A special non food related post today to herald our most cherished arrival. More recipes and food love to resume next week with a special “how to picnic without panic” newsletter. And in case you missed it, last week I shared a bumper batch cooking newsletter - it’s a bit hot for the 5 bean chilli and 7 veg ragu but do make the no bake peanut bars and give the strawberry breakfast muffins a go to see in the Wimbledon weeks.
As you know I’ve been cooking up a baby for the last 9 months, actually, 40 weeks which is closer to 10 months. Someone sent a lovely message on instagram saying Summer was the best thing I’d cooked yet and I couldn’t agree more!
After 4 long years and sadly several pregnancy losses, thanks to the science of IVF and a dose of magic, we have a fresh pink cheeked, big brown eyed (and really quite hairy) gorgeous daughter.
Baby Summer Eliza is finally here.
I’ve been meaning to start typing this out to you for the last 5 days but between 30 second showers, cold ginger and fennel breast-feeding tea, one handed slurps of warm soup from a mug (too nervous to have anything hot near the baby!) and a plethora of drugs and painkillers as well as multiple medication and blood pressure check alarms, it wasn’t meant to be. I’m here now though and hope you enjoy these family snapshots of my first few days as a mother.
Her birth
We spent 2 nights and 3 days in hospital - thank you to University College Hopsital and the whole NHS team - and arrived home to a very waggy tailed Nelly and my emotional Mum who I have never ever seen so lovingly soft and soppy! Shout out to my Mum who kept a running conveyor belt of chopped watermelon, papaya, strawberries and coconut coming to us in hospital during our heatwave stay on the labour ward. (If you missed our recent cook offs of our fave Filipino food, you can watch them here.)
I’d love to share how Summer’s birth went with you but to be honest, I haven’t processed it yet, AT ALL and there were some truly traumatic moments. As we are taught in antenatal classes, do make a list of Birth Preferences rather than Birth Plans and do be prepared for anything and everything to happen….. well, my dream was a low lit, yogi breathing, classical music playing, warm water birth with Henry ‘catching’ Summer’s head as she entered the world and what do you know, it ended up being an emergency caesarean C-section at 8.08pm. If you work in the medical world or have a loved one in that field, you’ll know that 8pm is the very precise evening shift change so it was a hectic handover experience to say the least. More to come on that in due course……I’m going to take some sweet time to journal it all out when I have a real space to do so.
Her name
We chose the name Summer because we knew she was due around the summer solstice on 21st June and her name feels cheerful to say and full of hope, sunshine and fruitfulness. Eliza because my mum wanted to name me Elizabeth (or Michael if I was a boy) but my father won with Melissa because he liked flower names (Melissa is a Greek name meaning flower, lemon balm, bee and honey to boot). Even now my Mum calls me Lilibet (Queen Elizabeth II’s family nickname) and I love the character Lizzy Bennet of Pride & Prejudice.
I can’t quite believe I’m writing these words as our longed for sweet little girl lies next to me in her Moses basket on the kitchen table next to jugs and teapots full of flowers as well as many clean items of laundry that need sorting but can wait. I think we are lucky with a summer baby as you only need one layer of clothes, no socks, which saves a fortune in laundry and time in dressing!
Thank you to everyone who has sent messages of support before and during my pregnancy and thank you to everyone who has crossed their fingers and toes for us. We couldn’t feel more supported and cheered on, thank you!
And to those who commented and messaged and shared with us that they are currently expecting their baby - huge ginormous congrats - and to those pregnant with the help of IVF - I’m so happy for you. Wishing you all the luck and love.
If you are starting or on your fertility journey, you might like to read this on my experience and a few hopefully helpful recommendations from me.
What’s next
Working for myself, I’ve decided not to take a traditional set-in-stone number of months of maternity leave but am sussing out how best to carve out this special time. If you’ve got any tips, let me know. Someone wrote the “world can wait” which is a lovely thought but also, realistically, I love to work and I need to get back to work quite swiftly!
I’ve been squirrelling away over the last 6 months creating new recipes to make sure you’ve got lots of inspiration, tips and ideas to see us all through the summer so I won’t be taking a break on this newsletter as I get so much from our community and I love reading all your comments and requests - please keep them coming!
Love,
A deliriously tired and ecstatic Melissa (and a very snuffly baby Summer)
Beautiful name! & lovely that you have shared your experiences.
No doubt they’ll be a baby weaning/food book to come...! Yes you must!!!
I lived by my Annabel Karmel (it was the late 90’s) and I held it in such high regard. She taught me to offer variety & I have no doubt it helped me in my healthy eating journey which in turn passed on to my now 23 year old ‘baby’! A healthy eating chap on a chef apprentice right now!
I am positive a book by you can/would do the same for thousands of new mums!
Until then, savour every moment of this incredible time. x
Congratulations! So, so happy for you - all three of you! 😊😊😊xx