Week 38: Segulah Time

Well, I'm thank g-d in my 38th week and it's getting down to the wire. The Dr.'s say that I can have the baby any day now, but only the Lord knows when the baby is going to decide to come. As for me, well, let's just say I'm doing my best to hurry the process along.

Last week was all about the Segulah's for an easy birth combined with "natural" ways to bring about labor. On Thursday, I decided to bake Challot as the Hafrashah on the Challah is a segulah for an easy birth. Now, I had heard that unless you're baking Challah with about 14 cups of flour, you don't make a bracha. And, since the recipe I used called for only 2 cups more than a kilo, I did the hafrashah, burnt it in the oven and didn't say a bracha. I hope that still counted as a segulah for an easy birth. On Wednesday, I finished phase two of the Esrog liquor. I have no idea how my Grandfather Z"L used to make it, but it was a very messy process with the powdered sugar and pouring the liquor out of the bottle with the esrog rind and into two whiskey bottles. It now needs 6 weeks to ferment but I'm thinking, as soon as I get any twinge of real contractions, I'm taking a shot. Figure the alcohol will help relax me while the esrog will hopefully act as a segulah for an easy birth. On Friday, before I lit candles, Pidgeon gave some Tzedakah and then last night, after we had date night and picked up some dinner at Waffle Bar, we came home and ate with Melavah Malka in mind.

Aside from going to the Mikvah, that's pretty much all the Segulot for an easy labor that I know of. As far as natural ways to get things moving, I ate fresh pineapple for dessert on Friday night, I did a lot of walking/standing on my feet and we also made sure to have at least 2 meals last week that had plenty of spice to it.

Nada is going on, I hate to admit. I honestly thought, as soon as I finished Melavah Malka last night, that I would go into labor and the baby would be here. My Dad said that I made such a nice home for the baby, that it's just not ready to interested in coming out.

I don't know about that theory. I mean, when I feel the hiccups that the baby has inside of me at like 3:00 a.m., I'm wondering if the baby really wants to be in there any longer. I mean, doesn't the baby want to be here so that Pidgeon and I can help with those hiccups?

Well, I'm just going to continue to do what I can do to help move things along. In the meantime, it's now once a week appointments with Dr. Yanai to make sure that the uterus is still a good home for the baby and that the baby is still thriving.

I can't help but wonder when it's all going to begin. I spent last night, when I couldn't fall asleep, reading the community boards on the What to Expect When You're Expecting website. I kept reading all these women's personal birth stories and they were fascinating. I realized that every single story was unique and so I have to remind myself that there is just no way to prepare for this. Elizabeth, a friend from high school, is an OBGYN resident in New York and yesterday we e-mailed back and forth on Facebook. I asked her for some advice and she basically said not to come with a birth plan because she sees all these women show up with plans and then end up with C-sections and they get very upset and disappointed.

The only "plan" I have right now is to try to go as long as I possibly can without an epidural. I am thrilled to know that the option to have one is available to me, and I'm praying that my contractions won't be so difficult as to need drugs right away, but I'd ideally like to try to go without it. It's funny, but I'm really not a martyr. I'm the first person to down 6 Advil's a day when I have very bad cramps, and I loved the laughing gas when I got all four wisdom teeth pulled, but when you experience 2 painful and complicated LP's you just don't want to run and have a big needle jabbed into your back. 

So, aside from an extremely relaxing Shabbos with Pidgeon, and a really fun date night that included a movie at Rav Chen and take out from Waffle Bar, today is all about the new cleaning lady. I am not going to say anything more because it looks like I keep jinxing myself with cleaning people. Today's will be my 5th cleaning person in 2 years, and that's just really not a normal turn over rate. I have no idea why they all keep leaving me! I pay well, I'm really nice to them, and I make sure the apartment isn't too much of a wreck. Well, I told my baby bump not to make an appearance until after the apartment is clean. I want to make sure this place is in tip top condition before we bring a baby home! Here's hoping today's cleaning person will take care of all that for me.

I'm hoping that she's so good that, when she P"G comes back next week, I can have her spend time cleaning out the fridge and the stove. I'd really like to do both of those appliances before the baby comes. That being said, if they're not done before baby,  it's not as bad as all the copulating dust bunnies I've got in the apartment.

I was just so excited about the new cleaning person, that I slept fitfully last night. Fortunately, it's Sunday, which means that I can just sit back and relax today. I'm actually hoping to work on one of the thesis stories as I still have 4 more to write and not much time to write them in! I'm ready for this Masters to be over and done with, and since I think Bar Ilan is a backwards and low tech institution, it's time for me to be finished with everything and just move on to the next phase of our lives.

Well, I'm off to go do some writing - or snoozing on the couch - whichever comes first. 

Yom Tov from Baka!

RIP Mixer

This morning, I decided I wanted to make Challah for the very first time! I went online and found a Challah recipe, took out the ingredients and then set up my American Goldline brand of electric mixer. It came with the kneeding rods and so I figured I would use it to make the Challah. It worked great for a bit, and the dough was coming together nicely and I thought it was looking good, and then the mixer started to smoke. It was a little frightening and so I quickly unplugged and watched as more and more smoke poured out of the mixer. Obviously, I just burnt out this little motor trying to bake Challah for Shabbos. And now, I'm 10 days away from my parents coming to visit with no electric mixer in sight!

I need a Kitchen Aid STAT! And, I'm really annoyed right now that I don't have one. Let me explain. My sister-in-law, Pidgeon's sister, asked me what I wanted for a wedding present. First, she mentioned getting us a plasma TV and Pidgeon and I were all for that. Then she told me that the back of the truck she was supposed to get it off of was - well - I think busted, so there went that wedding gift. At that point, I realized that the electronic mixer I was using now wasn't really strong enough for my needs. I mentioned that I really could use one and she said "done". That was three months ago. No Kitchen Aid. And damn it, I really need it now! I hate that I'm going to have to ask my Mom to get me one, especially since it's so freakin expensive, but it's one of the essential kitchen tools that's needed!

I'm so excited about this Challah too! The dough rose very nicely the first time and I was instructed to "punch it down", which I did and walked away with a punch of dough on my hands. I think that means that my dough is too "sticky" but I'm not sure. I'm going to wait a bit before I add more flour, maybe in the rolling out process I'll add some more to the dough. Anyway, I have 45-60 minutes left to let it rise a second time and then it's time for some braiding. I've never done the whole braiding thing, so I think I'm just going to make little rolls. I know how to make the "breakaway" Challah, you know with the little balls all stuck together that you just rip apart instead of cutting. I'll guess I'll just have to see when I'm at that point.

The electrician is supposed to come today around 4:00 p.m. to fix a couple of problems and I really, really hope we don't lose power. One of the reasons I'm so busy cooking now for Shabbos is just in case something goes wrong. The chicken for Friday night is already cooling and I'm saving the soup for later. I'm making crock-pot meat and barley soup for Friday night, and will probably steam some artichokes later as well. We're having edemame for a first course with a dipping sauce, so I don't have to do that until tomorrow. Sadly, Pidgeon and I have to go pay a shiva call later. I also want to go to the Mikvah to toyvel some coffee mugs we picked up at Soho in Tel Aviv the other day. With the folks days away, I'm trying to get everything set for their visit. It's gonna be loads of fun!

I didn't make it to campus today, I couldn't get out of bed. I have no problem fasting, it's the day after a fast that gives me trouble. It really takes a lot out of me to not be able to even drink water, and so I was feeling particularly nauseous and tired this morning. Pidgeon rules though, because he called the school and they said we could just fax the page over. Pidgeon is on his way to the office now to take care of that. I'm slowly acquiescing to his request for a fax machine though. We do so much faxing in this Country, it's ridiculous! When will they get on board with the whole e-mail thing?

Last night, after we broke our fast, Pidgeon and I went to Rami Levi in Talpiot to do a food shopping. We've been really good and haven't hit a Supermarket in a few days, and this was such a great experience! I wrote out a list and we really stuck to it, no deviation because something else caught our eyes. We look at prices, something I've never done in my entire life, and we went with other brands based on shekels. We bought a 1 shekel cheaper bag of corn because, well, it was 1 shekel cheaper. We had about 120 extra expense this trip that we won't have the next time around and so, I'm proud to say that we only spent 737 shekel yesterday! That's really, really great for us! First of all, it's 100 shekel cheaper than the last time we went food shopping. Without the two boxes of tea (one big box for me and one for a present for our lunch hosts on Shabbos) we would have been at 627 shekel! That's pretty impressive if I do say so myself. Plus, I got enough frozen protein to last a while. I already make 3 quarters of chicken for dinner Friday night, and we have pargiot and shnitzel and 1 kilo of soup/chulent meat to last at least 2 weeks! Here's hoping we stick to this rigid money-counting life and be able to live on what little money we bring into the house!

Well, I'm off to figure out the next part of the whole Challah making thing! Will hopefully post pictures later so you can see the finished product!

Stay warm!