Hello world...

Wow it's been almost a year! It feels like forever. Last year had been topsy turvy for me - 12 months of non stop rollercoaster to the end. Especially with food. Let's start around the time we got back from Antwerp. Terry brought back a blue packet and told me I have to pee on the stick for being crabby in the way that I am ONLY crabby when I am pregnant. And as luck would have it, the kit was faulty. Hahahaha. I was getting cranky calling him paranoid - I was almost 40, I said menopause is closer than pregnancy :P He was adamant - and I must say very very patient - drove 15 minutes to the only pharmacy that opened that day (it was a Sunday) and got us another stick for me to pee on. And yes, it was positive.

Because we had 2 miscarriages before, we waited a long time before breaking the news to everyone including Nabila and our parents. Nabila got to know faster because I was sick most of the time and we only told the parents after the amniocentesis test results came back positive and we were told it will be a boy.

Being pregnant at 39 wasn't as easy as the first one. I hardly went into the kitchen in fact never in the first 4 months. I can't even stand the smell of oil heating up or the smell of chicken that is not cornfed. I didn't go shopping for groceries because I kept throwing up when I passed the meat/fish section - I can't stand the sight of chicken tight wrapped in plastic. And then I started dreaming of unhappy chicken in psychadelic feathers.

My pelvic was failing me almost at the word go and after 2 rounds of chiro, it became bearable but gave me such bad contractions the obgyn asked me to stop. I just have to control it by moving *smarter* which means conserving my movements. Ahhh there is the internet, I thought and my beloved books. It started with me wanting to bake something and while perusing some of my trusted baking books, I started vomitting. I found some pictures offensive and they were innocent photos of cookies and cupcakes. Photos of recipes I have successfully made in the past. It got so bad, the only baking book I could open during my pregnancy was Baking by Dorie Greenspan. When I can't bake, I took the book to bed thinking of all the goodies I can have the moment I give birth. I was luckier with cookbooks - I can read Appetite by Nigel Slater, The Sugar Club by Peter Gordon and Tessa Kiros' Falling Cloudberries.

So Terry had to cook a lot and we ordered in a lot and go out more often than we used to. the pelvic pain got worse towards the end of the 2nd trimester so we even ahd to pick and choose the restaurants we went to.I ate more sausages in the last trimester than I did for the last 10 years. And when we went to the Shiro at Den Bosch for my birthday, I practically screamed at the waitress who advised me against eating the sashimi... "I've waited 6 months to eat this! So I am going to eat it and if it is really good, we will order another plate, thank you." And yes, we did have another plate.

On the last week of my pregnancy I had the infatigable need to eat kruimelvlaai - the custard and crumble pie made in the tradition of Limburg with Vlaai crust. It is my favourite Vlaai and something I will blog about in the future. One morning, the craving was so bad, Terry actually went to the bakery and bought one just as it came out of the oven - the custard was still wobbling and the buttery crumbles was still smoking by the time he got home. It was the best vlaai I have ever had.

I gave birth on the first week of December to a gorgeous baby boy. I am still in confinement though I have completed the stricter 40 days period and have been receiving friends and relatives since then. Following the Dutch tradition, we offer beschuit and muisjes. And each guest who came for the mom and baby 40 day banquet were given a red egg, following our family tradition.

PS: I apologise for not answering your mails. I wasn't online during the last 2 weeks of my pregnancy and a few weeks after I gave birth. Some of the mails I answered in January were bounced because the address you used are no longer valid. I really feel bad about that.