Labor Inducing Pasta?

Within less than 24 hours (Wednesday to Thursday), three people suggested that I try the labor inducing pumpkin tortellini at a local restaurant. Seriously. My midwife was included among the advice givers. So since Joshua isn't working tonight, we're going to go on a dinner date and we'll see if this famous dish really works. I also found an article written up about it. I've included that below because I think it's pretty funny that we "overdue" pregnant women are willing to try just about anything to get our little ones to make their debut. Mine is currently still finding enough room to practice her karate kicks to the right side of my belly. How she still has space in there is beyond me.

Joshua and I are impatiently waiting on her arrival and wondering if she will ever come. We have the hospital bags packed and in the car. The nursery is finished. The apartment is essentially clean. All of the baby clothes are washed and organized. The car seat is installed properly (we had it checked). So now all we're doing is waiting...and waiting...and waiting. I'm not desperate yet, but I'm getting close. I think that it's less because I'm just done with the being pregnant thing because I still am loving the feeling of all her movements. Rather there are more practical reasons for my impatience... 1) our good friend Johanna is going to be there for the birth, unless baby comes after April 2nd because then Johanna will be in Ohio 2) I'm getting tired of people seeing me at work and saying things like "You're still here?!?" or "No baby yet?!?" Ugh. 3) I'd like my dad to be able to come out to meet his granddaughter and the longer she waits the more likely that we'll have a conflict with his upcoming business trip 4) etc, etc, etc. All of this to say, we're darn ready for her.

So without further griping or ado...here is the article I mentioned.

From The Salem News Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.

Published: 04/12/2007 Oh, baby: Is it the pumpkin tortellini? By Paul Leighton Staff writer BEVERLY - As co-owner of Super Sub, Paul Guanci usually touts the benefits of his cheesesteaks. But when it comes to the miracle of birth, even he defers to the dish served down the street at Chianti's Tuscan Restaurant. "If your wife is pregnant and you want her to give birth," Guanci said, reciting what has become a local legend among expectant parents, "you go to Chianti's for the pumpkin tortellini." Guanci's wife, Kristin, did just that one night two years ago. Nineteen hours later, son Noah was born. Same story for Kim Pelletier. A day after her due date last December, she dug into the pumpkin tortellini at Chianti's. Forty hours later, out came daughter Hannah. Forty hours might seem like a long time, but not long enough to discourage Pelletier from making the tortellini connection. "It still did the trick," she said. It's not just the Guancis and the Pelletiers. Since the restaurant opened on Cabot Street 14 years ago, Chianti's owner, Richard Marino, estimates 40 to 50 women have credited the pumpkin tortellini for bringing on a delivery. "We call their babies the pumpkin patch kids," Marino said. Marino isn't sure how the legend got started. He thinks an overdue pregnant woman was advised by someone at Beverly Hospital years ago that pumpkin tortellini might do the trick. The woman ate at Chianti's, had the baby the next day, then called the restaurant with her theory. The staff at Chianti's took it from there. Whenever an obviously pregnant woman walked through the door, they had the pumpkin tortellini on the table before she had settled in her seat. "I didn't even order," said Pelletier, a Beverly resident. "The waitress sat us down and said, 'I bet I know what you should order.'" Waitress Chrissy Beale said word often spreads among women at baby showers. All of a sudden, she said, there will be a table full of pregnant friends wolfing down the pumpkin tortellini. At one point, Beale said, there were three pregnant women at separate tables eating the tortellini when they noticed a fourth pregnant woman who was unaware of the dish's hidden power. All three walked over to her table to let her in on the secret. "They all cross their fingers and say, 'I hope it works. I'm sick of this,'" Beale said. "They say, 'Anything will work at this point.'" The magic could be in the recipe. Chianti's pumpkin tortellini consists of a pumpkin puree inside the tortellini, served in a Gorgonzola cheese cream sauce with pear and caramelized walnuts. "Maybe because it's such a rich dish and it's so filling," Beale said. Marino doesn't advertise the pumpkin/pregnancy connection, and he didn't pitch the story to this newspaper. But he sounds like he has the makings of a pretty good slogan. "When people ask if we deliver at Chianti's," he said, "I guess we do."