3 babies, 2 mums, 1 story!

❌ Trigger warning ‼️ this episode discusses: near death experiences, IVF, premature births & religion.

Join Rachel as she shares her tale of becoming a mum in a same sex relationship, after a near fatal car crash, and finding her faith.

Hear how this mama challenged her existence to be the best mum she can be!

Thank you for sharing your story mama!

Transcript

UNKNOWN: 0:00

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00: 0:05

Welcome beautiful

SPEAKER_01: 0:06

mamas, I am your host Shea Harrison. This podcast is a place for Springfield and local surrounding area mamas to share their stories about life, motherhood and everything in between, completely judgement free. I am so excited to be able to share these stories with you and give women an opportunity to be heard. So if you're ready to laugh, open your mind and be part of a supportive sharing

SPEAKER_00: 0:30

community, let's crack on. Welcome beautiful mamas, I am your host Shea Harrison. This podcast is a place for Springfield and local surrounding area mamas to share their stories about life, motherhood and everything in between, completely judgement free.

SPEAKER_01: 0:39

Hello, welcome to the podcast. How are you feeling?

SPEAKER_00: 0:41

Good. Good,

SPEAKER_01: 0:42

good. That's positive.

SPEAKER_00: 0:43

Good. All right. So as always, I'm going to just get you to introduce yourself. And then once we've done that, we'll crack on with your story. So let's go. Hi, I'm Rachel. Yes. Hi, Rachel. I'm 45 years old. I'm a single mom of three children who are all 11. Yes, I'm the single mom of triplets.

SPEAKER_01: 1:04

That's insane. I remember when you told me that I was like, Oh my god, I don't think I ever knowingly met someone with with triplets I probably have at some point but not knowing them

SPEAKER_00: 1:15

we're pretty rare yeah is there a percentage do you know actually I don't know the percentage we should look it up though but yeah I the only other there are triplets in my kids school really yes that are like one year ahead okay sure there's about three or four sets of twins in the schools so twins are definitely you know more common and I think with later births twins become a higher percentage apparently whereas triplets still not and the only other woman I ever came across was in a hospital when I was in Bundaberg and it was her auntie and those so obviously her cousins and they were like in their 30s the only other people I've ever met with triplets so

SPEAKER_01: 2:06

your story today is your journey through a whole heap of different things but your triplets as well so I'm really excited to be sharing this

SPEAKER_00: 2:14

and it'll be

SPEAKER_01: 2:14

coming on alrighty let's start at the

SPEAKER_00: 2:15

beginning yes okay well probably the pre prelude to the beginning of having my children is my partner and I I was in a same sex relationship at the time and we we were off camping at Easter and were involved in a in a serious car accident and i had my neck broken um my c2 um which is like your odontoid peg that it's essentially the part that holds your head on yeah so it's kind of important right slightly yeah i mean yeah yeah needs the head we needs the head to stay on yeah um and so i broke that um we need the

SPEAKER_01: 2:59

passenger we need

SPEAKER_00: 3:00

the driver i was a passenger okay um i was a back passenger yeah um because we were camping with a friend and so our combi was actually all set up for camping and so we went into town in our friend's car. And that's why I was in the back. And I had my head split open three quarters of the way around my head. So I've got a lovely start. So was it a

SPEAKER_01: 3:18

head-on collision or?

SPEAKER_00: 3:19

We were turning and didn't see the four-wheel drive coming towards us doing 100. So that was pretty intense. Yeah, absolutely. I died three times on the way to the hospital. I was airlifted. And they had to give me three blood transfusions before they could even operate on my head, which obviously was losing rapid amounts of blood as well. So a little offset. I've always wondered, when you died, do you remember anything? I've heard people call

SPEAKER_01: 3:46

into radio shows and things like that.

SPEAKER_00: 3:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 3:49

But do you remember anything from that? Or maybe because it wasn't your time?

SPEAKER_00: 3:52

I don't per se. Yep. I have this. Okay, so I have this image. Yep. And I don't share this with many people because it's, well, it's out there, right? It's like it's strange because you don't know. You were dead. But that's right, right? So I died three times on the way. That's insane. And so I have this thing where I'm in a field and it's like I'm across the road from where this happened, right? Yep, yep. So even though I have no memory of the actual accident, I'm across the road in this field and And obviously this is the precursor to part of my story that we'll talk about is that I'm talking to God.

SPEAKER_01: 4:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 4:43

Essentially. And it's like... well no and i'm saying no yeah like like i'm not ready yeah yeah like i've got more to do

SPEAKER_01: 4:54

yeah

SPEAKER_00: 4:55

yeah and and and he's like okay

SPEAKER_01: 4:59

yeah

SPEAKER_00: 5:00

well go do it

SPEAKER_01: 5:01

yeah

SPEAKER_00: 5:02

and and it's it's simple right it's like not like and it was just peaceful and but here's the thing i didn't have a relationship with god before like i didn't have any of that like i had probably i i had i was um i had been previously a yoga instructor. I had studied Buddhism. I'd studied Ayurvedic medicine. I'd studied Taoism, depending on how you pronounce it. I had been searching definitely my whole life for something more, knowing that there was something more in this life. I always knew that. I started learning about meditation when I was like 13. But I had never had a relationship with God, never believed in God. I had a sister who had faith, but the rest of my family, we lived a moral life, but we didn't have faith in God. But this was clear as day. Yeah. And I didn't actually remember it at the time when I woke up. So when I woke up and I was in hospital and all bandaged up and wrapped up and in this massive brace and everything because of my neck. I don't remember. I didn't remember any of that. But it's funny because my first memory, and there's like tiny snippets in the hospital, right? I was in the hospital for two or three weeks, tiny snippets. That's not a long time. No, and then they sent me home and then I was on massive rehabilitation. I had like regular visits to the hospital after that, but they brought me home, thankfully, and my parents had to come and care for me, or both our parents did. So just

SPEAKER_01: 6:33

how old were you when this happened?

SPEAKER_00: 6:34

I was 30... Yeah, okay. I believe. Yeah. 32. Yeah. But yeah. So your parents came. Yeah. And so my first thought was... god is real yeah it was bizarre right because for me that that wasn't like something that i just even thought about yeah

SPEAKER_01: 6:55

yeah

SPEAKER_00: 6:55

yeah right and but i didn't talk to anyone about it

SPEAKER_01: 6:59

yeah

SPEAKER_00: 6:59

you know and obviously there was a whole bunch of stuff going on absolutely right so i was but yeah like i said not many snippets and not much memory yeah um and no memory of the accident and i suffered short-term memory loss so there was lots of post-it notes around my house for many many months there's

SPEAKER_01: 7:13

lots of post-it notes around my house

SPEAKER_00: 7:14

and i mean i know right i know um but yeah so so that that kind of happened and and and my partner um she had um injuries as well um not as severe as me but but definitely you know bad so broken hip broken collarbone broken ribs um so we were both on a on a long-term recovery um and and literally this was our this was our like here's the thing this was our little like break that we were having and then literally a month later we were going in for for fertility like we were going in to start our process we already had purchased our donor so we picked I picked the donor based on me and my features and you get write ups right and so we searched a long time we went long and hard because

SPEAKER_01: 8:00

you don't get pictures in Australia is that

SPEAKER_00: 8:02

right no we did because he's Canadian oh okay so we went you can if it's international not if it's Australian no because obviously it's a bit too weird and privacy yeah but so we had a picture we had an adult picture and a child picture

SPEAKER_01: 8:16

oh

SPEAKER_00: 8:16

wow and it wasn't so much him his personality definitely and the story he wrote like so you get to write a letter yeah always but he wrote a letter and his personality was so much like mine he was all about nature and about taking care of the planet and and about being a good person but his family on his mom's side there so you get a full history right his family on his mom's side were my build my height my eye color my hair color my shape like everything um and And so for me, that was what clinched it. I meant to be really. It was, yeah. And that was important to me. Absolutely. Because so the part in between here is that we had kind of picked that and what was going to happen is my partner was going to go first and then I was going to go second and we were going to have the same donor. But, you know, and that's how it was going to work. Yep. Post-accident, what I actually never... Wow. Didn't think this was going to come up like this. It's all

SPEAKER_01: 9:19

right. Yep. Okay. Let's keep going. Yep.

SPEAKER_00: 9:21

Okay. Yeah, so after the accident and amongst all the testing and everything, I was told I'd stopped having my period. And I was told that it was unlikely that I was probably going to be able to have children. Is that from trauma, like physical trauma? Yeah. Yeah. I don't know like they really couldn't answer it oh okay but I didn't have my period for like over a year yeah um I already had lots of reproductive problems all my sisters and I we all have reproductive problems um and we've all struggled through pregnancy and and and we all either have like endometriosis polycystic ovaries like varying different things right um and I've had painful period from day dot

SPEAKER_01: 10:08

yeah

SPEAKER_00: 10:08

um but then it just stopped and I had nothing after the accident and they just said because of the extreme trauma that your body went through like i'm in one percent of the population that survive my kind of injury um and aren't a quadriplegic wow and survive yeah yeah

SPEAKER_01: 10:27

you're like a percentages

SPEAKER_00: 10:29

triplets survival rate yeah it's a bit of what doesn't kill us makes us much stronger that's for sure i can i can attend to that or

SPEAKER_01: 10:36

gives you trauma

SPEAKER_00: 10:37

or gives you trauma right yeah but yeah so i they'd sort of said that so i'd kind of kept that to myself And I think for me, I always knew I wanted to have kids. Right. But I never, I kind of just went, you know what? If I'm, if I get to 33 and I haven't got someone, I'm going to go out and I'm going to have a kid.

SPEAKER_01: 10:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 10:54

That sounds really bad. But you know what I mean? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 10:57

Absolutely. I had the same thing,

SPEAKER_00: 10:58

but it's like, I always just knew I wanted to be a mom. I've always, I'm the oldest of five girls. I've got an older adopted brother. Like I have always just been very nurturing and maternal and, but it was, it was, it was for me, it wasn't necessarily about, I had to come to the grips. It wasn't necessarily about me having the child. Um, but I always knew I was meant to be a mom. Um, and so, so we went through the process, you know, as per we were going to, and I kind of never mentioned it, um, you know, to my partner, cause I just, I guess I lived in that, that silent hope that maybe it was going to be okay.

SPEAKER_01: 11:36

Right.

SPEAKER_00: 11:37

And, and then we found out we were having triplets yeah and I went well I'm done yeah like quite genuinely because I was like you know for me that was three times the miracle

SPEAKER_01: 11:48

yeah

SPEAKER_00: 11:49

number one I'm alive yeah number two you know we'd recovered enough to still go ahead and do this because we weren't even sure if we would recover enough to be able to even go ahead with our plan yeah and and to find out that we were having triplets for me three babies that was just that was for me you know God saying that was God's blessing to me and and for me and I know like I think the word blessing is used way too frequently in today's society um

SPEAKER_01: 12:19

that's a blessing

SPEAKER_00: 12:20

but that was a true blessing and for me a true miracle yeah because especially when I'm I'm silently fighting and and and and having this internal battle of thinking I probably won't be able to have children and then we find out that it's not one it's three not even one not even two not even two but three and And we didn't do, like, we didn't do, like, this was artificial insemination. So this was an IVF.

SPEAKER_01: 12:44

Right.

SPEAKER_00: 12:45

So it's not like we inserted several or anything, right? Right. This was just like. Wow. Yeah, yeah. So other than, like, you know, a five injection, hormonal injection five days before, like, there was no, like, this wasn't insertion. Like, this was just, you know, the fertility doctor squirting some stuff up this and, you know. And I remember, I remember. So I had to carry it, right, from the lab over. it's just like a block and it's in a sample yeah so I stuck it in my boob right and I'm like carrying it over and then I'm making jokes right because I was like nervous and it's a whole new thing right it's not something you just go oh I'm going to do this it's like something you have to think about and it's a long time and then it had been paused for two years for our recovery right so and yeah and so I'm like making jokes and I'm like right I And I'm actually praying, like I prayed, right? And I'm like, okay, little boys, all right? And girls, no, well, it's boys, right? The sperm, right? I'm talking to the sperm. So I was talking and I'm saying, okay, little sperm, you've got to get there, all right? And you've got to get there fast. And when you get there, you've got to grab a hold of that egg and you've got to like, right? And this is me and I'm having a conversation with the fertility doctor. I don't know what she was thinking. Probably like saying it before. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But for me, I was like, we've got to make this happen, right? Because I just, I guess for me, that was my way of dealing with my own internal stuff that I might not be happy. And I was like, we need to make this happen. Yeah, I need a baby. Yeah, and we needed a baby. And I knew that now this was our only hope. Yeah. Right? And my partner was four years older than me. Well, he's still obviously. Yes, I understand what you're saying. You know what I'm saying? And so time was not on our side essentially. So, yeah, so I prayed and I had a little chat with his firm and then, you know, we did what we

SPEAKER_01: 14:36

did. You must have good listeners.

SPEAKER_00: 14:38

I know, right? I know. and then when we found out so she was actually away and uh and we took the home pregnancy test and we actually had friends who had one and a half year old twins and and it came up super quick right and i'm straight on the phone to her and she's like oh you're having twins you're having twins and i'm like no no right anyway we went into the the fill-in fertility doctor um like a few days later and we're sitting there and i was like so anxious right and he's like no look you know and i told him the story and he goes no you're not having twins and my heart sank my heart sank I thought it's a false positive you know like we're not pregnant at all and then he goes you're having triplets right I couldn't even say the word yeah yeah yeah and and I just was like like my whole world exploded with fireworks inside that's the best way I can

SPEAKER_01: 15:31

describe it

SPEAKER_00: 15:32

I was I mean my partner at the time I think she was just like what the heck like I signed up for one right but for me because I had all this other stuff

SPEAKER_01: 15:41

I was like oh

SPEAKER_00: 15:42

thank you God

SPEAKER_01: 15:43

thank

SPEAKER_00: 15:44

you God

SPEAKER_01: 15:45

and

SPEAKER_00: 15:46

then I'm done and we're okay and we're having kids and they're not going to be alone because I came from a big family so there's no such thing as having one child for me you know and then we found out down the track that we were having a boy and two girls and so for me I was like yes we've got both sexes like we're good we're done right but yeah I mean obviously that comes with its own trauma and um yeah they were they were they were fine everything was going fine right and you couldn't have had a more dreamier pregnancy like i watched my youngest sister being born because i'm 16 years older than her wow yeah right and so we're quite spread apart as sisters there's like four four or so years between each of us down right and and so i was very familiar like with with the whole pregnancy thing i watched my mom i helped my mom through her final pregnancy final two pregnancies actually because my next sister is 14 years younger and they're the only ones that she had close so for me I was very familiar and everything was perfect like even though we were high risk and I was meticulous about nutrition and about everything and then next thing you know I was at work and my partner's on the phone to me and she's on the toilet and she's like okay so I finished weeing but then I've just had like all this water come out and I'm like oh my gosh you've broken your waters okay you need to call the obstetrician right and anyway they were like no no no it's fine we'll just get you into the hospital we'll give you like bed rest for a week and you know and then we'll reassess and whatever and i was like i just knew i was like no

SPEAKER_01: 17:23

how many weeks was she

SPEAKER_00: 17:25

at this point 24 weeks

SPEAKER_01: 17:26

right

SPEAKER_00: 17:27

24 we're on the last day of 24 weeks okay so i leave work meet her at the hospital and the obstetrician's going no no she's not in labor like you know it's okay it's fine and i'm looking at her and I'm going no she's in labor

SPEAKER_01: 17:40

yeah

SPEAKER_00: 17:41

right and I just knew I knew she was in labor anyway she's not in labor not in labor by like four o'clock in the afternoon the obstetrician's like she's in labor and I'm like

SPEAKER_01: 17:52

mm-hmm

SPEAKER_00: 17:52

yeah pretty much it was like uh duh and so then we had all these things you know monitoring their heart rate and everything because they're 24 weeks like they're not supposed to come out yet right um and then we have the the pediatrician come in and he has a big conversation with us and says there is a 90 chance that one or all of your babies are going to die tonight And I was like, not on my watch. You didn't bless me with these three children, God, to take them away from me.

SPEAKER_01: 18:22

No way.

SPEAKER_00: 18:23

And so I just prayed. And I just kept praying. And these heart monitors are on. And I'm like, it's going to be okay. It's going to be okay. And this is going to be okay. And at 11.28, we were supposed to be going in to be induced and C-section, all that kind of stuff, right?

UNKNOWN: 18:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 18:40

And a mother came in with twins, and they were breech, and they were emergency. And they said, we're going to have to put you off, sorry. And everything seemed to be okay. So my daughter down the bottom, she was... breach but she was okay right um and she's the one who who broke the waters yeah

SPEAKER_01: 19:00

wild child from the beginning

SPEAKER_00: 19:01

absolutely wild child from the beginning um and and yeah and so anyway we ended up going in um after midnight which meant they were born at 25 weeks on the 25th of the 5th oh wow yeah and so for me i was like that's no accident yeah you don't get that many numbers that correlate you know like that was meant to be and they were all born and we were also told um side topic um that our littlest daughter at the top she was the smallest and we were told that there was an 80 to 75 to 85 percent chance that she would have um down syndrome

SPEAKER_01: 19:39

oh was this

SPEAKER_00: 19:41

so this is when we did that yeah so this is prior so this is when we did the testing and you know you have the 12 weeks then you have like for us we had more so then we had the 15 week and then we had like the

SPEAKER_01: 19:50

20

SPEAKER_00: 19:51

week 20 week one yeah and each time they were testing the markers. And by the 20 week one, this is what they told us. And I remember our obstetrician, honestly, the most amazing woman, she said, These are statistics. And she said, I have seen these statistics be false so many times. I'm not telling you that it's not going to be a truth. But she said, you will not know until those babies come out. And we just decided that it didn't matter. It didn't matter. We were going to love them no matter what. And I prayed every night because it was her nasal bone, right? And that was the thing that was missing, which is obviously the most common thing. But she was also a wriggler. And I prayed over my partner's belly every night. And I prayed and I said, you know, we already named them then. So I'd call her by her name and I'd say, now, don't you forget to grow any single bone. You grow every one of your little bones, including that nasal bone, including all these things. And I would just pray. Was

SPEAKER_01: 20:47

your partner religious?

SPEAKER_00: 20:48

No. Okay. No. But she was okay with you praying? Yeah, absolutely. And she knew that I'd found that through the accident. And it's not that she didn't believe, but she didn't have that same faith, I guess, as me.

SPEAKER_01: 21:01

Not necessarily.

SPEAKER_00: 21:02

Which, yeah, which was... was fine um and and we both respected each other and and that part of each other so yeah so then they were born and and obviously it was you know it was it was pretty crazy and and

SPEAKER_01: 21:15

yep

SPEAKER_00: 21:16

yep and obviously you know my biggest girl she came out first and and then when we know the next logical one right was like my next little daughter and she was up the top and and she was tiny um but she tried to run back in like quite literally so they actually couldn't get her out right so they They had to get my little boy out on the other side and he was like the hardest to get, but she wouldn't come out. So they actually got him out second and then her. And it turns out she was the smallest. And it actually turns out when they tested the placenta that she was actually malnourished. So we were getting scans every two weeks. We just had one the day before this all happened. So by the next two weeks scan, it would have been diastrates for her.

SPEAKER_01: 21:56

Yeah,

SPEAKER_00: 21:57

right. So we say that her sister saved her life by breaking her waters. She just knew that she needed to come out. Yeah, yeah. and it was the best survival she had was her coming out

SPEAKER_01: 22:06

yeah wow

SPEAKER_00: 22:07

um and so they came out and they were all alive none of them could breathe for themselves um and it was neck and neck but the first thing i remember the first thing the pediatrician said and we're talking like it's 4 a.m or something right and we're tired and he comes to us and he says and i'm like are they okay okay you know um and he says yeah and he said and guess what um she's got a nasal bone and i remember like just looking at him blankly for a moment right because i'm like like what is that even why do i care yeah yeah right like i'm like what is that relevance and then all of a sudden my brain woke up again right and i was like oh i know i just remember the relief and knowing and just going oh thank you god yeah thank you god

SPEAKER_01: 22:52

yeah

SPEAKER_00: 22:53

yeah so that was that and then that was crazy and we had lots of crazy i can't

SPEAKER_01: 22:59

imagine so what's do you know what week it is where babies are deemed viable non-viable

SPEAKER_00: 23:05

yeah it's about there

SPEAKER_01: 23:06

yeah it's about there yeah

SPEAKER_00: 23:08

it is 24 yeah yeah

SPEAKER_01: 23:11

one week past it

SPEAKER_00: 23:12

yeah pretty much

SPEAKER_01: 23:13

so you've had three babies

SPEAKER_00: 23:14

yeah

SPEAKER_01: 23:15

yeah it was great i'm sure that it was very busy it

SPEAKER_00: 23:19

was full-on

SPEAKER_01: 23:20

yeah

SPEAKER_00: 23:21

you know by the time they were in hospital 96 days so there was a lot of crazy for those 96 days used to go read to them every night and and and you know and that's three months yep near enough yep yep we would spend time and there was a lot lot of a lot of emergency stuff happened in that time there was a lot of like you know medical crazy and and medical hiccups and and and scary moments um in those times but we we came through and we pulled it through and um and we got them home and then it was basically you know i would sleep in their in their room um on a mattress on the floor till about 4 a.m yeah then we'd swap and then my partner would sleep in there and i'd go and have like you know three hours sleep and then I'd get up and then we'd get out, do the morning routine and then like we'd go to, you know, I'd go to work and I had my sister, my youngest sister down and she would, between parents and whatever and they were kind of on a rotation all helping us. But my youngest sister ended up becoming our nanny. Oh, yeah. And, yeah, and so it just became a craziness. Yeah. Essentially. Yeah. So, yeah. Wow.

SPEAKER_01: 24:33

That's so interesting.

SPEAKER_00: 24:37

And do you know what's funny? It's like that natural thing. Like I worried about that, you know. I'd watch my mum and I'd always had such a nurturing instinct. And like I said, I knew I was always going to be a mum. I just knew that.

UNKNOWN: 24:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 24:57

But it kicks in. It's not about who gives birth to your children. It really isn't. And I get it now with women who adopt or surrogacy and different things like that. It's not about that. You know, from the moment you meet those. And I remember they wrapped their little hand around my pinky. That's how tiny they were, right? And that's all you could put in was your hand really, right? Because they're in these humidity

SPEAKER_01: 25:21

cribs.

SPEAKER_00: 25:22

And I remember that first night I got to do that and I just was gone that was it I would do anything in the world for those children and I knew this was the purpose I knew this was why I stayed alive I knew this is why I was still on this earth and I knew that I was meant to be their mum and that they were meant to be my children and it just it doesn't break it's so strong And they're just still to this day, as much as they challenge me in every way, shape or form, they are my miracles and they're my blessing. They make me so much better.

SPEAKER_01: 26:04

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 26:05

And they're such a gift to this world. Yeah. And you can never ask for anything more. And so, you know, a year and a half in, things didn't work out.

SPEAKER_01: 26:16

After having the babies. After having the babies. You were together for quite a while though.

SPEAKER_00: 26:19

Oh, yes, gosh. We actually had a 10-year relationship in total. So we knew each other very well and we'd been together for a long time. And I think it just, you know, when you go through that kind of accident and recover from that and then– And then you go through three babies being born preemie and that intense, just the trauma of being born and 96 days in a hospital where every day your life is, we would, we wake up and the first thing we would do, you know, is call the hospital because that's how strenuous it was. You had to make sure that they'd survive the night, right? So the first thing you would do is call the hospital. Then we'd go feed the animals, get ready, you know, do our thing. And then we'd go to the hospital and then we'd spend time and then I would go to work kind of thing and we would you know and we'd come home and even though straight after work it'd be straight to the hospital you know and then um you know my partner would give me an update on the day and and then and then we'd sit there and they you know read to them and we'd do all these things and spend time and then we'd all while they're in a humidity crib

SPEAKER_01: 27:18

um

SPEAKER_00: 27:20

and then we'd come home and we'd take care of the animals and we'd feed ourselves somewhere in between there and then the last thing we did before we went to bed is we'd call to make sure that they were okay even though it had only been a couple of hours this was our life um and I guess it did you know and then after that you can't actually take care of your children on your own unless the both of you stay home and you need to fund you need to fund three children right so so one of us has still got to go to work one of us has still got to take care of the family and one of us has got to take care of the family at home but you can't take care of the family at home when there's one of you and three of them and they're preemie and they still require all of this need right so then you rely on family and then that puts more pressure and because we're not we weren't close like our family's north so so then And there's that whole aspect. And I think it all just, you know, everything. It's the Swiss cheese method. Swiss

SPEAKER_01: 28:10

cheese has all these holes in it and nothing goes wrong. But one time all of those little holes line up and that's worth it. And

SPEAKER_00: 28:16

that's it. And that's it. And I think, you know, lots of things happen and we all have our stuff. I don't know how is the best way to say this that– And I can't speak for my ex, but I can see it. And my children talk to me about it. We're better people. Being separate? Yeah. Yeah, I guess I just– do you know what? Regardless of your faith or what you believe, there's definitely something greater. And God doesn't give us anything that we can't handle. And even though it may seem like it at the time, when we get on the other side, we realize that's the truth. And I just hope that, you know, if there's anyone out there who's in that thick, in that 11th and three-quarter hour where you're like, if I don't get some help right now– I'm not going to make through this. I'm not going to get through it. You will. And I hope that this can give them strength to know that you can do it. I'm a single mom. I work in a permanent part-time job and I run a business. I run actually two businesses and I raise triplets with my ex. And I just hope that people have enough faith and trust and belief in themselves that It's okay. Forgive yourself because we have to forgive ourselves. And the thing is, mum is like the hardest job in the world. Parenting is the hardest job in the world. And anyone who tells you otherwise doesn't know how to parent. I'll be truthful because you can be a CEO of a company and you won't get thrown as much stuff as what being a parent of one or five or three children is going to give you. and you're just doing the best you can so forgive yourself and love yourself and love your children and remember that you know I was such a clean freak my gosh I had such OCD and But do you know what? The dishes will still be there. Yeah. But that child would have grown and developed. Yeah. And they will never be there. Yeah. But your dishes will still look the same tomorrow. Yeah. But your child won't.

SPEAKER_01: 30:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 30:46

Your child won't act the same tomorrow. They won't be the same tomorrow. Or your children. And that's what counts.

SPEAKER_01: 30:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 30:53

That's what counts. And you can't even put an English word to it. No. It's so incredible.

SPEAKER_01: 30:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 30:59

So, yeah. I just hope that that's. Yeah. Yeah. And thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01: 31:03

No. thank you so much for sharing your story I'm sure that so many people are going to get something out of that like I said not many people are going to relate but they're definitely going to learn so thank you again for giving me your time you're

SPEAKER_00: 31:17

welcome