The Food That Made Me

1/21/2026

Kids, there is a season for everything, including not cooking. That’s a shocker, huh?

Child #1’s six-week premature birth hit mommy and daddy like a storm. Water breaks like the movies at 5 am (The midwives swore that there was a smaller chance of that happening). The on-call nurse said that we have to go to the hospital right away. But, thankfully, your Auntie was there to help mommy with the situation. Overnight suitcase packed swiftly. Here comes the part of the story that Daddy dreads. It was raining hard. Maybe it was even storming. Who knows, I’m the narrator. One of the things in life that I’m the most cautious and nervous about is driving, especially in the dark and rain. Luckily, by God’s grace, we got to the hospital safely.

We got placed in an admitting room and waited for the next shift of nurses and doctors to take over. The baby was still breech, meaning that the head wasn’t facing downward. We have to do a C-section. So, another part of God’s grace was that Mommy’s sister was there to support Mommy in the operating room. The doula was sick and couldn’t make it. Honestly, I would have fainted in the operating room. I’m sorry.

An hour later, you were placed in the special care nursery. You were real. Your little hands wrapped around one of my fingers. I melted. You are going to be someone whom we love more than ourselves.

You were born weighing just over 4 pounds, but then you lost weight, which is normal. But, they had to wait for you to gain enough weight to reach 4 pounds again, which is the legal minimum limit for the carseat. You had to stay in the special care nursery for seven days. Honestly, those few days we ate pretty poorly, we ate out a lot, and sometimes skipped meals because we were off and on at the hospital for most of our time.

Anyways, back to the season of not cooking. Uncle Butters helped us set up a mealtrain, which I was very grateful for because he provided a better summary of the situation than I would have had. We are grateful for all the love and support from our church, family, and friends. There were many people who cooked super delicious things, like chicken with mushrooms, burritos, and pita wraps. Some got takeout, and others got us DoorDash giftcards. It is hard to express our level of gratitude for the outpouring of love that we have received. My love language is usually quality time, i.e., long talks with people. But, at this moment, I greatly appreciated the love language of receiving gifts. THANK YOU!

If you read my last post, you’ll get a better understanding of the past two weeks. Here is the TLDR. It has been a marathon of sleep deprivation and bottle feeding. It has been both my hell and heaven. But, my baby’s existence made me turn from greatly depressed to tired and nervous, yet joyful. I can’t wait to continue this journey with her.