Hope Comes to Visit

Story of Strength: Jenny Hoffmann on Birth Trauma, Advocacy, and Transforming Pain into Purpose

• Danielle Elliott Smith • Season 1 • Episode 24

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What happens when a woman’s pain is dismissed at one of the most vulnerable moments of her life?

For Jenny Hoffman, it nearly cost her everything. Just hours after giving birth to her daughter, Jenny hemorrhaged internally while medical staff brushed off her repeated cries for help. “I kept saying it really hurt,” she remembers, as Motrin was offered while she was losing over two liters of blood.

In this raw and powerful conversation, Jenny and I uncover the haunting parallels in our own birth experiences — moments of crisis where women’s instincts were ignored until it was almost too late. Our dialogue reveals a troubling truth about maternal healthcare: women’s voices are often minimized, even in life-threatening situations.

But Jenny’s story doesn’t stop with survival. Nine years later, she founded Story of Strength, a groundbreaking organization that gathers women’s stories of birth complications and transforms them into actionable data for systemic change. With her background in bioengineering, Jenny bridges the deeply personal with the scientific, creating resources that can influence healthcare policy, inspire innovation, and ultimately save lives.

This episode explores:

  • Why postpartum hemorrhage remains the leading — and preventable — cause of maternal mortality worldwide
  • The lifelong psychological impact of birth trauma
  • How storytelling can be both healing for individuals and revolutionary for healthcare systems

Jenny’s voice is a reminder that trusting our instincts and speaking our truth isn’t just survival — it’s advocacy. And every story told creates space for another woman to be heard.

🎧 Listen now to hear how Jenny turned her trauma into a movement — and how your story might change someone else’s outcome.

Connect with Jenny on Story of Strength, where you can also share your postpartum birth experiences and support the work she is doing.

Sign up for her Newsletter to get updates about her upcoming book release in October. 

You can also find her on Social:

LinkedIn - Jenny Hoffman
Facebook - Story of Strength

Thank you for listening to Hope Comes to Visit. If this conversation helps, follow the show, share it with someone who needs hope today, and leave a review - it helps others find their way to these conversations.

New episodes drop every Monday, so you can begin your week with a little light and a lot of hope.

For more stories, reflections, and ways to connect, visit www.DanielleElliottSmith.com or follow along on Instagram @daniellesmithtv and @HopeComestoVisit



Jenny Hoffman:

I kept saying it really hurt. Well, this went on for two hours and at the end of two, hours.

Jenny Hoffman:

No one is paying attention to you saying I am in excruciating pain.

Jenny Hoffman:

Well, you know, people would come over. There were multiple nurses in the room and, like I said, they were, all you know, absorbed with this big baby. And occasionally a nurse would come over when I would say something and they'd just be like, in fact, I was offered a Motrin, so here have a Motrin.

Jenny Hoffman:

And I was like, yeah, Motrin is not this is not the level of pain I'm talking about

Danielle Smith:

When we speak the truth of what we lived we offer others a way through. This is Hope Comes to Visit, and I'm Danielle Elliott Smith. Today's guest is Jenny Hoffman. She's the founder of Story of Strength, inspiring a movement to normalize conversations and advocate for better maternal health, especially around preventable complications.

Danielle Smith:

Jenny, thank you so much for being here. I am so looking forward to having this conversation. When I first heard about the work you are doing, I was mesmerized by the overlap in my personal experience, and I'm in love with the work you are doing because I think it is so important that we share these stories. So thank you for being here.

Jenny Hoffman:

So excited to be here. Thank you so much for having me.

Danielle Smith:

Oh. So let's dive right in. Let's talk about the website that you have and the work that you are doing and how it came to be. So let's talk about you. So let's share your experience. What drove you to start this work?

Jenny Hoffman:

So what drove me to start my work was actually my own personal experience. So warning in case this is triggering for anyone I experienced postpartum complications. So when I was having my first daughter, I had a low risk pregnancy, no risk factors at all, and my labor was long, but everything went smoothly. And then, after I delivered, I started experiencing pain worse than I had ever felt when I was laboring and I was trying to describe it. I can give you my background as well, but my job was working with some of the world's leading physicians to develop new medical devices, so I was comfortable talking to physicians and being in operating rooms and I was trying to describe that my pain was 10 times worse than I had ever experienced and 10 times worse than in labor. And you know the reaction I got was like, yes, you just had a baby and you're a new mom, so if there's pain and I was like, no, this is 10 times worse, and I kept trying to just surface this pain.

Danielle Smith:

And what point were you having this? Was this right after birth, or like you were?

Jenny Hoffman:

This was right after birth, probably like just a few minutes had passed. I saw the baby. She was big 8 pounds, 15 ounces, and we were at high altitude. So all the nurses were around her and my husband was around her like so excited by such a big baby. Okay, within a few minutes, you know, they come to try to press on your, your uterus, to get it to start decreasing in size. And I couldn't even stand that. I couldn't stand any pressure on my belly at all, and that's when you know I kept saying it really hurt.

Jenny Hoffman:

Well, this went on for two hours and at the end of two hours I was paying attention to you saying I am in excruciating pain, but you know, people would come over.

Jenny Hoffman:

There were multiple nurses in the room and, like I said, they were, all you know, absorbed with this big baby. And occasionally a nurse would come over when I would say something and they'd just be like, in fact, I was offered a Motrin, so here have a Motrin. And I was like, yeah, Motrin is not.

Danielle Smith:

This is not the level of pain I'm talking about. I'm laughing I not laughing because it's funny, but laughing at the audacity of having a Mortin and you just had a baby. And it's like here's a Tylenol for for your, your broken femur, right, I mean?

Jenny Hoffman:

It's exactly like that. That's such a good way to describe it. So after two hours I let out a scream. I felt like it was the end of what I could do. It was like my final reach, and it sounded.

Jenny Hoffman:

People described it in the room as like an animal being mauled to death and I felt like I wasn't going to be there to take care of my daughter, and so I asked my husband for my phone so I could call my mom. My mom was not in the delivery room with me and I called her and I couldn't even speak. I just had this screen. And she asked him is that Jenny? And he was like yes, it is. And she was like I'll be there as soon as I can. Luckily, she had already traveled to my house, which is 17 minutes from the hospital. So I knew this was four in the morning now, so I knew I had to make it 17 minutes and I could see the clock on the wall and I am now just trying to make it 17 minutes for my mom to get there. And I knew when she came in the room I can tell you about my mom as well, but she is a powerhouse and so she came in and she was like you got the doctor Now, you need to go get help now, like this means she just made it happen.

Jenny Hoffman:

So the doctor came back. She had gone home, she came back and as soon as she came in they realized that I had been bleeding the whole time, but I had been bleeding internally, so it was all pulling inside, and that's why there hadn't been external signs or external visible signs, and so it became an emergency situation right away. So they were doing the procedure. We couldn't get into an operating room, we couldn't get any anesthesia then, and they were just pulling out blood and clots and trying to get the bleeding to stop, and I just remember that being the most painful experience I've ever had.

Danielle Smith:

See what's extraordinary to me is so I shared with you a little bit of my experience before we went on air, and what you're describing is the is exactly exactly what happened to me, but it's, it's so.

Danielle Smith:

I hemorrhaged right after, but they spent a lot of time trying to stop my bleeding. Like I lost 60% of blood in the in in delivery and it took her a very long time to stop the bleeding. I mean, it was I at the point and I couldn't feel anything at that moment because I'd had the epidural and they'd actually had to turn my epidural off because they recognized it was working quote unquote too well. I had zero feeling whatsoever. My hip almost fell out of socket when they went to check me because it had gone too well. They punctured my spinal fluid area and so they turned everything off. But I couldn't feel anything and I was watching her and I'm like is your entire fist? And she said honey, I am working so hard on you right now because she was massaging my uterus to get the bleeding to stop and I wasn't even allowed to touch Delaney.

Danielle Smith:

Initially, one of the intern nurses tried to bring Delaney over to me, my daughter, and the doctor looked at her and said, not right now, like through clenched teeth, because they didn't want her anywhere near me, because she was trying to get the bleeding stopped. Well, eventually they did. They packed me and then I experienced that same level of pain and I kept saying there is something wrong and they kept saying, no, it's fine, it's just because you're packed because of the bleeding, because of the hemorrhaging. But I was bleeding internally the same way, and so when you, when we had first communicated about you hemorrhaging I was imagining your hemorrhaging was immediately after the same way mine was, and that they stopped the bleeding I didn't equate it to the internal.

Jenny Hoffman:

That's the pain that I experienced, I mean I have chills, because that was exactly the internal piece that isn't visible, that no one believes.

Jenny Hoffman:

I can't believe how similar our stories are as well, but actually I guess I learned that as I started sharing my story. I wish we were the only two who had this story, and yet I found we're not.

Danielle Smith:

That's so to this point. So this is why I love that you're another reason that I love that you're doing this. Up until now, I hadn't encountered anyone else who had had type chills again. This piece, this where I had to fight to say no, I swear, no, I swear, I have a high pain tolerance, there is something wrong. And my husband kept walking out and saying, no, really there's something wrong. And his family came in and I was white as a ghost and so they came in and I couldn't have people in and they left. And his mom later was very upset that we said no, go ahead and go home, because she could tell something was wrong but didn't know what. And it was only because I finally begged them to check that one of the nurses could see that the internal hematoma was pushing its way out that they ended up calling all the doctors back in and then I was brought into emergency surgery. It was because the internal bleeding was becoming externally visible that they were able to see that there was a issue.

Jenny Hoffman:

Isn't that so symbolic when we're experiencing internal complications and then have to advocate for ourselves so that others can see it? And when I wasn't strong enough, then I had to call my mom, who can be my strength for me, and you know my story continued that, actually. So we stopped the bleeding enough, but I continued to bleed and had to go back for a DNC at 10 weeks postpartum there was no placenta remaining, even though we had done the bedside procedure.

Jenny Hoffman:

So it continued for quite some time. So in the hospital the first time I lost 2.2 liters of blood. I was given three units of blood then to help me and I just still felt so weak, so much pain Again, that feeling of I knew something was wrong. Felt so weak, so much pain again, that feeling of I knew something was wrong. So even at my six week postpartum visit, I had to advocate for myself and I had to, you know, really demand an ultrasound. And as soon as the ultrasound turned on, I knew, you know, you could see it on the technician's face that there was something wrong and I knew that I was going to have to go to surgery again.

Danielle Smith:

So what would you say to people about advocating for themselves? Because, it's interesting, my ex, my husband at the time, now my ex-husband still a very good friend of mine he said to me the next day because he has always, he had always operated as doctors know best. Yes, the next day he looked at me and said I will never again doubt you. I will never again doubt when you say we have to advocate for ourselves because, because they ended up taking me into emergency surgery, they did it when he had gone downstairs into the chapel to pray, because he had just reached up Like I don't know what else to do, nobody's listening.

Danielle Smith:

And when he came back, the doctor was coming out of surgery and she just walked up to hug him. He thought I died and she walked up to hug him because she was just so relieved that I was okay, that everything had gone fine. But he said to me I'll never again doubt you. Like, if we have to advocate for ourselves, we have to advocate for ourselves. If we know something is wrong, I'm going to trust you, I'm going to trust myself, I'm going to trust our kids when they know something is wrong. What do you say to people to get them to believe themselves and how to push.

Jenny Hoffman:

It's such a good question because I really took this experience as what do I learn about myself and how can I then help others based on this experience, because I don't want it to be needless suffering. And one of the things that I learned about myself was one that I'm stronger than I ever knew. And two, that I could live with less fear. I had been through the near death experience. So all those things that we're afraid to do, forget that fear, just try it. But three is to really listen to my gut, because I was right, I knew something and I've had those types of experience whether it's in a professional life or a personal experience where you have a gut feeling and sometimes you don't always listen to it.

Jenny Hoffman:

And my learning in this was you know I never I don't blame a physician or a particular hospital or anything. I think this is a challenge of the system and as a system, we need to figure out how to improve women's health. Challenge of the system and as a system, we need to figure out how to improve women's health. And so to me, it's been how do we empower women to believe in yourself and trust your gut, because you know yourself more than anyone else is going to know you and you're often right, you're almost. You know you're right far more than you're ever wrong, and there's far little risk in being wrong there. So you might as well advocate for yourself and trust in yourself, and that gave me this strength and courage. That is a force.

Danielle Smith:

That is. I love that so much because I think that we regularly doubt ourselves right, and the pushback that we get. If you think about just our two experiences, right, you're offered a Motrin. They said to me well hon, you're at seizure level for morphine. We can't give you any more. There's enough morphine in your system to knock out a 350 pound football player. We can't give you any more. And I said I don't want any more because there was something in me that knew if I went to sleep I wasn't going to be okay. Had I gone to sleep I wouldn't have been okay. I needed to stay awake to keep getting someone to pay attention. And it's crazy, right?

Danielle Smith:

Because if I'd gone to sleep I would have died in my sleep, right, I got chills again and then you know yourself and my daughter would have been without a mother.

Jenny Hoffman:

Right, it's like this. This internal clock in you is saying keep fighting. That's what it was. Keep fighting. And so I did.

Danielle Smith:

And, like you, I don't blame anyone, because everyone is going based on what they know. I can remember a doctor friend of mine telling me at one point she was an OB or is an OB, and she said, before I was pregnant myself, I was going based on what I learned in school, in books, and then, once I was pregnant, I realized there was a piece of me that had been lying to my patients because they would say they were experiencing X, y, z. And I would say, oh no, no, no, no, you're not. And it wasn't until I was pregnant that I thought, oh my gosh, they actually do feel this way. And then I think about all of the male doctors over the years that must have said oh no, you don't, because they were treating bladder infections and and menopause and menstrual cycles and childbirth and there's no actual experience, right. And what you are giving voice to with the work you're doing is saying I see you, I hear you, it's valid, keep fighting. What have you learned through putting these stories together and giving voice to these experiences.

Jenny Hoffman:

The first thing that I'd say is you matter, and that's the broader you as well as you individually. You matter and your story matters, and I learned that because I started actually just sharing my story with my coworkers because I was diagnosed with PTSD from the experience, and so I would get triggered if I felt like I was not heard, and so I wanted people around me to understand when I might have a reaction and why that was, and that was very vulnerable for me to start sharing. But when I started sharing my story, then other women started opening up and being like oh, I actually experienced something similar and I experienced this complication and maybe it was different, but it was another complication and I realized that there were so many stories like ours and we have a louder voice together, a stronger voice together, and we have a louder voice together, a stronger voice together. We can amplify our voices together. So the first thing that I learned. So I then read this article that maybe some of you have read it about the McKinsey Health Institute created a blueprint on the gap in women's health and, amongst many things, it's a wonderful read, but one of the things they highlight is data being a critical gap to improving women's health, that we don't have the data to really understand what is the true incidence and impact.

Jenny Hoffman:

Well, my PhD is in bioengineering and I wrote peer-reviewed journal articles and have done engineering and science research before, and so I was like that's a gap we can address. If data is the gap, I'll start there, because if data is what's required to drive awareness so that there's then future investment and innovation, let's start getting the data. And so I started reaching out to others to collect their stories, and the first thing I saw in these stories is that there were a lot of themes that were very similar. Number one the percentage of postpartum hemorrhage. It still is the leading cause of maternal mortality throughout the world and it's a highly a lot of these complications are preventable or at least don't have to get as serious as they often get, like in our stories, and I found that the trauma people experienced was lingering, like mine was, and that helped me realize that I was not alone and I could relate to other people too, and in destigmatizing telling the story, it just made such a difference in the recovery for each of us.

Danielle Smith:

I love that. So it's storytelling is heart work for me, right? That's the genesis of this podcast, right? I find that the most powerful thing that we can, that someone can hear, is things they already know. Basically, it's my story coming out of your mouth, right, it's being able to hear you tell a story and I get to hear and think, wow, I'm not alone. Right, I thought this was a Danielle thing and it's a universal thing. It's something that someone else is experiencing and therefore, I'm not alone. And that is my hope with the podcast.

Danielle Smith:

Right, that each episode we share each, each person I get the privilege of interviewing is sharing an experience that meets someone somewhere where they are and they can turn around and say, oh my gosh, I know someone else who needs to hear this.

Danielle Smith:

I know someone who had this experience. Or there will be someone who has an experience similar to yours and they had no idea that it was causing them PTSD, and they'll hear that and a light bulb will go off and they'll think, wow, okay, no wonder I feel that way, no wonder I feel really triggered when I recognize that people aren't hearing me. It goes back to that experience in the hospital when I had my daughter six years ago, 10 years ago, 14 years ago, right that these stories are aha moments for people that make them feel seen and heard in a way that they weren't feeling before, which is very similar to the reason that you're doing the work you're doing right, and that's the power of storytelling. It's the power of being vulnerable and collecting the stories and sharing them right.

Danielle Smith:

So when you started to collect this data, what are you doing with the data? Who are you passing it on to to hopefully create the change that you know needs to be created?

Jenny Hoffman:

First, I want to say that the way you described hoping that somebody hears that they have a similar story and they are not alone that's the whole reason I do this work. It's been nine years since my daughter was born, so it's taken me those years to get to a place where I could share this story without being as triggered. And when I started analyzing the stories, I actually called my coworker at one point and was like I don't think I can do it. I don't think I can do it because it's so hard to relive these experiences. And so she was like you know, take a moment, don't try to get through too much in a day and you can do this. And I realized I really could. I could, I had that strength again and I could learn to live with empathy and my heart on my sleeve as well.

Danielle Smith:

And well, you very much can and very clearly do and I think what you're doing is powerful and, like I said, being able to, to share that story.

Danielle Smith:

And even when you said, like I find that, as I'm interviewing people and my hope that that this meets someone else, I recognize that each time I'm talking to somebody I've met, I'm learning something. I'm feeling a bit of what I hope someone else will feel. And when you said that the PTSD piece, like the being triggered when you're not hurt, I thought, oh, that's where it comes from, you know, and that's, those are the, those are the pieces that I hope other people feel Right and and that it's, it's validating for me all over again, each and every time, and I and I recognize that every time I get those little moments of chills, I okay, there it is, like, this is, this is what I'm doing, this for I want people to feel seen and heard. And it's because people like you are doing that work that they are out there being vulnerable and saying I was terrified and this was hard and I didn't think I could do the hard things. And guess what? I can't.

Jenny Hoffman:

Exactly so. With the data. We have about 200 stories and I was actually my call just before this was working with a data scientist on analyzing the data that we have. We've just done the first analysis of the first 100 stories. So we've looked at things like what are some of those early signs that women get? What could we help the healthcare system be aware of and maybe pay more attention to system, be aware of and maybe pay more attention to what were some of the long-term effects that then could drive future innovation?

Jenny Hoffman:

So the stories I got were not only postpartum hemorrhage. The other leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality is also preeclampsia. So there are certainly plenty of stories about preeclampsia as well. So first I analyzed all the stories together and found some common themes. Secondly, I then did a sub analysis on each of those patient populations and we're finding fascinating things.

Jenny Hoffman:

So, for example, trauma is a common experience across both. I also would say change in birth plan. You know so much. So many of us are taught to create a birth plan, and then people said I had to throw my birth plan out the window and I had to do that as well, and so knowing that ahead of time is really useful if that might happen.

Jenny Hoffman:

But the third piece then, I think, is really realizing that the trauma actually was a larger percentage of the postpartum hemorrhage stories than the overall population and was actually a much smaller percentage for the preeclampsia patient. Well, that gives us some interesting information, because that actually tells us that diagnosing some of these postpartum hemorrhage cases right away is what's critical when seconds matter. So knowing that you should advocate for yourself right when you get that feeling of something being wrong is actually critical and don't stop, don't give up. And then a way we can bring in technology and education, so education for all of the healthcare providers in the room to know that when a patient says they're feeling something's wrong, even if it's maybe it's a headache or maybe it's pain, and pain and headache might be things that you experience naturally in childbirth, but also they might be signaling a bigger problem. So it's worth investigating those right away.

Danielle Smith:

Those are some of the insights we're getting the heart centered side of of all of this storytelling. You are using your brilliance In addition to the storytelling. You have decided that you would like to really affect change on top of making people feel seen and heard, and I love that so much. There is this piece of you that said I want people to feel seen and heard, but I also think the system is broken and I don't like how I felt and how I was treated and what went wrong, and I know that it's happening to other people. How can I change that? And you're finding a way and that is extraordinary.

Jenny Hoffman:

That's it Exactly. Whatever voice I have, whatever voices I can amplify, let's use those to make the future better, because most of these experiences could be prevented for future women, and no one should have to go through an experience like the two of us have and many others have as well, and so my goal is to use this data to influence policymakers. There's groups like Women Health Advocates that I'm part of, and there's also innovation that could be inspired too, so I work a lot in early stage medical devices. So, venture capitalists, I want you to know that there's a real mean here. There's a real opportunity Put investment into these spaces.

Danielle Smith:

So OK, on that end. How can the collective we support what you're doing? Do you need additional stories? Are you eventually looking for venture capital? Are you looking for venture capital now? Are you? what do you need?

Jenny Hoffman:

Thank you for asking that. First of all, I am always looking for new stories because I believe that the more data we have, the more powerful it is and we get more insights. So, always looking for more stories, you can go to the website wwwstoryofstrengthcom and you can put your story in there.

Danielle Smith:

Before you go to the second, are you looking for any experiences? Any stories regarding maternal health, maternal experiences, maternal complications?

Jenny Hoffman:

that's right. Any any maternal experience that you had that didn't go as you expected and plan Perfect Okay, and you can insert your story online and we'll make sure that it's included and analyzed and used to make a difference.

Danielle Smith:

Amazing, okay.

Jenny Hoffman:

My goal is that that not only sharing that story is part of your healing journey, but also then part of a system healing journey too.

Danielle Smith:

Okay, and is there any level of anonymity to it, if somebody wanted that, or is there? Where does it go? Where does the story go?

Jenny Hoffman:

Thank you for asking that. I've committed that everything is anonymous, so everything is de-identified information. Your name is never included. We analyze the information, but there is no identifying information at all in that.

Danielle Smith:

Is there anything that would allow some type of support? If somebody is looking for some level of recognition, community support, so healing?

Jenny Hoffman:

That's a great question.

Jenny Hoffman:

We have social media channels Facebook, instagram, linkedin, story of Strength and there are communities to find there. There's also resources that we've put. In fact, there was a post last week where we put resources. If you're looking for specific, there's a postpartum hemorrhage support group on Facebook and I found it incredibly useful. So there are definitely some of those communities if you're looking for them, and we've put some of those resources up as well

Danielle Smith:

We'll be sharing all of those in the show notes as well.

Danielle Smith:

Okay, so now to the next question. What else can we do to support you moving forward with the data collection that could affect change?

Jenny Hoffman:

The next thing I am looking for is investment, and that investment will fuel gathering even more stories as well as designing a future study. So collecting the stories is qualitative data, and that's an amazing step we've taken. There's opportunity in the future to move toward interviews as well, so that we can probe deeper on some of these specific experiences too. So this is just the beginning.

Danielle Smith:

I am so excited for you. I'm excited that you are using all of the tools at your disposal to affect this level of change. I think that you are uniquely equipped to do this level of work. How would somebody reach out to you if they were interested in getting involved on that level?

Jenny Hoffman:

You can contact me via the website as well, and I am sure that via this podcast, there's ways to get in touch too. So yeah, reach out. I'd love to be in touch with others to experience stories that are relevant and also want to be part of the movement, because really, this is inspiring a movement.

Danielle Smith:

Jenny, how do you define hope.

Jenny Hoffman:

What a great question. A belief that there's something greater coming.

Danielle Smith:

I like that. I like that A lot of times when I ask people that question that the answer is very broad and flowy and you're very succinct. What have you learned about yourself in this process, in creating Story of Strength?

Jenny Hoffman:

The first is that I learned I could. It was an idea and, as you said, I had a unique approach that it's not just collecting the stories but also using my education and experience to analyze them. And I did and I could, and I guess that goes back to the confidence case that we talked about. I did and I could, and I guess that goes back to the confidence piece that we talked about believing in myself, and I hope everyone listening can take that and believe in themselves too. And I mentioned. The second was that I'm stronger than I ever knew and that carries me through all the time, because it might sound like I then have confidence and no fear, and the reality is that's just not the case. I was telling my husband yesterday about how I'm writing up a blog post on imposter syndrome, because imposter syndrome struck me again and it'll keep striking. So I think that I have to keep relearning that I'm stronger than I know and keep remembering the confidence that I've learned stronger than I know, and keep remembering the confidence that I've learned.

Danielle Smith:

I feel like you and I are the same person. What does your daughter think about this work you are doing and this work that was ultimately inspired by her birth experience?

Jenny Hoffman:

First. My daughters are seven and nine, so I do want to inspire hope as well by saying that I did go on to have a second pregnancy and I made sure that for the second pregnancy everyone knew my history and we were prepared should any complications arise. They did not arise in the same way. The only problem I had was my second child was sunny side up and so that was a little bit harder to push, but other than that, all smooth. So it is possible. I get that question a lot. Is it possible to have another? I went to a different physician. I went to a high-risk hospital. I made sure all the experts were ready and, yes, it's possible.

Jenny Hoffman:

So my children know that mommy's very passionate about my work. I really like to support others and they'll even sometimes I'm at my home office right now. They'll even sometimes come in the background and see what I'm doing, and I think they're still learning exactly especially my older daughter, evelyn what that means around the unique circumstances of her birth. I don't think she fully understands that yet, the movement that she's inspired, and I hope she continues to understand that as she grows up. Right now I think she knows that mommy connects with lots of people and likes to make a difference. And that comes even when we're at the dinner table and all talking about what we've done that day, and I hope she'll live with that passion in her life as well.

Danielle Smith:

I love that. You know it's funny. I was asked the same question because I also went on to have a second. But I came out of surgery and as I was waking up from surgery, my husband was on the phone with my best friend going. She's a trooper and, yeah, you know, she doesn't want to have a second. We don't have to have a second like that was. That was enough, and I didn't go on to have a second. I did use the same doctor and she, uh she said to me we're going to induce you so that I can be 100% in control of everything and so that I can be prepared. Um, she didn't say to me at the time. I think I mentioned to you. Had I known you were a red, like a real redhead, I might've expected it, because redheads tend to bleed and have additional complications. Um, but I legitimately my delivery with my son was so easy. I pushed one time and she made me laugh and he came out and she just put him right on my stomach. So we joke about how he was laughed into the world. So I, after I had him, I thought well, this is why people have multiple children, because if this is how it is for other people, then this is why had I had him first then. But yeah, I mean it's. There are, thank goodness, many non-complicated births, and I'm really grateful for the work you do that shares the stories and collects the data for the ones that are not, so that we can, as a society, do the work to bring us even further down the road of creating an even safer maternal health environment. So is there anything I did not ask you that you would like to share with everyone?

Jenny Hoffman:

The last thing I want to share is I also realized that obviously I have a passion for women's health and improving women's health outcomes, but I realized that these stories didn't have to be specific to women's health, that they could. Realized that these stories didn't have to be specific to women's health, that they could actually be any challenge that people went through and found their inner strength and their authenticity, and so I actually wrote up this experience and the method I have of open leadership, using curiosity, empathy and connection, and wrote that into a book and it'll be coming out this October. So the book is called Open Up, so check that out in October.

Danielle Smith:

Oh, I love that. Well, what I would love for you to do is make sure that you share that with me so that I can update show notes, so that, as people continue to listen to episodes of the podcast, that that will be in show notes and I would be happy to share that when it comes out too. So, congratulations on the book. That is very exciting. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for being here and for sharing your light and your experience and your story of strength.

Jenny Hoffman:

I really appreciate it and I hope everyone knows that they're not alone and your story matters.

Danielle Smith:

Thank you so much for being here, jenny.

Jenny Hoffman:

I really appreciate it, and I hope everyone knows that they're not alone and your story matters.

Danielle Smith:

Thank you so much for being here, Jenny.

Jenny Hoffman:

I really appreciate it.

Danielle Smith:

nd thank you, friends, for spending this time with us, for allowing us to bring some hope to visit for you. If you have found this episode inspiring and we have met you where you are I hope that you will turn around and share it with the people that you know would love, and that you will turn around and share it with the people that you know and love, and that you will come back and join us again on future episodes. Between now and then, do take care of yourself, and thank you for being here with us

Danielle Smith:

.

Danielle Smith:

Advertisement - Naturally, it's important to thank the people who support and sponsor the podcast. This episode is supported by Chris Dulley, a trusted criminal defense attorney and friend of mine here in St Louis, who believes in second chances and solid representation. Whether you're facing a DWI, felony or traffic issue, chris handles your case personally with clarity, compassion and over 15 years of experience. When things feel uncertain, it helps to have someone steady in your corner. Call 314-384-4000 or 314-DUI-HELP, or you can visit dullylawfirmcom to schedule your free consultation.