Oliver’s Story, Part Two

So, now we continue on to the following day. As Evan wrote before, it was a day of waiting. I had to wait for my bp to keep rising. I had to wait for ibuprofen, more blood draws, and the iron IV. Then, I could go home. I was supposed to be able to leave around noon. We didn’t leave until 3:30pm. Everyone was nice, but seemed like they were understaffed. I was told Fridays were busy because people were coming and going for the holiday weekend. I told them many times that they were welcome to have my bed! Really! I had a headache and was light-headed because I didn’t eat food that was good for me (they kept serving me things like coffee and froot loops cereal) and not nearly enough water. What did they expect?

Anyway, after we left, we picked up an iron supplement and some herbs from Dr. Tracy’s office. The hospital staff tried to give me a prescription for iron plus a stool softener for the side effects. I did get their prescription for Methergine. That was helpful and cheap! Tracy’s iron and herbs are working perfectly (no stool softener needed, in case you were wondering).

We finally got home around 5:30pm. Thank goodness for the kindness and patience of Susan and her kids, Prydwyn and Aiavel. They took care of Zoey all day. They played dress-up. They played with the train set and all the toys that were unpacked. And read books and played the piano. And they went on cookie missions to the downstairs freezer. We are so grateful to you for hanging out all day long and finding what you needed to take care of everything!

Susan was our doula for Zoey. She was to be our doula again for Oliver … and I guess she was. We love you Susan!

In the days since then, I have slept and eaten many iron-rich foods. I have started to eat red meat again. I had to remember how to cook it. We have started with top sirloin steaks. I can remember my mom making them from my childhood and how she sliced it up all pretty. Well, we had to check on the Alton Brown site to see how to make them. Surprisingly, it is pretty easy and less expensive than I thought (we bought beef raised with no hormones, grain-fed, etc.).

How to cook top sirloin steak:

• Place some aluminum foil (with edges crimped up to contain grease) on an oven rack on the very bottom setting.
• Place your other oven rack on the next setting up.
• Preheat your broiler.
• Brush the steak lightly with olive oil, then add salt and pepper to taste.
• Place steak directly on the oven rack. (We cheated and put it on aluminum foil.)
• Broil for 5 minutes.
• Tip: Make a “snake” out of yet another sheet of aluminum foil and close it in your oven door to keep the broiler from shutting off too soon.
• Turn the steak over and broil for another 5 minutes. (Don’t forget to replace the snake in the door!)
• Move the oven rack with the steak to the top setting and broil for 3 minutes.
• You might need to move the grease-catching oven rack up to the notch just beneath the steak, but we didn’t need to since we were cheating.
• Turn the steak over and broil for another 3 minutes.
• Remove your steak from the oven to a wire cooling rack, and don’t touch it for 3 to 5 minutes.
• Your steak will be a perfect medium doneness, pink in the middle.

This recipe was swiped wholesale from foodnetwork.com, but was at least typed from memory (not that it’s that complicated).

I have also eaten other iron-rich foods such as lentil soup, stir-fried kale, strawberries, and thanks to Angela, Korean seaweed soup. Very tasty! So, I am feeling better and better. Stairs don’t wear me out anymore.

Evan and I are doing pretty well about this whole thing. I truly believe it is nature’s way. We are planning a small ceremony for Oliver. I don’t know when or exactly what it will entail yet, just that we will be planting trees (we still have Zoey’s placenta which we have always intended to plant with a tree for her).

As part of our closure, I asked Monica to do an astrology chart for him. It was pretty cool. Aquarius with a Libra moon and a Pisces ascendent. Everything about his chart was purposeful, planned, and specific. I now understand why the pregnancy was so easy (well, until the last little bit), too. It is a lot to go into here… But, we know that he is around us in spirit form.