Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to this very special episode of Outspoken Amy.
Speaker 1: We have you back on the podcast to share your
Speaker 1: birth story. It's been a month since you gave birth
Speaker 1: to your little boy, Harry. Oh, it's so exciting to
Speaker 1: be back. I don't know if you guys are happy
Speaker 1: to have me back. We needed a mediator because Sophie
Speaker 1: I just recorded Friday's episode before. I'm a bit sick
Speaker 1: of each other, so it was nice to get a
Speaker 1: change of scenery and come and record this with you.
Speaker 1: Does it feel like any time has passed because sitting here,
Speaker 1: I mean, because Harry's out the house, your husband and
Speaker 1: mother in law, I've taken him out for a ward.
Speaker 1: It almost feels like nothing has happened, but so much
Speaker 1: has happened at the same time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is weird.
Speaker 1: I mean, as I said, I'm so happy to be back,
Speaker 1: and I'm really excited to talk through the birth story
Speaker 1: because I've been telling anybody that's willing to listen about
Speaker 1: it because it is such a huge thing in your life,
Speaker 1: and I know so for you've been getting a bit
Speaker 1: scared of me filling you in on some of the
Speaker 1: details because it's not long before you're set to give birth. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I've been finding a bit triggering because you have been
Speaker 1: going into immense detail, but some people like all the
Speaker 1: gory details. Yeah. Amy was just showing us some snaps
Speaker 1: of her getting willed into the theater because you had
Speaker 1: a cesarean. Yeah. Well, I was saying to you, guys,
Speaker 1: isn't it funny how your partners they never really film
Speaker 1: any content of you. There's a huge joke going around
Speaker 1: on TikTok and Instagram, how always the wife takes his
Speaker 1: beautiful photos of the husband and the baby and you
Speaker 1: get these shit photos.
Speaker 2: Or day none, yeah or none.
Speaker 1: Well, Dale decided to film me going into surgery, which
Speaker 1: is probably not vision I'm going to share because once
Speaker 1: I look absolutely horrendous.
Speaker 2: I have a handnet on.
Speaker 1: No one looks good in the hairnett No. But it's
Speaker 1: also sort of mortifying because you know what's about to happen,
Speaker 1: But very cute that he decided to film that. Actually,
Speaker 1: what I enjoyed about the vision is I can tell,
Speaker 1: knowing you so well, that you're trying to look cool
Speaker 1: about the situation whilst freaking out inside. It's a really
Speaker 1: weird thing to be wheeled into a surgery when you
Speaker 1: can just walk yourself. Well, the thing I found so
Speaker 1: weird about the whole process was a lot of people
Speaker 1: have asked, oh, why were you booked in for a
Speaker 1: C section? And did you elect to have it? I
Speaker 1: did initially to have a C section, and you get
Speaker 1: asked so many times by the midwives, oh why did
Speaker 1: you decide to do that? And the reason I decided
Speaker 1: to do it was one Kate had such a great
Speaker 1: experience having a C section, and for me, I need
Speaker 1: to know when things are happening. And the part of
Speaker 1: the c section that I liked is the fact that
Speaker 1: you can schedule it in, you can really mentally prepare
Speaker 1: for it. Also, I had a large fibroid and as
Speaker 1: the midwife appointments went on, a lot of the midwife said, actually,
Speaker 1: it's really good that you have booked into get a
Speaker 1: C section because the fibroid was quite large. It was
Speaker 1: actually in the incision area. There were concerns that maybe
Speaker 1: if I had had a vaginal birth, that it might
Speaker 1: have blocked the birth canal as well. This is the
Speaker 1: thing that scares me because I hear a lot of
Speaker 1: people talking about how they were kind of pressured in
Speaker 1: to have a vaginal birth and then they've gone on
Speaker 1: to have a emergency C section, and then the doctor goes, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: we thought that might happen, but we wanted to give
Speaker 1: you a go, And I'm like, what. I think there's
Speaker 1: a lot of judgment when someone says that they want
Speaker 1: an elective C section, and I'm kind of used why
Speaker 1: both processes are incredibly difficult and Tafa, I wouldn't say
Speaker 1: that one is easier over the other. And at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, you know your body best, you
Speaker 1: know your mental health best, you know what's going to
Speaker 1: work for you. And I think because all three of
Speaker 1: us have had or having kids so close to each other,
Speaker 1: a lot of people are being like, why are they
Speaker 1: all doing it? Like it's just because one of them's
Speaker 1: doing it, so they all have to do it. We're
Speaker 1: not like that at all. If anything, I felt the
Speaker 1: pressure of, oh God, maybe I should have a vaginal
Speaker 1: birth just to shake it up a bit. I think
Speaker 1: some of the judgment comes around the recovery from a
Speaker 1: C section, and people think, oh, these women are just
Speaker 1: going into it blindly and they don't understand that you know,
Speaker 1: for the next six weeks you have to actually go
Speaker 1: through that recovery process. I mean, I can't drive for
Speaker 1: another two weeks. I need to remind you to slow down, though,
Speaker 1: because the other day you had us over for dinner
Speaker 1: and you were like mopping the floor on the ground
Speaker 1: with a piece of paper towel. You went for a
Speaker 1: five k walk a week after. These are things you
Speaker 1: should not be doing because you need to let your
Speaker 1: body hear. I actually think the judgment comes from people
Speaker 1: assuming that getting a C section a bit of a
Speaker 1: copper and it's the easy way out and you're not
Speaker 1: having to go through, you know, an intense labor. But
Speaker 1: after hearing both of your experiences, it's definitely not an
Speaker 1: easy process, and I don't think anyone should go into
Speaker 1: it blindly. I think everyone should do their own research
Speaker 1: and work out what is best for them. I remember
Speaker 1: watching Sarah's Day's birth blog where she documented her vaginal deliveries,
Speaker 1: and that was what sealed the deal for me. I
Speaker 1: definitely booked that as aesari and I cannot go through
Speaker 1: that hat so off to women that can. Again, though,
Speaker 1: as you've all said, the cesarian is not an easy process.
Speaker 1: Well just what one suits you. Let's get into the
Speaker 1: day itself. Maybe started off by telling us how many
Speaker 1: weeks you ended up actually getting to and how you
Speaker 1: felt the morning of Yeah, so I was thirty nine
Speaker 1: weeks and one day pregnant when I delivered Harry, and
Speaker 1: it was quite a surreal morning.
Speaker 2: So we were booked in.
Speaker 1: So we were told to arrive at ten am, and
Speaker 1: Kate had been told to arrive at the same time
Speaker 1: when she gave birth to Jack, but she ended up
Speaker 1: sitting around until five pm. Well I had him at
Speaker 1: five yeah, yeah, yeah, So it was quite a long day.
Speaker 1: So we packed everything. We had Dale's switch, we had books.
Speaker 1: We looked like we were going to stay at the
Speaker 1: hospital for two weeks. You had so much food. I
Speaker 1: didn't understand. You had bags and bags and bags of Woolies,
Speaker 1: hot Cross buns or things that you would never eat
Speaker 1: because I told Dale to go get the snacks, and
Speaker 1: I think you didn't know specifically what I wanted. So
Speaker 1: he came home with every kind of chocolate.
Speaker 2: It was. It was great.
Speaker 1: We didn't really end up eating much of it. But
Speaker 1: on the morning I got a call at around eight
Speaker 1: o'clock and it was the hospital saying, actually you were
Speaker 1: going to go in second but for some reason, I
Speaker 1: don't know the person who was going in. First, they're
Speaker 1: not coming before. I don't know what happened. Second, they're like,
Speaker 1: can you get there a little bit earlier? So I said, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: we can. So anyway, we didn't get there earlier. We
Speaker 1: got there at the ten am time slot. I think
Speaker 1: you need to tell the listeners what Dale was doing,
Speaker 1: because there's that trend at the moment where people share
Speaker 1: what their husband does before guests arrive at the house,
Speaker 1: and I think Dale, you know, normally Dale does something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, in the past.
Speaker 1: For an example, we had some of Dale's friends coming
Speaker 1: over and the house was an absolute bomb. While I
Speaker 1: was inside cleaning the house, he decided to spray paint
Speaker 1: the shed or spray you know what I mean, like
Speaker 1: with one of those spray guns. Well, this is a
Speaker 1: whole new category stupid things that you haven't has done
Speaker 1: right before you've given a death. So I was telling davee,
Speaker 1: oh my god, we better hurry up, like we want
Speaker 1: that first time slot.
Speaker 2: Let's get this going.
Speaker 1: And Dale hadn't packed the car, so I assumed he
Speaker 1: was packing the car, but he had been outside cleaning
Speaker 1: under our car port. So our loungry and we've got
Speaker 1: a window and it looks out into the car port.
Speaker 1: And he had said that he couldn't have relaxed during
Speaker 1: the maternity leave if the if it had been dirty,
Speaker 1: so he left it to the day of the birth.
Speaker 1: Let's just put it into perspective. You have this date
Speaker 1: for six weeks now, you've known when it's happening. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so maybe it's nesting. That's his type of nesting. Well,
Speaker 1: because he'd been up so early and I was like, Dan,
Speaker 1: what the hell have you been doing? Nothing's packed. And
Speaker 1: then he insisted that we stop so he could get
Speaker 1: breakfast at McDonald's on the way, and I said, Dale,
Speaker 1: we're not missing this time slot, particularly because you have
Speaker 1: been fasting. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So we arrived at the hospital.
Speaker 1: I luckily Dale listened to me, and we didn't go
Speaker 1: past matt Donald's because it wasn't even on the way,
Speaker 1: because I thought you initially said that you guys were
Speaker 1: on time, because I thought that there was a bit
Speaker 1: of an attitude from some of the staff being like,
Speaker 1: where have you guys been? Oh?
Speaker 2: Well, So basically what.
Speaker 1: Happens is you arrive and you have to sort of
Speaker 1: check in as a patient. So while I was doing
Speaker 1: all the paperwork, Dale went off and there was a
Speaker 1: nearby cafeteria so in the hospital, so he went, how's
Speaker 1: this combination? He went and got a coffee and an
Speaker 1: egg soundwich. I remember this story. I can't remember which
Speaker 1: influencer said it or who said it, but apparently their
Speaker 1: husband ate like sour cream and onion chips, and the
Speaker 1: smell of it on their breath made them want to
Speaker 1: punch their husband out whilst they were in labor. That's
Speaker 1: our favorite chip favorite the more that's good. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: got it side note on Boxing day because it was
Speaker 1: the cheapest packet of chips at the only shop that
Speaker 1: was open. And then we've had a real craving for it.
Speaker 1: It's been my pregnancy craving it. Well, I can't I
Speaker 1: don't remember smelling the egg on Dale's breath, but I
Speaker 1: said to him, that's just a ticking time bomb, like
Speaker 1: having a coffee and an egg sang, especially when you've
Speaker 1: got like public toilets to the Yeah. But the funniest
Speaker 1: thing was, so Dale was off getting his sandwich and
Speaker 1: I give you you little what is it like a bracelet? No,
Speaker 1: like the hospital tag and I ended up putting my
Speaker 1: arm forward as if I was about to be admitted
Speaker 1: into a nightclub getting a stamp, like palm up, yeah,
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh, sorry, that's probably the wrong way.
Speaker 1: I'm acting like I'm going into a nightclub and the
Speaker 1: lady's like, you won't be going to a nightclub for
Speaker 1: a very long time.
Speaker 2: Oh, thank you so much.
Speaker 1: I'm still getting over the fact that Dale went and
Speaker 1: got him sell food because Reese was like, oh, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to eat anything in front of you. I
Speaker 1: feel bad. I said to Dale, look, I would prefer
Speaker 1: you to eat, because Dale can get a bit angry,
Speaker 1: so I said, just go and eat. Well. Every time
Speaker 1: Brandon and I go to the hospital for a midwife's appointment,
Speaker 1: I have to line up while he dashes out to
Speaker 1: get a quick power raid because he is so scared
Speaker 1: of hospitals and he is convinced hill faint during one
Speaker 1: of these appointments. So I'm really even do anything, I said.
Speaker 1: I said, I'm the one that's getting all the needles
Speaker 1: and stuff, and I'm the one that's saving your stomach.
Speaker 1: I don't find the heart right, and then they ask
Speaker 1: you just like can't you just stand with me. You
Speaker 1: know what I mean. Can't you just stick with It's
Speaker 1: funny you say that, because when we were getting ready
Speaker 1: to go into surgery, I could tell that the doctor
Speaker 1: was sort of looking Dale up and down and he
Speaker 1: said to him, Oh, how are you with needles and everything,
Speaker 1: like are you feeling okay? And I was like, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm good. I'm just here to support Amy. I'm fine.
Speaker 1: And they basically said that a lot of husbands actually
Speaker 1: faint during the sea section. I can see why because
Speaker 1: in the lead up to Mother's Day, So I hope
Speaker 1: you haven't seen it. I know exactly what you're talking about,
Speaker 1: photo and video going around of how long the epidural
Speaker 1: needle is and haven't seen that? To keep that in
Speaker 1: mind when you were buying your wife a Mother's Day present,
Speaker 1: is it actually like a real pure I was glad
Speaker 1: I saw this after because I had no idea how
Speaker 1: long the needle. But basically, when you go in, it's funny,
Speaker 1: as you said, Kate, they will you all this way
Speaker 1: through the hospital and then you have to walk into
Speaker 1: the operating theater and sit down on the operating table,
Speaker 1: which is a bit confronting, and that's when they put
Speaker 1: your canula in, and to be honest, that was probably
Speaker 1: the most painful thing. Then they give you a pillow
Speaker 1: and you have to hold onto the pillow and crouch
Speaker 1: over and this is.
Speaker 2: When they're putting in their picture, their perdural and.
Speaker 1: Look, it wasn't It was more so just the thought
Speaker 1: of having a needle in your back, which is the
Speaker 1: most confronting thing.
Speaker 2: It wasn't actually super painful.
Speaker 1: I mean, when you're pregnant, you're prodded with every needle
Speaker 1: in the leader, so you can't still.
Speaker 2: It's the mental thing. Did they talk to you?
Speaker 1: Because my doctor was like chatting to me and no
Speaker 1: one really said to stay still, which freaked me out. Well,
Speaker 1: the weirdest thing was how many people were in the room.
Speaker 1: So there was I think we counted thirteen people and
Speaker 1: it was funny because only a few of them spoke
Speaker 1: to you, So it was like you isaich Dale, it
Speaker 1: was like we were walked into the set of Er.
Speaker 1: There's all these people just walking around. So the doctor said,
Speaker 1: you're gonna be numb from the neck down, so you're
Speaker 1: not obviously going to feel anything, but you are going
Speaker 1: to feel a bit of pressure. So she said Basically,
Speaker 1: it's like your body is a handbag and we're rummaging
Speaker 1: around looking for your key. So that's what it's going
Speaker 1: to feel like. I got to say that was a
Speaker 1: great description because it did feel like that. I don't
Speaker 1: know if I need this level of description. Five weeks out,
Speaker 1: so Sovie's passed out, Brandon's already on the floor. Well,
Speaker 1: when they said that a lot of husband's faint, I
Speaker 1: did instantly think of Brandon. So I think what they
Speaker 1: do is they make sure that the husband is seated
Speaker 1: and away because they don't want them collapsing on some
Speaker 1: of the you know, like the uteniss. I've heard some
Speaker 1: story about how a husband has collapsed and they've ended
Speaker 1: up having to have an operation themselves. So this is
Speaker 1: Brandon's biggest fear. His biggest fear initially was fainting at
Speaker 1: our wedding. A wedding then ended up being forty degrees
Speaker 1: and you know, he gave him a complex. Thankfully, he
Speaker 1: didn't faint. He lasted the whole day. But now he's
Speaker 1: got in his head. Imagine if I faint and take
Speaker 1: away any attention from Sophie and I'm not there, you
Speaker 1: just support her. You need someone on standby in case
Speaker 1: he does. I'm sure he will rise for the occasion.
Speaker 1: I think it's kind of good to know that it
Speaker 1: is confronting before going into it. And it would be
Speaker 1: fascinating if, like Amy or I could go in with you,
Speaker 1: because I wonder if it would trigger any PTSD. I'd
Speaker 1: actually I wish you could have two people or three
Speaker 1: people in because I would like you guys there. Could
Speaker 1: you maybe explain Brandon's issues with hospitals and maybe you
Speaker 1: get like a support person. Yeah, I could just fagine
Speaker 1: Brandon's dad coming in and holding your hand, right, it's
Speaker 1: all right. Well, I did say to Brannon, don't feel
Speaker 1: like you have to cut the umbilical corse because I
Speaker 1: actually personally would that would make me vomit.
Speaker 2: Like that was the funniest thing.
Speaker 1: So as soon as they got Harry out of my stomach,
Speaker 1: they lower the sheet down and you see your baby
Speaker 1: and it's I was just like, oh my god, how
Speaker 1: big is he?
Speaker 2: It's how big is he?
Speaker 1: Joking off Mike, they drop it and then because you
Speaker 1: showed us a photo, it's like a kind of golumn
Speaker 1: figure being like ah screaming, it's beautiful. They are not
Speaker 1: they're so beautiful, but it's so real. Baby thing of
Speaker 1: seeing you know your stomach is there, and knowing that
Speaker 1: this baby was removed. It's like it's wide. It's pressure
Speaker 1: on your stomach because they're like, oh, you might feel something,
Speaker 1: and then you just feel this massive push.
Speaker 2: Yes, you feel the push.
Speaker 1: But the instant relief I felt from having Harry out
Speaker 1: of my stomach, even when you were on the operating taps,
Speaker 1: it was so such a sophie, You're going to feel
Speaker 1: this instant relief. But the crazy thing is, so they
Speaker 1: show him to you and then they have to take
Speaker 1: him away quickly because they had a nurse and doctor
Speaker 1: look over here, and they didn't put him on you straightaway. No,
Speaker 1: so they went over to cut the umbilical cord. So
Speaker 1: it's quite funny because everyone says, once you've had the baby,
Speaker 1: no one cares about the mother. It's sort of everything.
Speaker 1: You know, all you get asked is about the baby.
Speaker 1: And it was like this instant thing where I'm lying
Speaker 1: on this operating table, my arms are spread out. Did
Speaker 1: you have to spread your arms up? Yeah? I had
Speaker 1: like chained down. It was they weren't chained down, but
Speaker 1: I had one because the anethetist or whatever was monitoring
Speaker 1: all my vitals and everything. And then my other arm
Speaker 1: was on the other side because I was holding Dale's hand.
Speaker 2: But Dale vanished because he had to cut the umbilical cord.
Speaker 2: So I kind of was just.
Speaker 1: Looking over and everyone was suddenly over there with Harry.
Speaker 1: And then I thought, because they said they were cutting
Speaker 1: the umbilical cord, I thought, how fucking long is the
Speaker 1: umbilical cord? This is quite far away and no, but
Speaker 1: then you realize they've cut it. It's just for show
Speaker 1: that they let. They cut it further down and they
Speaker 1: give you like this little re said it was like
Speaker 1: a rubbery piece of chicken. We want people to still listen.
Speaker 1: People might be eating their breakfast. It's making me. I think,
Speaker 1: if you're tuning into a birth story, you know it's
Speaker 1: going to be a bit gruesome. What was the moment
Speaker 1: like when you first saw Harry Well, I immediately noticed
Speaker 1: his cute eyebrows, and I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: I just yeah, it's funny, because I thought i'd cry
Speaker 1: or something.
Speaker 2: But because you're so amped up and I don't know,
Speaker 2: is this really weird feeling?
Speaker 1: It was so exciting to see him because you do imagine,
Speaker 1: oh my god, what is this baby going to look like?
Speaker 1: Because we were joking, I think was the day before
Speaker 1: we went to Marrion Chopping Center and we're having coffee
Speaker 1: and there's this one photo of Dale as a baby
Speaker 1: that's been haunting you because it doesn't look like him.
Speaker 1: It looks yeah, it's just it's a very unfa If
Speaker 1: you saw this photo and maybe you have to share it, well,
Speaker 1: and you saw fifty other men and the photo of Dale,
Speaker 1: you would never think that that was a photo of
Speaker 1: him as a baby. It looks like Fortunately, Harry came
Speaker 1: out not looking like that photo. He's absolutely gorgeous, but
Speaker 1: he does look like Dale as in, he looks like
Speaker 1: he think he would look like as a Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but then I also see elements of you as well.
Speaker 1: I think maybe the reason you don't cry in those situations,
Speaker 1: or you didn't cry that situation, is probably because it's
Speaker 1: such a confronting, slush scary situation to be in an
Speaker 1: operating theater, and you're probably just trying not to freak
Speaker 1: out about what's happening. I feel like, yes, once the
Speaker 1: baby's out, you're just like, oh, hang on, I'm actually
Speaker 1: under the knife. Did you get a glimpse of anything
Speaker 1: that was going on? Like I did? Know? Well, what
Speaker 1: was amusing was the anethetist was talking to me the
Speaker 1: whole time. I was talking to him more than Dale
Speaker 1: because they're clearly trying to take your mind off it.
Speaker 1: He was lovely my pistol for ages. I just was like, yep,
Speaker 1: I'm out of here. Maybe if we were the last
Speaker 1: one of the day. Yeah, he was so nice, and
Speaker 1: he was talking about his kids and and you know
Speaker 1: sometimes when it's awkward when you've got really intense eye
Speaker 1: contact with someone and you sort of look around to
Speaker 1: divert the gays. So he was talking to me, and
Speaker 1: then I kind of like looked up, you know, just
Speaker 1: to think of what else I was going to say
Speaker 1: to him. I saw the reflection of my insight, but
Speaker 1: because I didn't have my glasses on, my eyesight's pretty poor,
Speaker 1: so I couldn't really make out what was going on.
Speaker 1: But just look into this guy's eyes. Weren't me joking
Speaker 1: that you were going to come in with a hair on,
Speaker 1: like a baseball cap on and shape, Yeah, I disassociate
Speaker 1: yourself from the room. Well, the funniest thing was when
Speaker 1: I was being wheeled out after being sewed up. I
Speaker 1: was like, oh, thank you everybody, Thanks guys, and I
Speaker 1: don't think people thank everyone normally when they're removed. He's
Speaker 1: very polite. Yeah. Well, someone has asked whether you wore
Speaker 1: makeup or did your hair during the birth, because we
Speaker 1: have had an episode years ago where we spoke about
Speaker 1: Indy Clinton, who got a lot of attention for having
Speaker 1: a fake tan looking great, like looking at maculate. I
Speaker 1: can see why people do that because you feel like
Speaker 1: us as shit, but you can't have this is what
Speaker 1: is bothering me. You can't have a fake tan on
Speaker 1: when you get a society due to infection. So technically,
Speaker 1: when I went to my appointment, I can't remember the
Speaker 1: exact name of it, but it's the appointment.
Speaker 2: You go to. Is it your admissions appointment?
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I went to that and I wasn't told
Speaker 1: that you couldn't wear makeup. You skipped out early, so
Speaker 1: you didn't even get the flas. So I thank you
Speaker 1: purposely because I was told that I was not allowed
Speaker 1: to wear maker, not even a lot of way lotion,
Speaker 1: how to use special soap, all this stuff. So I
Speaker 1: follow slope. I didn't, but I followed all the rules
Speaker 1: and then you were like, oh, no, I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: wear makeup. How does it really affect things? That's what
Speaker 1: I'm sort of questioning. I didn't. I just put on
Speaker 1: a bit of foundation. I didn't put mascara on.
Speaker 2: I just put like water on my eyelight.
Speaker 1: Like I didn't look great, but I just, for some reason,
Speaker 1: I just felt more comfortable with.
Speaker 2: A tiny bit of foundation all over TikTok.
Speaker 1: I see a lot of pregnant women wearing the Heatless curls,
Speaker 1: so they'll go in with their hair all rolled up,
Speaker 1: and then about half an hour before they know they're
Speaker 1: going to give birth, they get their husband to help
Speaker 1: them take it out. But they look really good for
Speaker 1: the I'm so sweaty, like even after the mycees are
Speaker 1: and I was so sweaty, like I'd straighten my hair
Speaker 1: because I was like, well, I've got to do something
Speaker 1: to combat this no makeup, and it was just shit afterwards.
Speaker 1: That's what I don't get how some people look. I mean, sorry,
Speaker 1: this is absolutely fickle, and we're just talking about this
Speaker 1: becau's a bit of a laugh. But I don't know
Speaker 1: how some people look so good in the post birth
Speaker 1: photos at the hospital.
Speaker 2: They didn't even really take a photo of Dale and
Speaker 2: I together.
Speaker 1: Really, we only really got photos of Harry and I
Speaker 1: don't care because I don't even want surprising. I've got
Speaker 1: a great one of me and a hairnet with no
Speaker 1: makeup on that I've never seen. The lot of there
Speaker 1: were generally photos of me looking gross lying there being
Speaker 1: cut open, but there wasn't actually like a shot of
Speaker 1: the three of us. Disappointing. But I was going to say,
Speaker 1: you mentioned Sophie about how fickly it is about makeup
Speaker 1: and whatever, But I mean, as we said, it's what
Speaker 1: makes you feel comfortable.
Speaker 2: But I know a lot of people.
Speaker 1: Say that after you've given birth, you don't give a
Speaker 1: shit about anybody seeing your private parts, and you and
Speaker 1: I totally get that now because throughout the whole experience
Speaker 1: of being pregnant, I didn't have to show anybody in
Speaker 1: my vagina until the day of the birth, and that
Speaker 1: was probably the most traumatic thing. And then your frog
Speaker 1: legging about the whole theater. Yeah, so what happened was
Speaker 1: I got the epidural or the spinal block, and then
Speaker 1: it's so crazy you just instantly feel it sweep throughout
Speaker 1: your body. You just suddenly you have no feeling in
Speaker 1: your legs. And then they go, oh, now we're putting
Speaker 1: in the catheter. And at this stage they had the
Speaker 1: sheet up so I couldn't see what.
Speaker 2: Was going on.
Speaker 1: However, I could still feel that they had just taken
Speaker 1: my gown off, like I could just feel like I
Speaker 1: feel that still, maybe because because you can feel the sensation,
Speaker 1: like you can't take it off. Well, whatever they they
Speaker 1: felt removed, like they'd rolled it up or whatever they
Speaker 1: had done with it. I feel my legs being pushed
Speaker 1: into this position. And then that went on for quite
Speaker 1: a while. Like I'd rather not be told. I'd rather
Speaker 1: just be like unaware. Again, I don't want to hear.
Speaker 1: I just would like to be aware that I'm frog
Speaker 1: leaking in front of all these Dale said, by the
Speaker 1: end of it, like the second day or yeah, it
Speaker 1: was it second or third day we were in hospital.
Speaker 1: When we're about to leave, He's like, you are a
Speaker 1: changed woman. You don't even flinch that the nurses will
Speaker 1: come in. They'll just lift your gown, look at you,
Speaker 1: remove your pad and you don't even care. It's weird.
Speaker 1: That whole pad removal thing. I think it's also because
Speaker 1: you've got your boobs out the second you get into recovery.
Speaker 1: So soph and I were recording a podcast episode when
Speaker 1: you went in to give birth, and it was all
Speaker 1: very rush and then we were like, hang, we haven't
Speaker 1: heard from Amy for hours, and we were so annoyed
Speaker 1: because Dale had your phone and he was being very
Speaker 1: cryptic with information, and we finally got a message saying,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, Mum and bub doing well. And then that
Speaker 1: was kind of it, and we were like, well, when
Speaker 1: are we allowed to go down because you guys camped.
Speaker 2: Out at the hotel.
Speaker 1: But we were all like, oh no, we're not going
Speaker 1: to do that because I think you ended up wasting
Speaker 1: like six hours old. Was horrible. What happened was, and
Speaker 1: I didn't realize this at the time, is they were
Speaker 1: monitoring me because when I came out of surgery and
Speaker 1: I was in recovery. This might be a bit TMI,
Speaker 1: but in my bag, in my catheter, I had a
Speaker 1: bit of blood, so I think they thought they might
Speaker 1: have nicked my bladder, and so I was in recovery
Speaker 1: for probably five hours. So it was something crazy like that.
Speaker 1: So but by the time we got back to the room,
Speaker 1: that's when Dale wanted to tell everyone to come in
Speaker 1: because we felt so bad after going through that process
Speaker 1: that we were there in the waiting room knowing what
Speaker 1: was going on in recovery. I remember like Dad was like, oh,
Speaker 1: have you let them know that we're here? And we're
Speaker 1: sitting in recovery and one of the midwives could hear
Speaker 1: all of this and they're like, Oh, would you like
Speaker 1: us to get your family into recovery? We were like, no, Oh, gosh,
Speaker 1: that would have been awful. There have been some questions
Speaker 1: about what hospital you delivered Harriet. It was Flinda's Medical Center.
Speaker 1: So I went public. I've got private health insurance, but
Speaker 1: I didn't have the complete cover that I needed to
Speaker 1: go private. But even if I did, I still think
Speaker 1: I would have opted to go public. Oh the money
Speaker 1: that you say our public health system, I mean, it
Speaker 1: has its flaws, but in terms of the eternity, Ward
Speaker 1: is absolutely excellent. I have nothing but positive things to
Speaker 1: say about Flinda's Medical Center. The doctors were amazing, The facility,
Speaker 1: like the actual operating theater was incredible. Will you have
Speaker 1: access to a broader range of doctors? As well. That's
Speaker 1: the thing. If anything bad happens when you're in a
Speaker 1: private hospital, you get sent to the public host. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and all of the midwives were so lovely, just going
Speaker 1: back to the hole, not caring what anyone thinks after
Speaker 1: giving birth.
Speaker 2: I didn't realize and Kate, you never really went into
Speaker 2: the detail.
Speaker 1: I didn't know how much the midwives were hands on
Speaker 1: with helping you express milk. Yeah, because I had this
Speaker 1: nurse and she was so nice. She came in, she
Speaker 1: was the midwife that was on the night shift. She
Speaker 1: was literally squeezing my boobs to get colostrum out and
Speaker 1: syringing colostrum out of them. Because I was having trouble
Speaker 1: with Harry latching, and also because I had a c section.
Speaker 1: Sometimes your milk doesn't come in here for a while.
Speaker 1: You're actually kind of grateful when they do it because
Speaker 1: I was I was in recovery, just had surgery, and
Speaker 1: they're like trying to now you just sew it like this,
Speaker 1: and then the woman's like, dot me just do it
Speaker 1: for you.
Speaker 2: I was like, h yeah, you feel like you're a
Speaker 2: cow being milked.
Speaker 1: It's a strange feeling. Was dale in there with the
Speaker 1: syringe too, because we joke that Rees turned into a
Speaker 1: lactation consultant when in the early days, Well, Night Too,
Speaker 1: A lot of people don't tell you. Night two is
Speaker 1: when the baby actually wakes up and they start crying.
Speaker 1: Yeas night one. L Yeah, at night one, it doesn't
Speaker 1: they don't do anything. So Sophie Bee Warren to Night
Speaker 1: Too is where they wake up because the baby's trying
Speaker 1: to help get your milk in, so they're wanting to
Speaker 1: feed off you constantly.
Speaker 2: So Night Too we were like, oh my god, I'm
Speaker 2: getting no colostrum. I feel so bad.
Speaker 1: He's not eating that much. So at one stage Dale
Speaker 1: was there just I was squeezing my boob and he
Speaker 1: had the syringe and he was like, come on, let's
Speaker 1: keep going, keep going.
Speaker 2: Like we were just getting all of this and it
Speaker 2: was kind.
Speaker 1: Of really addictive of how much colostrum you get into
Speaker 1: these syringes. I just looked at him and said, what
Speaker 1: has our life? Because it's two days ago we were
Speaker 1: just at home watching suits and there were syringing colosster
Speaker 1: that weird moment, but it's also like makes your relationship
Speaker 1: so much stronger. You really feel like a team in
Speaker 1: that moment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 1: We were finally allowed to come in at around six
Speaker 1: o'clock I think it was, and I was spewing because
Speaker 1: everyone made this big point that we want everyone to
Speaker 1: go in together. I was in the car park and
Speaker 1: mum are called and said, oh, you're waiting for me,
Speaker 1: and Mom goes, oh, sorry, we've already gone in.
Speaker 2: I was like, yeah, what I could hear that you're
Speaker 2: a notable.
Speaker 1: Also, I think Dale's mum was meant to come in
Speaker 1: at the same time as you, and she couldn't find
Speaker 1: the car park, so she was a bit late too,
Speaker 1: so I felt bad about that. I was happy though,
Speaker 1: because it meant that you guys could record Jack's first
Speaker 1: meeting of Harry. He wasn't that interesting. I don't think
Speaker 1: he's been that interested in him. Well, I don't think
Speaker 1: he really knows that he's a baby. So we're a person.
Speaker 1: So we brought him in and Jack's new skill is
Speaker 1: shaking his head. So I think Mum goes and Jack,
Speaker 1: is this your best friend? And he started to chasing
Speaker 1: and said no, and everyone just lost it.
Speaker 2: We need to share that video. It's so cute.
Speaker 1: I think it's one for the twenty first It was
Speaker 1: just amazing for me because obviously I've been on the
Speaker 1: other end of it, and it was so incredible to
Speaker 1: go in there and get to meet this beautiful baby
Speaker 1: and cuddle with him without having to actually do anything.
Speaker 1: It was fantastic. He's such a little cutie. I still
Speaker 1: think he doesn't wake up that often. Oh you should.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, he woke up. He was, He was
Speaker 1: really fussing. He vomited a few times. I love the
Speaker 1: fact that we all say he constantly looks like he's
Speaker 1: judging you, and I don't know whether it's because of
Speaker 1: his cute eyebrows or the fact that he really didn't
Speaker 1: open his eyes for the first couple of days.
Speaker 2: He constantly looks unimpressed by everybody.
Speaker 1: He kind of looks a tiny bit like Jack, because
Speaker 1: you told me when he first came out, You're like, oh, wow,
Speaker 1: he looks so much like Jack. Because they both got
Speaker 1: a dimple on their gin, which we don't really know
Speaker 1: where it's coming from, Like Rehees has one, but Dale doesn't,
Speaker 1: so have we got the gene as well?
Speaker 2: I don't know gin well.
Speaker 1: I think babies they changed so much like when they
Speaker 1: first come out. They're very puffy. They look quite different.
Speaker 1: So I'm interested to see how he develops in the
Speaker 1: next couple of months. I can actually see myself sometimes
Speaker 1: in him. Sometimes I can see Dale's sister and him.
Speaker 1: It's so crazy, the different angles, how different he looks.
Speaker 1: People want to know how you came up with the name.
Speaker 1: It is a very royal name, Harry Jimor was that intentional? Oh,
Speaker 1: it wasn't intentional for it to be a royal sounding name.
Speaker 2: That's not true.
Speaker 1: You said you were tossing up having hr h oh.
Speaker 1: That was the initials. I thought it'd be hilarious royal
Speaker 1: because you're The last name that Harry has is Humphreys.
Speaker 1: So you selected one of Dale's hyphenated names. Yeah. That's
Speaker 1: been a bit of a long running joke that Dale
Speaker 1: has the longest name ever because he has two middle names.
Speaker 1: And I said to him, look, I'm happy to take
Speaker 1: one of the last names.
Speaker 2: Because I don't know.
Speaker 1: I just feel like it's hard growing up as a
Speaker 1: kid with a hugely long hyphenated name. So, and especially
Speaker 1: if it's like you don't have one of the surnames
Speaker 1: in it. Yeah, so I'm going to be changing my
Speaker 1: surname to Humphreys. So yeah, Harry Humphreys, a friend of
Speaker 1: mine set it sounded like a rock star name. So
Speaker 1: I have to ask, were you influenced by your love
Speaker 1: of Prince Harry why you came up? Or Harry Styles
Speaker 1: or Harry Potter because we grew up Harry Potter. See,
Speaker 1: I always thought soph and I would have a Harry
Speaker 1: because we were more into Harry Potter than you.
Speaker 2: It just when you had Jack.
Speaker 1: We were discussing baby names and we both said, oh,
Speaker 1: I've always really liked Harry, and it was one name
Speaker 1: we just instantly agreed on it. It's more so I
Speaker 1: think the Harry Styles reference. I think Harry is a
Speaker 1: really cute name.
Speaker 2: And George.
Speaker 1: I googled what are middle names that go with Harry,
Speaker 1: and I saw George pop up, and I was like,
Speaker 1: Harry George, that is just such a cute name. And
Speaker 1: it turns out that Dale's great grandpa was called Harry
Speaker 1: George as well. That's like our great grandpa was Jack Edward,
Speaker 1: which is my son's name. I didn't realize, Yeah, their
Speaker 1: middle name was the same. There was a while where
Speaker 1: I was trying to persuade you to call him Harry
Speaker 1: ed If that was my idea, I said to you
Speaker 1: that we should all call our sons their middle name Edward.
Speaker 1: But Sophie doesn't want to do that, so we But
Speaker 1: that would have been really cute because like that, like
Speaker 1: they're not going to have the same last name. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I think that they should have their own identity. Also,
Speaker 1: you know, they do have their own identity. It's just
Speaker 1: something that joins them, bombs them. Our son is going
Speaker 1: to have another cousin who doesn't have the same middle name. Amy,
Speaker 1: You've now been a mom for a month. Is it
Speaker 1: what you expected it to be? Well, I don't think
Speaker 1: anything can prepare you for motherhood. Everyone says that I
Speaker 1: don't even really know what I thought it was going
Speaker 1: to be like, but I've thoroughly enjoyed it. We were
Speaker 1: saying before how I didn't cry when Harry was born,
Speaker 1: like when I saw him for the first time, and
Speaker 1: I expected I would. The other night, I was crying
Speaker 1: looking at him, tears of being so grateful. And I
Speaker 1: was listening to this podcast and someone was talking about
Speaker 1: the mindset thing and how sometimes you should think, oh,
Speaker 1: you know what if I was eighty And then I
Speaker 1: came back as my younger self and what the perspective.
Speaker 1: And I was looking at his little eyes and I
Speaker 1: was like, well, he's like my little baby now, but
Speaker 1: later he's going to be this grown hard it's to
Speaker 1: a softy amy. It's so sweet to see. So I
Speaker 1: think I shared on the podcast that your first week
Speaker 1: in your message saying, look, it's just been tough giving birth,
Speaker 1: but it's been such a magical week the Dale and
Speaker 1: I have spent together and we just keep looking at
Speaker 1: him just in awe of how beautiful special here is.
Speaker 1: We were debating on the podcast and a few people
Speaker 1: brought it up in our group about tiredness and being
Speaker 1: tired as a new mum, and I think we were
Speaker 1: also talking about tiredness during pregnancy. A lot of people
Speaker 1: on TikTok have said they're very different levels of tiredness,
Speaker 1: and I've got to agree. When you're tired in the
Speaker 1: first few weeks as a new parent, it's different because
Speaker 1: you're excited and you're running on adrenaline. So I would
Speaker 1: look forward to feeding Harry. Oh my God, like, look
Speaker 1: at him, it's so exciting. Last night, I think it
Speaker 1: was the adrenaline. Was you know that it's rubbing away
Speaker 1: because I suppose because you and Dale have been really good.
Speaker 1: You've had so many people over. I feel like you've
Speaker 1: had constant visitors through the door. You've tried to take
Speaker 1: him out as well, so you've gone on walks, You've
Speaker 1: taken him to outdoor cafes and that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: So you've tried to really enjoy your maternity leave together.
Speaker 1: I think that was important as well for our mental
Speaker 1: health because you hear a lot of people getting down
Speaker 1: because you know, it's this new life. Yes and so
Speaker 1: and so. I mean, we've been really lucky. The weather
Speaker 1: has been amazing here in Adelaide. But I think it
Speaker 1: was a day two or three when we were home
Speaker 1: from the hospital, we set ourselves a challenge that we
Speaker 1: were going to go out to a cafe with him,
Speaker 1: and it was great, Like we sat outside away from people,
Speaker 1: but it was just good to get out there. And
Speaker 1: we've been enjoying all of our walk so I've thoroughly
Speaker 1: been enjoying motherhood. I am a little bit panicked because
Speaker 1: Day was going back to work next week and just
Speaker 1: thinking how it's all going to work. How have you
Speaker 1: been finding the feeding side of things, because I think
Speaker 1: when you're pregnant, no one actually prepares you for the
Speaker 1: fact that most of your time is spent just feeding
Speaker 1: the baby. Because of you, I was aware that the
Speaker 1: feeding windows starts from when you first start feeding the baby.
Speaker 1: It's meant to be about three and a half hours
Speaker 1: to four hours between each feed, which is so unfair
Speaker 1: because you like, hang on it should end once the
Speaker 1: baby's fed. Yeah, because last night it took me about
Speaker 1: an hour and forty minutes to feed Harry and then
Speaker 1: you know, you fall asleep and he's wanting to be
Speaker 1: fed again. Look, it's definitely a full time job feeding
Speaker 1: a baby. I can see that. So I'm doing a
Speaker 1: mixed feed of I've been expressing, and then I've also
Speaker 1: been doing formula feeding. I've been trying to breastfeed where
Speaker 1: I can, but hasn't had the best latch. And going
Speaker 1: into motherhood, I saw a lot of women talking about
Speaker 1: how they were expressing, and what they liked about it
Speaker 1: was the fact they could see how much milk they
Speaker 1: were actually making. So I've been opting to do that
Speaker 1: because I've found that to be a lot easier for me.
Speaker 2: It seems to work with.
Speaker 1: Our lifestyle because we had a couple of friends who
Speaker 1: their babies were struggling to put on weight, and that
Speaker 1: was actually recommended to them that they pumped so they
Speaker 1: can make sure that they know that the baby's getting
Speaker 1: the right amount. Yeah, I think you had that in
Speaker 1: your head where you're like, look, at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, my priority is making sure that he's putting
Speaker 1: on enough weight and yeah, a healthy weight range as
Speaker 1: soon as we can. It's also great because that means
Speaker 1: that you don't have to do all the feeds, Like
Speaker 1: you can be pumping, You're gonna have milk ready to go.
Speaker 1: You can also do your formula top ups. Yeah, Dale
Speaker 1: can do it. Yeah. Have you guys been taking in
Speaker 1: turns doing the night feeds because that's a game change. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we've been doing shifts, so I seem to be getting
Speaker 1: around the four am feed, Dale dot the one am.
Speaker 1: So what time are you going to bed then?
Speaker 2: I mean it depends.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it will be nine o'clock and be like, right,
Speaker 1: let's go to bed for a few hours and then
Speaker 1: we're going to wake up and we'll do like the
Speaker 1: eleven o'clock feed together.
Speaker 2: But I've been watching so many YouTube.
Speaker 1: Videos because I've decided when it's my time to feed him.
Speaker 1: I'm going to put on a YouTube. I'll get a
Speaker 1: little drink. I might get a little bit of a snack.
Speaker 1: I like that. One thing, Amy that you have inspired
Speaker 1: me to do through this process is to make sure
Speaker 1: you're taking lots of photos and also filming a lot
Speaker 1: of content. And you have recently bought the tiniest camera
Speaker 1: I've ever seen, which is so funny because outside of
Speaker 1: the podcast, you work as a videographer for our business,
Speaker 1: Hula Media, and you have literally every professional camera that
Speaker 1: you could think of, but you have bought this small
Speaker 1: handheld one. It is tiny just so that you can
Speaker 1: take it around and capture those moments that where you
Speaker 1: probably can't be bothered to pull out at the camera. Yes,
Speaker 1: I've got lots of heavy cameras, and as you said,
Speaker 1: I've been trying to take a lot of nice photos.
Speaker 1: But I was actually inspired by Georgia Richards. She got
Speaker 1: this new vlogging camera and I was like, fuck, that
Speaker 1: looks fantastic, So I went and bought it with a
Speaker 1: late night Amazon purchase.
Speaker 2: It arrived two days later.
Speaker 1: And it's because growing up, our mum and dad made
Speaker 1: the decision to buy a video camera before we were born,
Speaker 1: and they said it was the best thing they ever did,
Speaker 1: because you've got these beautiful home videos, and I just
Speaker 1: wanted it to be able to pull it out and
Speaker 1: take those, you know, like the really long videos where
Speaker 1: everyone's talking in the background. Life here. I remember watching
Speaker 1: our home videos and it'd be the best to hear
Speaker 1: what everyone was discussing, even if it was like what
Speaker 1: was on sale at Cole's at the time of hearing
Speaker 1: our grandma.
Speaker 2: Talking about that.
Speaker 1: I remember there was a video of us on the
Speaker 1: swings and Mum was talking about going in and waking
Speaker 1: us up, and in this video she said, oh, and
Speaker 1: Amy's got this fretto frog smile, and we.
Speaker 2: Were still laughing so much.
Speaker 1: Well, you've made me want to go out and get one,
Speaker 1: because I think it'd be really funny and really easy
Speaker 1: to capture the whole birth experience as well. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's I would highly recommend it. I mean, you don't
Speaker 1: even have to spend that much money on a camera.
Speaker 1: So if I know that your husband is a videographer,
Speaker 1: but talking about how much he's going to faint, I
Speaker 1: don't think he's going to be down the goal end. Well,
Speaker 1: I don't necessarily want it down the goal end, but
Speaker 1: I feel like we'd probably be sitting around waiting. It'd
Speaker 1: be funny to get some behind the scene Brandon's fainting
Speaker 1: incident and his power raid and so forth. Well, well,
Speaker 1: I think we'll wait with baited breaths for both of
Speaker 1: your vlogs. Definitely not vologging it. This would be a
Speaker 1: very personal private video. Well, Amy, it was so nice
Speaker 1: to have you back. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: We'll be back soon.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's not long now until Sophie gives birth,
Speaker 1: so I will be back on the podcast. I'm actually
Speaker 1: really excited for that. Well, we're excited to have you back. Well,
Speaker 1: just for you and me. Kate waited for a little while,
Speaker 1: changes scenery for you. I was saying that She's like,
Speaker 1: can't you join us as well? If you joined remotely? No,
Speaker 1: you were winging that you wanted to be a part
Speaker 1: of us, like you won't. You will not have time, Sophie.
Speaker 1: I can assure you'll be enjoying your newborn bubble. Well,
Speaker 1: thanks for joining us for another episode of Outspoken. If
Speaker 1: you do enjoy the show, we would love it. If
Speaker 1: you can make sure you're subscribed and leave us a
Speaker 1: five star review. This episode was recorded on the traditional
Speaker 1: land of the Ghana people of the Adelaide Planes. We
Speaker 1: pay respect to elders past and present, to long