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October 2, 2023 39 mins

Ashley is hanging out with Whitney Bischoff (winner from Chris Soules’ season) and we’re talking all things fertility!
 
Whitney is a fertility nurse with 2 young kids of her own, so she’s seen it all. She’s ready to share an unbelievable story of a major health challenge she went through after the birth of her son Hayes.
 
And Whitney gives us a behind the scenes look at why few relationships can withstand Dancing with the Stars.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast
with iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Hey everyone, welcome to the Almost Famous podcast. It is
Ashley and today Ben isn't here for this episode because
we're gonna have a very women forward episode because Whitney
Bischoff is here, who was on my season, the quote
winner of my season, and I haven't seen her for years,
but I'm so glad to see your face.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
Hello, Whitney, how are you doing it?

Speaker 4 (00:26):
Oh good? It's like girl chats, all like bringing me
back to the mansion when it's like we're having these
girl chats.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Love it, love girl chats. You had a lot of
girl chats about fertility in the in the house, because
that is what you're an expert at, your fertility nurse. Yes,
and then lo and behold, you had to go through
quite a fertility journey of your own. Yes, so you
and so we're just gonna like jump into the yeah,
because you're here because you were pregnant, but you never

(00:56):
posted about it on social media and all of a sudden,
you're like surprise months later. But it was something to
get her into this world. Yes, so it is you
and your husband Ricky. You got married, Like what five
years ago, past, six years ago.

Speaker 4 (01:10):
Almost going on six. Yeah, it'll be six this year.
I cannot believe it. I mean, it's been almost a
decade since we were on the show. I meed at least.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
I mean, I know you've made appearance, well sure, but
nine years from that original show, which I hold so
much nostalgia for.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
I can't believe it's been nine years.

Speaker 4 (01:28):
I can't either. Where's the time gone?

Speaker 2 (01:31):
I don't know. It's so scary. And you know, when
you have kids it goes even faster. So like, yeah,
you had your your son, You had your son Hayes, Yes,
soon after getting married, right, yeah, so he's four years Okay,
so we were married about a year exactly when he

(01:52):
joined us, and he is just such a peach.

Speaker 4 (01:55):
I just taste the best. I mean, little boys are
the best, right.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
They are quite something. And I know I have talked
about how I had quote gender disappointment. It made some
headlines a few weeks ago, which was the most dramatic
thing ever. I'm like, you, guys, let's be clear here. Yeah,
when we go when we tell people we're pregnant and
we don't know what the gender is or sex is yet,
people say, what do you want.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
I'm like, you usually have an opinion, right, well, absolutely.

Speaker 4 (02:23):
And you've got a sister if that same with me,
like exactly sister and I that's all we know. So
I get that.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
I know, yes, I wanted to have you know, and
my initial thought was that I wanted to have sisters,
the exact same thing that I grew up with, because
I'm so so close to her.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
But then you know, you find out it's a boy,
and yes, maybe you're like, oh man, I don't I
don't know how to deal with boys, and like, it's
a boy, gonna want to go to boy band concerts
and like play with American girl dolls.

Speaker 4 (02:48):
I don't know, maybe, but I totally get that when
you said that, I related. It doesn't mean that you
are not happy with your son or anything like that.
I mean, oh my gosh, I love being a boy mom.
It's so much fun. It's just not knowing what to expect. Yes,
and you've grown up.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
With all girls. Yeah, and I didn't even know like
I had. Now I can't even picture having a girl,
which is weird. Like, yes, i'd like a girl, but
I also would be totally happy with a boy it's
it's so wild how much it does not matter when
the kid is here.

Speaker 4 (03:25):
The love between a mom and a son too is
just there's nothing compares to it. It's really nicesome.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yeah, it's so so nice.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
All right. So let's so you with your son, conceiving
with your son, let's get into the nit.

Speaker 4 (03:36):
So let's get into it. So when you.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Conceive with your son, did it how long did it
take to conceive? If you don't mind me asking, it
took us seven months? It took us seven months.

Speaker 4 (03:44):
Yeah, I mean I think it took about six months
somewhere around there. But as a fertility nurse and just
as being with me, I am such a planner, so
type a like, you know, I had my whole you know,
future written out for me in terms of I'm going
to get pregnant at this age and then I'm going
to get pregnant again at this age, and this is
the way it's all going to go. And that's a

(04:05):
joke because you can't plan anything. So after a couple
months when it didn't work, even knowing that that's very
normal that it can take a little bit of time.
Being a fertility nurse and kind of specializing in this field.
I was, you know, beside myself, like why hasn't worked?
What's going on? I'm doing all of this testing on
myself to like check my fertility and talking with you know,

(04:28):
the experts that I work with, and you know, I
actually did sit down with the physician, doctor Camplin, that
I work with, and just said, hey, should I tap
into my previously frozen eggs because, as everyone knows, I
froze my eggs. Gosh, I don't even know like thirteen
fourteen years ago. So the question that he posed to me,

(04:48):
which I thought was really smart, was well, how many
children do you want to have? Do you want to
have more than one? I was like absolutely. He's like, well,
you're going to just continue to get older. Those eggs
are going to stay on ice, you know, at the
same quality that they were when they were frozen, which
I was young. I was twenty seven when I did it.
So he's like, just be patient. So I had to
take my you know, own advice that I give to patients,

(05:09):
like it takes some time, you know, takes sometimes some persistence.
It doesn't mean that anything's kind of going on. You know,
if you're less than thirty five. It can sometimes take
up to a year, so we just kind of stuck
with it and finally conceived. I think it was about
six months, so somewhere around you know, like with you,
it took so it took some.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
Time to me. Yeah, I think this is important to
talk about because I because I've been open about it
taking seven months.

Speaker 4 (05:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
Lots of girls get into my DMS and they're like, hey,
it's been three or four months. I'm starting to freak out.
How do you stay calm? And I'm like, okay, Well
for me, yes, when we got to the five month mark,
I was like me, my body because I always thought
like everybody was like, oh, this is so stupid. It's
honestly stupid. But I'm going to say what people would

(05:55):
tell me. I'd be like, your body shape is like
you're like such, you're so at all?

Speaker 3 (06:00):
Right?

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Well you can just yeah, like you really have birthing hips,
like you just look like, yeah, isn't that funny?

Speaker 4 (06:08):
That's bizarre?

Speaker 3 (06:09):
Is okay?

Speaker 2 (06:09):
So I always like grew up just being like oh
about regular periods and birthinghips. I should be totally fure
five months that's not like whatever. So then at six
months I hadn't had like an annual guy no appointment
in like two or three years. So I was just like,
I'll go to the guy. Know, see what she says
about this. And she was like, at I was thirty
two when we conceive, and she was like wait. I

(06:32):
was like, no, wait, hold on, yes, it was thirty two. Wait,
hold on, how old are I now? I was thirty three?

Speaker 3 (06:37):
Holy shit? Okay, So she was like, you're fine.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
I wouldn't think, for like looking at like all your
info here, that we would need to worry at all
or like think about taking other steps until we're a
full year of trying. Do you do you agree full
year of trying at thirty three?

Speaker 4 (06:56):
At thirty three, yeah, I would say, if you're older
than thirty five six.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
Months, okay, all right? And that is because because.

Speaker 4 (07:04):
Your fertility is declining, so and you know, at thirty
five we see a higher jump in decline. So it's
I mean, it's always declining from the moment we're born,
fertilities declining, but you know, at thirty five we see
more of a steeper decline. So that's why people say,
don't wait after you know, a full year after thirty five?
Kind of jump on it around that six month mark.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
Okay, cool, So then you can see at six months
you're all you're like happy, and then I'm happy.

Speaker 4 (07:33):
You know, we have you know, I had a really
easy pregnancy, easy birth. It was just amazing, and we
were ready again to try for baby number two. But
something I actually haven't talked about at all, so you're
hearing it here first is I got really sick after

(07:54):
Hayes was born. I started having some really weird chest
pain and was going to the doctor about it, and
I was just kind of shelved. You know, I was
a young woman complaining of chest pain. So what's the
first thing? They told me? It's anxiety, it's stress, and
I am a high strung, anxious person, so I believed it.
But it continued. This chest pain continued to occur for

(08:19):
about a year and it was getting progressively worse, and
we were vacationing in Cape cod and I ended up
in the ICU having to have emergency heart surgery because
I had gone into cardiac tampin on because I had
three and a half cups of fluid around my heart.
So that postponed our trying to get pregnant, so that

(08:44):
then was a long healing process. I was seen at Mayo.
It was such a mess. So here for like be
an advocate for yourself, especially as a woman, because I
knew something was wrong, and I just kept being shelved,
you know, like it's you're fine, you know, you're fine,
until it almost cost me my life. I mean so
because of that, and because I obviously, you know, needed

(09:08):
to get that under control, and I was put on
tons of medication that were not conducive with pregnancy. I
was not able to attempt to get pregnant. I was told,
you can't, We've got to get this under control. Your
heart's under way too much stress and being pregnant. I mean,
your your heart is pumping for two write your blood
volume increases. So they were saying, you know, we don't

(09:29):
even know if you'll ever be able to have another baby.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
Oh my gosh, that crushing.

Speaker 4 (09:34):
Oh you cannot even imagine. It was such a grieving process,
and then thinking maybe we're going to have to go
to the surrogate route. So I was not even sure
that another child was in the future for us. But I,
by the grace of God and the physicians that I
worked with and the experts and cardiologists got this. So

(09:57):
it ended up being viral pairis which was attacking my heart.
So once that finally got under control, it took about
another year. I got the go ahead to attempt only.

Speaker 3 (10:08):
So is this like a two year process on all?

Speaker 4 (10:11):
Yes, So at this point, I'm, you know, considered geriatric
for pregnancy, and I know too the entire time the
stress that I was under just dealing with the heart
stuff and to scare with that. But then knowing I'm
getting older, my clock is ticking, and I did have
those eggs, which was I was so thankful for because
when you freeze your eggs, I feel like you think

(10:33):
it's a backup plan. I'm hopefully never I'm never gonna
need those, you know, but I did, so we ended
up tapping into those eggs.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
You Okay, let's talk about egg freezing for a second.
A lot of people think that it's like a guarantee,
But isn't it less likely that, like the eggs are
going to unfreeze.

Speaker 3 (10:52):
Defrost and you'll lose a good amount.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
But it's it's actually more get not guaranteed, but closer
to it. If they're embryos defrosting, embryos is more successful
often than defrosting eggs.

Speaker 4 (11:13):
Yeah, so I think this is really interesting because yes,
I mean, embryos are always going to be more stable
than eggs because it's all of the chromosomes that you
need to make a baby, whereas an egg's only half
of the equation. So I always say, like, if you're
an embryo, you're walking steadily on two feet, whereas if
you're an egg, you're kind of limping on one. So

(11:33):
it's you're more easily damaged, easily messed with. But depending
on the laboratory and the experts that you are going to,
you know, in terms of their experience with that freezing,
some of those rates can be essentially you know, the same.
So in some places, like you know, at Ova, our

(11:55):
success rates are about i would say, probably five to
ten percent different. So for some women, you know, to me,
if you're a single woman, that's not that big of
a difference to then decide to get a sperm donor
and freeze an embryo versus freezing an egg. But yes,
they were always be a little bit more successful with
embryos versus eggs. But now with the increase in technology

(12:19):
and experience that a lot of people have. It It's
not as large as it once was.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
So you tap into your eggs for this is Did
you try it all to do it naturally for six months?

Speaker 4 (12:40):
Oh no, no, no no. At that point I was like
we are ready to and not kind of knowing what
was going to be going on with my health. We
started with the thiwing when I was going through the
treatment process for lazing the eggs for my heart. So
we went through that whole process, we got our embryos,
and then when I got the clear to move forward,

(13:03):
we started prepping to transfer the embryos. And that was
the start of a very long journey. So yeah, so
I went through an embryo. Well, I started to prep
for a couple embryo transfers that were canceled. So it's
you know, I was taking these medications and going in,
you know, to prep for this transfer, but I my

(13:24):
lining was not thickening appropriately, so you know, you want
the atmosphere of the uterus to be completely perfect to
transfer this embryo. So if it's not, there is always
that chance that the cycle could be canceled. And so
that happened to me twice before I ever made it
to a transfer. We did finally make it to transfer,
and it unfortunately was not successful. And then in the

(13:48):
between kind of months, a couple of times I was
we were trying naturally, and I kept getting pregnant naturally
and having very early miscarriages. So it was just one
thing after another. And then about a year ago I
had an ectopic pregnancy, So that was scary too.

Speaker 2 (14:09):
So for those who don't know an next topic, pregnancy
means that the egg implanted into her phallopian tube.

Speaker 4 (14:16):
My filipine tube. Yeah, and so we caught.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
It extremely painful.

Speaker 4 (14:20):
Yeah, so we caught it early, which was good. But
I think also about that too, I just knew to
ask the right questions because I'm in the field. I
think about so many women that may not have known
to ask the questions again to advocate for themselves, that
it could have been much different. So yeah, so that

(14:43):
was a long journey too, because then you have to
postpone again for three months because I got a medication
that takes care of the pregnancy that's in your too,
because obviously it's life threatening to the mother to continue
to let it grow and the pregnancy is not going
to be viable, but with that medication, and that was
the decision that we chose for the route we chose
to go because I didn't want to risk losing my

(15:05):
fallopian tube and a surgery.

Speaker 2 (15:07):
Yeah, I was gonna say, how do they even save
a Philippian tube if there's been an implanted embryo.

Speaker 4 (15:12):
So sometimes they can go in and just remove what's
inside of the tube and they could spare the tube,
but there's always risk to scar tissue in the tube
and that the tube is no longer going to work,
and that to me was you know, I didn't want
to take that risk, so I did go to medication route.
But then that meant again we had to postpone trying
for three months, so all in all it was I

(15:37):
think a full year, and we were prepping again. I
was planning to go in to prep for another transfer
and I got a positive pregnancy test. So that's really
naturally ah, yes, yes, so we didn't end up using
I mean the Brady my daughter is not from my egg,

(16:00):
but we have you know, beautiful eggs. Yeah, sorry sorry, Yes,
she was a natural conception versus everything we went through
and then it was a natural conception.

Speaker 2 (16:10):
Yeah, which I feel like happens a lot. Do you
think it's because like moms kind of relax at a
certain point if the IVF process is like kind of
coming along, and then they're like, yeah, we all have
that plan, and then I have this plan which is natural,
and they say it's probably not going to happen. And
then when you start to be like, Okay, it's probably
not going to happen naturally, that like you just kind

(16:32):
of like I think.

Speaker 4 (16:32):
Hill, you know, it's hard to quantify how stressed, of course,
but I do think it plays a role because you
do hear of that where people go through years and
years of treatment and then all of a sudden, oops,
they become pregnant. I don't want anyone listening to this
to think that that's the norm, but you do hear
of that. So I do think that, you know, stress
could play a role. I mean, who knows. In my case,

(16:54):
but oh gosh, it was such a welcome surprise. But
then for the next nine months or you know, especially
early on, I was so worried about another loss because
we had gone through it so much. I felt like
I just every time I went to the bathroom, I
was like, is there going to be blood, you know,
is there? You know, it just was day after day,

(17:16):
just the anxiety. I was just riddled with anxiety.

Speaker 2 (17:20):
Do you have any tips for girls out there who well,
do you need tips of just like conceiving in general,
because you know, people are like, oh, certain lubes, like
certain times of day, like everybody seems to like have
an idea for.

Speaker 4 (17:33):
An idea or theory. I mean, obviously, you have to
be ovulating to get pregnant. I know that that sounds obvious,
but that would be you know, my first suggestion if
you've been trying to get pregnant and you're not successful,
is to ensure that you are ovulating. You can do
that with your doctor. You can get some ovulation predictor
kids from like the drug store. But the best way

(17:57):
to get pregnant would be to have sperm waiting for
the egg once you ovulate. So I think a lot
of people think, oh, okay, I'll ovulate and then I'll
have sex or you know, but really you should be
doing it leading up to that so that when the
egg is released, there's sperm waiting in the tube, and
the sperm can live in the tube for like three
to five days.

Speaker 2 (18:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (18:18):
Now, whereas the egg is only going to live for
about twenty four hours. So that's why it's nice to
have that sperm waiting for the egg.

Speaker 2 (18:26):
From the time that the egg is released from the
ovary to it like go passing through the Filippian tube completely,
that's twenty four hours.

Speaker 4 (18:35):
No, it survives for twenty four hours, so you know,
it's it takes longer for it to go all the
way down the tube and into the uterus, but it's
only going to be viable for about twenty four hours,
whereas the sperm can be viable for three to five
days just hanging out in the tube.

Speaker 2 (18:51):
So it's journey through the tube is longer than twenty
four hours.

Speaker 4 (18:55):
Yeah, before it makes its way all the way down
and then into the uterus and implant.

Speaker 2 (18:59):
Yeah, gotcha. Okay, so the sperm's meeting it very close
to the overy release, gotcha.

Speaker 3 (19:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:05):
Well see you I'm still learning because I thought like
it was like kind of viable like within the two process,
but that's stupid. Wow. I probably knew this a couple
of years ago and I was deep in my reading,
but now I'm.

Speaker 4 (19:17):
Like, I mean, what's going on with you?

Speaker 2 (19:18):
Are you going to plan for That's that's why I
asked these questions too, And I really wanted to have
you on because we're starting to quote try.

Speaker 3 (19:26):
In two weeks.

Speaker 2 (19:28):
Two weeks, yeah, two weeks, which is like hilarious, Hi audience,
Like you know so much about me in my cycle?
So awkward.

Speaker 3 (19:38):
But yeah, so there's that, and then me being thirty.

Speaker 2 (19:42):
Five now and I know very much that it is
geriatric advance pregnancy is so crazy if it were to happen,
like so, six months is when you start advised people
to start talking about IVF.

Speaker 3 (19:55):
At this point at special.

Speaker 4 (19:58):
It's not necessarily going street to iv but talking with
a specialist in reproductive medicine just to go through your
options and kind of do some testing to see if
there's something going on.

Speaker 2 (20:07):
So how do you tell like women who are just
like nervous at a couple of months, how do you
tell them to just chill?

Speaker 4 (20:17):
I wish there was like some magic advice that I had.
I mean, you know what, if you're super anxious though,
and for the peace of mind, if it's going to
help you to go talk to someone. No one's saying
you can't go see someone earlier than six months. You know,
but it's from an insurance kind of standpoint. A lot
of times insurance companies, which is don't even get me

(20:38):
started on that. I hate dealing with insurance companies. It's awful.
But they look at infertility as if you're older than
thirty five and you've been trying for six months without success,
then they label you infertile and that's when they'll start
covering sometimes a lot of treatment. Now how they really
know it's you know, but I think for your own

(20:58):
peace of mind, if you're stressed at two months in
go talk to your doctor, maybe you can get a referral.
And you know, just starting out and doing the diagnostic testing,
a lot of times it is covered.

Speaker 2 (21:10):
So insurance companies will label you infertile. So what does
that mean that they won't cover anything?

Speaker 4 (21:16):
So a lot of times treatment is covered once you
have an infertility diagnosis, but you have to that diagnosis.
So and it depends on the state that you live
in and your plan and all of that. But what
does an infertility diagnosis mean? So if you're over then
thirty five and you've been trying for six months without success,
that's an infertility diagnosis. If you're younger than thirty five
and you've been trying for one year, you get that diagnosis.

Speaker 2 (21:39):
Okay, very interesting because what would you consider like stre
because people have like reached out to me and I'm like,
I know that we didn't struggle to conceive because it
was seven months, but like that word, I'm like, well
that's rude.

Speaker 3 (21:53):
I did not What would you consider struggle at a year?

Speaker 4 (21:58):
I mean, I think that that is individuals because for
some people, you know, maybe it was you know, taxing
on them for seven months. You know, it may not
be that they have that infertility diagnosis. But that's not
to say that it wasn't a struggle for you. So
I think that's that's a hard to say, hard thing
to say, like maybe it wasn't a struggle. Maybe you enjoyed.

Speaker 2 (22:20):
Who knows, I didn't enjoy. I know it starts to
become it's a chore. It is a chore, to be honest,
And I'm not speaking on behalf of Jared as well.

Speaker 3 (22:31):
It's like a little different, it is.

Speaker 4 (22:33):
And I think that it's tough too when people are
like just have fun with it, like there's nothing fun
about this. And I think that my husband would say
that as well. It just is not Yeah, it's not fun.

Speaker 2 (22:43):
Some people have told me to just have sex every
single day, every single and that way. I know. I
heard crazy people say that like yeah, and then right
day I've heard.

Speaker 4 (22:56):
Jared would be like, no, I can't do that.

Speaker 2 (22:57):
Kingly not and plus like then is this true that
your sperm quality, like the number the count is going
down if you do it every day?

Speaker 4 (23:05):
And well, if you're doing it every day, yeah, I
typically say it like abstinence for three to.

Speaker 2 (23:09):
Five days, okay? Interesting? And then I heard from I'll
just say, is a bachelor alum one time told me
do it five times each day during the ovulation window.

Speaker 4 (23:22):
Who told you that?

Speaker 2 (23:23):
I can't even I can't out them.

Speaker 3 (23:24):
It was a man. Of course it was man.

Speaker 4 (23:27):
Of course it was a man.

Speaker 2 (23:29):
He literally said, woke up and we did it before
I went to work, and then I'd come home throughout that.

Speaker 3 (23:36):
It was like the nuttiest thing I've ever heard in
my life.

Speaker 4 (23:38):
It doesn't even make sense. I mean, the sperm doesn't
for three to five days, so why are you you
know I don't do it once in three days or
every other at least. I mean, I would say at
most every other day?

Speaker 3 (23:49):
Okay, oh interesting at most every other day?

Speaker 4 (23:52):
Yes, wow, because if the sperm count's normal, I mean,
if there's something went on with the sperm, then there's
that's a different issue. I think a lot of times
when ye put the blame on them when there's something
going on. But you know, oftentimes it can.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
Be percent of the time here, but it's the guy. Yeah,
and when do you check sperm count about the six
month mark as well?

Speaker 4 (24:13):
Yeah, so what would be for male and female? Once
you go see the reproductive endocrinologist, it's for male and female,
so they do, you know, the analysis, and then they
also look at mormones and things like that for the woman.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
Well, how have you been since having Brady? Your daughter Brady?
How'd you come up with the name, because that's Dawson's
middle name after you know, of course Tom Brady.

Speaker 4 (24:34):
We've just always liked that name, and we thought about
it if it was a boy or a girl, we probably, like,
I like unisex names, so we probably just name him
or her Brady. Yeah. I thought it was unique, and
I liked it for a girl even more than I
like it for a boy. NOI fence, but I just
think it's like kind of you know, I like the

(24:54):
unisex names.

Speaker 2 (24:55):
Yeah, yeah, that's very cute. Yeah, Hayes is also I
guess it could be either way. It could be yeah,
it could be.

Speaker 5 (25:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (25:13):
So how have you been like postpas?

Speaker 4 (25:18):
Yeah, I mean we were scheduled, you know, to come on.
Oh gosh, when was it? A couple of weeks ago ago?
And I had to cancel and I'm so sorry.

Speaker 2 (25:26):
I just was not It's not a big deal. So
I get it more than anyone, you know, Oh my gosh.
I was like I wouldn't get it like a lot
of other women.

Speaker 4 (25:33):
I would not be able to even think straight. So
we're in the thick of it, but just you know,
it's kind of just part of it, right, it's right
a passage, and I just try to soak up every
little minute with her, even if she's screaming her head off.

Speaker 3 (25:51):
How has she been as a baby.

Speaker 4 (25:53):
She's really gassy and that's how I laughed.

Speaker 3 (25:58):
But that's a bad situation. I get it, Oh my god.

Speaker 4 (26:01):
Like I was chatting with Ricky last night and like,
was haz like this and we're both looked other were like,
I don't remember, I don't know if we just blocked
it from our memory. But it's almost like we're new
parents all over again because it was so long. You know,
that was four and a half years ago, so I
can't remember if he was, you know, as gassy and refluxy,
but she was just so uncomfortable baby girl. I cannot

(26:23):
figure out like how to help her.

Speaker 6 (26:26):
I don't know it was Dawson like that at all,
not really, but I do remember this one moment, the
one moment that like I guess you'll probably always remember,
is the moment that he's crying and you don't.

Speaker 3 (26:38):
Know how to fix it.

Speaker 2 (26:39):
And it wasn't even that big, but like usually it
was like, oh, as a newborn, you need to either
to burp them, he needs a diaper change, or he's hungry.
And I remember the one time where it was like,
I don't know what it's not the three of those things,
so what can we do? Yeah, there's a book called
Mama Suits that's all about getting gas out of babies.

Speaker 4 (27:02):
Okay, I've got to get that.

Speaker 3 (27:04):
Yeah, because I know the author. She send it to
me before.

Speaker 2 (27:07):
But we never really needed to use it because he
never really had like trapped gas much.

Speaker 4 (27:11):
Yes, So we've done, like the gas drops, the.

Speaker 2 (27:16):
There's a Thing by three too, Yes, the exactly yeah
where you like, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (27:23):
That was experience, the Wendy Yes it did. That was interesting.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
So yeah, the age gap with you, you probably able
to get Hayes to help you a little bit. He's
very understanding.

Speaker 3 (27:35):
Probably, how is that?

Speaker 4 (27:36):
Yeah, you know, I got to be completely honest. I
was sad about the age gap at the beginning. I
really wanted my kids to be closer together an age.
My sister and I are about six years apart, and
I always felt a little bit like I was an
only child growing up. I was in sixth grade when
she went away to college. And I mean, my sister

(27:56):
and I are close, but I just I mean I
looked at you and your sister. It's almost like how cool.
I mean, you guys are heard.

Speaker 2 (28:02):
You know, we're two and a half.

Speaker 3 (28:03):
We're two and a half.

Speaker 2 (28:04):
But that's what I want to And that's why I'll
get stressed this next time if it doesn't happen quickly,
because us starting in two weeks is me starting at
two and a half years, would you know?

Speaker 4 (28:18):
Yeah? And I was like that too again, going back
to that planning planning, planning, and then it was completely
out of my control. So I stressed about that, even
though there was nothing I could do about it. It
just I was really you know, I was just really
hoping that they would be closer in age, because in
my mind, like the closer in age they are, the
closer in relationship they'll be. But I've got to say

(28:39):
everything kind of you know, works out because it is
very helpful to the fact that Hayes knows what's going on.
He is super excited. He is such a big, you know, helper.
And I think that it would be difficult having them
closer in age, especially with Brady being more of a
fussy baby. That would be difficult to also have a

(29:01):
younger toddler for sure.

Speaker 2 (29:03):
That's my biggest that's my fear. I mean, I want
them to be I want to get pregnant soon so
that they can be that two and a half ish
years apart. But I also like, I don't know, how
do you do it? I'm just mind boggled. But so
many people are, so many people will do it. Two
and a half three years seems to be like such
a common age gap, it is, and I see women

(29:26):
who I was pregnant, like alongside with the first time,
and they've already delivered a second oh yeah, And I'm like, oh, yeah,
are you doing this. I've talked to Raven Ravin and
I had a nice mom chat a couple of weeks ago.

Speaker 4 (29:37):
Yeah, how is she doing?

Speaker 3 (29:39):
She's stressed.

Speaker 4 (29:41):
I mean, sometimes you wonder. I mean I remember when
I was in labor with Hayes looking at one of
the nurses and being like, I cannot why do people
do this more than once? And the nurse was like,
because you forget and they're so cute, and it's so
right because you do block kind of that bad stuff
from your memory and you just thank goodness kids are

(30:03):
cute because it's difficult.

Speaker 6 (30:06):
I know.

Speaker 2 (30:07):
People tell me all the time and I tell them
I had like hyperremesis during They're like, how do you
how are you doing it again? And I go because
I got so mad at people when they would tell
me I would forget. I was like, mother efforts, I
am not going to forget this. And I kind of
have when I get nauseous every once in a while.

(30:29):
If you just have like a weird nauseous day, who
knows what reason, then it comes back and I'm like,
I don't know if I could ever do this again.

Speaker 3 (30:37):
Yeah, but like older than that.

Speaker 4 (30:39):
What were like, what did any medications help you?

Speaker 2 (30:43):
Zoe Frin really helped My doctor father didn't want me
to take it until like twelve to thirteen weeks.

Speaker 4 (30:49):
I was going to say, trimuster.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
Yeah, they say that you could start taking it around ten.

Speaker 3 (30:56):
Every doctor has a different.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
Opinion on one, Soffriend's okay, I will probably take it
earlier this time, especially since I'll just be like, my
life is more demanding with Dawson and I just can't
just be like, all right, well today is a total
couch day. Like I haven't had a total couch day
since Dawson was born. Really right, So so.

Speaker 4 (31:14):
If you pad it, I don't know enough about it.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
If you had three percent, you have it again?

Speaker 4 (31:21):
Wow?

Speaker 2 (31:22):
Yes. And my biggest issue was that I was actually
able to keep food down.

Speaker 3 (31:26):
I lost a little weight the.

Speaker 2 (31:28):
First trimester from throwing up so much, but food was
seventy percent may be held down because I threw up
probably like two to three times a day and that,
but like for seven months. The thing was it was
it was the length of it because I threw up
seven months. If I didn't have my zofran, I would
throw up, and then zofran makes you incredibly constivated, so

(31:53):
I would try not to because I was telling oh
my god, I was telling you bad a couple of
days ago, because we're talking about how on Bachelor in
Paradise to talk constipation.

Speaker 4 (32:01):
Did you get constipated there? No?

Speaker 3 (32:04):
Yeah, people do.

Speaker 2 (32:05):
I was fine there, Like Jade went eight days without propees. Yeah,
which there people are gonna be like, actually, Ben, why
do you talk about this so much? But yeah, she
went eight days there, But I had gone eight days
with doferin in preg pregnancy.

Speaker 4 (32:18):
No I would have so there's no way. Yeah, but
aren't you so stuffy like.

Speaker 2 (32:26):
Like yes, but but it wasn't. There was this one
moment on the toilet. It was really only one where
I was like, this has got to be worse than
giving birth. And to be quite honest, it was worse
than giving birth.

Speaker 1 (32:39):
You know.

Speaker 2 (32:39):
Well, I had an epidural like the second I got
in the delivery room, so I don't know how it
would go naturally, I mean, unmedicatedly.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
Yeah, but yeah, so it was bad. It was very bad.

Speaker 2 (32:51):
So I tried not to take the doperin as if
there was a day where I was like, ah, I'm
not feeling great, but like I think I could get
through the day. You know, I would try as long
as I could. But then MiraLax was all so fantastic
once I discovered that, And anyway, my problem long winded answer,
but my problem was drinking, so like any sort of
sip of anything would make me run to the bathroom immediately.

(33:14):
So I was on an iv for like sixteen weeks.

Speaker 4 (33:18):
What so was your dad able to hook you up to?

Speaker 3 (33:20):
My dad?

Speaker 1 (33:21):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (33:21):
So I was able to stay again.

Speaker 2 (33:23):
Like another thing that really scares me about this pregnancy
with Dawson, obviously, I I'm not gonna we can't live
in my parents' house for sixteen weeks, like because Jared
is not gonna fly Like I'm not gonna my Jared's
not gonna stay there for sixteen weeks.

Speaker 3 (33:35):
He can't because of work.

Speaker 2 (33:36):
So yeah, yeah, so I was luckily hooked up at
home my guy I was able to provide us with
all the IVY bags.

Speaker 3 (33:44):
My dad would do it from the couch, which that.

Speaker 4 (33:46):
Is so nice. I actually saw your chat with your dad.

Speaker 6 (33:52):
One.

Speaker 3 (33:52):
Yeah, yes, I.

Speaker 4 (33:55):
My epidural I mean I got him both times, but
this time was so uncomfortable because I was so itchy.
I could not itchy. I was so itchy. You've got
to ask him about that, Okay, Like it was awful.
I just could not. I'm like, oh, it was bad.
But theids in it.

Speaker 2 (34:15):
Yeah, A lot of people get freaked out at that.

Speaker 4 (34:18):
And so I'm like, I could never be a drug
addict because I would just be like constantly scratching myself.
This is awful. But yeah, I don't remember it the
first time, but this last time it was. And they
were able to give me a medication to help with it.
But I mean I was scratching like there, I was
like almost bleeding because I was so itchy.

Speaker 2 (34:39):
Holy moly, how would that take that? That take your
your head out of the idea that there was a
baby coming out of you?

Speaker 4 (34:46):
I mean, I mean, yeah, maybe it wasn't good distraction.
That's true. That is true. That's a nice way to
spins on it.

Speaker 2 (34:55):
We don't have much time, but I do want to,
you know, revisit the fact that it's been nine years
since we were on this show show.

Speaker 3 (35:00):
Yes, how do you look back on it now?

Speaker 2 (35:03):
Nine years? I mean you and Chris didn't. You weren't
together long. No, No, But like do you look back
on it fondly still or some parts?

Speaker 4 (35:13):
Yeah, some parts I do. I mean I think there
is a lot of PTSD for me. I mean I'm
not even just throwing that out there, you know, casually
as a just term. But I really struggled with some
parts of it. But I think that I almost it
was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I miss,

(35:37):
you know, being with the girls and the fun times
and the opportunities that we got to do really cool
things and go cool places, some cool places. But that
I do miss, But other parts I don't. I don't
think I'm made for TV.

Speaker 2 (35:53):
So well, you did a great job when you were there.

Speaker 4 (35:56):
Cool, thank you.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
I just it yourself through and through. You're always calm, seeming.

Speaker 4 (36:02):
I was not calm.

Speaker 3 (36:03):
I always thought you seem calm.

Speaker 4 (36:05):
Oh my god, I was not calm.

Speaker 2 (36:07):
But well I wasn't there for the very end of
it though, Like I was only there for I was
there for.

Speaker 4 (36:10):
Your first half, there for the majority.

Speaker 2 (36:14):
No, I was there for literally one month and then
you were there for an entire month. Because you know
how that first like, yeah, I got to be like
six or whatever you want to call it, six seventh eight,
that was the week that I was eliminated. But you
got that whole second half of the show is so
much longer, Yeah, because your week's actually become weeks.

Speaker 4 (36:34):
Right.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
Do you do you look like, how do you look
back and think about that engagement moment, Like do you
like think it's crazy that you thought that that would
be like your partner for life?

Speaker 4 (36:46):
Crazy? Yeah, but I think we're just I mean, and
when I was in it, it was so real, but
coming out of it, it was we were just in
such a bubble, you know, so I'm able to kind
of step outside of that bubble obviously being almost a
decade out to be like that, I was completely drinking
kool egg. I mean, that's I really was in my mind.

(37:08):
I really did think like this is this is it?
And you know, on the outside of that, I'm like,
how did I ever think that there was just it
was just not a good match.

Speaker 2 (37:17):
Yeah. And then the last question is Dancing with the
Stars was a big like part of the ending, Like
you guys would have ended it either way.

Speaker 4 (37:24):
But either way, but I think that sped it up up.

Speaker 2 (37:29):
So advice to Charity and Dowton and any other bachelor
couples that partake in that experience.

Speaker 4 (37:39):
I think it's hard coming straight off the show and
going right into that. You know, you look at Caitlin,
who she was had more of an established relationship going
into it. I think that's better than I guess for
me at that time, how I felt, I remember this
so vividly, is that I had just spent however many

(38:00):
months on a show, competing with other women to get
this guy's attention, and you finally get to where you
can be out in public. And I felt like that's
what I was continuing to do with Dancing with the Stars,
is that it was just there was so much time.
I felt like I was just competing to get attention

(38:21):
and it was like, this is not It was just
it was brutal. It was bad. So I would say
for anyone coming off of the show, is just to
make sure that you make time for each other because
it is very time consuming. It's very demanding, as you know,
being on the show and the practices, and I can't
imagine having to be in front of a national audience

(38:41):
dancing live. I mean, that's stressing to you, it's just crazy.
So I get the stress that that entails me. You
want to practice and like be the best that you
can be, but just not to forget about your person.
All right.

Speaker 2 (38:56):
Well Waitnie, thank you for giving us your time. It
is truly precious. In the situation, I'm trying.

Speaker 4 (39:05):
To think of the last time I saw you. Was
it Carly's wedding?

Speaker 2 (39:10):
Oh my gosh, yeah, I think so. Well, uh, this
makes me miss you and I'm so grateful for you
coming on and just telling us all like the know,
the intimate details.

Speaker 4 (39:25):
Yeah, yeah, and I appreciate it and good luck to you.

Speaker 3 (39:29):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (39:29):
I might I might be texting you and being like, listen,
should questions.

Speaker 3 (39:35):
You just text me all right bye?

Speaker 2 (39:38):
Thank you bye.

Speaker 1 (39:41):
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