The first supper

Bear with me, if you will, for I am starting to focus the attention on the business end of pregnancy (not that we are getting all that close…don’t get too excited) but I can’t help but get concerned by the increasing girth of my stomach, and the remaining stagnant size of exit point. I’ve started looking at birth posts, and photos and yesterday sat weeping watching a birth video made that a reader sent through to me…all smiles at the start, all pain in the middle and all tears at the end.

Shit.

I had an appointment with my ob yesterday morning and were both looking at the squished head through the ultrasound when I just had to ask her “can you still even believe after 30 odd years of being an ob that a BABY is in there the WHOLE time? From nothing? Then a whole person?” And she agreed, it’s quite ridiculous really.

I still remember declaring through tears after Daisy was born “But it’s a BABY!” well DER Beth. Here’s a visual if you will:

Photo

Duuuuude, you did it. And you have to do it again!

The other night I mentioned something similar on Facebook and someone mentioned that first cup of tea and toast after you give birth? Remember that? Dead set, I’m not entirely sure there is a better meal you will have in your LIFE. Sweet relief! In fact, I don’t think you can ever be hungrier than after giving birth…it’s quite the business isn’t it?

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I’d love to know about your first supper as a parent (Mum or Dad). Was it a simple tea and toast or something a bit better? Were you lucky enough to get something TASTY and hot? Or did you miss out entirely and have to wait until breakfast the next morning? What could be the very best thing a new Mum would like to eat: big bowl of pasta? Hot chicken soup? A McFeast?

Any Mum’s out there who have just given birth? Well bloody done! You did it!
And anyone just about ready to go…good luck! You can do it! YOU CAN!
Just a heads up though…it’s a baby in there. I know! Who knew?

Image from Pinterest here

Comments

  1. Wholeheartedly agree – that tea and toast is the best thing I have ever put in my mouth. (At least the second time, the first time I was still vomiting and it really took the shine off it!) 🙂

  2. Awesome photo, Beth. My first supper after birth was a whole giant cheesecake. Twelve weeks of Gestational Diabetes turned me into a rabid dog when it came to food I couldn’t have. Damn, that celebratory cheesecake was gooooood!!!!

  3. I don’t remember my first meal post-birth, certainly no tea and toast, but I do remember bursting into tears when a friend bought along a massive block of chocolate. I was STARVING, there was never enough food, and she was the only one who bought along snacks.

    Now I gift chocolate to every Mum I visit in hospital.

    • I remember starving too….that’s when hubs bought in the milo and a big mug from home….mother’s pantry what a farce!

    • I always bring lollies too – you are just SO hungry and there is never any food. Will make sure my hospital bag contains a few family blocks..thanks for the reminder 🙂

  4. Yes, have to agree that the first meal, in my case tea and sandwiches cut into quarters was the best meal ever. Closely followed by the first shower post-birth (after the stinging stops!)

  5. Beth, you crack me up! Yes I remember the cuppa after a very prolonged awful birth experience some 40 yrs ago. Nurse placed cuppa on side and hubby promptly drank it. He seriously thought it was for him after witnessing the birth, as he was in the first batch of Dads actually allowed to be present at their baby’s arrival.
    I insisted he not bring me flowers, (you can’t eat them), I wanted a huge pavlova which I got. Needless to say my first born’s fav dessert is pavlova…..

  6. Well I definately remember having to ‘break-wind’ first before they would allow me to eat solids and it was almost 24 hours later that it finally happened just like I had eaten a plateful of cabbage! But I do remember midnight milos very well

  7. Well, considering my first supper was a little over a week ago, I can vouch for its greatness. 2cups of tea for me with shortbread biscuits from home. But perhaps even better than that was the roast lunch that arrived four hours post-birth. Never before has potato, kumera, beef and gravy been gobbled up with such vengeance. And my first meal once I got home? An organic apple (cut into quarters), half a sourdough baguette and half a wheel of king island double brie. So indulgent, so very good x

  8. I am already dreaming of all the banned foods I want to eat post-birth like proper sushi, salami and stilton. Bring it on!

  9. Cold apple juice & a homemade Anzac biscuit at Bowral Maternity Ward…I will never forget. Their homemade morning teas are great 😉

  10. My first son was born mid-afternoon, so I remember being brought a hospital-made sandwich, a tub of jelly (?!) and that little pack of two bikkies they provide with tea. It was the very last thing I wanted to eat after a 12-hour posterior labour, but my sister-in-law saved the day when she turned up a bit later with a pack of Coles-brand sticky date cookies – they were enormous and amazing, and although I’ve not had them since, I remember the taste so clearly!
    My second son was born at 7am at home, so the first thing I ate afterwards was a massive bowl of muesli and probably a coffee!
    Best wishes for the home-stretch Beth!

  11. So amazingly good, a warm cuppa and a biscuit. Then a few hours later and HUGE feed, with a Benefibre chaser!

  12. First Bub I was too sick to eat. Pre eclampsia, dark room, magnesium drip, no visitors, no baby. I think I ate 2 days later and it was certainly not memorable.

    Second Bub, gestational diabetes, insulin, First gorgeous morsel was a lemon tart that Mum grabbed from the downstairs cafe…honestly though it was a treat just not injecting, not testing BSL’s, not timing meals and not having to write it all down!

  13. I can nearly feel tears welling just reading this and thinking about giving birth again to baby no. 2 in a couple of months… A mixture of fear and anticipation. I don’t remember the first thing I ate post-birth last time, but I do remember devouring the bag of starburst lollies & a tube of Pringles I had packed in hubby’s birth bag while I was still in hospital, as well as SO much chocolate while breast feeding! I had to ban mum from bringing any more. Eek! Really enjoying your posts at the minute Beth, and looking forward to reading about your experiences when your new possum arrives, I can relate to the lot of it! Good luck xx

  14. each birth has been different!
    #1(in Oz) I ended up drinking about 2 litres of water mixed with apple juice.
    #2 (in the UK) was the standard cold toast and weak tea – tasted like nectar though!
    #3 (back in Oz) a milo, about 10 jatz and cheese.
    every single time I really fancied sushi, with lots of avo, but had to wait until I went home to have it!

  15. I mainly recall all the midnight breastfeeding snacks the nice midwives would offer. Would you like some cheese and crackers? Yes please. Some apple juice? Yes please. Some strange plastic wrapped fruit cake that won’t taste good in any other circumstances? Yes, yes I would.

    • Indeed.. and after a couple of days with my first I discovered it’s good to talk ALL food they offer you and stash it for midnite if you weren’t hungry then.. I put that advice to good use with my second.. but I hadn’t counted on the hunger of my then 5 year old stealing my snacks.. I think I actually growled at her one time when she expressed a desire to steal my cheese and crackers or cake.. I think at that point Hubby decided it was time they went home (and did their evening habit of pick up take out on the way)… After that I distinctly recall he made sure they ate immediately before they visited and then straight after.. I blame hormones!

    • Ha! Yes! Our hospital also had a freezer full of zoopa doopas…for putting in a pad to reduce swelling!

  16. My hubby brought me a big block of brie and a stick of french bread. HEAVEN

  17. Sew Brunswick says

    After my first, I had a glass of juice and a salad sandwich (with beetroot on it). It was delicious! I then promptly threw up all over my newborn. I was mortified! The kind midwife said at least I got in first as he would throw up on me for many years to come.

    Second time round, I waited until after I vomited to eat my lunch…

  18. YES!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness that apple juice (those hard to open cup thingies with the ridiculous foil lid) and the honey toast. What a great memory. Weirdly, I haven’t liked eating either of those things before or since birthing.

  19. My son was born mid morning. After he was born the midwife brought me a hospital lunch of a packaged sandwich – ham, cheese, salad and pickles, a tub of two fruits and some custard and it was the best thing I have ever eaten in my life.

    Isn’t funny how only a few comments up there is someone saying it was the last thing they wanted to eat and here I am talking about how good it was?

  20. I remember after my son was born (unexpected VBAC) the midwife brought me the best cup of tea ever, with 2 sugars. Gosh I enjoyed that!
    And after Bub number 3 (born just before Easter) hubby came bearing gifts, a huge teddy for our girl and a huge Easter egg for me, bless him!

  21. I never got sandwiches or tea for either birth and I had them both at the royal woman’s hospital in Randwick. Boo! What I do remember is how bloody nice hospital food seemed after I gave birth to my son, while my partner thought I was crazy.
    And with my daughter who is now 4, she just popped out after a very quick labour and after I gave birth I was bleeding a lot and had to go for a transfusion. All I wanted to eat was the Greek baclava we had bought the night before when I had popped into hospital 2 weeks overdue to see my midwife one last time. I kept asking the nurses can I have the baclava now? Please. I am ok, I am so hungry. The nurse replied to my dismay “no you have to have a transfusion.” Double Boo

  22. I had gestational diabetes so I had to be very careful about what I ate and the quantity of what I ate. After my little girl was born I smashed the hospital buffet like it was an upmarket hotel buffet… Bread, butter, egg, cut up orange, foul chicken satay, a gross looking veggie lasagne basically anything I could get my mouth on! A friend visited and said it was the most disgusting meal she had ever seen. Haha.. It still remains one of the best meals in my mind that I had ever eaten 🙂

  23. Shauna McMillin says

    A bowl of jelly. With my hands!! There was no cutlery & everyone had gone to weigh the baby. I was starving!!!

  24. Agreed, the hot toast with lashings of butter and a little vegemite is the best thing to eat post birth!

    Since I had c-sections, I always went easy with the food post op and stuck to fruit, yoghurts etc until I was ready to hit the carbs. I remember the hot chocolate cart was always permanently parked near my room so that came in handy too 😉

    When I got home, I remember requesting soft serve icecream and CHEESE!!!!

  25. I agree the first meal is always something to look forward to. It hasn’t been anything fantastic for me after 3 caesareans – just a clear broth – but they make you go nil by mouth from
    the night before and then you have to wait for hours after the birth. So by the time you get it, it’s the best broth in the world. I’m booked in to have my fourth baby next week. Hope the broth lives up to the memory.

  26. 1st birth it was quiche which they had saved from lunch. I threw it up but I did quite enjoy eating it and the brief time it was in my belly. 2nd bub it was a roast beef baguette, fruit and yoghurt saved from the dinner service and I inhaled it!! And I am NOT a yoghurt person.

    The hospital where I had my babies has quite lovely food I think and I would enjoy choosing each day what I’d have tomorrow. And I would tick a box in every section. Juice? Yes. Bread? Yep. Fruit? Why not. Desert? Hell yes. They also had an option of small portions or large. Hello?? This is the maternity ward. Let’s just assume everyone wants humongous.

    • Oh same Jenny – I was in a fancy pants private hospital and I ticked ALL the boxes to ALL the things and Rob got food too so I ticked all his boxes too!

  27. Immediately post birth- clear fluids each time (caesars), which promptly came back up (turns out heavy pain killers make me chuck!), so after fasting prior and chucking after, I was ravenous. Gnocchi bolognese was the go- from our lovely local italian place specially brought in by hubby. And a blessed glass of wine. Oh, to eat and not have reflux, that’s what I remembered best.

  28. I can’t remember exactly what I ate as my first post delivery meal as I was too out of it from having twins 11 weeks early first time around and too sleep deprived from said twins six and a half years later when I had their sister but boy do I remember how hungry I was. I remember ticking every option on the hospital meal sheet – you name it I ate it – hot option, cold option, soup, salad, dessert, sandwiches tick, tick tick… I would have happily eaten the bum out of a low flying duck post partum and come back for seconds which is probably why my husband also turned up with Chinese takeaway after a couple of days – there was no holding me back – I was a non stop eating and all day dairy diner machine – good times (apart from the hairdryer up the clacker as someone else has pointed out earlier)!

  29. Oh beth oh Beth you take me
    Back! Grace (3rd) was my longest labour. All very civilised for the first 8 hours pottering at home. Shopping a bit. Hanging out washing. Was about to start making a chicken and leek pie for dinner when the serious business started. I handed over to my SIL who was looking after 1&2 and we dashed to the hossy. A few hours later when grace was born and SIL came to visit she brought me two Mini chicken and leek pies. She’d made a dozen in ramekins so I could enjoy them. Dead set the best meal I’ve ever eaten.

  30. From a Southern European family so no hospital food for me after giving birth, it was my grandmother’s cooking, my favourite was her traditional fat little yeast pikelets with sugar sprinkled on them all wrapped up in a tea towel. She insisted my mum taking them and they were to be the first things I ate and they were!
    Then my husband bought me raw salmon sushi another day with a Coke!
    I stayed in 5 days and had home cooking or my favourite treats.
    Second time round I had a Easter baby so lots of chocolate which I loved and my husband bought in our oldest and some takeaway or a meal from his mum.
    My sister had her babies at home and we cooked meals and snacks while she was in labour and for the days afterwards any visitors were instructed to bring fruit, cheese, bread, champagne etc It was marvellous

  31. Lamb chops and roast vegetables. Oh it was heaven and 25 years later I can still taste the wonder of it. The nurses and patients pitched in for a pizza party that night. Best birth ever LOL. My last baby was born 14 years ago and I didn’t get anything to eat or drink, but the doc was gorgeous :0>>>

  32. my first was born 3 weeks ago! At 1am so no food for me until crappy hospital breakfast (which I wolfed down!). I did eat 2 museli bars and some crackers at 3am which we had packed incase I wanted to eat during labour! Ha! Non stop vomiting I was. That said I had a beautiful amazing birth and it was very empowering – but yes works up an appetite! A baby! A baby!

  33. Lisa Mckenzie says

    I think my first meal was sandwiches and coffee not very exciting but food and it was the middle of the night!

  34. Love your posts Beth….so funny and entertaining and honest. I cannot remember what I had after my first born, which is actually bugging me this afternoon because I usual remember those kind of details

    But, I certainly remember what I had the second time around: black tea and Vegemite on toast made by a lovely midwife in the middle of the night. I remember it so clearly, it was amazing.

    Good luck x

  35. I don’t remember the meal but I do remember that first shower being the most amazing shower ever haha felt 100 times better after that.

  36. I don’t remember what I ate after the birth but I do remember never getting a hot meal because the baby would wake the minute food arrived.

  37. You know what? I’ve been ripped off! Three kids and no first supper!
    Kids 1 and 2 both came in the middle of the night and I didn’t have anything until the next morning and I have no clue what is was! Kid 3 was all so dramatic and I was on more drugs than Keith Richards, that it wasn’t an option for a number of hours and then I ended up chucking it straight up.

    I remember when I was pregnant with Darbs, worrying about having to go through labour/birth all again. So when I ended up with an emergency C-section (try as they might my body was not ready to give birth) I vividly remember thinking ‘wow, I didn’t have to do it again, dodged that bullet’, forgetting that I was hooked up to catheters and drips and what have you for days after (see more drugs than Keith Richards and my clarity on the situation).

  38. 6:02pm delivery / missed dinner / didn’t get anything until the next morning. I didn’t mind as I was so allergic to all the drugs they had given me, I spent the whole night vomiting. Fun times.
    I do know this though, and still say to this day – I did not have one HOT thing in hospital. I couldn’t wait to get home to have a hot coffee.

  39. Debs Sutton says

    The wonderful cups of tea & toast, Nectar of the Gods BUT What I remember most is cleaning my teeth, now that was heavenly!!! Good luck my lovely.xxxx

  40. Amanda G. says

    My first was born in the afternoon, I’d gone into labour about 6 that morning so hadn’t eaten since dinner the night before! Was starving by the time they bought husband and I a tray with tea and sandwiches and fruit. Was delicious. But dear Lord, that shower and washing my hair that night was the BOMB!

  41. I just made the afternoon tea scones with number 2 son. Best scones I’ve ever eaten!

  42. I had hospital food for 6 days straight. My dreams of all the things I’d enjoy were dashed after a complicated birth! Still, just sitting and eating a meal someone else had made (which was surprisingly nice for hospital food) was quite pleasant in itself.
    I still can’t believe I had a baby inside me and he’s 3 now haha. I look at him and can’t get my head around the fact that it’s a PERSON. A person who grew out of just about nothing. IN ME. WTF.
    I remember knowing the Little Mister was expected to be a big bub. I cried after a 36 week ultrasound. Just bawled. In public. On a lunch date with Mr Unprepared. I just couldn’t fathom how he would ever exit me. Could not. Even. It was an emergency C-section in the end and I’m OK with that haha.

  43. I don’t remember my first post-birth meal, but I vividly remember repreated midnight raids on the kitchenette in the antenatal with pre-eclampsia – bananas and milk arrowroot biscuits. Lots of them. At 31 weeks carrying twins I was constantly STARVING.

  44. My baby isn’t due for about 6 months but I’ve already placed an order with the hubby for sushi. Good god I miss that stuff!

  45. My hubby went out and bought me sushi for my first meal. I had been craving it so much during pregnancy and that first bite was amazing!

  46. Smoked salmon, prosciutto, blue cheese! Straight out of the packets no crackers/bread needed 🙂

  47. My girl had some problems after being born, so food was not on my mind, but I’ll never forget a nurse handing me a plate with vegemite toast! It was the most caring thing ever! And it was cut into triangles!

  48. My son took a nice 32 hours to come on into the world. I had some crazy adrenaline and my husband and I went down to the cafe for a nice coffee and croissant with the 3 hour old child. What on earth!!?! It was so worth it. I got in trouble for leaving the hospital with a 3 hour old baby oops. It just seemed like the best thing to do.

  49. Christina says

    Four hours after giving birth to my second baby I found myself sitting in the car, at 10 pm, giggling with my sister as my partner bought us magnum icecreams. It was surreal! Best icecream ever!

  50. My girls were both c sections and early, no. 1 in particular, so she was down in the nicu. Since my doc knew we were in for a while she suggested (ordered) me to book lunch at somewhere nice with my husband and head out back into the world like a normal person. So we went out for a slap up seafood lunch. Yummo. I did feel a bit like I’d escaped from the asylum still with my hospital bands on but it was perfect for giving me a recharge.

  51. My daughter was born in the very early hours of Christmas Day so my ‘first supper’ was a very average (hospital grade) turkey sandwich… Didn’t matter though. I was on cloud nine falling in love with my new baby girl x

  52. I haven’t had the “hungers” after birth.

    My first bub, I was adamant I wanted a big glass of milk with a straw. God bless the midwives did all they could to track that down. Thinking about it later I realised that it was prolly tricky.

    My second, all I wanted was a shower!! Plucked myself up and made it about half way before collapsing on the floor in a puddle of muck. Poor midwives put up with a lot from me!!

    That should be your next post. The worst thing you did to a midwife. I bet we’ve all got a few. :-/ (quietly, I accidentally stuck my toe in a midwifes mouth during labour. Her mouth! Why didn’t she slap me?? We just laughed about it 2 days later when she was back on duty)

  53. Oooh I remember that first meal! I had gestational diabetes and heartburn my whole pregnancy and all I wanted was a bottle of champagne and a Freddo Frog ice cream cake the minute bub popped out. Needless to say, I didn’t get it! What I did get was the most delicious ham and salad sandwich cut into little triangles and an icy cold apple juice. A Michelin starred restaurant meal couldn’t have been better, until I threw it all up 10 minutes later. Apparently a side effect of the gas, so I’m now told!

  54. I had to wait for breakfast- the highlight was white bread toast with jam and a cup of coffee.. I can still remember how good it was after 6 months of heartburn and not being able to eat anything without being affected by it.. Then when I got home my husband had organized smoked salmon and champagne.. Bliss!

  55. Oh, the tea and toast AND the Milo! You can’t describe to anyone just how good they taste and the feeling that simple yet delicious snack provides after that traumatic/horrific/beautiful thing that birthing your very own child is. That and the shower… God love my midwife… I could hardly stand after it all and the beautiful thing that she was washed me down after I begged her to let me have a shower while I sat on that yucky chair that the hospital bathrooms all have. Hands down I felt a bazillion times better after the two of them.

    I also told my mother from very early on in the pregnancy when I was craving Pastrami that she was to bring me one of her yummy pastrami sandwiches with pickles upon arrival or she would be refrained from seeing her granddaughter. It worked. Happy Days. Best of luck and good health for these last few weeks, Beth.

  56. I had a long labour with no food allowed throughout. After he was born in the night (when the hospital kitchen was closed) I was totally ravenous. One of the midwives made me some vegemite toast but I wanted the whole loaf.

  57. Claire Litzow says

    I will always remember the sandwiches & choclate mousse the midwives found for me at 2am after the birth of our son. It was the best meal ever!

  58. Taking notes for 5 months from now! Bring all of the food!!
    I am so amazed that there is a baby growing away in there a lot. Sometimes I say as much to my husband. Being my first time it is so weird to see my belly get all big and hard. I keep poking it and saying to my husband ‘feel how hard it is!’. Small things, I suppose.

  59. The first time I gave birth all I wanted was a coffee (I couldn’t stomach it during my pregnancy) so my husband got me a flat white. But my taste for coffee hadn’t returned and I couldn’t drink it. So disappointing.
    The second time I gave birth it was about a zillion degrees in Brisbane and I just wanted juice. All of the juice. I think I had some Charlie’s lemonade, some apple ginger juice, and some pineapple juice.
    I also tend to forget to drink water while in labour so am incredibly thirsty afterwards…my mouth is too dry for toast! But bring on those soft cheeses!

  60. Fashionista says

    My babies were born in the middle of the night. No.1 had a few issues so he was raced off to Special Care and husband and I were left there alone in bewilderment. WTF happened to us? Have we really got a baby now? I wasn’t hungry because I had vomited up everything I had eaten for the last week during labour, lovely side effect of the gas. But I desperately wanted a shower. You sweat SO MUCH and I just felt totally revolting. I was being wheeled to my room and I asked the midwife would it be OK if I saw my baby as I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming all this. She was mortified that in the drama we had been forgotten about and immediately speed wheeled to the Special Care unit so we could be reassured we weren’t dreaming.

    No.2 was a breeze in comparison. All very quick and straightforward, I could even walk from the delivery suite to my room after it was all over. With a frozen condom tucked in my knickers for the swelling/stitches/general discomfort! That use for a condom amused me no end. Not hungry again (and no vomiting because I refused the gas) but had to have the all important shower.

    All the very best of luck Babymac and family, it is such an exciting (if a little scary!) time for you.

  61. Soft French cheese. Sushi. Ice creams. All brought into the public hospital. Cause the girls were coming too soon I had to be in the public hospital for the NICU. The food was diabolical. Didn’t matter what I ordered I got roast beef. Grey and covered in gravy. During a painful (pre-birth) procedure I was trying to keep my mind off the pain and started joking about the food with the nurse. The next meal I was mortified when the orderly came in and made sure I was Marian and happy with what I had ordered. But the first thing I ate was actually an icypole in recovery. As soon as I could walk post-Caesarian I moved into the private hospital next door. It was another world – pasta, sandwiches, cooked breakfasts. I know you have a fondness for custard and I have to say that was the safest bet in the public hospital. Hope your first supper is a memorable one, and that Rob has a bottle of gin and champagne chilling already!

  62. I had Sadie in a fancy schmancy hospital in Melbourne and each morning they would bring me a menu where the Mr and I could both pick what we wanted for dinner and if we would like red, white or bubbles to go with it!! I was in heaven!! It was that first bite and not dying from the pain of heartburn that made it the best meal ever.

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  1. […] birth this week. Always lovely to hear of the safe arrival…I wonder what they had as their first suppers? The comments on this post were the BEST. And I have remembered to pack into my hospital bag LOTS […]

  2. […] 3. The First Supper, Baby Mac […]

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