The Twins' Birth

  On August 7th 2002 Mike and I went out to dinner with Gabe, who was 16 months old, and our good friend Ryan. I was 8 months pregnant with the twins and I was STARVING! I hadn't been able to eat more than a couple of bites at a time for months because all of the space that had been occupied by my internal organs was taken over by the insane amounts baby inside of me. If I took more than 3 bites of food I had the very worst heartburn. This night it didn't matter, I was going to eat! I ordered Fajitas with rice and beans, and I ate every bite, I even had some kind of chocolate cake for desert. I knew I would regret it later, but I didn't care.
 We came home from the restaurant and I put Gabe to bed and then got ready for bed myself while the guys sat in the living room and chatted. As I was climbing up onto the bed I felt (heard? sensed? I can't really explain it) this little POP. I just stood there for a second, thinking, "What the heck was that?" Then I felt a trickle of liquid and I became totally irrational.
 I walked into the living room and told Mike and Ryan something like, "I think my water just broke. But I refuse to have these babies tonight, so I'm going back to bed." Ryan went immediately into panicked, single guy mode. I think he thought babies were just going to start shooting out. Mike, on the other hand, had been dealing with my particular brand of crazy for years at this point so he knew how to handle me. "Honey, you don't have to have the babies tonight, just call the hospital and see what the nurses have to say," he told me. This seemed logical, so I did.
 I remember the conversation with the nurse on the labor and delivery floor very clearly. "Hi, this is Renee, I'm Dr. Stehly's patient. Well, I'm 36 weeks with breech twins and I think my water just broke. I don't need to come in right?" The nurse asked me where we lived. I thought it was an odd question, but I told her, "Just down the street." "Honey," she said to me, "I'll see you in 5 minutes, I'll be waiting for you." Damn, that wasn't the answer I wanted!
 I stomped around the house, collecting all of the things I didn't have ready yet, packing my bag and grumbling things like, "...NOT time yet!...I'm NOT doing this tonight!...I don't want to...can't make me...fuck, fuck, fuck!!!!!" , while Mike tried to get a hold of his dad to come get Gabe. Dad was unreachable, but Ryan agreed to stay with Gabe until his Uncle Matthew could come pick him up. I think Ryan was just glad to get the crazy, ranting, cussing, drippy, pregnant woman out of the house at that point.
 As we got out of the elevator on the labor and delivery floor (more like 20 minutes later than 5 minutes) I was sure that my water HADN'T broken, and that this was silly, and that I should just go home, but Mike said he was sure they would check me out and send me home (he's sneaky smart and wasn't about to be the bad guy, he'd leave that to the nurses.) The nurse was waiting for me, probably looking for the hugely pregnant neurotic woman with the long suffering husband, and led me to an exam room. Another nurse came in and did a litmus test and discovered that my water had, in fact, broken.
 At that point all hell broke loose. One nurse ran off to call  my doctor and an anesthesiologist the other nurse started prepping me for surgery. She shaved my belly with a dry razor, nicking every stretchmark I had in the process. Then I thought I should mention that I had just eaten a full meal. If you ever want to see a nurse turn funny colors just tell one that's prepping you for surgery that you just ate a pound of fajitas. There was a hurried consultation between the medical professionals, and it was decided that they would go ahead and do the section, and just hope I didn't vomit.
 I didn't get scared until they rolled me into the OR and told Mike he'd have to change and wait for the anesthesiologist to start my spinal. He told me later that they tried to keep him out of the room for as long as possible, because they were afraid of what would happen if such a big guy fainted in the OR. They had actually started the surgery before they let him in. He sat down next to my head and held my hand as best he could, since my arms were strapped down to the table. The doctor kept up a running dialogue of what he was doing, so that we would know when the babies were coming out. Mike stood up so that he could watch them be born.
 Aislyn was first, the doctor delivered her and held her up over the blue drape in front of my face so that I could see my tiny daughter before he handed her off to her to the neonatal team that was waiting for her. Ian came 2 minutes later, slightly bigger and crying as the doctor held him up for me to see before he too got checked out by his own team. Both babies were wrapped up and I was unstrapped so I could touch them for a moment before they went off to the NICU since they were tachycardic and had low blood sugar. I sent Mike with them, because I couldn't stand the idea of the babies being surrounded by strangers.
 While I was in recovery a nurse came back with their measurements. Aislyn was 5 pounds, 2 ounces and Ian was 6 pounds even. I was thrilled that they were so big and shocked that I had had 11 pounds of baby inside of me. My mom came by to see me a few hours later, and she had been in to see the babies and had taken pictures. It was the first I got to see them since they left the OR. It was hard to look at pictures of my babies with oxygen masks and tubes and wires attached to them, but they were beautiful.
 I was moved out of recovery and into my regular room. Another nurse brought me a few pictures of the babies. I had to wait until the spinal wore off before I could go see the babies myself. Finally, 12 hours later, I got wheeled into the NICU and saw my babies. They were already off of most of the machinery and monitors they had started out with. After just a minute in there I realized that they were the healthiest babies in the room. They just had to learn to control their body temperature. I sat and just touched them for as long as I could.
 I went back to my room and pumped so that they could get breast milk instead of the sugar water they were feeding them. I walked back and forth several times so that I could give them bottles and then start nursing them with some help from the lactation consultant. They only spent 2 days in there before they were ready to start rooming in with me and nursing full time. We spent a total of 4 days in the hospital and then were all able to come home, healthy and happy.
 So 10 years ago, today, my twins were born. I laugh now when I remember how I went from a normal, intelligent, fairly rational person into a raving maniac in the blink of an eye. That's pregnancy for you.

All grown up now

Blessed Be everyone...

Biscuits for Baking Dummies

 Tonight I made biscuits. They smelled good. They were beautiful. They tasted good. It was a first for me. Baking is not my strong suit, and I've ruined biscuits so badly that neither the dog nor the chickens would eat them. If you know any chickens you know that they must have been terrible. 
 My dear friend Mary is a baker and she finally made me realize that biscuits aren't bread (which I can bake if needs be) and the dough needs to be handled more gently. Tonight's advice was, "Just don't overmix, you can do it!!!" 
 So I looked up a recipe on the Betty Crocker website and got started. It was a really simple recipe and I made a few small changes. If I can make these anyone can. 




Tomato Basil Biscuits
   
  2 cups self rising flour
  1 stick butter
  3/4 cup milk
  1 tablespoon tomato powder (dried cherry tomatoes processed into powder)
  1 teaspoon dried basil


Preheat oven to 450. Put flour in a large bowl, cut in butter (I used 2 butter knives and then my fingers) until crumbly, add dried basil and tomato powder, and then stir in milk. Stir just until it sticks together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Then put it on a lightly floured surface, dust with flour and kneed 5 times. Roll out to 1/2 an inch thick and cut with a biscuit cutter and place with sides touching on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. 


Here is what came out of the oven. I served these with a pea and lentil soup with ham, my dried tomatoes and my dried herbs. The only thing I will do differently in the future is to make a bigger batch. Everyone had seconds and wanted thirds.

Have a good night everyone, Blessed Be...

Come visit the Homestead Barn Hop

Saving Money on the Farm

 As you can imagine, keeping 4 growing children and twenty-some animals fed can be rather expensive. So I thought I'd share a few of the ways we save a little money around here.

•  Instead of buying cleaners I use (much cheaper) staples like baking soda and vinegar. Baking soda makes a great, gentle scouring powder and removes odors. A scoop in the laundry can help get rid of that "boy smell" that's starting to be a problem around here. Baking soda also makes a great substitute for shampoo if you want to go 'poo free, which I did 2 months ago. Vinegar kills germs and cuts through grease, so it's great to use on counters. It breaks up mineral deposits, shines faucets, and cleans glass with the help of some newspaper. Mixed together, they can unclog a drain. We do still use store bought laundry soap and dish soap, but I hope to start making those once the big kids go back to school. I'm also going to start making hand and body soap for us and to give as Christmas presents to the families this year.
•  Mike does the grocery shopping. He has this innate ability to track down good deals that I just don't have. Since he knows that I can make pretty darn good meals out of anything he brings me home, he buys whatever's on sale (with the exception of organs, I still can't bring myself to cook or eat internal organs.) He mostly buys ingredients, rather than boxed, prepared items, so that I have lots of options when it comes time to make dinner.
•  I almost always cook extra and turn the leftovers into another meal. This saves time and money. When I make spaghetti, I double the amount of sauce we need for the meal and make what the twins call "Mama's Terrific Tomato Soup" the next day. When I make meatloaf I make a double batch and roll the extra into meatballs. bake and freeze for my Italian meatball soup. Leftover roast becomes tacos. I've found that no one in my house complains about leftovers as long as they don't look like leftovers.
• You'll notice I mention soup a lot, yes, soup is our friend around here. We eat soup at least once a week during the summer and probably 4 nights a week during the winter. I make bean soup, lentil soup, split pea soup, vegetable beef soup, turkey frame soup, meatball soup...well, you get the idea. It's delicious, inexpensive, pretty good for you, and really simple. It's also a good way to sneak veggies into kids who don't particularly like them, like my youngest boy.
• We shop at yard sales and on Craigslist. When the kids need t-shirts or jeans, we check the local yard sales (and I want to point out that country yard sales kick city yard sales butts.) If Mike needs a tractor part, or an incubator, or whatever he checks Craigslist. He's particularly good at this kind of shopping because he has Jedi mind powers. Really, he does!! When he leaves the room people say, "Well, crap, those WERE the droids I was looking for!" but, by that point it's too late. He often walks away with things that weren't even for sale to begin with.

 I'm going to stop now, because my children are being very quiet in the other room. Every mother knows that that means they're up to no good... 

Us? Cause trouble? Never...

Have a great weekend everyone, Blessed Be...

Squash fritters

 Here's my recipe for summer squash fritters, it's for all the gardeners that are getting overrun with zucchini and crookneck squash this time of year.

Summer Squash fritters

• 6 small summer squash (zucchini, yellow, or patty pan all work well)
• 3 green onions
• Small handful of fresh parsley
• 2 eggs
• Flour
• Pepper to taste
• Lard (for frying)

 Cut the ends off the squash and grate finely, either using a box grater or a food processor. Place a clean dishrag in a colander and put the whole thing in a bowl. Put a layer of grated squash in the colander and salt heavily. Add another layer of squash and more salt. Repeat, ending with salt and then let sit for an hour.  Several cups of liquid will drain out of the squash, which will make for crispier fritters. After the draining time, pick up the dishcloth and ring out the rest of the liquid out of the squash and put in a bowl. 

 While the salted squash is draining, finely chop the green onions, including the green tops, and the parsley. Add to the drained squash.

 Mix in the eggs and just enough flour to make everything stick together. Add pepper to taste.

 Fry in a cast iron pan over medium heat in lard or butter until brown and crispy. Drain on paper towels and eat while warm. I like to put a small dab of sour cream on mine.

Here it is! Yum yum...

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Planning my fall garden

The tomatoes are about all that's happy with the heat

 Last night I went out and did my evening walk through the garden. It's in really sad shape right now. Between the lack of rain, the bug infestations, the heat, and the weeds (which I haven't kept on top of, because it's been so darn hot) most of the plants aren't producing. It's time to start thinking about what I'm going to be putting in the fall garden. I have another 4 months of frost free weather, so I can start everything from tomatoes to corn and get another harvest.
 I've pulled all of my summer squash and put in some new seed in the plot that held bush beans in the spring. The Roma tomatoes have petered out and need to be pulled. The Beefsteaks are sprawling everywhere and have what I think is blight. I think they will come out soon too. To replace them I have 3 varieties of tomatoes started in a pot on the back porch. The cherry tomatoes look terrible because of hornworm attacks, but they're still producing like crazy.
 The hot peppers are doing okay, although a few have died off, the ones that made it are producing lots of peppers. The biggest surprise is the eggplants, which I had given up as a lost cause when the flea beetles went after them this spring. I had mostly forgotten about them and then, the other day, I realized that all 5 plants have small fruit on them!
 Mike's watermelon patch (which has grown to about 500 plants) are starting to produce fruit, but he's having a problem with blossom end rot. It looks like we'll be spreading a whole lot of ground oyster shell this weekend to combat that.
 The garlic I planted in February hasn't done very well, so I'm just going to leave it there over the winter and put in another bed (or 2) in October. Another bed will be seeded with green onions. If I cover it during cold snaps I should be able to harvest green onions all winter long.
 It's still to hot to plant lettuces, but I'm going to prep a bed for them, so that I can start some when it cools off some. The same goes for spinach. I'll be starting cabbage, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts in flats next to the tomato seedlings on the back porch so that they can go in the ground in 6 weeks or so.
 The big question is where to put in another crop of cucumbers? Cucumber beetles have been a huge problem this year and my harvest has been lousy. I'm going to try inter planting with radishes and a sturdier trellis to keep them off the ground and see how that works to deter pests.
 Another couple of beds will be devoted to beets, carrots and radishes. I'm thinking of growing some turnips too. I've never had them, but we can always feed them to the goats if we don't like them.
 Anyway, that's the plan for now. I guess I should go out and actually work in the garden, rather than sit here writing about it. Have a productive weekend everyone, and Blessed Be.