dinner of salmon and vegetables with some sort of grain pilaf. I remember it being unbelievably delicious.
We went to the hospital to be induced to have my son, packed up the whole house, cleaned, fresh sheets, only to be sent home because I was already in labour. It felt very strange sitting back on the couch, eating takeaway pizza after expecting to spend a night in hospital labouring. For my daughter, we took my older son out to a last supper at a pub, I can’t remember what I ate, but I do remember looking at him innocently munching on fries and feeling unbelievably weepy and guilty for the way his life was about to change. Little did I know it was just getting better.
We were at a wedding the day before our daughter was born. it started at 2pm and – huge mistake – we didn’t eat before it started. so by the time we finally got some snacks I was famished and there are hilarious photos of the happy couple with me stuffing my face in the background. Can’t recall what was served but I obviously needed the energy because 24 hours later my girl made her appearance.
Avo on toast with my first born (I didn’t know it would be my last meal before giving birth)
I’m 39 weeks pregnant and my husband’s first day of paternity leave is tomorrow! We’re going out to lunch together and I really hope my spicy chicken burrito is my last meal before baby makes his arrival!
Good luck to you, Shar! You get to meet your baby soon :) but just a tip, don’t count on going into labor soon or you risk losing your mind for two weeks waiting for your 41-week baby like I did, haha
The day of induction for my first baby – now almost 35 – I went to a local restaurant and had smoked salmon and scrambled eggs with orange juice, feeling a bit glum. While I was in the last stages of labour, all I could think of was a traditional English Sunday lunch, beef with all the trimmings, especially roast potatoes. The cup of tea after was blissful.
For my first, my (French) husband woke up on a lazy summer morning talking about an incredibly vivid dream he’d had about the two of us eating massive steaks known as “cote de boeuf”, so we headed to the butcher straight away to buy two enormous slabs of meat and started preparing steak and homemade French fries. I’d had light cramps all morning and wondered out loud whether this could be early labor (I was 10 days past my due date), and then felt a trickle of water running down my leg just as the steaks went into the pan. Like others have said, it was so unlike what you see in movies that I wasn’t sure if my water had broken, so I called the hospital and described it to them. “Yep, that’s your water breaking. Please come in,” they said. “We’ve just finished making lunch – can I eat first and come in about half an hour?” I asked. They laughed and agreed, but told me not to be too long. My daughter was born 24hrs later by emergency c section. I suspect I may have tried to eat a few other things at the hospital before then, but I got nauseated at some point and vomited during the night. But I’ll always be glad we took the time to sit down for a fancy last meal that got me through the following 24hrs. For my second, I was two weeks past my due date and was asked to come in at 9am to be induced. I don’t recall having anything special for breakfast (surely anticipating I may end up with another unplanned c section, which indeed is what ended up happening 12hrs afterwards), but I do recall sneaking chocolate-covered corn flakes as labor got more intense (“Choco Crossies”, which I love but very rarely eat any more as an adult). As before, I ended up nauseated and vomiting later on (my reaction to pain). When I came out of the operating theater late that evening with my daughter, I was sooooo happy that my midwife had thought ahead and set aside a plate of German rye bread with lots of butter and a few sliced of cooked ham from the dinner cart. It was so delicious that I refused to share with my husband.
The blackberries were beyond ripe as I waited for induction at the forty one week mark in late August. I stood on the side of the road, picking and eating just as many as I gathered along the way. I went home to make the most delicious America’s Test Kitchen cobbler. I ate the whole damn thing. I still do not know how. The next morning I was induced with not a mention of blood sugar and a gloriously uneventful birth (except for the whole welcoming a brand new human part). But can we please talk about what we ate AFTER the marathon of labor? Never have I lusted after popsicles, bouillon broth and grocery store sushi so much. That last one was procured by baby’s dad who loves a mission. Looking back I was brave or foolish to throw caution to the wind and risk food poisoning. But after the thrill of childbirth I felt invincible!
An M&S sandwich BLT, I think. My husband had stopped off to shop before coming to the hospital. And Licorice Allsorts, the finest of sweets. Never has food tasted so good.
Shake shake burger and fries with my first and a grilled cheese with my second. We’ll see what happens with the third! Post meal in hospital for my first was teriyaki takeout noodles, a turkey sandwich with number two. With both, I get sugarfish sushi delivered when I go home!! Looking forward to doing this with baby number 3 too. There is also nothing like eating after giving birth and when you’re on the early days of nursing. I was always voracious and everything tasted glorious!
My body doesn’t love being pregnant towards the end off things – high BP and pre-eclampsia – so I am always in and out of the hospital in the third trimester. With my second child they kept trying to induce but were full so sent me home twice while labouring. The second time my husband and I drove to a strip mall for sushi around the time that the local high school students had their lunch break. I will never forget the looks on their faces as I walked through contractions in front of the restaurant while my husband ordered for us inside and then casually sitting down to eat my last meal for the baby. Best birthday control for those wide-eyed teens. Hahahah. That second baby was also my first and only CupOfJo moment!!! As I was lying in my hospital bed waiting for the pitocin to kick in Jo wrote a post titled something like “who would you want in your delivery room.” When I chimed in that I was literally in labour, tons of CupofJoers replied to my note cheering me on. It was THE BEST. I had been very anxious that pregnancy – didn’t realize it at the time, was just so wobbly and scared – and the encouragement from my fav corner of the internet was just what I needed. A while later Joanna referenced this in an article about our community. What a banner day.
I was just thinking that this post reminded me of that moment in time, when you were in labour and commented on that post!! What a wild time–seems like just yesterday. I’ll always be grateful that you introduced me to this community! xo
I know that I baked chocolate chip cookies for the nurses the morning I was in early labor and I packed my husband 5 snickers bars both because I am a little crazy and I did not want him to get hangry…. I know at some point during labor my nurse friends that were just getting off shift joined my husband for a pizza in our room…. I have no idea what I ate before but I know that I had a party size tray to myself of sushi after the baby was out safely and I was kinda tidied up…. never had anything more delish