Snacks/Food for Midwives « Back to Group Discussions

[buko]

DH and I have made a few medium-big grocery/warehouse shopping trips recently, as I am the main shopper in this household (for the two of us and my brother) and I probably won't be out buying groceries again more than once or twice (39 weeks today!) 

We have had the birth in mind, and so have made sure to have lots of labor snacks and drinks for me/us, as well as things for the MWs, but I just wanted to pick the brains of y'all who have had a HB or are planning one.  I guess I feel kinda good (?) about the non-perishables we have, but since I have no idea when I'll go into labor, am feeling less secure about what we'll have in the fridge/freezer when the time comes.  (In the homebirth plan, I indicated they were more than welcome to anything in the kitchen, though.)

Here's what we will for SURE have for the MWs, when they come (because it's off-limits now, or we have a metric ton of it):

-Flavored seltzer

-Coke

-Coffee

-Many assorted (caf and herbal) teas

-Pretzels

-Packs of mixed nuts and chocolate

-Luna Bars

-Mandarin oranges in juice

-Hard candy (just sayin', we have a lot of it, LOL)

Here's what we'll probably have:

-Cereal and milk

-Boxed/canned tomato and chicken soups

-Trader Joe's boxed Indian food

-Lots of frozen things to make smoothies

-Yogurt

-Cheese sticks (maybe)

-Hummus and pita chips

-Bananas

-Cookies

IDK, should I set some more specific things aside?  Easy meal-type items?  Maybe buy some juice?  Even though they should REALLY feel free to help themselves to absolutely anything, IDK... maybe they sometimes feel weird about that?

Anyone?

I will ask at my next appointment if they want anything specific, but just wondering...

[Shawnamarie]

That sounds like quite a spread! I asked my midwives about this last week and they said they don't need much - maybe just some nuts and fruit to keep them going if they need to find a snack.

So, I'll definitely have some nuts/fruit/bars around for them to eat. However, I'll also have some frozen meals, soups, fixings for PB&J, beverages, etc. Like you said, I don't know when I'll go into labor so I don't want to buy too many perishables. I figure since this is my first baby I might have a chance to run to the store while I'm in early labor and pick up some more items. 

[happylemon]

I have soup in the freezer if things go a while and I plan to get a big bag or raw trail mix and Larabars (my midwife mentioned she likes them). I have lots of teas and we pretty much only drink water around here so I don't have much else (aside from some coconut water for me during and after labor). There are plenty of other snacks if they want them and they are welcome to anything, but that is all I am specifically buying for them.
 

[maydaymom10]

From the view of someone who's attended a birth as a midwife assistant, your list looks awesome!! One birth that I attended had bagels with peanut butter or cream cheese, which was so good. At one point (I can't remember if it was before or after the baby was born, although I assume after), the dad made us all this incredible egg dish. I can honestly say that my mw probably won't get that from my DH. I know that quick snack foods are really the best during labor because the mw is going to be up and down a lot -- checking on you, charting, etc. Coffee was heaven as well. The last birth that I attended with my mw, we didn't even really eat. When I got there she had a half-eaten bowl of yogurt out that she never got back to. So, I'm just going to have a lot of quick foods for them to eat & then I'll put something in the crock pot for after the baby is born.

[scruffy too]

My MW said she'd bring her own (she has a couple food allergies/intolerance), but I still want to have some stuff she can help herself to.  I was thinking an assortment of fruit juices, fresh fruit, nuts, veggies (all of which will be on hand).  I know she has a gluten intolerance, but I can't remember if she's lactose intolerant as well... I will ask her tonight if she wants anything particular.  I'm sure she'll say no...

[buko]

Cool, that sounds good!  If it's a really long labor (I have it in my mind it will be 24 hours, give or take, so that if it's less I'll be thrilled, LOL), then luckily we live in a place that gets tons of deliveries and is like 3 minutes from a ton of fast food and other restaurants.  So someone could definitely also order a pizza, Chinese, Ethiopian, LOL...

[chocolatechip]

My midwives specifically ask for us to plan a post-birth meal for us and our "birth team." I imagine it's mainly a way for us to make sure we have something that WE will eat that's hearty, but it's nice to be able to feed them too. I'm not entirely sure what we're going to do for that. My husband has been practicing his cooking, but I don't think *he'll* want to be cooking much either, because he'll want to be around the baby! And I'm not sure if my mom will actually be in town or not. So I'm thinking we might just order pizza. 

For snacks, we always have in the house fresh fruit, nuts, cheese, carrots, yogurt, Clif Bars, chocolate.. I'm thinking we'll also make sure to have some crackers, and maybe be ready to hardboil some eggs or something.

They (the midwives) also say they're happy to bake a birthday treat if the ingredients are on hand. I'm thinking I'll make some chocolate chip cookie dough in a couple of weeks to store in the freezer, and then they can just pop some cookies in the oven after the baby comes and we can all have fresh-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies which are one of my favorite things on the planet. 

[happylemon]

Chocolatechip - We have several soups in the freezer to choose from that will reheat fairly fast or can simmer for a while. Maybe you can just throw something in the freezer and then no one has to worry about actually cooking after the baby is born.
 

[buko]

I do hope the baby comes when restaurants around here are open, though technically there is a 7-11 about 5 minutes away, as well as a 24-hour McD's and a 24-hour diner about 10 minutes away.  Those kinda suck, but they at least exist if it's between 3 and 7 am.  Plus we do have some frozen lasagnas and such in our downstairs freezer for PP, so it's not like we have no meal options, I guess, even if we don't have yummy leftovers and whatnot around (which is possible).

[LightForest]

My midwife and her assistant were at my house during my last birth for, I dunno, 6 or 8 hours for my labor and about 4 hours of baby monitoring afterwards, THEN they both came with us to the pediatric ER for another 2 hours while we got the baby's unexpected medical issues sorted out and the hospital got everything ready to transfer her to the NICU. So that's about 12+ hours total. I don't remember them eating a thing, but surely they must have had some fruit or cereal or something... For all I know one of them went out for bagels or something at some point (we were living in NYC at the time so there were many food places in walking distance).

This time, we'll have FIVE attendants total (MW, her assistant, a MW in training, a sibling doula, and her daughter). Given the large number of guests, it probably WOULD be smart to have something out for everyone. While it is of course fine for them to help themselves to anything in my kitchen, if I were in their shoes I wouldn't be comfortable rifling through someone's cupboards to prep food for myself. I think having out a tray of food specially for them (sandwich stuff, trail mix, fruit), then saying they're welcome to anything else, is more realistic. ...On the other hand, they do this for a living, so they're probably used to getting whatever they need from a client's kitchen, or they're used to brown bagging some food.

I definitely don't think it's worth putting a lot of worry into it. I'm the kind of person who LOVES to cook for people, but the last thing I want to do while in labor is play host.

[buko]

Yeah, LF, I feel I and/or DH can at least put some decent non-perishable choices out on a specific platter or something, assuming we have the time and presence of mind to do so.  (I'm guessing/hoping we will, as I am a FTM, so I'm thinking longer, slower-to-build labor.)  It's on the "I'm in labor" to-do list.  I definitely still want them to help themselves to stuff in the fridge, etc., but at least having some "this is specifically for you" stuff set out seems like a better idea.

[chocolatechip]

Sarah2881, a good hearty soup sounds like it might be the perfect thing to be able to pull out of the freezer. Especially for a Seattle baby born in late March/early April! Now if only I were a big soup cooker... Any good ideas for some soups that would be nice and filling?