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The recent birth of my son at Fairview Southdale Hospital put my wife and me into the thick of it. There we were, on the heels of a life-changing, exhilarating, thoroughly exhausting jumble of circumstances, more or less stuck in a hotel room that played host to a revolving cavalcade of nurses, doctors, friends, and relatives — plus the odd tout for the resident infant photography service.

And although we’d packed some utilitarian snacks and understood our rights (and my ability) to sally forth into the city to import our food, we were collectively exhausted enough after the whole “PUSH 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10″ experience and disoriented enough by the ongoing battery of tests, paperwork, and adventures in breastfeeding to go to the lowest common denominator of food: calling room service and ordering hospital food.

What a surprisingly good idea.

As a two-word expression, “hospital food” ranks right up there with “eel mucus,” “dry socket,” and “soy bacon” on the list of expressions least likely to stimulate the appetite. But the approach at Fairview was — and I say this as thoroughly non-compensated real-life customer — profoundly appropriate to the circumstances.

Our editor-in-chief, Jim Norton, not only welcomed his new baby boy into the world last week: he wrote a funny and poignant review of the hospital food that he and his wife (and HT photog) Becca Dilley had during their birthstravaganza.

And of course, happy birthday, Josiah! You’re gonna be one well-fed baby.

(via heavytable)