"Standing in Your Power"

When comedian and advocate Traci Stumpf was diagnosed with preeclampsia that progressed into HELLP syndrome, she had no idea it was something that could happen to her. What began as a desire to help others feel included, seen, and supported has evolved into a powerful mission to help people stand up for themselves and take ownership of their health.

In this episode, Traci shares her journey from patient to advocate, reflecting on what it means to find your voice in the face of medical uncertainty. She reminds listeners that while community is vital, self-advocacy is essential, and that asking questions, pushing for answers, and trusting your instincts can make all the difference.

Tune in for an honest and empowering conversation about preeclampsia, HELLP syndrome, resilience, and the strength it takes to speak up for your own care.

About MoMMAs Voices
MoMMAs Voices (Maternal Mortality & Morbidity Advocates) is the first-ever maternal health patient advocates program bringing together real patient and family voices. We're made up of dozens of maternal health organizations who represent all types of maternal health conditions, as well as cross-cutting topics like maternal mental health, racial equity, healthcare delivery, and patient-provider partnership. We sit at the center of maternal health improvements, connecting and training patients with lived experiences, providers, quality improvement leaders, researchers, and policymakers to move forward improvements in maternal care. We are a program of the Preeclampsia Foundation.

Transcript

[00:00:00] Nicole: Thank you, Traci for joining us on season two of the Power of MoMMAs Voices Podcast. And, we're here really in this season to hear from people's lived experience and to hear their stories and be able to uplift those and, and share them and give them a broader platform than maybe they've had.

[00:00:21] Nicole: So I wanna thank you for joining us, and today we're gonna talk about your your story, what you're doing with it, because by the time this comes out, some new things will have happened that I know you're working on. And so just getting to share, you know, all of those things.

[00:00:38] Nicole: So to get started, what do you want the listener to get from today's podcast? What do you want them to be, like, their big takeaway? 

[00:00:48] Traci: Yeah. It's such an interesting question 'cause I think about this a lot since I've been working with you guys and I, I, I think I originally started with all of this being like, I just want people to feel[00:01:00] 

[00:01:00] Traci: included and heard, and like when I was diagnosed with preeclampsia that turned into HELLP syndrome. Like I had no idea it was even a thing that could happen to me. So I like really want people to know, to, to feel, to feel like there's community, right? And like to know that other people are going through this or have gone through this, but like, as I, as I like, keep doing this, I really.

[00:01:23] Traci: Feel like it's about standing up for yourself, and I feel like it's more than community and it's about standing in your power and, and standing up to the forces that are the medical institution and being like, no, I'm informed on X, Y, and Z, and I want. I want further testing. I want you to look out for this.

[00:01:42] Traci: And just advocating for yourself is kind of where I'm at right now. Like, so I started for the community and now I'm at the place where I'm like, screw we, we, we'll have each other forever, but like, stand up for yourself. Like this. It really is like a solo mission, which is, I, I wish I had that kind of power going into [00:02:00] this.

[00:02:01] Nicole: Mm-hmm. Okay. So, you know, going into that, like talk about what you went through that, you know- talk about your journey. For starters, we'll start about your advocacy journey and how you started standing up for yourself. What does that look like? 

[00:02:17] Traci: It was me being fairly lonely in all of this at the very beginning, and me doing like a lot of Googling and a lot of researching, and I found the Preeclampsia Foundation, which led me to the MoMMAs Voices. And I took the test and then, or I took the course and then just kind of like spiraled into me becoming an advocate because I didn't feel like I could advocate for myself.

[00:02:41] Traci: And now, hindsight, 2020- looking back, I'm like, I could have a hundred percent advocated for myself. And I want to encourage people to stand up for themselves. And I, and I think that's, that's why I'm here. Like that's why I'm doing all of this work to inspire and to empower other [00:03:00] women or pregnant people who are going through this to be like something's not right, and I know my body better than, you know, my body.

[00:03:07] Traci: And just to stand up for yourself. 

[00:03:12] Nicole: Looking at, like talking about your, your pregnancy journey now instead of your advocacy journey. Where were there moments that you wish looking now I wish I had stood up for myself then. Like what was going on that that made that, 

[00:03:25] Traci: you know, I had like a very textbook pregnancy.

[00:03:27] Traci: I was very healthy, but working out every single day, doing all of the, I didn't get my nails done. I didn't get my hair done. I didn't wear my makeup like I was so clean about it, all that I kind of had a, a little, I don't wanna say arrogance, but there I was a little bit like, okay, "i've done everything right.

[00:03:47] Traci: There's no way anything can happen to me." And then around like 38 weeks my face started getting really puffy, like really, really big. My lips got really swollen, my feet were really swollen. I [00:04:00] was taking pictures and sending 'em to my doctor and she was like, you just look like you're about to have a baby.

[00:04:04] Traci: Like, there's nothing like this is just, and I, in like my soul, I knew that there was something wrong and, spoiler alert, there was, and you know, they didn't diagnose it until after I had my daughter, which, which they then said was postpartum preeclampsia. But I, I do feel like it was, it, it had happened a long time ago, and I think had I stood up for myself or had I said something, I, it thing the outcome could have been different.

[00:04:38] Nicole: You feel like it would've helped you like that you're well educated about preeclampsia to be able to, to advocate for yourself? Or was it just like you were dismissed or, or was there something else? 

[00:04:50] Traci: It was, I felt dismissed and I felt like, and I have a wonderful doctor and I, I think she's so great.

[00:04:56] Traci: She actually didn't even deliver my daughter. She was on vacation. [00:05:00] But I had I known what I know now, I don't know what, what would've changed. I probably would have gotten diagnosed earlier, so everything kind of would've been expedited a little bit. It still would've happened, but I just, I just wish I would've, I just wish I would've known more.

[00:05:17] Nicole: Mm-hmm. 

[00:05:19] Traci: Does that make sense? 

[00:05:20] Nicole: It makes sense. 'cause we talk a lot about, like, we call 'em the three deadly Ds. Delay, denial and dismissal. And sometimes it's the provider that's doing this and sometimes it's the patient. 

[00:05:31] Traci: Totally. 

[00:05:32] Traci: Totally. 

[00:05:32] Nicole: You know, like I, I'm with you. Like I love my OB, she's amazing. We've gone through a lot together and part of it was like me arguing, saying like no, I don't have preeclampsia ...

[00:05:41] Nicole: No, I didn't gain that much weight. No, I'm not that swollen. I'm just gonna wear my husband's socks instead of my socks. Right, right. So you can't see how swollen my legs are, like, you know, things like that. Or the denial ones. I have the denial. I was a denial completely. I mean, I dismiss every single symptom and I was like, no, no, no.[00:06:00] 

[00:06:00] Nicole: And so you know, if I'd have been educated about the consequences and how really serious preeclampsia can be, yeah, I know I would've done things very differently.

[00:06:12] Traci: Yeah. Yeah. And it's interesting too, right, because like up until I had my daughter, I was taking my blood pressure and it wasn't like off the charts, right?

[00:06:20] Traci: So it's like, it wasn't the textbook symptoms, but it was everything else. It was like the, the visual of it all was like really coming to light. And I think if you would look at me like 37 weeks versus 39 weeks, you would be like, oh, she gained 15 pounds in two. That's crazy. You know? And I, but you know, like so much of that is like, who knows hormones.

[00:06:44] Traci: Like, oh, you're having about to have a baby, like it's the Wild West. You don't know. And I guess that's the dismissal of it all because. I, I, there's a part of me too that's like conflicted about it all because I do appreciate somebody not being overdramatic. Does that make sense? Like, I do [00:07:00] appreciate this.

[00:07:00] Traci: Like, not everything is death, right? Like there's, like, there is something nice about being like, it's okay, you're about to have a baby. Like you're a little puffy, you're retaining water versus like, we need to get you on a magnesium drip. ASAP, right? So, I don't know. I don't know. I, a part of me wishes I could change it all.

[00:07:17] Traci: And then a part of me is like, I'm so grateful it all happened the way it did happen, because who knows what would've happened if I was diagnosed earlier. Mm-hmm. Right? Yep. Yep. 

[00:07:27] Nicole: The timing of everything. 

[00:07:28] Traci: Timing, yeah. 

[00:07:29] Nicole: Beyond us. 

[00:07:30] Traci: Yeah. Yeah. But in terms of like my pregnancy and stuff, it was like awesome. I had such a great first pregnancy.

[00:07:36] Traci: It was so textbook, it was so. Aside, besides the fact that it was, you know I delivered third week of a Global Health pandemic. I don't know if anybody remembers that time in all of our lives, but other than that, it was like, great. It was perfect. It was healthy, it was fine. It was perfect until delivery.

[00:07:56] Nicole: So your first pregnancy delivered right at the start [00:08:00] with COVID? 

[00:08:01] Traci: Yeah. So, and 

[00:08:02] Speaker: we had a second. And you've had a second pregnancy since that has happened as well. We talked about like COVID babies are built different. Yes. Was there anything like different between your two pregnancies? 

[00:08:15] Traci: A baby shower. That was nice.

[00:08:17] Traci: Friendship, you know, like community, although my son was born like during the omicron phase, I don't know if you remember that strain of COVID. So I still had to like, wear a mask. It was all very, it was like back to like lockdown rules, which is, so I essentially like two different variants of COVID babies.

[00:08:36] Traci: Mm. But in terms of like the pregnancy part, yeah, like the hospital experience was, you still couldn't have people come in and out. My, you know, my daughter couldn't come, like, meet him at the hospital. My mom couldn't come. There was, there was still like some pretty strict lockdown roles, which was working.

[00:08:52] Nicole: And it could go either way. Like either you feel isolated and lonely or you're like, I just needed the time to [00:09:00] connect with this new thing. 

[00:09:01] Traci: I would say after my daughter, when I had all the complications, I really could have used like some. Some sort of support system, some sort of like hug or like somebody to, you know, be like, "Hey, you're gonna be okay."

[00:09:17] Traci: And I, I didn't have any of that. I was left to navigate all of that on my own with my husband and like, lovely guy. Good. But like, I think we can all agree that husbands are not always the best in situations like that. And, you know, he was dealing with his own trauma too. We had like, the, the doctors coming in asking if I, asking him if I had any religious rights and if they wanted have like a priest present in case I died.

[00:09:42] Traci: Like, it was like very, it was very traumatic. It was a very traumatic experience for him as well. So I think it was hard for him to support me while also dealing with his trauma. 

[00:09:55] Nicole: I find that a lot with the partners and spouse. It's [00:10:00] oftentimes they get. They get put in the position of having to make all the decisions.

[00:10:04] Traci: Yeah. 

[00:10:05] Traci: Yeah. 

[00:10:05] Nicole: And then they have decision fatigue. And then later on they have, like, they finally process everything. And I've seen it taking a year. I saw someone that like 15 years later, their husband finally processed how traumatic their delivery was. Yeah. And it's, it's just a lot that they hold in and, and being that like.

[00:10:24] Nicole: Designated support person, you know, default. 

[00:10:28] Traci: Totally, totally. And I know it's like a, it's a bit of like a controversial stance being like, oh, poor guy, you know, poor, poor support person. Not, you know, supporting you, but like, it, it's traumatic. It's traumatic. And I like to watch somebody else kind of go through it secondhand and like to put myself in his position to be like, oh, okay.

[00:10:49] Traci: I thought I, I was coming to the hospital to have. To gain life and now I might lose two lives is like very, like, he can't even [00:11:00] talk about it without crying, you know? Like he has a really hard time expressing that and, and he's an emotionally, you know, supportive and done a lot of work on himself type of guy.

[00:11:11] Traci: But it is, it's still a really five and a five years later, it's still fresh, you know?

[00:11:18] Nicole: Well, what kind of things would've 

[00:11:19] Nicole: been helpful for both of you through that time? 

[00:11:24] Traci: I mean something, any 

[00:11:25] Nicole: examples? 

[00:11:27] Traci: Something like this would've been probably fantastic just to like have this community more like knowledge on the subject versus just like the Google search we both did as I was like, you know, comatose on the bed.

[00:11:41] Traci: I mean, aside from like the COVID lockdown stuff, you know, the support would've been nice. My mom would've been nice to have around it. I think. I think it all comes back to community. Community is where I think a, a lot of this stuff lacks 

[00:11:58] Nicole: Where did you finally [00:12:00] find some community? 

[00:12:01] Traci: I would say five years later in all of you guys, you know, I would 

[00:12:05] Nicole: Oh, that's nice to hear.

[00:12:06] Traci: Yeah. I would, I would share my story with my friends and stuff, and nobody could really relate. 

[00:12:11] Nicole: Hmm. 

[00:12:12] Traci: Nobody really understood what had happened, and I held a lot of that guilt. Because I was kind of under the impression that like, delivery is supposed to be like a bit whimsical and there's like a playlist and like there's like, bring your candles that don't light on fire, you know, bring your battery operated candles and, and bring the twinkle lights and it's gonna be so magical and it's gonna, you'll have an epidural, which is so, and you'll just like, and then you have a baby.

[00:12:44] Traci: And that experience was robbed from me. You know, like no amount of twinkle lights could have saved me from what was to come, and I felt really like isolated. It was a very isolating experience. [00:13:00] 

[00:13:00] Nicole: I think that's one of the things that people that have had severe maternal events, whether it's preeclampsia or something else, like there's a different level of grief.

[00:13:08] Nicole: Yeah. I, and I said that over and over, like you are grieving the baby shower. You didn't get because of COVID that you got robbed. You're grieving the normal dream delivery that you might've had in your mind growing up and thinking like, this is what this is gonna be and what you visualize, and it's nothing like that.

[00:13:25] Nicole: Some people grieve like future pregnancies. 

[00:13:29] Traci: Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a, it's, it's really heavy. And not to mention like the, the whole like birth process is so, oh God. You, you have to let go of so much control and you have to let go of past stuff and you have to be, you're so exposed and I don't think anybody can prep you for that.

[00:13:53] Traci: It, it's, it's so, it, it's so universal and it's so [00:14:00] isolating. Does that make sense? Like it's, it's a, it's such a, it's such an interesting experience, 

[00:14:08] Nicole: I think, and being able to, to connect with people that have been really in the same shoes that you've been in, is, is a place to find that healing. Where other people, people that are physically close to you may not truly understand, but being able to find a community one way or another that gets it, that understands all those different things that you're grieving for, especially in this day and age with.

[00:14:29] Nicole: Social media and I feel like there's, that's like the new version of peer pressure. Yeah. It's like, it's so hard to be like, but that's not what happened to me. I didn't get that picture. Perfect experience. I think it's a Instagram worthy shot. It looks very different. 

[00:14:44] Traci: It sometimes it feels like a form of bullying, right?

[00:14:47] Traci: Like watching these people like home birth and like, just like the idyllic experience and like their other kid comes to meet their, their new baby and it's just like, [00:15:00] and I know that's the highlight reel and blah, blah, blah, but like still, like sometimes I'm like, I didn't even get a highlight reel, you know?

[00:15:06] Traci: I, I got like, I got the threat of a death certificate. Like that's what I got. That was my, that, that was my consolation prize was like, well, here's the survival rate of this and, and the other thing that it's very mechanical. Hospitals are so mechanical, and again, like I had my daughter during COVID, so. I believe that the doctors were so tired and they were just so burnt out.

[00:15:30] Traci: And it was the third week of like, so much tragedy. And like there was COVID patients in the maternal ICU trying to stay alive on ventilators. Like it, we were in, it was April, like we were in the thick of all of it. So I think my particular group of doctors who wonderful, I have nothing. I love doctors.

[00:15:48] Traci: They're grateful for modern medicine, but they were just so fatigued that. I was just another patient, you know? But for me, this is my life. I'm fighting [00:16:00] for my life. I'm fighting for my daughter's life. I'm fighting to be here for her. You know, something that you've never met before, but you just love so much.

[00:16:10] Traci: And, and like I, I'm giving it all to be around for her. And they're kind of like patient 1 0 2, right? Versus like, I, I'm an actual person laying on that bed. 

[00:16:23] Nicole: And that's why we're doing these really, I mean, it is, it's because it's to bring like the face, the voice, the heart, yeah. To those patients that are out there because it's still happening.

[00:16:33] Traci: Yeah. 

[00:16:33] Nicole: We got, we, I mean, yes, we're, you know, five years past the start of the pandemic, but some of the things that changed in healthcare weren't always for the good, and part of that is, is like we are human beings and we have families, we have stories, we have emotions, experiences that we bring into these deliveries that.

[00:16:52] Nicole: Really shape how we experience it and could impact the outcomes. 

[00:16:57] Traci: Yeah, yeah, totally.[00:17:00] 

[00:17:04] Nicole: So overall, like long-term? Yeah, I mean now like how has this impacted your mental or emotional wellbeing? 

[00:17:12] Traci: I mean, I would say my postpartum phase with my daughter was really anxious. I was really, really scared. Of all of it, you know, I was scared for her. I was scared for myself. I would say it took me about two years into her life for me to kind of like audibly exhale.

[00:17:30] Traci: And not just from like, from from her birth, to be honest. And like she had a really hard time after she was born. She was in the NICU for a really long time, like a really long time. So it was just like this extended. Stay at the hospital, and I was always on edge that we'd have to go back. I, I still, she's, she just turned five and like, I still go into her room in her big girl bed and like see if she's breathing.

[00:17:59] Traci: Like I, [00:18:00] and I just, I nightly I do it, you know, like I, I still have this anxiety about like losing it all.

[00:18:12] Nicole: That's i've heard, I've heard similar things like that, and I've done the same things as well with my daughter. So, I mean, she's breath really quiet. Yeah. Put her hand on their back. 

[00:18:22] Traci: Yeah. Yeah. She's, she's alive. And I think like had, I had like a normal, in quotes for people who aren't watching delivery.

[00:18:32] Traci: I don't know if I would've had that level of anxiety. Like, I don't, if we hadn't been separated for so long right after she was born, I don't know if I would've had that ugh, free that, that like panic, you know? So like, again, like I just feel robbed, like I feel like this condition robbed me. I mean, it's given me so much, it's given me this community, it's given me a voice.

[00:18:55] Traci: It's given me advocacy. It's given me. A way to express, it's given [00:19:00] me a way to like, keep this story alive, if that makes sense. A lot of people like tell their birth story once, twice, and then like, you know, two weeks after the baby's born doesn't matter anymore. But like, I get to, for better or for worse, kind of relive it as, as often as I can, which I'm grateful for.

[00:19:19] Traci: But on the flip side, it, it took so much, it took so much from me.

[00:19:28] Nicole: Were you I mean going from delivery and long-term NICU stay, was there anything that was offered to you support-wise, even being in NICU around, like what that's like in having a child there or were they also just very overwhelmed with. The pandemic. 

[00:19:44] Traci: I will say like, NICU doctors are different people.

[00:19:47] Traci: They're like amazing. They're so gracious and kind, and like they, I, they get it and they, I I, this is, I wanna be very clear once again, like I'm very pro doctor. Like [00:20:00] I, I, I realize that I started this by saying like. They're not listening to us, but like they, they're wonderful people. Doc doctors are just people who like wake up in the morning, have a cup of coffee and are trying their best, you know, like they're no different.

[00:20:13] Traci: They're no, they're not fairies. They don't have any sort of magical powers. They're just people who took an oath to do the best that they possibly could. So I do believe everybody's doing the best they possibly can, but they get tired, they get overwhelmed. With all that said, NICU doc. NICU doctors are.

[00:20:31] Traci: Incredible. Like, have you had any NICU experience? No. Oh, good. Like it's, it's not worth it to hang out with them, but like if you're up there like, man, they really are just so lovely. But in terms of offering me support, no. You know, I, I had to kind of find that on my own.

[00:20:50] Nicole: That's, that's tough. I, I would hope, and, and again, like, like you said, like everybody, we're all people and and everybody is, is impacted by. [00:21:00] Experiences, and I can't imagine being a doctor and being, having to see it over and over again, and you just, you just do what you have to do to get through. Yeah.

[00:21:10] Nicole: Yeah. So why did you choose to share your story through MoMMAs Voices?

[00:21:19] Traci: I, I wasn't very open about talking about this stuff. I didn't. Talked to my parents about it, my husband, it was kind of like our experience that we held onto. Not so much consciously, but I just, I think it was just like so raw for so long and like, and then I started realizing every time I talked about it I would cry and it was like three and a half, four years in and I was just like, I don't think this is healthy.

[00:21:46] Traci: Like, I don't think this is how. I think this trauma needs to leave my body. So a bit selfishly like I got involved because one, I know there's other women and other people out there who are experiencing the same thing, and I don't want anybody to feel isolated or alone the way I did. [00:22:00] And two, like for my own mental health to be able to kind of process this through a community that knows what I'm talking about.

[00:22:07] Traci: Because you can sit in therapy as much as you want, but if the person on the other side of the room has no idea what you're talking about, it's really hard. It's really hard to. For somebody else to understand. So part of it was very selfish if we're being completely honest. 

[00:22:24] Nicole: Hey, healing is an important part of 

[00:22:25] Nicole: this journey.

[00:22:27] Nicole: It really 

[00:22:27] Traci: for, for everybody. 

[00:22:29] Nicole: Mm-hmm. And it can come in different forms. It's everybody is unique in that aspect. 

[00:22:34] Traci: Yeah. 

[00:22:34] Nicole: What would 

[00:22:35] Nicole: you say to someone that's just beginning their own journey? That's considering becoming a MoMMAs Voices patient family partner. 

[00:22:43] Traci: I would say to be ready to be cracked open because you really do have to like rip the bandaids off and like clean the wound out again and again and again and again.

[00:22:55] Traci: And it does. It gets easier and easier every time, but you, you're still [00:23:00] living a past experience. That was really, really hard and I think if you haven't healed those wounds, this will heal it for you. 

[00:23:11] Nicole: Is there a particular part that you felt was healing or just over all through the process? 

[00:23:16] Traci: I think it's really healing, knowing that there's so many people that have also experienced this.

[00:23:19] Traci: I also think it's really healing, just being able to talk casually about it on a Monday morning with somebody who also understands. I also think you guys do an incredible job of hiring everybody on your staff who has had similar experiences, so it is like this like. Therapy, therapeutic moments every time you get on a call or an email chain with, with you guys.

[00:23:45] Nicole: Thank you. Yeah, I think it's awesome. I, I mean, I'm proud of it, but I'm like knee deep into it, right. 

[00:23:50] Traci: So right. 

[00:23:51] Nicole: How does telling your story through MoMMAs Voices, how does it change how you see yourself?

[00:23:59] Traci: I [00:24:00] mean, how do I see myself. I don't know if it's changed how I see myself a ton, to be honest. I still feel a good amount of like broken, but not alone. I'm still like, I still feel, you know, off kilter or like a little cracked open, but at least there's like people around who are like same, which I like.

[00:24:26] Nicole: Gotcha. Yeah. 

[00:24:28] Nicole: So what's next for you and your advocacy journey? 'cause you've got some things that are coming and I, if you feel like by the time this comes out, that would've already happened, but just wanted to give you a chance to share 

[00:24:39] Nicole: some of the things that 

[00:24:39] Nicole: are on the horizon for you. 

[00:24:41] Traci: Yeah. This year you guys asked me to be the chair of the Preeclampsia Foundation anywhere walk.

[00:24:47] Traci: Which like what an honor. So I've been raising money and raising awareness about preeclampsia and helps, and I couldn't be happier and I couldn't take the job more seriously. Like I really. I love it. I love it. [00:25:00] And I'm so grateful that you guys gave me this platform and this opportunity, and I, I talk to your team like often.

[00:25:08] Traci: I'm like, just like, oh, I don't wanna mess this up for you guys. Like, is this right? Do we do this? How do we do this? How can we get this out? What can I like take this job so seriously? So it's an anywhere walk. So even if you're. I'm watching this now. You can still donate to the Preeclampsia Foundation and it's like such a weird time financially for everybody right now.

[00:25:24] Traci: So I understand like asking for money is so challenging, but like asking to spread the awareness or asking even for like a follow on Instagram for you guys or just like spreading the word so more people know about this is so important to me. 

[00:25:45] Nicole: It is, it is. I mean, awareness is a big part of it, and knowing the, that this foundation exists, that honest voices exist, and then also like how to take how to advocate for yourself and to be aware and to educate yourself so that you can, you can be that best [00:26:00] possible position.

[00:26:01] Traci: You know, to be completely honest, when we talk about advocating for yourself, which I'm like such a huge fan of, and I think about going back in time, I don't even know how I would do it. Do you know what I mean? Like, I don't even know how I would be like, no, this is, no, there's something wrong. Test my liver enzymes, like, check my platelets.

[00:26:18] Traci: Like I don't, I guess you just have to be that bold and just say it like that. Right? 

[00:26:24] Nicole: Sometimes you do. Yep. Sometimes you do. Like, or getting to the point of saying if you asked over, you know, maybe some people have asked over and over again saying like, I wanna document it in my chart. That I've asked for this and it's been declined.

[00:26:38] Traci: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because then you get, like, you feel rude, right? You feel like you're talking down to the teacher, like you're, you're with somebody who knows what they're talking about. You have no idea what you're talking about. And there's like this weird authority. I think about this a lot. Like how would I have changed what I went through?

[00:26:55] Traci: And I don't even know, I don't even know.[00:27:00] 

[00:27:00] Traci: It's crazy. 

[00:27:01] Nicole: That's just something that could to like, maybe we'll dig into later in some future promise voices work, I think of, of like if, you know, being able to pick one or two things that Yeah. Would've changed your experience. 

[00:27:14] Traci: Yeah. Or even like doing like a, here's a checklist, here's how to advocate for yourself.

[00:27:20] Traci: Checklist, if you have this, ask for this. If you have this, ask for this. You know? Yes. 

[00:27:26] Nicole: Nice idea. Thank you. I'm always thinking of new stuff, so, well, Traci, if there's any last things that you would like to share with the audience before we wrap up for today? 

[00:27:39] Traci: I mean, I think like my, my overall message here is just like.

[00:27:43] Traci: We're all doing our best, like from every single person in this planet. I mean, some people could be trying harder, but like I really do believe, like if you're doing your best, you're surrounding yourself with people who are doing their best, whether they're like in your direct circle or they're, you know, coming into your [00:28:00] circle.

[00:28:00] Traci: And I just think it's important to remember that, and it's also important to remember that you matter and like your story matters. Stand up for yourself. No matter, no matter how you do it, just do it. And you, if you feel like something's wrong, something's probably wrong. And even if something isn't wrong, it's okay to be like, I think something's wrong.

[00:28:20] Traci: It is okay to be wrong about something not being wrong. Better safe than sorry. 

[00:28:25] Nicole: Absolutely. 

[00:28:26] Traci: Absolutely. And I also just like want people to like dive into the facts of this and I not to like. Spin yourself you know, into a tizzy and be so worried and so paranoid about it all. But like, really, like, know, like, be familiar with all of this stuff because the statistics are staggering.

[00:28:41] Traci: How many, how many people come down with this six weeks after you've had a baby. So like, your, your, your opportunity, so to speak, to have preeclampsia that turns into HELLP syndrome after you've left the hospital is pretty high. Six weeks postpartum. [00:29:00] Which is just mind blowing to me. So like, really familiarize yourself with, with the potential, 

[00:29:08] Nicole: well those are wonderful things for people to leave us with and, and to learn more about and to educate themselves and, and to advocate right there for themselves.

[00:29:18] Nicole: Yeah. Being aware. 

[00:29:19] Traci: Yeah. 

[00:29:21] Nicole: Yeah. Well thank you Traci, for joining us on this podcast and we look forward to seeing you continue to use your voice and the success that you'll have going forward. Thank you. You too. Bye.