By The anatomy scan was Thursday. We went together, the way we went with Liam, and sat in the waiting room the way we sat in the waiting room with Liam—Sean squeezing my hand, me aware of all the clinical possibilities because I'm a nurse and can't not be—and the technician was methodical and quiet and checked everything that needed checking.
It's a girl.
Sean cried again. Quieter than the first time—he knew what was happening when his eyes went—but the same fundamental thing. I held the back of his head and looked at the ceiling and felt the same rearranging that happened two years ago in a dark room at MGH. A girl this time. Nora. I said it in the car before either of us had said anything else: "Nora." Sean said "yeah." That was the conversation.
Liam does not understand gender yet in the abstract but he understands "baby" and he understands "your baby" and when Sean told him "there's a baby in Mama's belly, a girl baby, she's going to be your sister," Liam looked at my stomach with the assessing expression he brings to new information and said "sister?" and then poked my stomach gently with one finger. Then he said "hi." To Nora. Through my stomach. "Hi."
I made mulled cider on Thursday evening and Sean put on a movie and we sat on the couch and I thought about Nora and how she's here in the sense that she's real now, named, known, headed toward us. She doesn't know it yet. We know it for her until she can know it herself.
I didn’t make the mulled cider from scratch that Thursday — I just heated it from a jug we already had — but the smell of warm apples and cinnamon filling the kitchen was exactly what the evening called for. This apple steel-cut oatmeal captures that same feeling: slow, spiced, a little sweet, the kind of thing you make when the ordinary world has just quietly tilted into something new. I’ve been making it on weekend mornings since, thinking about Nora, and it tastes like that night feels in my memory — unhurried and full.
Apple Steel-Cut Oatmeal
Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1 cup steel-cut oats
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups apple cider (or apple juice)
- 1 medium apple, peeled, cored, and diced (about 1 cup)
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup, plus more to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Optional toppings: chopped toasted walnuts, a drizzle of maple syrup, a pinch of cinnamon, sliced fresh apple
Instructions
- Combine liquids and oats. In a medium saucepan, bring the water and apple cider to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir in the steel-cut oats and salt, then reduce heat to medium-low.
- Add apple and spices. Stir in the diced apple, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, for about 20–25 minutes, until the oats are tender and have absorbed most of the liquid.
- Finish and sweeten. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract and maple syrup. Taste and add more maple syrup if you’d like it sweeter. The oatmeal will thicken a bit as it sits.
- Serve warm. Spoon into bowls and top as desired with toasted walnuts, extra maple syrup, a pinch of cinnamon, or thin slices of fresh apple.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 230 | Protein: 6g | Fat: 3g | Carbs: 45g | Fiber: 5g | Sodium: 150mg