S2E10: Birth Wars: Home vs. Hospital—When Push Comes to Shove

Home Birth vs. Hospital Birth — The Unexpected, Hilarious, and Totally Unfiltered Truth

In this episode of Pearls of Motherhood, Diana’s hospital birth took such a turn that the entire unit shut down, while Tessie’s home birth came with a clean-up scene straight out of a crime drama. We swap stories, compare pain scales, debate safety vs. comfort, and confess the moments no one puts in the glossy birth magazines.

Whether you’re an epidural enthusiast or a home-birth believer, you’ll laugh, cringe, and maybe even rethink your “perfect” birth plan.

Perfect for moms-to-be, birth story addicts, and anyone who loves a little drama with their delivery.

Transcript

Tessie (00:01.644)
Hi, welcome to Pearls of Motherhood. I'm your host, Tessie.

Diana (00:06.234)
And I'm your host Diana. Today's episode is one we've been really looking forward to for a long time because we're finally sitting down to share the stories that changed our lives forever. Our birth stories.

Tessie (00:19.662)
That's right. Between the two of us, we've had five births, just about to be six. And what makes our experiences especially unique is where and how they happened, because they're completely opposite pretty much. I've had four home births. Diana had a hospital birth. And so we're going to dive into both sides of those experiences and like what surprised us, what empowered us, what we learned. And basically you're going to get like a great

Diana (00:25.106)
You

Diana (00:33.884)
Mm-hmm.

Tessie (00:48.91)
in caption of like what both of them are like if you've never experienced one or the other.

Diana (00:55.516)
That's right. So whether you're preparing for your own birth, reflecting on your past one, or just curious about the differences between home and hospital deliveries, which I have to say, I am very curious about home births. We hope this episode feels like sitting in a cozy circle with your mom friends and we're sharing some amazing stories. But first off, let's start with mom facts.

So mom facts, in the US, the cost of a vaginal birth in a hospital can range anywhere between $10,000 to $30,000. And that's without complications or a C-section. And even with insurance, families can pay thousands of out-of-pocket costs from that. While a planned home birth with a licensed midwife usually costs between 2,000 to 6,000.

dollars, includes prenatal care, labor and delivery, and postpartum visits. However, this option is often not covered by insurance, so the full cost can fall on the family. While cost is just one part of the decision-making puzzle, it's a really big one. Some families choose home birth to avoid unnecessary interventions, to feel more in control, or to give birth in a familiar and peaceful space, or just saying, know, a home birth is more aligned with what I want for my family.

While others, like me, they find comfort in the resources and immediate medical support a hospital provides. But either way, you come home with someone beautiful.

Tessie (02:25.07)
No kidding.

Diana (02:27.312)
So Tessie, that true for a home birth? Is that the cost of it around there?

Tessie (02:33.228)
Yeah, I mean, my cheapest home birth, I had the same midwife every time, you know, costs go up over time, but my cheapest one was $3,500, and then now it's $5,200 or $5,800. And I've actually have heard that a lot of midwives are going up into the $6,000s. Six, six thousands, yeah. But you know what's interesting, if you have like an alternative insurance, I don't know if they're called insurances, but we,

Diana (02:51.995)
Wow.

Tessie (03:02.072)
do like the Christian health sharing type of insurance. We don't have like Blue Cross or traditional insurance. And they actually do cover home birth. They do cover it. They cover a lot of alternative stuff because it's a lot cheaper and they would rather cover it cheaper rather than like wait for something catastrophic and then have to pay like a massive hospital bill. So that's kind of how they manage their funds. But yeah.

Diana (03:06.662)
Mm-hmm.

Diana (03:13.488)
Really?

Diana (03:27.09)
Mm-hmm.

Tessie (03:31.948)
That's probably, I mean, I don't know if Blue Cross or like, or those other ones would cover it. We've had ours covered.

Diana (03:37.478)
Well, okay, so for me, know that, so I have an insurance that my husband works for. It's the same hospital system that he works for. And I asked about home births and they do not cover it. I had a Blue Cross Blue Shield plan and just out of curiosity, I just asked them and they did not cover home births either. Maybe, yeah, right? But.

Tessie (03:52.44)
Mm-hmm.

Tessie (03:58.324)
Not surprising. Not surprising at all.

Diana (04:03.186)
Actually, even though, so get this, even with my insurance that my husband works for and I gave birth in the hospital that they want me to, everything was preferred. I was still hit with another $3,000 bill two years after I gave birth. Yes. And I'm not alone. I have a friend who, same thing, she works for the hospital system. Two years later, she was hit with an additional, like I think two to $3,000 for her.

Tessie (04:19.574)
What? No.

Diana (04:32.156)
for her daughter's birth also. Yeah.

Tessie (04:33.494)
What? Two years? Like there should be a statute of limitations on billing for a hot, that's ridiculous.

Diana (04:40.887)
Yeah, there is and they just made it. I actually looked that up.

Tessie (04:43.852)
What did they charge you for? Like what on earth did, they're like, we forgot to add this to your bill. Like what?

Diana (04:52.742)
So what they said was even though I had met all of my costs, it should have been covered at 100%. It wasn't because they said that the doctor was out of network or something like that. And that was before there was some law passed about additional surprise billing. That was before the surprise billing laws came into effect. So I think they just squeezed in because I noticed that I got this bill and then that

Tessie (05:15.536)
yeah.

Diana (05:21.938)
No surprise billing law was passed. I was like, I see what they did

Tessie (05:25.294)
Well, this is like a large reason why I tend to avoid the medical system altogether because it is like when I used to partake in it, I guess you could say. We would always, we had insurance, we had good insurance. They would bill us or they would bill my insurance, my insurance would deny it. Then we would get a bill like months later and we thought it was covered the entire time.

To me, it just seems like such a game. It's horrible.

Diana (05:58.212)
It is. It is. It is. It's but that's that can be a whole other episode. Motherhood and insurance companies, we can totally make one out of that one. I have opinions and I think you do too. Yeah, so that is that's the average cost of a home birth versus a hospital birth.

Tessie (06:03.618)
I know.

Tessie (06:07.886)
You

Tessie (06:12.865)
for sure.

Tessie (06:25.226)
Okay, in book corners, we're gonna talk about, this is a book we got through the Imagination Library. I feel like we got like, anymore we just get all our books through that because I'm so lazy or whatever. But it's called Danby's Favorite Day and it's super cute because it came from my daughter and it's about a little girl and it's about Korean like culture.

But she's a Korean American girl. so she's excitedly planning her children's day. It's an important holiday in Korea, I guess. And so I think what's cool about the book is you learn like about other cultures. And so another part about the book is like, well, through the book, she has this whole day planned and it's going to be like the best day ever. Right. But then.

Diana (07:09.649)
Mm-hmm.

Tessie (07:22.114)
She's heartbroken because it starts raining and it just kind of ruins the entire experience. But the great part about the book is her and her friends, they take creativity, they do teamwork, and then it ends up, even with the flexibility of that, whatever they had to do, it wasn't exactly how they planned, but it ended up being her favorite day regardless. So I love that aspect about it. Yeah.

Diana (07:47.442)
I love that. I love that. And I love that it's multicultural and it shows, you know, a different type of celebration from what we do every single day, you know, on a regular basis in America. So that's great. And by the way, you're not being lazy by getting your books from Imagination Library. Dolly Parton.

Her mission is being completed. She wants to bring books. Yeah, she wants to bring books into our homes and that's exactly what she's doing. So it's a great partnership you have with her.

Tessie (08:11.06)
I love it.

Tessie (08:18.848)
Yeah.

Diana (08:23.18)
What a great book. I'm gonna have to pick that one up. You know, it's really interesting because our kids are about the same age, but we get completely different books, you and I. I notice that. That is, yeah. All right, well, thank you for that.

Tessie (08:31.246)
That is so interesting.

Diana (08:39.43)
So when you imagine giving birth, what do you picture? Do you picture a hospital room with bright lights and monitors or a cozy bedroom with a birthing tub or maybe you had no idea what to expect until you were in it? Today, we're gonna talk about the where of birth, hospital versus home. The choice can be influenced by a lot of things including cost, culture, medical needs, comfort, fear, or even just what your OB or your midwife recommended.

For Tessie and I, the path of bringing our babies into the world look really different. So we're gonna open up about our birth stories, the decisions we made, what surprised us, what we do differently, and what we want other moms to know, whether you're still deciding or just wanna feel a little less alone in your journey. So Tess, can you give us like a quick snapshot of like, of what your birth plan was? I know you're gonna have several birth plans, but just in general.

Tessie (09:34.798)
Yeah, they definitely evolved and got better over time. well, I mean, the first one I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know what to expect. I'd never done it. what I was learning, I was like watching YouTube of clearly these like very strong or experienced mothers giving birth. And I was like, it doesn't look so bad. Like, I'm not even going to have to push, you know, I'm not it. I didn't even think it was going to be painful.

Diana (09:41.478)
Really?

Tessie (10:04.298)
It was like really bad. It was a bad depiction on YouTube of what was going on. And so for that birth plan, I guess I even told my midwife, it was funny. was like, I'm just going to like let it come out. I'm not going to push. And she was like, probably not for your first one. And then she made me go do one of those birthing classes because clearly I didn't know what I was getting myself into.

Diana (10:05.201)
What?

Tessie (10:35.182)
So, and then I had all of these like expectations, I guess of that, that it was going to be way easier than it was. I will be honest, and that's the reason I chose Home Birth 2 because I just like didn't, I did not understand the magnitude. And so then like the next time, then I also like evolved, it evolved because afterwards, you know,

I feel like I told family too soon and I didn't get enough time with my baby right away. So then as my birth plans evolved, I just have improved them, I guess. now with my most recent ones, I'm just like, don't tell anybody for five hours. At least let me have half a day or a day with my baby. You know what I mean?

Diana (11:18.514)
you

Tessie (11:33.24)
things like change and evolve. And then also, since I'm more experienced with it, I know what to expect and I'm just like, I don't get all, don't actually do like these big plans. I'm just like, okay, well, here it comes. I'm just gonna lay on the bed and like screaming at my husband the whole time to get a vasectomy and then it's gonna come out. I'm not doing like these like froufy. did like a whole, my first one I did a whole,

Diana (12:18.226)
Thanks.

Diana (12:25.518)
So for this one, this one upcoming number five, are you just gonna go with it or do you have a playlist?

Tessie (12:29.622)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. No, I haven't even thought about it. I was just going to go with it. I don't even know what I'm to do. But, you know, in the moment, you're just so like you're not really it's kind of like an out of body experience when you're in that much pain and stuff and you're just doing what you need to do in the moment and you don't even think about it. So like time passes really fast. I don't know what anybody else around me is doing. I have no clue.

Diana (12:45.266)
Mm-hmm.

Tessie (12:57.282)
I'm just like in my own zone, you know what I mean? I, even like all that playlist and stuff, I only remember one song from it, from my first birth because I was like, not, clearly not hearing it.

Diana (13:00.208)
Okay.

Diana (13:14.45)
For me, so one of the big questions that they always ask you for a hospital birth is to ask you to prepare a birth plan. I did the birthing class and it was virtual. I didn't even do it in person because it was COVID. And they said, what is your birth plan? And should write it out and bring it with you to the hospital that day. And when I went in,

The first thing they asked me, the nurses asked me is, what is your birth plan? And I always had a go with the flow. I didn't make a playlist. I didn't bring my favorite whatever. I brought my phone, my husband, the bag and the baby. That's it. Because the baby's attached to me. But couldn't forget her. But I just, my goal was to just...

have a healthy baby, whatever it took. And even if that meant a C-section in the end, so be it. And I saw the look on the nurse's face and they were like, thank goodness. I think, especially I think for a first time mom, I think they were expecting me to be very planned because as you know, I am a planning person. I think that comes across even when you meet me for the first two minutes. So they probably thought I had this whole thing set up and I just said, nope.

Tessie (14:18.83)
You're not going to be difficult.

Diana (14:37.766)
We're just gonna go with it. And so the goal was to have a healthy baby. That's it.

Tessie (14:42.518)
Yeah, it's so funny. My birth plan was like to never go to the hospital. Like whatever it takes, I will not.

Diana (14:52.018)
So maybe we should go back and discuss why you chose a home birth to begin with. For all the babies, why did you choose a home birth?

Tessie (15:02.168)
Okay, so in our previous episode, I went in little bit into it, like my experience when I first got pregnant and my experience with the medical system. And then after that, I had already had a little influences from a couple of friends who, one friend who had done both. So she did her first one in the hospital and she just did not.

enjoy it and so then she did her second one at home and she was always raving about how like wonderful it was and how she would wish she did both of them in the at home and all of this stuff and then I had another friend who did basically a home birth but it was at a birthing center so it wasn't like a hospital and so I kind of was like I I'd been around it I've I had friends who'd done it and

Like I kind of got the perspective from both sides. And then once I had my experience with what I had, I was like very just going looking for something completely different. And so, yeah, then I just like as I went more and more into the process with my first, I just loved the experience. I just loved it. Like every single appointment with my midwife is an hour long, you know? It's, you're not.

Diana (15:59.218)
Mm-hmm.

Diana (16:23.516)
Mm-hmm.

Tessie (16:24.898)
don't feel like just a number or like rushed. They're just so like loving and it's just such a great relationship that you get to build. You're with them from the start to the finish, you know. It's very different from a hospital birth where it could be a completely different doctor depending on like who's on call that day or if they're out of town or whatever. So like to me, just the bond that you build with the practitioner that you choose.

Diana (16:37.531)
Mm-hmm.

Tessie (16:51.988)
is it goes a long way because they know you, they learn you. And then also I'm a control freak and I just wanted to be in control of my environment. yeah, so that's kind of why I chose Home Birth and I think it worked out really well. Obviously it went really well the first time. I mean, there were definitely complications because it's like the first time, but after that I was like, I would never do it any other way.

Diana (16:55.591)
Mm-hmm.

Tessie (17:19.918)
It was just so glorious.

Diana (17:24.152)
awesome. See, I'm a control freak like you. But for me, I wanted the control of if there was an emergency, I want it to be by the OR. I... Yeah.

Tessie (17:24.952)
Yeah.

Tessie (17:34.966)
Yeah, I think a lot of people feel that way. I think a lot of people can relate.

Diana (17:40.07)
In our last episode, I mentioned how when I checked in for induction, I asked them for the room closest to the OR. They're like, the OR is central. Don't worry. You are close enough. I'm like, no, but I want to be right next to it because that's me. I'm glad I did because I learned from my mother. My mother had four C-sections. And I just thought, you know what? If it comes to C-sections, so be it.

Tessie (17:49.684)
Hahaha!

Diana (18:06.77)
but I wanted to be in hospital. If anything goes wrong, because my luck, something can go wrong, it's like Murphy's law with me. Basically, if you don't think it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen. So I wanted to be at the hospital next to the OR. I'm surprised I didn't ask to give birth in the OR, a normal birth in the OR just because I'm psychotic. But I wanted, to me, I felt in control.

Tessie (18:17.896)
Hahaha!

Tessie (18:29.165)
No.

Diana (18:34.822)
by being in the hospital. I think that's really important for women to, when you're making that decision, is where do you feel in control, right?

Tessie (18:42.156)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. You know, you know, it's interesting. So I have a few friends whose husbands are just like absolutely terrified of them doing home birth and can't get behind it. And it's because, you know, they're afraid they want to be close by if something if there is some complication. Like, I totally understand where the husbands are coming from. And apparently my husband felt the same way, but he just didn't tell me like he didn't.

Diana (18:55.996)
Yeah.

Diana (19:06.258)
Mm-hmm.

Tessie (19:12.344)
Tell me until after.

Diana (19:14.95)
Well, he is a trained medical professional and knowing him, he probably had everyone in the hospital on standby. Like, I bet you he had an ambulance waiting in your driveway. I bet you he hired an ambulance.

Tessie (19:20.096)
NAH!

Tessie (19:23.666)
Haha, that's funny.

Yeah, so is your husband pretty much on board? Like you guys were aligned on this? Like, probably because he's husband. Yeah.

Diana (19:31.346)
yeah. Yeah, there was no question. Yeah, he's a we were there was no question about it. It was always going to be a hospital birth and whatever came it. It's going to be a hospital birth. And I don't regret it. have to say that to preface this, I had the whole experience, good and bad in in my hospital birth. And I have to say, I am very glad I did it in the hospital. And I can say I would never have to do it again because

I didn't miss out on a single thing and you guys will find out why. My story gets a little wild. So Tessie, so what is it like? When you do a home birth, is it just one section of the house that is reserved for you or are you just still all about the house and like walking around, kids everywhere and just waiting to, and you're in labor. How does it work for you and your midwife?

Tessie (20:28.898)
Well, for me, I get rid of my kids. send them somewhere else. But no, have what we're, it's so funny because we have the run of the house. We could do whatever we want. Like the midwife does not restrict us to anything. They work around us, which is really nice. So like wherever I am the most comfortable, that's where she like, she would just adapt. That's what they do.

Diana (20:33.042)
Yeah.

Tessie (20:54.598)
And, but it is interesting. Like I always like would take myself into just one bedroom. It's not like I would walk around the entire house. Like I didn't do that. But, and oftentimes I kind of would just like go off into a little corner, like on my rocking chair in my room or stay on my bed or go in the shower. No, it's nice. You have like a ton of freedom and you can, they just kind of like adapt to wherever you are.

Diana (21:18.108)
Mm-hmm.

Tessie (21:22.562)
So it's nice that they don't like restrict you or say, as far as I remember, I wasn't told anything. Sometimes I'll guide you like my first one, they would guide me and be like, maybe you should try this position, you know, or maybe you should try sitting here or you know what I mean? But yeah, it's really nice.

Diana (21:22.962)
That's really cool.

Diana (21:42.694)
They, for me, I had the whole room I had, and it was a pretty spacious room. And I also had the whole hallway to walk up and down. And I had like the peanut ball. I had a whole bunch of stuff. I didn't have a tub. My facility didn't have a tub for water births, which was fine by me because I wasn't planning on doing that anyway.

But yeah, they did make a lot of suggestions and they just kind of left. Just said, hey, you you do what you feel like and that's it. Yeah, it was really great. They would come in periodically to check on me. Hey, you okay? Is the pain bad? I tell them, I give them feedback and then they would say, okay, do you want your meds? Do you want this? Do you want water? And I'm like, yes, water is good. Were you excited? First time you went into... So when you went into labor the first time, did your water break?

Tessie (22:13.518)
It's great.

Tessie (22:28.556)
Yeah.

Tessie (22:35.742)
No, he was late and his head, there was a water bubble under his head. So my midwife actually had to break the water. And then because I had been in labor for like a day, like 24 hours at that point, probably, and maybe even longer. And so at that point, we were just like, okay, let's try to move this along. And it worked. So like once she did that, then like I started to progress because I hadn't been progressing.

Diana (23:04.082)
Mm-hmm.

Tessie (23:05.974)
And it's so funny, like, of course I was excited. was like, yes, I didn't know what I was getting myself into pre and post. You know, I was like, I'm finally going to have my baby and like not knowing even like a fraction of the extent of how hard that was going to be. And like the, just the effort, you know, just the total lifestyle change, you know, I was so excited and I was just like ready, you know, I was ready for my baby to be born.

Diana (23:22.096)
Mm-hmm.

Diana (23:33.584)
Mm-hmm.

Tessie (23:36.11)
And so, I mean, then like at that point, it was just a very gruesome, painful, grueling night of labor.

Diana (23:48.05)
So the first one, you were in labor for 24 plus hours. So was it like 48 hours? 38. What about your second one?

Tessie (23:53.166)
38. It was 38. Yeah, 38. And then my second one was dramatic. It was like 12, like dramatically less. But for my second one, I psychologically like knew what the pain was going to be like. And I was not pushing him out. Like I was like, I do not want to do this.

Diana (24:03.719)
Wow.

Tessie (24:20.416)
At some point, literally my midwife was like, he is not coming out any other way. Like you have to push him out. And then I finally did. But I was just like really avoiding it. So it kind of does make me wonder if I would have really like, I was like, I don't know, I was holding back, I guess, but it makes me wonder if I would have just went along with it if it were to want faster. But yeah, I just didn't want to do it.

At that, the second one, I was definitely not excited. I knew what I was getting into. Third one, I was more excited. Definitely not excited. I'm never excited to like go through the labor and delivery process. Right now I'm still like dreading it. But my third one was, I don't know how long that was. I want to say like.

Diana (24:49.17)
Yeah.

Yeah, because you knew. Right. How about your third one?

Diana (25:03.698)
Right.

Tessie (25:16.352)
eight hours maybe or 10, much shorter. And then my last one was, I think like eight hours. So not like super short, because I've heard of like really short ones, like an hour or four hours or something. But yeah, then my, you know, it's really an interesting fact about my babies is my second baby and my third baby.

Diana (25:19.538)
so much shorter.

Tessie (25:44.6)
They were both born en caul which is spelled E-N-C-A-U-L, en caul So they were born in the sack, like vaginally born in the sack, which is very rare. It's super rare. It's like one in 80,000, super rare. Both of them. And my third one, I had a doula who was taking pictures and we got a picture of him like.

Diana (25:50.843)
Mm-hmm.

Diana (25:56.656)
That's crazy. That's so rare. Yeah.

Diana (26:02.61)
Both of them.

Diana (26:11.282)
you

Tessie (26:11.98)
completely coming out, completely encased in it. Isn't that crazy? I know. So for those two, my water never broke because they were still completely encased in it. So my water didn't break until they came out and my midwife kind of like tore it open and it kind of like burst open. And then with my last one,

Diana (26:16.528)
That's crazy. That's insane.

Diana (26:27.473)
Yeah.

Diana (26:33.702)
Yeah.

Tessie (26:39.094)
My water broke right before she shot out. Yes, I like, and you know what's really interesting? She loves water. We were at the pool for like four hours. She stayed in the pool the entire time. Then we came home. She stayed in the bath for like an hour. She always wants to go in the shower and the bath. She just loves water. So I wonder if that's related.

Diana (26:45.136)
She came out with a rush.

Diana (27:00.114)
Wow.

Diana (27:08.946)
That's really interesting. Well, I'm hoping that for this one, you're in labor for like an hour, you sneeze and baby comes out. That's what I'm hoping for you.

Tessie (27:09.966)
no

Tessie (27:16.812)
Yes, I know. Well, let's go at least three hours because my midwife is two hours away.

Diana (27:23.404)
okay, true, very true. That's a good point. Okay, let's go three hours. Okay.

Tessie (27:24.972)
Let's go three hours. Yeah. So like, did you have any expectations, even though you didn't, you were flexible with like your birth, birth plan? Like what did you actually expect going into it? Did you even think about that? Or were you just more like whatever happens happens?

Diana (27:43.996)
So for me, because of my maternal age and the fact that my daughter's IVF, that makes me higher risk in both cases, I had to be induced. So rather than waiting for 40 weeks, they waited for 39 weeks. So I went a week earlier and I picked a day and I thought, this is the day I want because I want her to have a birthday with my mom. And I was so set on that. And it was like a Friday.

Tessie (27:54.286)
Diana (28:12.786)
And my husband's like, honey, they may not accommodate you. It's a holiday. It's going into a holiday weekend. They may not. was like, but I really want it. And they did. They accommodated me. They said, yes, let's do it. And so I didn't really know what induction meant. I kind of got the gist of it. So for those of you who don't really know, induction is usually when you wait for a woman to go into labor. I went in and they

start pumping me with drugs to get my contractions to start or to even accelerate. And they give me something called Pitocin. It causes smooth muscle contractions. They also dilate my cervix with medicine and things like that. And hopefully with gravity, everything just comes out, right? I was also told that it was much more painful, which I believed because...

here I am, my pregnancy has been mostly with medicine and I know that my symptoms of pregnancy were a little bit more exaggerated than I think maybe a regular pregnancy would be. So I was expecting to be in pain, but again, I had never done it before. So I said, well, it's going to hurt. Might as well. Let's just do it. So I was, I kind of took the, let's just see how it goes route.

But the only thing I really wanted was for my daughter to share a birthday with my mom and that did not happen. That was it. So I went in, it was the day before and the OB office took care of everything for me. They made the appointment, they did everything for me. They were ready to have a bed for me at a certain time. I didn't have to do anything. They said,

At a certain time, past around eight o'clock that the night before you want to give birth, we're going to call you to tell you to come in because we have an open bed. So come on in. So I waited and eight o'clock came around and they never called. And then eight 30, the nurse called and say, Hey, we don't have any open beds because they're all full. Do you want to wait? Do you want to be on standby or do you just want us to call you tomorrow, tomorrow morning and see how it goes?

Diana (30:28.024)
I really wanted, like I said, I really wanted to give birth on that day. I said, well, put me on call and let's see what happens. So I didn't sleep that night and at 11 o'clock at night, just as I dozed off, I got the call. They said, come on in. So in the middle of the night, my husband and I, we went in and my mother-in-law and my father-in-law were here already because they were here to support us.

Tessie (30:31.35)
Yeah.

Tessie (30:45.333)
wow.

Diana (30:55.558)
And we left them at my house and my husband and I went to the hospital in the middle of the night. They gave me a room. They were super sweet. They hooked me up to IVs and everything. And they took down my plan and all that stuff that we already talked about. And they checked me and they said, you're already three centimeters dilated. I said, what? They're like, yeah, you didn't feel anything. I'm like, no, I, I, they're like Braxton Hicks, any sort of early labor. I'm like, no, they're like,

this should be really fast. You're probably be able to give birth in the next like by tomorrow morning. We're expecting like four or five in the morning. You may have your baby. I'm like, awesome. So I'm texting my family like, hey, I'm at the hospital and this is what's happening and I should have the baby before the sun comes up. I was wrong. So wrong. So wrong.

Tessie (31:43.95)
really?

What happened?

Diana (31:51.26)
So for me, they just hooked me up to my IVs and they started the pitocin and they started the cervical ripening and all that. And I was progressing. Within an hour or maybe it two hours, I was another two centimeters. So they were like, hey, you're halfway there. Do you want your epidural? Now I am one to say,

Give me the drugs, give me all the drugs, give me the drugs I'm not even supposed to have, because I don't want to feel a single thing, because I'm a big baby when it comes to pain. my husband looked at me and he said, well, this is what happens in epidural. You have to stay really still. And I know you, you don't really stay still when you're in pain because they're right in your spine. So you have to stay really, really still. Let's just, you know, maybe we should do it now.

and while you can still control your movements. And I said, okay, all right, let's do it now. Five centimeters, let's just do it and I'll hopefully, and I'll progress and it'll be just fine. They did give me the caveat that you may not progress. And they said, that's really rare. I said, okay, well, let's just, I don't want to feel pain, let's just do it. So I did. And then my labor kept on going.

but I stopped dilating. That's where it all stopped. Yep. Yep. Yep. And after that, I couldn't feel my legs, obviously, because from the waist down, everything is numb. Although it did really help with checking the cervix, seeing how far I was dilating, because that is a really uncomfortable exam. That is not fun.

Tessie (33:18.722)
Because of the epidural? no.

Tessie (33:40.258)
Wow, I've never had that.

Diana (33:42.258)
It hurts. So once I was numb, it wasn't so bad. And I also had to, they had to put a catheter in because I couldn't urinate. they had to put a cath in. And so I was bed bound the whole time for the rest of the time. That was it. And it turns out that I, they kept on turning out my pitocin and they,

Tessie (33:45.276)
my god. my god.

Tessie (34:00.738)
Mm-hmm.

Diana (34:10.774)
they were just watching, they're like, that was a really big contraction. Did you feel that? I'm like, no. And it just reminded me of my mom because my mom was the same way. They're like, with me, they're like, that was a really big contraction. Are you okay? And my mom's like, I thought it was just a hiccup. Apparently I have a really high pain tolerance. I have a really high pain tolerance, just like my mom does. And apparently my sister does too. So thank you, mom.

Tessie (34:38.85)
Wow.

Diana (34:40.082)
And so what happened was as they kept on increasing my pitocin more and more to try to get it to go, they even came in and they burst the water. They burst the sack. They burst my water for me. And I didn't know what that would be like. They're like, okay, it's going to feel like you peed yourself. And honestly, the medicines for the epidural made me a little woozy. So I did a lot of sleeping through the whole thing. don't remember a lot of it.

Tessie (34:56.259)
You

Diana (35:09.446)
because I was asleep. And so I didn't, yeah, that was nice. And that's why my husband never pushed for an earlier C-section because he saw that I wasn't in a lot of discomfort. So he just was like, let's just wait and see, let's just wait and see. And I don't remember much though. He made most of the calls for me. Thank goodness he knows what doing. And when they broke my water, I remember going, my gosh, I think I peed.

Tessie (35:10.734)
Wow, that sounds nice. Sounds so nice.

Tessie (35:21.708)
Mm-hmm.

Tessie (35:25.154)
Mm-hmm.

Tessie (35:29.646)
Mm-hmm.

Diana (35:37.618)
And they're like, no, that's just the water, sweetie. It's okay. We talked about that. I'm so sorry. I think I peed. I was very addled But the nurses were wonderful. The doctors were wonderful. I did not have any music playing, anything. I didn't have, and that's another thing. I did not buy a separate robe for birth. know a lot of...

Tessie (35:40.471)
Hahaha.

ahahaha

Tessie (35:47.534)
Hahaha.

Diana (36:05.586)
places I was reading a lot of blogs, they're like, oh, you should get a nice comfy dress to give birth. And I was like, no, I don't want that back. I do not want that hack. You keep that. Burn it for all I care.

Tessie (36:16.818)
Hahaha!

Diana (36:24.122)
So was there anything? So that was mine. So that was just the beginning of my labor. I ended up in labor for 26 hours actually.

Tessie (36:34.153)
wow, but you slept most of it. That sounds glorious.

Diana (36:35.506)
Yeah, I did. just, yeah. Yeah. So it wasn't that it wasn't a terrible experience. I did feel something, but it wasn't bad. And it wasn't like, I wasn't like crying the whole time. I wasn't angry. I was just kind of going with it. So it really wasn't a terrible thing. And it wasn't until they saw that my daughter was in distress that they said, okay, it's time for it's time for a C-section.

Tessie (36:43.277)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Tessie (37:04.961)
Yeah, how did they recognize that?

Diana (37:08.274)
So I have a fetal heart monitor to monitor the baby's heart rate. And pitocin, what it can do is compromise the baby's heart rate, making it drop. So they're turning up the pitocin trying to get me to dilate more and go into bigger labor. And her heart rate started dropping. And I remember it was like two in the morning and I, maybe it was three in the morning. I don't remember, it in the middle of the night.

My husband had been sleeping in the chair next to me and I wake up, I open my eyes, I don't have my contacts in, I don't have my glasses on, everything's really blurry. And I see the whole unit in my room. And I'm thinking in my head, that's not good. And they turned the feet, and I looked over my left shoulder and they turned the fetal heart monitor away from me. Because they know we know how to read it. Yeah, and that's what they were staring at.

Tessie (38:01.944)
What? no.

Diana (38:06.034)
And I remember thinking all foggy, this can't be good. And then I had one OB on when I came onto the unit. Now I have a second surgeon because they just switched off and the doctor said he was really nervous. He goes, so Diana, we really want to talk to you. I think we really need to do a C-section. And he looked at me, he didn't know me. So he was really nervous.

Tessie (38:35.884)
Yeah.

Diana (38:36.01)
And I looked him dead in the eye. said, do it. I'm so done. I'm done with this. And he just like, the look on his face was, thank goodness. And he was like, well, do you want to know the reason? I said, well, yeah, that's a good idea. That's yeah, that's a good idea. Why do I need it? was, well, it's not an emergency, but the baby's heart rate is dropping and we're okay right now, but I don't want to give you any more pitocin.

Tessie (38:40.238)
Thank

Tessie (38:45.486)
She's not fighting me.

Tessie (38:53.902)
Yeah.

Diana (39:04.294)
because it's compromising the baby. I said, that's good. When can we go?

Tessie (39:09.24)
So she was at least in the right position, right? Like there wasn't a problem there.

Diana (39:13.138)
Oh yeah, she was, no problem, she was in position for a week. She was ready to go weeks ago. She's like, let me out of here. But mama just wouldn't let her go.

Tessie (39:20.492)
Hahaha

That's great. Yeah. that's wow. I didn't know that the epidural could do that.

Diana (39:31.954)
Yeah, yep, does do that. It happens sometimes, not often, but it doesn't happen to me. Oh, and another thing was that I was allowed to have visitors. I can't have a whole bunch of visitors, obviously, because it's a clinical setting and I'm in labor, but they let my husband switch out with my mother and father-in-law who, like I said, were in town and they wanted to come see me. So they came in and they saw me and then they did the sweetest thing. They didn't go home. They sat in the waiting room the entire night.

Tessie (39:38.157)
Yeah.

Diana (40:01.298)
into the next day. Yep. Yep. And so when we decided to do the C-section, my husband went outside to tell his parents and they came in to see me and to wish me luck and give me a kiss and let me head on out. So that was nice. Yeah. But at that time I was so, I was so over it. I was so done. And my favorite moment was, oh, don't you want to know why? I'm like, because I'm done.

Tessie (40:01.79)
wow. wow.

Tessie (40:17.166)
Aww, that's nice.

Tessie (40:24.047)
my god.

Tessie (40:27.745)
MWAH!

Yeah, I'm over this.

Diana (40:32.338)
I'm so over this. I just want to be done now. So I have a question for you about home births. Heaven forbid there is an emergency. What are the protocols?

Tessie (40:35.554)
haha

Tessie (40:47.566)
I mean, they will transfer you to the hospital if they need to. They will. They'll call for an ambulance or say like, okay, well, you're not progressing. This is not, you know, like they have, I don't know exactly, but they will transfer you. And they know in their profession, I guess, like when it's a good time to transfer to the hospital. So they will. Yeah, they will.

Diana (40:50.994)
Mm-hmm.

Diana (41:12.658)
Mm.

Tessie (41:15.374)
And then as far as like if something happens with the baby, they're all like super trained on like neonatal resuscitation and they're trained on like all of these emergency things that they could kind of like intervention wise if they had to. I don't know, I'm kind of like this kind of person that I don't think about. I don't think about it going bad. I just always am just like, it's gonna be fine. It's gonna be fine. Except for the only thing I think of

Diana (41:24.069)
Yeah.

Diana (41:32.572)
Mm-hmm.

Tessie (41:44.782)
that I am afraid of is that I'm gonna die in childbirth. That's like my one thing that my husband's like, don't think about that, it's not gonna happen. I'm like, what would all my babies do without me? It's like such a horrible thought. yeah, I just, I don't know why that's like this weird.

Diana (41:49.49)
Yeah.

Diana (42:03.202)
But it's true. It's true. It's something that runs through your head, right?

Tessie (42:11.234)
When you're pregnant, you have like weird thoughts, you know, and that's one of them.

Diana (42:15.41)
Well, mean, so statistically for a healthy woman, the most dangerous thing she will do in her life is give birth. So, it wasn't until recent modern medicine that giving birth is kind of like a whatever thing. Thank goodness for modern medicine that it's kind of become a normal occasion for us. But normally it's a whole event and it can be very risky. Thank you, modern science.

Tessie (42:24.686)
True. Yeah.

Tessie (42:44.096)
Yeah. Yeah, I know. So luckily I have a good track record. So that, yeah, that helps. That kind of helps calm me down. But, but yeah, I don't know. I just go into some of these things. Sometimes I just have a lot of faith, I guess. And I just like expect it to be, I just expect it's going to work out. You know what I mean? Like, I don't think it's going to be bad. Like my first one, I was like, a piece of cake.

Diana (42:45.328)
You

Diana (42:51.216)
Knock on wood.

Diana (43:07.952)
I love that.

Tessie (43:13.88)
like I watched it on YouTube, I could do that. But then, you know that anyone, any mom out there who's like given birth naturally, there is a point where you literally think you're gonna die. And I think it's I think they call it the transition, but I'm not 100 % sure on that. But like it does come to a point where you're like,

I am going to die, I cannot do this, this is like way beyond what I am capable of, I'm gonna die basically. And then it's like not long after that, that feeling and those thoughts in your head that the baby's actually born. So it's like, it gets to this massive like point where you're just like, I can't do this anymore. And then you just like finish it. Yeah. Yeah. And then that's why it's like, if I was in the hospital,

Diana (43:57.478)
Mm-hmm.

Diana (44:02.066)
You just do.

Tessie (44:07.436)
At that point, I probably would have asked for some sort of medication or something that I really didn't want, but because I would have had the option, I don't know, I might have taken it because it's worse than I expected. Yeah, it's there. And I'm at this point where I'm like, I'm going to die. I can't do this. This is too hard. Just all those thoughts.

Diana (44:21.35)
It's there. Yeah.

Diana (44:31.09)
That was another thing with my plan was drugs. Give me the drugs, give me all the drugs, even the drugs I can't have, give me all the drugs. I did not want to feel anything. And in a lot of ways I didn't because like I said, I slept through most of it. But when they were prepared, it took about an hour to prepare me for surgery because they had another one, they had another woman in the OR and that was an emergency.

Tessie (44:37.067)
Hahaha

Tessie (44:44.846)
Yeah.

Tessie (44:57.07)
Mmm.

Diana (44:57.198)
So they kind of just slowed down, slowed me down. He's mine at the time wasn't, thank goodness. And the nurses came in and they said, we're so sorry that you're still waiting, but we have an emergency. said, no, you take care of her. I'm fine. Baby's fine. We're, we're chilling. And when they did come to take me in, they increased my medicine to kind of numb me and I already, they gave me something else. I don't remember, honestly, but I got so sick. I started vomiting.

Tessie (45:24.878)
No. no.

Diana (45:27.244)
vomiting all over the place. It was horrible. they wheeled me into the OR and the anesthetic nurse, he was standing next to me and he was the sweetest thing. He goes, so this is what's going to happen and this is what you're going to feel. And I said, I'm so sorry. I'm going to throw up. And I threw up on him. He goes, okay, let me just grab a bowl. And I threw up on him. I felt so bad. was so...

I was so embarrassed. was so sleepy. I was so nauseous and I was so cold because in retrospect, I remember this, they stripped me naked. They stripped me naked. Yep. They stripped me naked. I was strapped down. My legs and my arms are strapped down because I was having not a seizure, was having convulsions. was having, my limbs were just moving on their own. I had like restless leg and rest because of

Tessie (46:06.722)
What?

Tessie (46:23.4)
my god.

Diana (46:25.424)
because of the medicine. And I was shivering because I was so cold and I remember my teeth chattering. And so I'm vomiting, I'm freezing. It was just not, it was horrible. It was awful. And I threw up on the guy and he was the nicest guy in the world. And then they took my husband beforehand and they had him change into scrubs and he was at my head the whole time and they put up a sheet.

Tessie (46:37.272)
for.

Diana (46:54.864)
between like right at right at my chest so I couldn't see what was going on down there because you don't want to see a c-section. Do not look up a c-section on YouTube guys. Do not. I'm glad I didn't because I think I would have been horrified.

Tessie (47:05.035)
Okay, I won't, now I will. Now I'm curious.

Don't tell me no. Don't tell me I can't do something.

Diana (47:19.43)
You don't tell me I tell you. Okay Tessie, you go look up a C-section.

Tessie (47:23.114)
Yeah, gotta do reverse psychology on me and I'll be like,

Diana (47:26.104)
Exactly. You and my daughter. And my husband, he's performed C-sections before. He said, honey, you're going to feel a pulling, but no pain. I said, okay. And I was so scared. I remember telling him to talk to me, talk to me about anything. Where are we going to go on our next vacation? And

Tessie (47:53.666)
that's funny. You guys are planning a vacation.

Diana (47:56.718)
Yep, because I wanted something to look forward to. And I remember when they went to make the incision and you know that, you know, when you get a cut on your finger or something like that, you feel that tug on the skin. I felt that tug and I was just bracing for the pain, which never came, fortunately. Yeah, so it was a very weird feeling. And then they said, OK, a little bit of pressure.

Tessie (47:59.328)
Yeah.

Tessie (48:11.118)
Mm-hmm.

Tessie (48:18.786)
Wow.

Diana (48:26.074)
And my husband says, when they're going to press down on your tummy, you're going to get nauseous. Sure enough, I threw up on the anesthetic nurse again.

Tessie (48:37.888)
my gosh, I wonder if like getting nauseous and throwing up is like a common thing in C-section or was this a rare thing?

Diana (48:47.004)
I don't know. I know for me, I metabolize medicine slowly, so they have a very, very strong effect on me. So maybe it's that I'm not really sure. I don't remember my mom telling me that that ever happened to her. And like I said, she had C-sections. But then once that pressure, and once I threw up on the nurse again, all of a sudden, the first things I hear were two things. Whoa, big baby, and whoa, lots of hair. And all of sudden I hear this cry.

Tessie (48:59.232)
Yeah. Yeah.

Tessie (49:13.655)
Hahaha

aww

Diana (49:16.49)
And all I can, and I was thinking, first thing I was thinking is, thank goodness I'm not throwing up anymore. And then my next thought was, is the baby okay? And so my husband looked over and he's like, yep, she's fine. She's, she's healthy. She's good. And she's, she's screaming and his voice is the first voice that she hears. And he says, it's okay, baby, you're safe. You're okay. And she just stopped. And she just, saw her look around.

Tessie (49:24.877)
Yeah.

Diana (49:46.14)
Like I know that voice. So she didn't hear my voice first. She recognized him. Yeah.

Tessie (49:46.606)
She recognized it. that's so cool.

Diana (49:53.316)
Yeah, it was very cool. And afterwards they asked me, my husband asked me, do you want me to stay with you? I said, no. I said, you follow the baby. You can't do anything for me. I said, go hold the baby, give her skin to skin immediately. They got to stitch me up. So I was there for I think another half an hour while they stitched me up. And I didn't throw up anymore. I was very proud of myself.

Tessie (50:13.93)
Okay. Wow. That's great. Yeah.

Wow, so then you didn't get to see your baby for half an hour?

Diana (50:25.906)
Half an hour to 45 minutes. Yeah, my husband did. He was with her in the recovery room and when they wheeled me in, he was holding her.

Yeah. And it was, it was the middle of the night. was just me, my husband, the baby and another nurse. they were, and they immediately gave me the baby and she latched on to me. She found my breast. I didn't even bring her up to my breast, but she just latched on like an alpha predator. Yeah. It was, it was, and I thought,

Tessie (51:00.056)
Yeah.

Wow.

Diana (51:05.956)
Whoa, what's going on here? Because I'm still confused. I'm still not me yet. I'm thinking, whoa, what's going on? And we say that.

Tessie (51:13.614)
I think I've seen YouTubes of that where the baby's like, what do they call that? And it's like crawls up to it and just like grabs on. Yeah.

Diana (51:19.216)
I forget what the, but yeah, I, basically that's what they did. She, they rested her on my belly and she took off and found my, and opened her mouth and that was it. It was, it was. What were the first moments with your baby like?

Tessie (51:34.104)
That's incredible. That is awesome.

Tessie (51:41.698)
Well, with my first one, I lost so much blood that I couldn't even sit up in the bed without like passing out. So I had to lay in bed for 24 hours and like had to like learn how to nurse at the same time while laying down, which is like impossible, and couldn't stand up. it was just horrible. And I'm like a very active person. Like I can't just be like laying in bed for, it was very hard.

Diana (52:00.754)
Yeah.

Diana (52:11.451)
Mm-hmm.

Tessie (52:11.49)
But I got, I mean, I held him, but with my first one, like I said, we told everybody right away and they showed up right away. So I didn't even really get to hold him like very long and everybody else was holding him. And, and then with my second one, we kind of told them, I think it was right away, but they didn't come like right away, but they came pretty quickly. And then after that, I was like, okay, no, like,

Diana (52:18.663)
Ugh.

Tessie (52:40.59)
We're not telling anybody until I'm at least showered and dressed and I'm laying with my own baby for two to three hours and like not moving, having it on my chest and all this like nothing. And so that's, it's just like progress, you know, I just, guess I got a little more wiser each time on, I'm gonna spend some time with my baby. Yeah, so.

Diana (52:51.922)
Mm-hmm.

Diana (53:06.81)
Yeah. No, I love that. Did your babies latch immediately?

Tessie (53:14.798)
yeah, but the first one, I didn't know what I was doing and it's definitely like a skill that it does not. I mean, these experienced mothers make it look easy, but it's definitely not. You have to learn how to do it. So that one was harder. but yeah, for the most part, they all did. And my whole thing, like right directly after the baby comes out, you know, it's just such like a relief. You're just like.

Diana (53:21.638)
Yeah.

Diana (53:29.447)
Mm-hmm.

Tessie (53:45.06)
my God, it's over. You just like lay back and you just like, don't move. You're just, I'm not. No. And then my midwife wants to get the placenta out. And I'm like, I don't want, I don't care. Pull it out. I'm not pushing out, but I have to. So it's just like this immediate like, just relief. You just can't even describe it.

Diana (53:51.548)
You're exhausted.

Diana (53:57.916)
Leave me alone.

Diana (54:02.384)
Yep. Yep.

Diana (54:09.189)
Yeah.

At least your first thought wasn't, hey, I'm not throwing up, yay.

Tessie (54:15.694)
Yeah, no, I don't even, I'm trying to think on my first thought. I guess my first thought was just like, thank God that's over. Each time. Yes. I'm never doing that again. That's what I think too. My first thought each time. Here I am. Number five.

Diana (54:26.706)
I did think that. I did think that too.

Diana (54:38.802)
Obviously your husband did not listen to you when you're yelling out the door, get a vasectomy.

Tessie (54:44.43)
Seriously, like with my last one, I was in labor. I'm like, you are getting a vasectomy like tomorrow. You are setting it up all of a sudden. He's I don't know. He's like, he's just like, OK, let me just pat your back. But he would always fall asleep, you know, like he would be laying next to me and falling asleep and I would get angry at him for that. Why are you sleeping? Wake up.

But it's the middle of the night. I've always labored from like the late afternoon, early evening, all night. That's been my thing. I'm probably going to go have the same thing happen this time. I don't do it really during the day. Like I always start like in the evenings, you know, and then it ramps up.

Diana (55:22.546)
you

Diana (55:31.762)
Okay.

I was always afraid being in labor and the pain that I would say mean and horrible things. To my husband was one thing. He knows me, he'll just brush it off and say whatever. I was afraid that I would be mean to the nursing staff. So when I first checked in, I prefaced with, if I say anything, please excuse me, I don't mean it. And we did, I remember now, we did buy pizza for the staff that night and

bagels for the staff that morning. I had my in-laws bring them over. So we fed the staff.

Tessie (56:06.958)
Wrong.

That's awesome. I bet they loved that.

Diana (56:14.124)
Yes, and they took excellent care of me. I do have to say that. So how did your recovery look after giving birth? Were you moving around quickly soon after since you had a vaginal all natural birth? What was it like?

Tessie (56:31.66)
Yeah, I would say as soon as I could stand up with each of them, as soon as I was done holding the baby and ready to go, I showered right away, got dressed, I could walk around the house. They kind of forced me to eat. I never have an appetite after that, but then they're like, you have to eat, you have to eat. And so they're shoving food down my throat and drinks and stuff. And yeah, as soon as I could.

But I stayed in bed, I mean, I stayed in bed as much as I possibly could. Know what I mean? But like I could get up and I would walk around the house within a day, within a few hours, depending on the baby. I stay in bed though, because I can. Might as well take advantage of that resting.

Diana (57:06.898)
Mm.

Diana (57:11.814)
That's good.

Diana (57:15.482)
Yeah, right.

Diana (57:21.062)
Yeah.

Diana (57:24.718)
And do you find it easier with each baby that you're like, I'm just staying in bed, forget this. I'm not missing out on anything. I'm just going to do me.

Tessie (57:32.066)
Yeah, I think so. Hiding out in the bedroom.

Diana (57:37.199)
Yeah, right?

Tessie (57:39.638)
No, but also at the same, I don't want to be walking around. don't, I don't know. just, I'm resting, you know, and, and, my midwife, she like, doesn't think that I should even be getting out of bed for like 30 days. And there are some cultures that do that even longer. Yeah. Yeah.

Diana (57:53.426)
Yeah. Chinese culture is very much like that. The first month you do nothing. Ideally, you have it's called the sitting month. Ideally, you have everyone else around you doing everything for you. Well, it's just you and the baby. And there are other different cultural things that go with it. you don't bathe for a month, all that other stuff. But I did not adhere to that. No.

Tessie (58:01.058)
Mm-hmm.

Tessie (58:20.504)
I would not be able to do that.

Diana (58:22.842)
No, I didn't do that. But in Chinese culture, in China now, for really wealthy women, they do that. Not that they don't bathe, but after they give birth, they go directly into the sanctuary, where it's just them and the baby, and they are weighted on hand and foot. Husbands are nowhere near, they're allowed to come visit, but they go home. Family can come visit, but they can go. They have to go at a certain time.

And the women are waited on hand and foot. All they have to do is nurse the baby if they choose. If not, you can come see the baby whenever you want. And your job is to just rest and eat and sleep. That's it. I was like, wow, they took it seriously. But I...

Tessie (59:06.284)
Yeah. Yep.

I think if it was up to my midwife, that's what I would probably be doing for 30 days. But I do like each baby, I do take it a little more seriously that like I do need to rest and I also am older and my body doesn't recover and bounce back the same. And there's probably something to that. I could see there like being something to like pelvic floor healing and stuff when you're not like walking around and doing all of this stuff.

And maybe that's why like here in America we have all of these issues that require surgery way down the road because we can't like keep in our pee anymore or whatever. I don't know. I'm just like hypothesizing in my head, but maybe there's something to that. There's gotta be a reason that they do it that way.

Diana (59:45.692)
Mm-hmm.

Diana (59:55.003)
Yeah.

Diana (01:00:00.814)
I mean, our American culture doesn't really allow us to sit still much really. I mean, even for me, I was numb from the waist down and my recovery, went after they took out the afterbirth and they stitched me up. They sent me into recovery to see my baby, an hour in recovery. I went to my room and that's when they started coming in. They were

Tessie (01:00:06.135)
No.

Diana (01:00:27.682)
everyone started coming in, the nurses to check on the baby and they would take the baby and clean her and do tests on her, check on me. So was this never ending litany of people coming in and you just never get to rest. You never get to rest because as soon as you doze off, someone else comes in because it's their job. They have to keep an eye on you. And yeah, so it was, it was not peaceful. And I remember thinking to myself,

Tessie (01:00:41.934)
that's horrible. that's horrible. Yeah. Yeah.

Diana (01:00:56.058)
I'm getting out of here as soon as I can because I can't, this is, I, every single time they came in here, they made my baby cry. She was not a crier. She was a very calm baby at birth. And they came in, they would take her blood and do all these things to take her to the billy light and all that. And I was just, as soon as I could, I'm out of here with her. So they told me, we're going to see if you can walk.

Tessie (01:00:58.072)
Yeah.

Diana (01:01:25.22)
You probably can't walk yet. It's been less than 24 hours since you gave birth. It's been like, like five hours. Nope, no sleeping. No sleeping. Cause they're, they're poking me and giving me drugs and telling me to rest. and then lactation would come in. And that was another thing. Lactation made me so nervous because like you said, nursing is a skill. And even though she latched like an alpha predator,

Tessie (01:01:30.186)
What? Let you sleep? Yeah.

Tessie (01:01:39.032)
Yeah.

Diana (01:01:50.93)
I didn't know what I was doing. didn't know if I was producing milk. I didn't know anything. so lactation came in and said, oh, you need to hold her like this and you need to do that. And you need to put her on this side for this long and this side for that long. And you need to record all this. Oh, that's another thing. Afterwards, you're recording every single time you, the baby.

Tessie (01:01:55.607)
Yeah.

Tessie (01:02:03.427)
Yeah.

Diana (01:02:11.922)
takes a bottle when they get changed, whether it was a wet diaper or a dry diaper or a soil diaper, how much they're taking in as food and all that stuff. So you're constantly writing and taking notes and just measuring everything. So it's not calm.

Tessie (01:02:27.986)
my gosh.

Diana (01:02:29.893)
And that's when I said, I'm out of here as soon as I could. And about five, I think five hours after I gave birth, they're like, oh, we're going to see if you can walk. And I said, I can walk. They're like, I don't think you can. I'm like, no, I can walk. And my husband's looking at me. Uh-huh. My husband's like, honey, I don't think that's a good idea. You know, you and meds, they last a really long time. I'm like, I'm going to walk. So.

Tessie (01:02:32.618)
Yeah.

Tessie (01:02:44.174)
You're like, I'm getting out of here.

Diana (01:02:58.404)
They got me ready and I don't know how in the world, how in heaven's name I walked because I could not feel a single, single thing in my legs. But I walked. I walked from my bed to the door and back and I did it without stumbling. And I'm a clumsy person, so I stumble even now. But I did it. don't know how, but I made myself walk and they said, whoa, you can walk. I said, yeah. And I go home now. They said,

Tessie (01:03:07.054)
Wow

Tessie (01:03:26.015)
ha ha.

Diana (01:03:27.876)
Yeah, you can go home if you can pee.

Tessie (01:03:32.459)
gosh.

Diana (01:03:33.644)
I said, okay, no problem. I can pee. I did not pee. I could not pee because the medicine would not let me pee. So I had urinary retention and they came in like every hour to ask, did you go to the bathroom? I said, no, but it's coming. I don't feel anything. I'm not uncomfortable. And they're like, okay, if you say so. And my husband's looking at me like,

Tessie (01:03:36.844)
Ha ha ha!

Tessie (01:03:41.902)
You

Tessie (01:03:45.753)
no...

Diana (01:04:03.738)
You sure you don't feel anything? I'm like, no, I feel fine. And then they came in and they said, okay, really we're concerned now you haven't voided yet. We're going to take an ultrasound of your bladder to see if, if it's how full it is, because you need to go to the bathroom. And I said, I don't think I'm, I have to go. I'm pretty sure my bladder is empty. And they ultrasound it and they said, Nope, you have a very full bladder. And while they were ultrasounding it.

my goodness, the pain hit. My bladder was so distended that it was putting pressure on the sutures they had just put into me and was stretching it. was just, tears were just running down my face and they said, okay, we're going to straight cath you. And for those of you who don't know where straight cath is, it's literally a catheter that they thread up into your urethra. And then they basically

Tessie (01:04:44.437)
my gosh.

Diana (01:05:03.354)
It's a straw for you to pee through basically into a basin basically. So again, they reclined me, basically stripped me naked again. And yeah, there's no modesty. so my father-in-law left, my husband was at home sleeping, the baby was in her crib in my room and my mother-in-law was there.

Tessie (01:05:09.71)
Wow.

Tessie (01:05:19.308)
My god.

Diana (01:05:32.25)
And so my mother-in-law has seen everything at this point, because I have been stripped naked multiple times. She and I are close, but we are super close now.

Tessie (01:05:35.01)
Yeah.

Tessie (01:05:41.006)
Yeah, definitely sounds like there's a lot of like violations, I guess you could say in hospital. Yeah.

Diana (01:05:47.986)
There is no modesty left. I now understand when women say, I have no modesty left. I gave birth. Now I get it. Now like, I gave birth. Who cares?

Tessie (01:05:56.782)
Yeah, it's true. It's true.

Diana (01:05:59.748)
and they straight cath me. Unfortunately, get this, they put it the wrong hole.

Tessie (01:06:05.742)
What? Where did these people get their license?

Diana (01:06:07.046)
Mm-hmm.

So she was a new nurse, she's new, and she put it in my vagina rather than my urethra. And the supervising nurse was like, that's the wrong one. And the girl who did it was, she was horrified. And I'm really trying, and at this point I'm in a lot of pain. And I was like, I understand that mistakes happen and

Tessie (01:06:18.984)
my gosh. My gosh.

Tessie (01:06:25.923)
my.

Diana (01:06:39.726)
I know you're learning, but can I please ask the other nurse next to you to put the next one in? Because I am in a lot of pain." And she goes, yes, of course, of course, of course. So they ran out, got another, another sterile one. And at this, I said to them, I don't care if it's sterile, just do it. And they're like, no, we can't not put a sterile catheter in.

Tessie (01:06:48.557)
Yeah.

Tessie (01:06:57.134)
my goodness. Yeah, I remember that being like one of the first things they make me do is walk to the bathroom and urinate. And I just recently heard that it's because it helps with contractions, like contracting the uterus. If you don't pee, like that could be a problem there with like bleeding and all kinds of stuff, right?

Diana (01:07:09.746)
Mm-hmm.

Diana (01:07:14.705)
Mm-hmm.

Diana (01:07:19.57)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, the distended bladder gets in the way of the uterus trying to get back into a smaller shape. at that point, the blood vessels are still dilated rather than closing up. So yeah, that's important. That's very important.

Tessie (01:07:37.464)
Wow. Yeah, that's like typically when I'm like ready to pass out is when I'm walking to the, my gosh, this just made me think of this. After my third baby, somehow like a ton of blood got all over the carpet. Like it looked like a murder scene. But like normally that doesn't happen. That's not a normal thing that happens. Because I've had four and that's never, it only happened once.

Diana (01:07:57.03)
GASP

Diana (01:08:03.633)
Mm-hmm.

Tessie (01:08:07.054)
But like it did like a bunch came out as I was walking to the bathroom and it was like right on the carpet Of course right before the tile it was all over right and they They made it disappear. They like cleaned it up with peroxide It makes blood disappear And you couldn't even tell it was like really fascinating

Diana (01:08:23.952)
Yeah. Yeah. Yep. does. Yep. Yep. The oxidation process in the oxidation properties of hydrogen peroxide actually break helps to break down blood. So if you ever get blood, you know, if you, if you cut yourself and you get it on a shirt and it's stained, soak it in peroxide and then, and then put it in the laundry.

Tessie (01:08:47.052)
Yeah, we do that now every time. know, like when we get it, when my kids have it on their clothes or their pillowcase or something. It's really fascinating.

Diana (01:08:53.678)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's the idea of where oxyclean comes from, the oxidation process. So yeah, I learned that in surgery, because having to clean all the towels and everything, you see that, they use peroxide. Okay, cool. That's just, that's an easy thing.

Tessie (01:08:59.574)
Huh, interesting.

That's interesting.

Tessie (01:09:13.006)
I know you watch all these CSIs and whatnot and they're talking they always talk about bleach in here. It's like these dumb criminals should be using peroxide. That's why they're criminals. They're stupid.

Diana (01:09:17.894)
Yeah, I'm like, no!

Diana (01:09:27.194)
or they're taking cues from Hollywood and they're telling Hollywood, don't tell them to actually had to get away with murder. boy.

Tessie (01:09:29.122)
Ha ha ha, misinformed.

Well now we know. Our husbands better watch out.

Diana (01:09:37.198)
No, we know.

My husband knows that trick too, I, so does yours. They're medically trained too.

Tessie (01:09:46.144)
I know.

This is why we don't have life insurance.

Diana (01:09:58.002)
that you and I have to talk about later on.

Tessie (01:10:02.638)
That's funny. Yeah, no, who wants live insurance on it's funny though, because my husband handles like all of the finances, paperwork, taxes, like you name it, I do not do adulting. Okay, I hang out with little babies and kids all day. That's all I do. And that's like the capacity of my brain. So he's like always bringing me papers to sign, like random, like tax forms or bank forms or whatever.

And I'm always joking with them, you're getting another life insurance policy on me. I'm like okay, let me just sign it.

Diana (01:10:38.194)
So in my family, it's the opposite. I do all of the adulting and the child rearing. My husband goes to work basically and he comes home. And if I want his input, he's more than happy to, but he knows that I'm a control freak. So I need to do these things for my mental health. So I'm always asking him, I'm like, here's another life insurance policy I need to sign your life away on. And he's like, okay, honey, whatever you want.

Tessie (01:10:53.453)
Yeah.

Tessie (01:11:04.6)
So funny. How much do you trust me?

Diana (01:11:06.93)
implicitly implicitly

Tessie (01:11:12.162)
I'm making you worth more dead than alive. Do you still trust me?

That's like definitely like a sign of a good marriage.

Diana (01:11:18.588)
Actually.

Diana (01:11:25.494)
We digress. So going back to my straight cath So they ran out. So after putting it in the wrong hole, they ran out, got another one straight cath me and guess how much fluid they got out of me.

Tessie (01:11:37.71)
I'm really bad at math and this kind of stuff. Two liters, I don't know.

Diana (01:11:44.882)
close, an entire liter, an entire liter, an entire bag of IV basically. Yep, was in my bladder. I'm like, no wonder I was in pain. And then after that, I was able to avoid on my own. So then they were like, okay, now you can go home because the baby was totally fine. Yep, now you can go home. The baby was totally fine.

Tessie (01:11:47.806)
One liter, okay, I was close.

Jeez! That's crazy.

Tessie (01:11:59.662)
Now you can go home. So you didn't have to stay for like multiple days. They didn't require that.

Diana (01:12:09.604)
I did not want to, they tried to get me to stay, but I told them, said, look, I have a grandma, a grandpa, two doctors and a teacher waiting for me at home. Because my sister and my brother-in-law were also at my house waiting for me. I said, I am well taken care of. And they said, yeah, we can't provide you that kind of care here. Yep, you can go home. And so less than 24 hours after I had my C-section, I was home. And

Tessie (01:12:37.678)
That's great.

Diana (01:12:38.832)
Yeah, it was. But my gosh, I remember the ride home was horrible.

Tessie (01:12:44.462)
Was it painful, bumpy and stuff?

Diana (01:12:47.43)
So FYI, the roads in Northeast PA are very broken down because, yeah, because we have so much salt. We have so much snow here that they put down so much salt to melt the ice during the winter that the roads just get corroded. So there's lots of potholes. And we were driving home and every little bump I felt, because not only were my...

Tessie (01:12:54.712)
terrible.

Diana (01:13:13.756)
So my organs moved during pregnancy to make room for my baby. But now I have all this pressure in my new sutures that are brand new and it just hurt. practically, it was a 10 minute drive home. I cried the entire time.

Tessie (01:13:29.594)
my gosh, I can't even imagine. See, that's what I love about Home Birth. I'm at home. I'm in my own bed. I don't have anywhere to go. I just like roll over and go to sleep, go to my own shower, do whatever I want, go out to the living room. It's like, it's so nice.

Diana (01:13:48.556)
can I backtrack for a second and tell you about my checkout process? Here's, here's, this is just to complete the whole experience. And mind you, it's, it's a, like I said, I had the whole experience. I don't need to ever do it again. But if I were to do it again, I would still choose a hospital birth to tell you the truth, because it makes me feel like I have better control of if something happens, I know that my baby and myself are safe. So.

Tessie (01:13:52.675)
Yeah.

Tessie (01:14:09.155)
Mm-hmm.

Diana (01:14:18.51)
That being said, I signed all my papers to get to be discharged and my husband was with me and my sister was with me. So they took all my stuff, all my clothes and everything, and they took it down to the car. And I was in the wheelchair getting ready to go home and I had the baby in my arms. And like I said, they went downstairs and they took my stuff down. They said, we'll be back in five minutes. All of a sudden,

It's like 20 minutes. I'm like, where are they? The car is not far. It's just in the parking lot. And then I hear that there was a code being called on my floor and they had to lock my floor. They had to lock the maternity ward because a woman was trying to abscond with a baby. And all of a sudden I hear this screaming out right outside my door. She's saying that she has a gun that she, yeah.

Tessie (01:15:02.626)
Yeah.

Tessie (01:15:08.69)
my god.

Tessie (01:15:16.75)
What?

Diana (01:15:19.288)
Now, I don't know. I think she was lying because there is security when you come in. There's a metal detector and everything. I'm pretty sure she was lying, but she was yelling at security and the nurses as she has a gun and that she wants to. She's here to take her baby and that they're not letting her and she sounds completely out of her mind like she was on drugs or something like that. Now, is it really her baby or someone else's? I don't know. But all I can think is I hear this outside my door.

Tessie (01:15:25.14)
my God. Yeah.

Diana (01:15:49.882)
She is right there. I'm here with my baby. No protection. The door doesn't even lock because it's a hospital room door. What am I going to protect myself and my baby with? I can't feel my legs. I, yeah, I was terrified. What if she tried to take my baby? So I decided, I wheeled myself back to the bed where I would put the baby. decided if she comes into this room,

Tessie (01:16:04.268)
my God.

Yeah.

Diana (01:16:18.182)
I'm going to put the baby down and literally with everything I have launched myself at this woman to protect my baby and then rely on security outside to take the rest of it. because I had, I had, what am I going to do? Everything is bolted down. I couldn't even swing anything. I didn't even have the abstract to swing anything, even if I wanted to, but it was horrifying. And my, my, my husband called and he goes, Hey, what's going on up there? I'm like, Hey, so there this is going on. And he goes,

Tessie (01:16:26.966)
Yeah.

Tessie (01:16:33.806)
That is terrifying. Yeah, that's terrifying.

Diana (01:16:47.826)
That's great. That's awesome. Okay. Well, are you safe? I'm like, at the moment, yes, but I don't really know because they're right outside my door. And he said, honey, he's like, the nurses are there, security is there, they are trained. You know how they're trained. And they were superb. They really, talked her off the ledge. They calmed her down. like 15 minutes later, everything was fine. They reopened the unit again and we were totally fine. But I remember thinking,

Tessie (01:16:48.844)
No.

Tessie (01:16:56.221)
my god.

Diana (01:17:15.906)
my gosh, I had the whole experience. I don't ever have to do this again. And that being said, if I were to give birth again, I would still go back to the same hospital because even though all that happened and it was out of my control, the staff was in control at all times. And they were well-trained and I have confidence in them. So for me, I think it will always be a hospital birth, honestly.

Tessie (01:17:34.945)
Yeah.

Tessie (01:17:44.396)
Yeah. yeah. For me, hands down, home birth. I love it. Yeah.

Diana (01:17:48.78)
Yeah, because it works for you. makes you feel, it makes you feel in control because we are control freaks. And I think that's the hardest part with birth is that you feel out of control and that's a scary part, right?

Tessie (01:17:59.894)
Yeah, yeah. And I just, I just love the whole entire experience with, and don't get me wrong, actually, I have heard some horror stories with midwives. Like I have friends who have had like not horror stories, but like not as good of an experience. I actually happened to luck out like crazy finding my midwife. She was amazing, you know? And so,

Diana (01:18:13.287)
really.

Tessie (01:18:30.262)
Like, obviously, it's like anything in life. There's there's really, really good ones. And then there's ones that are like mediocre or bad even. But as far as like the experience of the whole thing, like start to finish. So amazing. I just love it.

Diana (01:18:37.65)
Yeah, yeah, right.

Diana (01:18:47.698)
So did your experience with birth change the way you view yourself as a mother or how you view your own body?

Tessie (01:18:55.96)
I mean, I definitely just feel like, you know, after you do something that is that hard, that you don't even in the moment, like you don't think you can even complete doing it. And then you do, you really do. You feel like a tiger or like a warrior or something like it really does make you feel like that's like an incredible thing that you've done. You know what I mean? And you do have that feeling, I think.

Diana (01:19:14.651)
Okay.

Diana (01:19:21.874)
because it

Diana (01:19:25.618)
You feel like you're a goddess, you're invincible. You can do, because you literally did the impossible, right?

Tessie (01:19:28.748)
Yeah, it feels pretty good.

Tessie (01:19:33.114)
Yeah, like take something that you've done that's hard in your life that you didn't think that you could do that was extremely hard and like multiply it by a billion and like how did you feel? How did you feel after that experience? Multiply it by a billion. It's pretty incredible.

Diana (01:19:48.624)
Yeah, true. True.

I know for me, I look at my body completely differently. It took me a long time to get to this point because, you know, it takes a while to kind of digest the whole birth experience. But for me, IVF and then pregnancy and now birth, it took a long time. I realized my body's amazing. It really is because I went, I realized that I set my mind to something.

Tessie (01:20:13.784)
Yeah.

Diana (01:20:19.578)
I said, I'm going to have a baby. So I defied my own biology and said, no, my body is going to carry a baby to term and give a birth to a healthy baby. And my body said, okay, let's go. What do I have to do? And it did it. It did it. And here she is, this amazing little miracle. So my body is pretty amazing. And it took me nearly 40 some odd years to get there, but I eventually got there.

Tessie (01:20:33.804)
Yeah, yeah.

Tessie (01:20:47.546)
It is amazing what our bodies can do. Like they are little miracles. I mean, it's just incredible. I would love to be on the other side of it one day, you know, like see, like knowing exactly what's going on on the outside of my head, but, and seeing it, you know, like if you see that over and over and over again, like that's just, what an awesome job. I feel like you get to see babies being born. How cool is that?

Diana (01:20:50.949)
It really is.

Diana (01:21:16.476)
I think, I think that if you're in the OB field, I think there is a part of you that really has to love it because it can be so stressful, right? It's anything can happen, but if you love what you do, you your patients feel it, they feel safe, they feel taken care of and that's so important.

Tessie (01:21:24.214)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Tessie (01:21:34.636)
Yeah, exactly.

Diana (01:21:37.788)
So what would you say to someone considering a birth option different from your own?

Tessie (01:21:43.598)
I'd say you do you, whatever you're comfortable with. all just go with your gut, whatever you think. You know what I mean? If you're more comfortable going to a hospital, I get that. I have lots of friends who've done that. I totally get it. Yeah, just do you. Don't let anybody else talk you out of whatever you're, you know what I mean? I'm a very strong-willed person though. I feel like my husband knows that, which is why he didn't say anything, but no one's gonna change my mind.

But if you really feel strongly about it one way the other, you should do what you're comfortable with. At the end of the day, you're the one giving birth. I don't think it's anybody else's decision except for yours, period. Anyways.

Diana (01:22:31.055)
I have to agree with you with that. think do your research, really think about it and do what makes you feel most secure and most in control.

Tessie (01:22:39.832)
Mm-hmm.

Diana (01:22:41.68)
I mean, obviously you and I, had very different, we have very different stories. We have very different choices. But what I love is that we both felt empowered with what we did and we would always do it again. No matter what we would go back to make that those same choices. And I think that's, that's really important and really powerful. So I think, yeah, you're right. You do you and do what, do what makes you feel the most in control.

Tessie (01:23:10.253)
Yeah.

Diana (01:23:12.048)
I love that. Wow, we have really different stories.

Tessie (01:23:16.558)
I know I've heard so many different stories of like a hospital births, you feel like the home birth stories are pretty similar that I've heard, you know, but hospital births, they can go like so many different ways. Like I've heard, I have one friend who told me that her epidural went up instead of down and she was like having seizures and stuff. yes, like I feel like there's the gamut. I've heard the gamut.

Diana (01:23:32.752)
Yeah. Yeah.

Diana (01:23:37.682)
my gosh. my gosh.

Tessie (01:23:46.254)
stories, even home birth stories of like different I've had friends who've transferred, you know, and things that didn't work out. It didn't work out the way they planned. But it's okay. They have a healthy baby. You know what I mean? At the end of the day, they're all professionals that we're working with both sides. Yeah.

Diana (01:23:57.468)
Yeah, I think that's... Yes. Yep. Mm-hmm. And I'm pretty sure that they all love what they do. And that's so important. Because what they do is not easy. Gosh. Like, I mean, I can't imagine, if I went through actual painful labor, how wicked and terrible I would be.

Tessie (01:24:07.297)
Yeah.

Yeah, feel like you have to. Yeah.

Tessie (01:24:22.318)
Yeah, you would definitely be like, well, this is so funny. Okay. My poor husband. I have such a mouth. Okay. I have such a sassy mouth.

Luckily, he's a very patient man and he also loves me so he puts up with it. he literally like he's like, man, my finger hurts or I like broke my leg or whatever and I'm just like, try childbirth. I don't want to hear you crying. I don't want to hear how painful your broken leg is. Do not come to me. I have zero sympathy.

Diana (01:24:39.654)
Mm-hmm.

Tessie (01:25:05.486)
I say that all the time, he's like, I stubbed my toe, it hurts, and I'm like, get over it, like try childbirth, don't even come to me with that nonsense.

Tessie (01:25:17.71)
And then I'm like, let me hug you, OK? It's so painful for you.

Diana (01:25:20.887)
Diana (01:25:26.438)
think that's the ultimate, that's the ultimate like.

to close off a conversation, you win. Try childbirth, they can't, they never will.

Tessie (01:25:36.812)
I know and like, you know, honestly, what other pain I've heard like kidney stones maybe are like up there relate. But like honestly, unless you're getting your legs sawed off with no anesthesia or something like what relates to childbirth, you know that anybody can go through. So you do have like the ultimate like one up try childbirth. Don't cry to me.

Diana (01:25:53.282)
God.

Diana (01:25:57.308)
And especially.

Yeah, absolutely. And you did it without any meds. So you definitely have have the card, the ace.

Tessie (01:26:05.805)
Yeah.

Tessie (01:26:10.179)
do!

Diana (01:26:15.026)
Well, this was fun.

Tessie (01:26:16.43)
Yeah, I hope like you guys got a little glimpse of what it's like if you haven't done one or the other of what it's like, because I definitely did. learned things. I know we've talked about this before, but I still learned things about your journey that I didn't know. And yeah.

Diana (01:26:35.142)
Yeah.

I've always been interested in home births, because I never considered it for myself, but I'm always fascinated because I want to learn more about it. And I mean, that's what our community is about, right? We are here to represent as many sides as possible, and we all have a voice, and we all have our own stories. And that's what Pearls of Motherhood is all about. You come here, you share your stories with your views and your experiences, good and bad, whether the catheter went in the right place or not.

Tessie (01:26:57.155)
Yeah.

Diana (01:27:04.602)
It's still part of your story. And now I can look back and laugh, even though I cried at the time.

Tessie (01:27:07.786)
Yeah, yeah. And I think it'd be fun, like chime into our Instagram and tell us like your what did you guys do? Did you do home birth? Did you do hospital birth? I think home birth kind of has like taken off a lot more since COVID. So I don't know. I'm just curious, like, what are people doing out there? What are you guys choosing? Yeah, and why for sure. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Diana (01:27:28.71)
Yeah, and why? And why? We'd love to know why.

Diana (01:27:36.85)
So yeah, thank you so much for listening to us at Pearls of Motherhood. Please feel free to contact us at pearlsofmotherhood.com and email us at ideas at pearlsofmotherhood.com. We're also on Instagram at Palmcast, that's P-O-M-C-A-S-T-S. We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode or any future ideas for other episodes. After all, we are a podcast for all moms and would love to know what you'd like to explore.

New episodes drop once a week on Friday, so stay tuned for more fun and more pearls. Have a great day, talk to you soon. Bye.

Tessie (01:28:08.238)
Bye.