Fast Alice Glass

Fast Alice Glass

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Bouncing Back

So it's been a while... indeed!! I fantasize that my readers (all maybe 1 of them if I'm lucky) remain on the edge of their seat until I post. In reality I'm just filling my day with something other than changing diapers, breast feeding, and maybe cleaning something. But I'm here!! HuzZZAaah!! And I am genuinely excited to have a moment to blog :)

So yeah!! Not so pregnant anymore... Thank God! Baby J is just about the most amazing thing I ever have or ever will cook up. And what a recipe it was, just a dash of self sacrifice here a little overwhelming pain there, some constant nausea and taDAAAAAA a baby. Being a Mom is amazing and feels sooooo much more organic then the process through which he arrived.

Lets talk briefly about the birth. Well, it didn't pan out the way I expected. Big D and I changed mid pregnancy to a practice of Mid-wives in hopes of a totally natural birth. No drugs, very little intervention. What we ended up with was every possible intervention in the book and 36 hours of Labor that ended in a c-section anyway. At the end of the day I'm still glad I went with the mid-wives. They let me try every possible tool to try and get the baby out the good old fashioned way. But Baby J despite being almost 9 1/2 lbs he just wouldn't drop into a deliverable position. I never even had the option to push, never dilated, nada, zilch despite all the contractions. Luckily this isn't the 1800's so I didn't you know.... die or anything. The recovery is really hard from surgery, harder than labor but thankfully easier than the pain I was experiencing during the pregnancy. And the outcome??? Amazing little baby monster to call my own!!! And now you are all like, "post a picture bitch!!" Ok! Ok... here you go...

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Shortbread and Babyland

So you may have noticed my conspicuous amount of absent time. A roughly 9 month absence. Without fail as soon as you indulge yourself by venting in a public space about personal problems life will invariably prove you wrong. Not that I'm complaining btw!!! So yes after all that tear jerking and terribleness I got pregnant. Scott free, no drugs involved, totally pregnant; News that I was waiting originally to share with you after the alls safe yet totally arbitrary 12 week mark. What I did not expect was to be slammed with the pregnancy stick so hard. I was sick people... nausea like I have never experienced in my life. It was intense. So week after week went by not posting, not cooking, not even standing vertical so much and I just lost my blogging mojo. Which is a theme if you haven't noticed.

So now I'm about a week away from my due date, as big as a blimp, and more uncomfortable than I ever imagined possible. FYI I was not one of those graceful pregnant people. Those people that make it look so goddamn easy.. "Hi I'm growing an eight pound person off of my uterus and I'm going to run the NY marathon." By about 5 months pregnant I was having intense pelvic pain which has pretty much been the theme for the past 4 months. I would have loved to keep working until the end of the pregnancy. Mostly just to keep my mind from turning into total mush by watching nothing but Bravo and E all day. But it's kinda hard to help people find a good vitamin for themselves when all you can do is lean over a little rolling cart and moan.

I don't want to sound like I'm complaining. I am totally trilled and feel so lucky to be having a healthy pregnancy. We had no major complications, our little guy seems healthy and other than discomfort I haven't had any problems medically. I just can't get over how different this experience has been from what I envisioned. I guess I had some pipe dream of what an organicgranolaearthmother journey pregnancy would be. That since it is such a natural process that it would feel natural. But honestly it has seemed like freakshowalienland right from the get go. Just the whole metamorphosis from normal to extremely pregnant has felt sooooo weird. I just hope the transition from woman/wife to mother feels a little less jarring.

At some point I may post about all the pregnancy craziness. The things that happen to your body, the loss of autonomy, general pregnancy ickyness that people don't talk about. But I have a sneaking suspicion that once I meet this little guy he will be waaaaaaay more interesting than revisiting all the good times of the last few months. In the mean time I'm making shortbread on a snowy day and waiting for baby...

Simple Shortbread

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour

Blend sugar and salt in processor. Cut in butter using on/off turns until blended and smooth. Blend in vanilla. Add flour and process until blended but still slightly crumbly, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate 30 minutes.
Position rack in top third of oven and preheat to 250°F. Divide dough in half. Press each half onto bottom of 8-inch-diameter cake pan or 9-inch-diameter pie dish. Bake shortbread 30 minutes. Rotate pans and continue baking until cooked through and very pale golden, about 30 minutes longer. Cool in pans on racks 10 minutes. Cut each warm shortbread while still in pan into 12 wedges. Cool completely. Using thin spatula, carefully transfer wedges to platter. (Shortbread can be prepared up to 4 days ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature.)