Graham Patrick’s First 24 Hours of Pizza

Spring is the season for new life, so Tess and I popped out a baby.  

It just so happens that our new prince Graham Patrick wiggled his way out of the womb into my favorite 24 hours of the week: Friday. Like when the stumbling fawn Bambi first found out he would one day rule the forest, Graham was about to discover the power and prestige that Pizza Day holds for the Luther family.

First, we had to get our hands on some pizza.

Tess and I had endured a 24 hour induction process that was filled with skin crawling, chest tightening, anxiety spiking complications (Thank god for meditation!).  By the end of it, both of us were emotionally and physically exhausted. So, when Graham met the world and we finally had a chance to settle down in our birth suite we were both long over due for some quality nourishment.

But, confined to a locked-down hospital I wondered how would we score some pizza?

When my first son Ellis was born we had it easy, my parents and brother were able to smuggle in some Salvatore’s Tomato Pies to get us through our hospital stint, but with a pandemic and strict visitation policies we were on our own.

Though hospital food gets a bad rap I wasn’t about to give up, so I scoured the Meriter Hospital room service menu looking for a solution.

Open-face Hot Turkey Sandwich with Gravy? Rosemary Roasted Chicken Breast?  Sliced Pork Loin served with Apple Sauce? No. No. No! (Regretfully I believe I shouted “old people food!”).

Then I saw it, a glistening ray of hope on the back of the menu: Personal Pizza. 

However dingy it looks in my photo (I think it has cheddar on it?) in that moment that mini hand-tossed, extra cheese and pepperoni pizza offered me a sigh of relief that cradled me as I cradled our new little man.  (To the credit of Meriter Hospital all of their food was pretty good.) 

A perk of the whole “birth during a pandemic scenario” was that if Mom and baby are healthy after 24 hours you get to go home early.  We jumped at that opportunity mostly because Tess and I both missed our first born Ellis.

As we packed up and made our way out of the hospital I had a revelation:

Meriter Hospital is a couple blocks from Ians!

Our hospital pizza experience would now be reinforced by one of my Madison favorites. So, as we pulled out of the hospital with baby in tow we spun over to the Frances street Ian’s to pick a 20 inch cheese pizza and a couple slices of Mac n cheese.

Graham’s first day had a delicious and happy ending. Too bad he couldn’t really appreciate all the pizza surrounding him on his first rotation around the sun, but it was nice to find some fun in a rather chaotic and anxiety inducing time.  We can always fondly look back and remember that Graham Patrick was ready to “pizza party” from day one.

What I was eating on Graham’s birthday: Meriter Hospital pepperoni personal pizza and Ian’s 20 inch extra cheese pizza.

What I’m reading: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team –Patrick Lencioni