So what did you have to eat???

[McQ]

In honor of Joanne's eggplant parmesan doing the trick, I thought it would be interesting to find out what everyone had to eat before their blessed event.

I ate spicy through my whole pregnancy so that wasn't it for me. Instead DH grilled some marinated beef kabobs with onions and red bell peppers and cooked a pile of rice. It was to die for. About an hour later we headed to the hospital and Declan arrived 5 weeks early.

Allison
~ mommy to Declan 3.24.03

[starrynight]

I don't even remember isn't that funny!! I went into labor late at night with Daria, early in the morning with Alex and Eliza. So it was something I ate at night but not sure what.

[sweetbasil]

Since I had a scheduled c-section w/Charlie and had to fast after midnight, we decided to go to- ahem, Denny's, so I could have one last breakfast for a few days. Ha! Plus, it's Kellen's favorite restaurant (not sure why he is stuck on it, but he is) :)

[heva]

We went out for Indian food, since it worked for another friend a few years ago. Worked like a charm for me, too, as less than 6h later, I was contracting regularly and gave birth by 4pm the next day! We tried really hot Thai food the night before that with no success...

[Roleysmom]

I was induced unexpectedly, so the food didn't have anything to do with my labor starting, but boy do I remember what I ate! I handful of triskets with Kaukama (not sure how you spell it) cheese spread. Not only healthy and delicious and more than enough to sustain one through 21 hours of labor but mighty dang pretty when they come back up and out during labor.


Paula-- mom to Roley Julia 01-04-02

[cinrein]

I was having back pains all day and thought I overdid it the day before. DH fixed me chicken breasts that were marinated in a lime/peppery combo and served over rice. Really good, but I'm still amazed that it all stayed down when the contrax started in earnest at 8:30 and the nausea hit!

Cindy and Anna 2/11/03

[mamahill]

But stuff didn't kick in until after I had eaten, walked the mall a gazillion times, and then mopped my entry and kitchen floors on my hands and knees. Ainsleigh was almost 3 weeks early, but I'd been having false labor all week.

[muskiesusan]

Skyline aka Cincinnati Chili. We had heard in birthing class that people had success with it, but I wasn't even trying to start labor, it was just being served at a party we were attending! Nick was breech, and I hoping he would still turn as I had 2 weeks to go before my due date and 3 weeks until the schedule c-section.

Susan
Mom to Nicholas 10/01/01
& Baby #2 due 4/23/04!!!!

[sntm]

eggplant parmesan. lots and lots and lots of eggplant parmesan. also got to see it later :(

shannon
not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
trying-to-conceive :)
PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03
mama to Jack 6/6/03

[brigmaman]

Wow, I had the same dinner as you, Allison, but with chicken!! Yum!!

[smomom]

I had good ol' Kansas City barbeque the night that DS surprised us. I was 17 days early and had been scheduled to be induced 3 days after I delivered. I never made the connection to the spicy food, but who knows - if we have another I may have to try the BBQ route again.

p.s. I feel the need to stay true to my Southern roots and go on the record as saying that I much prefer my hometown Memphis BBQ to the KC stuff. But sometimes you just gotta take what you can get. ;)

[heva]

Hee, hee! My mom swears she went into labor after literally vaccuuming the kitchen ceiling.

[Rachels]

Chinese food!

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[cvharris]

>eggplant parmesan. lots and lots and lots of eggplant
>parmesan. also got to see it later :(
>
same here - exactly! ben was born less than 12 hours after I ate the eggplant parmesan. :)

[stillplayswithbarbies]

I went into labor sometime while I was asleep at night, so I don't know what I ate the night before. But I ate normally all through labor, breakfast of bacon and eggs, I don't recall what I had for lunch and snacks. We had dinner at 8:15 while watching American Idol, it was grilled chicken breasts and broccoli with cheese sauce and I recall being ravenous and eating a lot. Finished dinner at 8:45 and decided to head for the hospital even though American Idol was not quite over yet.

Logan was born at 9:43.

So much for what they teach you in class about losing your appetite as labor progresses. I figure I had a full dinner sometime after transition. I didn't have any of the emotional signposts either. I do recall one brief thought of "okay this is just annoying now" at about 7:00 or so, so I guess that was transition for me.

We had a bunch of snacks to take to the hospital to eat "while in labor", and never got the chance. Granola bars, grapes, juice. In retrospect I should have been muching on them all day and not saving them for when we got to the hospital. I didn't really plan on staying home for the whole labor, but I really like the way it worked out now that I look back on it.

Maybe we won't cut it quite so close next time though.

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[papal]

Me too!

[bluej]

"okay this is just annoying now"

LOL! That sounds like my labor w/ Caden! I had two painful contractions w/ him, told the nurse I wanted something for the pain, she checked me and told me that it was time to start pushing. I was pleasantly surprised!

I ate eggplant parmesan every three days for a week and a half before Ryden was born and it did zippo for me. I was suppose to have it on the 29th, but I just wasn't hungry, so I went w/o supper. He was born on the 30th. I don't recall what I ate w/ the other two.

[deborah_r]

I don't think what I had to eat had anything to do with DS's arrival, because I did not "go into labor" - I was induced when they became concerned about excess amniotic fluid.

But around here (LA area) lots of people in my Lamaze class were talking about some restaurant that has an item called "The the salad" - not a typo, there's two "the"s from what I understand. People say it does the trick. And I ran into a woman from my Lamaze class at Mommy & Me and she said she went into labor before 40 weeks and she had gone and eaten that salad right before she went into labor.

Maybe some of the other LA ladies here know what restaurant it is and what the ingredients are?

[llcoddington]

I had a bowl of Mini-Wheats cereal!

Lana
mom to Lauren 12/5/03

[C99]

I remember thinking how glad I was that I had grabbed a turkey sandwich from the White Hen Pantry before I got on the road to go to my OB's office, because after I got there, he told me that my water had broken and that I'd be induced. It didn't come back up, btw, and neither did the 1/2 granola bar that I begged J. to get from my purse! By the time I gave birth 16 hours later, I was STARVING. And what did the nurse find for me to eat at 2:30 a.m.? Another freaking turkey sandwich!!

[newbelly2002]

Toast with just the teeniest pat of butter, and water. Exciting, no? I had passed a few gall stones the week before and was told to avoid anything that might set-it off again. I lived in fear of all food for that week. But regardless, our little gentleman arrived a week early to the day.

Next time I'm going for the eggplant parmasean!
Paula
Mama to Dante, 8/1/02

[khakismom]

Glad to know that KC BBQ came thru for you! I may have to try that next time! :)

[sadie427]

A huge dinner of gourmet pizza, onion rings and chinese chicken salad at the wolfgang puck cafe! Actually if anything put me into labor, it was walking all afternoon and evening around downtown chicago, not what I ate. But it was kind of like carbo loading, I think, I think it helped my energy level since I couldn't keep anything down after the contractions started.

[mom2kandj]

Thai chicken salad at CA Pizza Kitchen? Didn't work for us!

Really spicy authentic thai food worked for us both times! (Six and seven days late!)


Rose
mom 2 Katie 12/02/00
& Jack 04/16/02

[Marisa6826]

I honestly can't remember either. I had a scheduled c/s and was admitted the night before. I seem to think that it was nothing more exciting than a turkey sandwich on whole wheat. The food truly SUCKED in the hospital so I lived on sandwiches for six days.


Edited to say that I just remembered it was a chicken sandwich from Wendy's and THEN TWO turkey sandwiches. I was STARVING hungry for some reason and knew the cutoff was midnight :P

-m

[alleyoop]

Veal Picatta! It had SO much garlic on it, and was SO yummy. Of course, I saw it again, and again, and again. DH says that next time he is not allowing any garlic to pass my lips from 34 weeks on. I guess my breath was like fire while doing He-He-He's into his face. Funny, I distinctly remember asking to brush my teeth a couple times, but he says I never did...

So glad that labor was as nauseating for him as it was for me! :)

[amp]

Funny, I don't remember. I was scheduled for a C-Section, so I know I was concerned about what to eat the night before that wouldn't upset my belly, and yet fill me up since I wasn't allowed to eat anything after like 6pm or some crazy thing! I probably had a cheeseburger from Wendy's, which would have been my favorite thing. I wish I could remember. I start having labor pains that morning around 4am, but since I was due to be at the hospital at 7am, for a 9am surgery, I didn't worry too much about it. I guess I don't believe anything I ate put me into labor. This was 3 days before my due date, so I certainly wasn't going too crazy just yet.

[Tondi G]

I've been to the restraunt and there were always a bunch of preggos in there that loked as though they were about to pop!!!! LOL

The The salad is a mixed baby greens salad with a balsamic vinagrette dressing with gorganzola cheese and chopped walnuts on top.... I bet is has something to to with the gorganzola.... those babies get a whiff of that stuff coming doan and they want out!!!! LOL

The restaurant is called Caioti Restaurant.... used to be located in Laurel Canyon on the LA side..... they moved to somewhere in the San Fernando valley!

~Tondi and Mason 7/8/01!

Oh and the topic.... I have NO idea what I ate before DS came.... my Contractions began in the afternoon..... went to lunch and ate an egg salad sandwich... snacked on cookies and such all evening.... then he was born the next morning..... I was starved by the time he arrived!!!!

[deborah_r]

Thanks Tondi...I was trying to find my Lamaze book with my notes, because I'm sure I wrote it down! That all sounds very familiar, so I think we are talking about the same thing!

[pritchettzoo]

I tried the eggplant parmesan--and from Scalini's itself with its famous wall o' babies. Nothing. I made BIL's co-worker's famous labor-inducing-rainbow-trout recipe. Nada. Stubborn little monkey. :) Pitocin didn't even work for her!

Anna
Mama to Gracie (9/16/03)

[Momof3Labs]

I have absolutely no idea. But I do know that my water broke (2 weeks early) only hours after my second breastfeeding class! This kid wanted at 'em!!

[SeekerMage]

My Moms Chicken Pitas....marinated chicken with green peppers and mushrooms....though instead of adding mushrooms she accidentaly added a can of green beans...they were picked out and mushrooms added but she swears it was her "magic recipe" that did the trick! Especially since I hadnt even dropped yet...we went shopping after dinner and at the checkout she swears I had dropped...and I did since my water broke that next morning.
I also had peanut butter toast before heading to the hospital at 6 in the morning. Yummm!

[JLiebCamm]

I had crab cakes at a nice restaurant because it was my birthday. I finished one and took the other home to enjoy it for lunch the next day. But I went into labor in the middle of the night and sat there in the morning waiting for my contractions to get closer together while my DH snacked on my precious leftovers!

[todzwife]

The last thing I ate before was a bowl of lucky charms at 11 PM. My water broke at midnight. :)

[MelissaTC]

Peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread with a big glass of skim milk. I watched "League of Their Own" on TBS and told DH to drive me back to the hospital because this baby was coming, whether the hospital wanted him to or not. They had sent me home because I was having false labor contractions...at 11 days overdue!

[jubilee]

Before my first son I was eating waffles and bacon at Denny's when I started feeling light contractions. We then went to Home Depot and I walked around for about an hour (probably not the best place to walk around pregnant). My son was born at 3:21 the next afternoon.

My second son was induced, so we went out to eat and had burgers at Red Robin.

[MelissaTC]

RED ROBIN??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!

My DH worked at a Red Robin in NY for years... *sigh* He loved that place and was so excited to find one in Redmond when he went on a business trip to Microsoft...

[new_mommy25]

We had Korean the night before. Kalbi and fried Mandoo. maybe it was the Kim Chee that did the trick?