The Great Salmon Caper

If you noticed the little category title at the bottom, it says "pregnancy". You may be wondering what salmon has to do with pregnancy, or afraid to find out.

First of all, no I'm not eating salmon with ice cream, or putting chocolate on it, or craving it or anything, so you can read on, assured it won't turn your stomach.

My midwife joins in with about 10 other families and every once in a while orders a bunch of fresh Alaskan salmon. It gets delivered at her house in 3 boxes, frozen. Well, the FedEx people "lost" a box for a while, and only delivered two boxes, the fish still frozen hard. So, she got two instead of one. She called and they found the lost box, but when they delivered it, the fish was mostly unfrozen, but still frosty cold. You can't refreeze it (the experts say) so she has been giving it away like crazy.

Changing scenes to our house today. I was in a mode of paranoia over the movement of this baby, or lack thereof. I felt the baby kicking gently last night in church (what is it about Dale's preaching that makes our babies kick? Maybe they are just inspired!) but hadn't felt any since then. So, around nap time I started thinking that maybe if I laid down for a while I would feel something. I even ate a couple of cookies thinking the sugar might get the baby going. Well, I didn't feel anything but panic. So, around 2:45 I called my MW and asked if she had time for a quick fetal check and she very obligingly said "I always have time for that!". I called our neighbor who was a sweetie to come over on very very short notice. Off I went.

Now, let me clarify here that I did NOT tell Dale I was going. I figured it was all *my* problem, and no need to worry him.

Well that blew up in my face. He called home, as usual, around 4, and I wasn't home yet. My neighbor told him where I was, and of course, that got him worrying anyhow. Meanwhile I left the MW's, and he called her while I was en route home, and got the update.

The update was this: everything is fine. We chased the baby around for a few minutes, heard the movement of the baby, then got a nice, strong heart rate. I about cried with relief. I could tell you where the heart rate clocked in, but then that *might* give away the gender, if you are a believer in that sort of thing.

Okay, what does all this have to do with the salmon? Well, a few minutes before I left, my MW suddenly said: "You know, I think the Lord wanted you here today." She proceeded to tell me about the salmon kerfuffle, and offered some for our family which I accepted gladly. There were 7 good sized steaks. So, supper tonight was baked salmon steaks, fresh zucchini (which another neighbor had given us this morning!), fresh salad, and tartar sauce. The price of the salmon alone made the trip to the MW's worth it! YUM YUM YUM!!!! There was one moment that would have made Martha Stewart cringe when my son, who was setting the table asked:
"Mom, can we use paper plates?"
I kindly replied, "Honey, when you serve salmon, you don't use paper plates!"

As for my paranoia, I have, with the Lord's help, put it behind me. I heard movement, but didn't feel it, and to me that said "it's okay not to feel lots of movement right now." This baby may not be as active as some of the other ones. I've had that happen before too.

Oh, and wouldn't you know it on the way home from the MW's I felt all the movement I wanted? . I also apologized profusely to my poor dh for the worry I caused him, and promised to be more forthcoming with my feelings in the future. Lesson learned. :)

Here is a pic of the salmon all prepped:



Here's a plate of food for dinner:



The meal was, needless to say, a hit with everyone. The kids couldn't get enough of the salmon! The nice thing about it is that salmon is a very dense fish (the meat, not the intellect) and it goes farther than you think it is going to go. We have enough in the freezer for one more meal for all of us, plus maybe a special dinner for dh and some night after the kids go to bed. :)