Pregnancy as a pastry chef recap I

I made a mention of my pregnancy very, very briefly back in December, and haven't really had the time (or the energy) to recap anything about it.

But I gotta tell ya...being pregnant and working in the kitchen kinda sucks, not to mention dangerous, for the following reasons:

• The kitchen workers are required to wear non-slip shoes for a reason (perpetually wet floor of the dish pit, occasional oil spills, and walk-in freezer floor that has turned into an ice rink, etc.); my doctor was telling me to exercise extra caution not to fall, and here I was, surrounded by potential slip/fall hazard everywhere.

• The fatigue during the first few months sapped energy and strength from my limbs, which made it more difficult than usual to fold macaron batter, chocolate mousse, and basically anything that requires hand mixing.  A small batch wouldn't have been a problem, but we go through the products so fast I usually end up needing to make triple batches.  Which can be a massive amount, weighing...oh goodness, I don't know...anywhere from 7 to 20-lbs, maybe??

• A few months into the pregnancy, my doctor also cautioned me against lifting anything heavier than 25-lbs.  Ha.  All our flours and sugars come in these industrial-sized 50-lbs bags that I was able to lift without any problem pre-pregnancy.  I had to constantly ask for help lifting heavy things;  and--I love my co-workers--pretty much everyone was super supportive and more than willing to help.  As a matter of fact, they flipped if they saw me carrying anything that looked remotely heavy (like a big empty box).  But...ahem...I would often ignore doctor's orders.  I just felt bad;  I didn't want to interrupt them when they were busy with a task, just to carry a bag of flour.  So I ended up carrying more heavy loads than I probably should have.  There was this one time I lifted a 60-QT mixer bowl from the floor to the table--and ten minutes later, I started feeling some really bad pain in my lower abdomen, sort of like a horrible menstrual cramp, which was definitely NOT a good sign.  I had to sit down for 15 minutes before it finally went away.  I would've gone to the hospital had it continued longer.

• ...And anyone who has ever worked in the culinary field knows that this is no desk job.  You are on your feet pretty much the entire shift--the shift that can last anywhere from the regular 8 hours to 12 hours depending on the season.  I was 3 months pregnant during the month of December.  Yeah, the busiest month of the year and I was 3 months pregnant.  Luckily, my nausea happened at night and not in the morning, but the fatigue, pregnancy brain fog, and swollen legs made working a lot more hellish.

Towards the end of my pregnancy, my ankles looked like a mild case of elephantiasis, and the tops of my feet felt...jiggly, from the excess fluid that accumulated, both from the pregnancy and being on my feet constantly.  Pressure socks helped only a little bit.

But possibly the worst part about being a pregnant pastry chef?  Carpal tunnel. OMG.

As a pastry chef, you will be doing a LOT of pipe work (i.e. piping frosting, macarons, etc.), which involves repeatedly squeezing your hands, over and over and over and over....  Since the macarons were in high demand, I was making at least a double batch every single day.  A single batch makes about 284 shells, which translates to 284 hand squeeze per batch. In other words, I was squeezing my hands 568 times a day, everyday...and that's JUST with the macarons, not including all the cakes I decorated and chocolate mousse cups I prepared.  The extra body fluid that accumulated from pregnancy aggravated the stress on my wrist, and during the last two months of pregnancy, I would wake up everyday with my wrist in excruciating pain.  Thankfully, it went away after a month devoid of any piping.  Yes, I took full advantage of my 12-week maternity leave when I had my baby, to rest my body well-worn from work and unexpected C-section.  More on that later.

So if you're a pastry chef and found out you're pregnant...first of all, a big congratulations!  Second, you may be pleasantly surprised by how supportive your coworkers are, so don't be afraid to ask for help, especially with heavy lifting.  You will need the help of your team more than ever. Third, try not to do heavy pipework too often.  Every now and then is OK;  and even if you do end up getting carpal tunnel, rest assured, it's probably nothing permanent.

Being pregnant and working in the culinary is quite challenging...but in the end, it's all worth it. 😃