Saturday, June 10, 2006

Stork Dinner


One of the nicest traditions of our hospital stay is a romantic dinner delivered to all new parents. The nurses will take the baby while a waitress wheels a linen-covered table into your family's birthing room. The photo above doesn't really do it justice. Say what you will about hospital food--to someone who’s had heartburn for weeks prior, a rib-eye steak and twice-baked potato is a sight for sore eyes. Mmmmm! They even include a bottle of sparkling grape juice on ice to toast the new arrival. The turtle cheesecake tastes even sweeter with the knowledge that you won’t be going to a restaurant alone anytime soon. Of all the special meals out we’ve shared, our two stork dinners remain our favorite.

9 comments:

MommyLydia said...

Wow! What hospital is this?

I wonder if a hospital would allow outsiders to come in with something like this for new couples.

Our Sunday school class brings meals at home to parents of a new baby. But in the hospital! That's a great idea!

Anonymous said...

I wish the hospital I will be delivering at offered such a nice amenity. Two out of three times, when I've delivered -- once at 7 pm and once at 10 pm, there was no food any where to be found. The kitchens had closed for the night and my husband wound up trekking down to the hospital McDonald's and buying food for me. I do know they'd let someone bring in food there though, so maybe I'll have to line something up for myself if my labor goes long again.

TheNormalMiddle said...

Makes those $47 apiece tylenol a little bit nicer, doesn't it?? :) Seriously, that is what our hospital charged me for ONE tylenol. So you do pay for the steak dinner. In our hospital they used to do the same thing but stopped when we had baby #2 & #3, but they did send us home with a little gourmet basket filled with spaghetti sauce & fun shaped pasta.

Oh, and our hospital had really YUMMY chocolate chip cookies they gave to all the nursing mama's as a snack. MMMMM :)

Meredith said...

Lindsey, I just assumed the cost was rolled into the hospital stay--but even then, it's a lovely gesture, one for which I'd happily pay.

Jordana, even I would have had to wait for the next day's schedule had we delivered that late at night. Maybe start collecting take-out menus now?

Ruth, this isn't a luxury hospital, just a small rural one with some nice traditions and a warm, caring staff.

Beck said...

Oh my gosh. A friend of mine had one of her babies in the US and the other in Canada and told me that the two experiences were just completely different. Now I see what she meant! At the hospital I delivered in, the food was shipped in - pre-cooked - from Toronto. Including the toast. Ew.

Amy said...

Wow, I have never seen anything like that! I am so jealous! I had a package of graham crackers after my delivery! I was so glad to see that your family is doing so well- take it easy (or at least try to) :)

Monica Wilkinson said...

What a fun tradition! :) Our hospital does no such thing...but I'm so glad that yours does!

Shannon said...

I wish I'd thought of this before Jack was born - I'm totally going to plan my own next time. I was so jealous of not getting anything good to eat while my family all went out to eat the whole 4 days I was in the hospital - although my mom did go get me whatever I wanted:) Next time I'm going to plana night where the kids are at home with Grandma and Hubby can go pick up take out from somewhere good. I'll have the tablecloth and all that packed and he can just take it home with him at night:) Any leftover dessert can stay with me.

Goslyn said...

Wow, that is so neat! Wish they'd done that for me. Our food was actually good, but it just came on the standard hospital-issue plastic trays.

But man, I could not get enough to eat! I was STARVING after birthing Tom. All during labor I kept begging for a pizza.