On packing a bag

Some time ago a friend of mine who recently had a baby advised me to pack my bag early because you never know! She had her little one three weeks early and though I'm pretty sure I won't be so lucky (that would be this weekend), I went ahead and began gathering a few things to take to the hospital. 

First I added a giant bag of pretzels and an equally big bag of Peanut M&M's. Then I threw in some less important stuff like slippers, a robe, a couple of newborn outfits, some newborn diapers and a few other things the magazine told me I might want. I keep going back and forth on bringing our iPod and this is for two reasons. 

For starters, the computer where we stored most of our downloaded music up and died a few months ago and we are too cheap to buy more songs. Instead we mostly go to grooveshark.com and tote the computer around the house. So, that means I will be listening to some strange compilation of songs we put together before we even knew we were having a baby and who knows what THAT crazy couple might have chosen.

Secondly, I cannot imagine being pulled into the throes of good music when all of a sudden a contraction comes ripping through and from here on out when I listen to Faith Hill's Wild One, I feel a strange stabbing in my abdomen. I get that some people listen to soothing classical music or maybe the wild drumbeat of a bongo drum beaten on by a pothead, but for me, listening to music does nothing to drown out pain. If it did, I would have been blaring a radio during my last bikini wax. MOVE MY WHAT? OH, SORRY, COULD NOT HEAR YOU ABOVE THE SOOTHING MUSIC.

I will also bring a book my mother recently lent me. Something from the 1970's with a title that refers to a "pain-free birth". And although I do not believe labor has to be some horrible, screaming and gnashing of the teeth affair, nor do I think this DUDE had any idea what he was talking about what with NOT HAVING A UTERUS and all so I plan to use that book to bean anyone in the head who tells me I cannot have my snacks.

Also, sadly, the Peanut M&M's did not make it and so I had to buy another bag today. 

*When I went tearing wildly into them last night, Bud told me he thought I probably "should have something with protein in it instead." PEANUTS HAVE PROTEIN. 

Comments

[The Mom]

This just sounded so good, I had to share it with Miss Preggie, Cider and their friends.
So where do you go today if you want a true Neapolitan Pizza Margherita? New york, of course, and when you’re in New York, you go to Luzzo’s Coal Oven Pizza Napoletana on Manhattan’s Lower East Side (www.luzzomania.com.) There, modern day pizzaiolo Michele Iuliano, spends his days in front of two tiled, 105-year old wood-burning baker’s ovens, bringing the best of Naples to the USA.

A true Neapolitan pizza, Iuliano says, must be made in an old-fashioned wood-burning baker’s oven. And if you don’t have one, what do you do? “Go home. Go right now,” he says with a flourish of his hand and a shrug. “You can’t make it.”

Next up, the ingredients. Iuliano’s are all imported from Italy, starting with the flour. It’s something he knows well, coming from a family of Neapolitan bakers. He mixes Italian bread flour with Italian Doppio Zero flour, or double 00. Italian flour is classified as either 1, 0 or 00 - the number referring to how finely ground it is. Doppio Zero is the most refined and feels as soft baby powder or cornstarch. Combining the two creates the perfect crust: thin and crispy with a just hint of chewiness and a soft center. He uses a homemade starter and rests his dough three days before making pizza.

Next, he runs whole San Marzano tomatoes - prized for their natural sweetness - through a food mill and spreads it on the flattened dough, then dots the pie with just a few slices of fresh mozzarella di bufala, which is literally made with milk from water buffaloes.

Iuliano adds a few fresh basil leaves, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and slides it into the 1,000- to 1200-degree oven for about 60 seconds. The longest he’s ever baked a pizza is 72 seconds; the shortest, 48. He removes it, finishes it with another drizzle of olive oil and, in a nod to American custom, slices it into eight pieces.

In Naples, pizzas are served uncut. Some things just don’t translate.

[Amy]

Hey Hope!

Thanks for the shout-out. :) I'm so glad you packed your bag. I had to go to the hospital with only the clothes on my back. Thank goodness I had enough sense to grab the camera on my way out the door, but that was it. Our hospital did not offer shampoo, and the soap was pretty lame, so you might want to bring your own. The towels are tiny (think hand towels), and the pillows are flat, so if you wouldn't be grossed out bringing your own, those are two more thoughts. I wish I had brought peanut M&Ms (well, that, and EVERYTHING ELSE). ha! Mmmmmmm!!!! :)

[Hope Sypert]

Oh great, good call on the extra toiletries - will do! You have been SUCH a help in getting ready for baby!

[Brenda Calhoun]

What does Bud know? Nothing! Have more peanut M&Ms, sweetie!