May 6, 2021 • 47 mins
In the season four opener, Katie Lowes catches up with actress, singer, and brand new mama Kat McPhee Foster to hear all about her journey to parenthood with her husband David Foster.
Kat reveals all that went down (and came up) in her delivery room, how her son’s name was chosen, and how her pregnancy impacted her relationship with her body.
Plus, Kat offers perhaps the most practical advice in Katie’s Crib history that new mamas will definitely want to drink up!
Crib Notes:
Country Comfort – Series starring Kat McPhee Foster. Available now on Netflix.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Katie's Crib, a production of Shonda land Audio
in partnership with I Heart Radio. I was in early contractions,
but it was still really painful. And I look up
and my husband's just like full on eating a cheeseburger. Hi, everybody,
(00:22):
it's Katie Lows. Welcome to the fourth season of Katie's Crib.
And for the past few months, I have been endlessly
negotiating with my toddler, the three nature Albie. I have
been babbling with my newborn daughter, Vera. I've been getting vaccinated.
I've been getting out of my sweats aka my quarantine uniform.
I've been getting into character for a few new projects.
(00:43):
And basically I couldn't be more excited to be sitting
back in my closet, the one part of the house
that has locks on the door, talking with you guys.
So much has happened over this brief hiatus, some of
which inspired topics that actually I'm in all to see
a little bit nervous about, but ultimately I am very
much looking forward to sharing with you and to dig
(01:05):
into this season. I want season four to provide you
guys with joy and laughter. It has been a very,
very tough time for a lot of people, and I
want us to come together, come back to our Katie's
Crib community, laugh, and have a damn good time. So
pour yourself a drink, sit down, take a breath, listen,
and get into the new season of Katie's Crib. I'm
(01:30):
so excited about today's guest. It's come on. It's really
just a hang sash, That's what it is. It's with
me and my girl, Kat McPhee Foster. I made my
Broadway debut with her in the amazing musical written by
Sarah Burrelli's waitress, and Cat and I have been We've
been friends just ever since. She just became a mom
like two seconds ago. And by two seconds ago, I
(01:50):
mean like a few months by the time of this
podcast airing, and I was like, we gotta have Cat
open season four. I hadn't talked to her yet, and
I just wanted to hear all about her birth story
or in her pregnancy and the whole situation in the
realist dealist form. So here she is Cat McPhee Foster.
You know Cat as an actress, singer, songwriter, and philanthropist.
(02:12):
You may also know her from the fifth season of
American Idol. She has like a huge acting list, CBS
drama Scorpion, the musical drama Smash, which is me and
Adam's favorite. She's been on everything cs I in New York, Guys,
Hello Family, Guy, The House Bunny. She starts on the
new Netflix comedy series Country Comfort. She sings an axe
on it, so be sure to check that out. And
(02:33):
she is married to the now sixteen Grammy Award winner
producer David Foster. And of course they just introduced their
son Renny, into the world in February. Cat Welcome to
Katie's Crib. How you handheld walked me through my Broadway debut.
I have never been so scared in my entire life.
(02:55):
You were the Jenna to um wait, oh my god, mom, brain,
what the heck was my character? His name again, Dawn?
I might have just tuned it all out because I
was so scared. But you're a mom. Now I'm a mom.
Now we're both moms. Well you were already a mom
when I met you, but now you're a two time mom.
I have to say, did you always know you wanted
(03:18):
to be a mom? Because this is so interesting, But
I actually don't have a lot of friends that I
would describe as maternal, and you are one of them, Like, like,
you were always such a caretaker, and um, you're so
good at empathy and and all of these things that
supposed to make a good mom. So have you always
wanted to be a mom? Yeah? I have. I've always
(03:40):
wanted to be a mom. I got married really young,
but that didn't work out, and then I hit my
thirties and I was just like doing that single thing,
and every year that would go by, I would think
I didn't find somebody. This guy's not right, that guy's
not right, and I would get sad because I was
just like, oh my god, I'm I'm such a like natural,
I'm really comfortable around baby these And I just couldn't
(04:01):
believe that I was the girl that grew up wanting
to have kids, even fantasizing about my babies from when
I was a kid, which is you know, some girls
are like that, some girls are not. My sister was
completely not like that. Absolutely. That's why I was always
like so like I felt that vibe from you, Like
I was like, Wow, I'm so lucky that she's like
caretaking me when I'm losing my mind. Were so awesome
(04:25):
and yeah, just I guess from when I was little,
I always just felt natural around babies. I always wanted
to be in the My mom would sing at this
church every Sunday. It was like not a religious experience,
it was like for she was paid as a singer
to sing, and I would go with her and I
would want to be in the nursery because I wanted
to be around the baby. So I finally got my baby. Wait,
so wait, you always wanted to be a mom? You
(04:48):
end up not finding the person you wanted to make
that decision with. Did you ever decide like, oh I
should freeze my eggs or anything like that, or you
were like it came in the nick of time. The
whole the man of your dreams line up when you
asked that, because my doctor, who I love, um when
I was twenty eight, I was going through divorce. It
was really tumultuous experience. It was like, no, you know,
(05:10):
it was some of my low lows and my adult
life and I was like literally in the stirrups doing
a check up and you know, crying to her about like,
you know, my shitty circumstances and shitty choices that I
made and um, it was a straight of a movie.
This sounds like if I'm picturing her in a bad way,
but she was just more of a classic movement where
I like, my legs are distur up, cheers coming down
(05:31):
my eyes and she's like, well, you might want to
consider freezing your eggs And I was like what what? No? Um?
And I was very very against that, Like I just
I wasn't open to the idea at all. It just
for me, it was upsetting the reality of that, you know. Um.
But as I got older, I understood why so many
(05:54):
women use it as an insurance, right, Like it gives
us the power to to have time and have a
career if we want you and to wait for that
special person. Um. So I changed my view on it,
obviously a lot later, but I was mortified. I was like,
I'm I felt like, how are the funk Are we
already having this conversation? Like I'm like a baby, like
absolutely not. Okay, So you do find true love, you
(06:17):
finally have your baby, do you feel like you're good
it parented? I mean from here it definitely seems like
you are. Thanks. Yeah, I think the answer is yes.
But I also want to be careful not to sound like, oh,
I'm just I know it all, and because the reality
is I've I've learned so much and there's things that
I didn't expect. But for the most part, it's been
a total dream. I've been really lucky. The pregnancy was
(06:40):
not as romantic. That's the one thing that I, um,
I fantasize as well about as a young girl like
and a teenager and a young adult like I can't
wait to be pregnant. I don't feel so beautiful, and
I didn't really feel that way throughout most of it,
but I will say from the last month of pregnancy,
I felt so good. I felt strong, long and energized.
(07:01):
And then to going into the doctor's office and realizing
that she needed to induce me. I was like the
four days past my due day, but she needed to
induce me because my fluid level got really low and
dangerously low, and marconium was in the fluid and all
that stuff. But um to that being induced, to laboring
down as long as I wanted to, getting to experience
(07:21):
the pain and having we have so many things in coming.
I know we have the same Dulah Rebecca Benonatti, who
has been on Katie's crib twice. She's the best. She
was my sister's. So the pregnancy wasn't all unicorns, daisies frolicking.
Was there any hiccups or anything out of the ordinary
or was it like a pretty um No, it was
pretty like run of the mill, run of the mill pregnancy.
(07:45):
It was I'm trying to think, you know, I got that, like,
what's that thing that only pregnant women get? Is it strepped?
B oh? Yeah? And Pete, we should talk about that.
We've not talked about that a lot on this Actually,
I don't think we've ever talked about on this post.
But there's not I mean, there's not really that much
to talk about. But I remember when my doctor said, hey,
just so you know, like your cultures came back and
(08:07):
we're gonna have to you have the strep B whatever.
And I was like, what what you know? So I
thought it sounded so horrible and she's like, it's literally
not a big deal. I was thinking it would interrupt
like having a natural child birth or whatever, and they
literally just give you antibiotics before you give birth to
your baby. Yeah, it's basically like and I and I
know this because I had another friend who also had it.
(08:28):
But when you get towards the very end, they do
a little cotton swab around your butt and your vagina
that you don't even say. You're so swollen, you don't
even know what. I actually got mine really early on,
so I knew really early. Yeah you did. Yeah, I don't.
I mean I got mine in the first trimester, so
something new every day. I didn't even know that was possible. Yeah,
(08:49):
it was. It's it's like something you're carrying. It's like
some bacteria that it's not harmful to you at all,
and like it doesn't necessarily mean you'll have it for
your next pregnancies, but like you could pass it to
your baby and it could be harmful to your baby basically,
But like they only just pump you with antibiotics before
you give birth and it's fine, And it's basically only
if the baby gets stuck in the canal or an
endless amount of time. They don't want the bacteria that
(09:11):
you wouldn't have even known about. It's literally in the
acautionary Yeah, it's a precautionary thing. So when in the
head block, when you're hooked up to everything, they put
an antibiotic in there. You don't even know, like it
makes no difference. Literally didn't even know. So, I mean
that's the only slightly unusual thing about But yeah, everything.
I mean, I felt super tired, super nauseous. Um. Yeah, okay,
(09:33):
So tell me your labor. Oh, how did how did
it go? Well? I mean, honestly, I was so blessed
from like the last month of pregnancy. I was kind
of already in labor because I was already two centimeters
and um, I was having a lot of cramping those
last few weeks leading up to it. So soon as
you broke my water, it was like I was in
full blown labor. They gave me like a tiny bit
(09:54):
of potosan, and I was Rebecca got there, you know,
and my husband got there because I was just win
for a doctor's appointment for like my checkup, right because
as I was only four or five days late, um,
and I said, oh, can I go home and get
like my I had my hair was okay, right, I
have like my hair. Everyone wants their hair blown out whatever.
But I had makeup on and I had my hospital
(10:16):
bag in the car. But what I didn't have was
my makeup back right, like as if I thought that
I was going to be able to like at least
have like a fresh face. You know those pictures of
those like pretty girls. Course of course mine are horrible,
but yes, I think those are pictures of girls who
had no judgment, but girls who had a C section,
who literally didn't have to like sweat and scream and
push the entire time. Right. Yeah, one of my best
(10:37):
friends had a scheduled C section and we were like
talking endlessly about like, okay, let's just do with like
one layer of messcarra like a nice like like a
tinted foundation and a little bit of a lip. It
looks like you're not wearing makeup, but like you are.
You're not wearing you don't want to look too perfect. Yes,
but I literally thought that I could, you know, get
(10:57):
my doctor just like me. And she's like, no, I'm
not gonna let you go home. I need to wheel
you to the hospital. Now. I was like, okay, that's
that's fine. Did you cry? No, you were fine. I
was excited. I was like, okay, let's do this. And
then um, I got into some serious contractions and I
was literally shifting my brains out on the toilet at
least it was on the table. I mean, I was
really intense. I labored on the toilet too. I remember
(11:19):
laboring with Albion on the toilet, ripping onto the handicap
rail as if my fucking life depended. It was awful.
I probably labored on there for like a good hour
by myself, like in Rebecca w and knock on the
door and I'm like, I'm good, good, I don't want
me to come in here. Um, And then I mean
it was incredible. It got really intense. I was just
(11:39):
exactly what I wanted. I wanted to labor, and I
wanted to like really feel. Not that I was like
going to throw my badge of honor around other people,
because it really doesn't matter as long as you have
a safe, healthy baby, and but it is important for
each individual person to hopefully try and get their dream scenario.
And mine was to like really labor as long as
I could. I didn't want to have to have any complications.
And that's exactly what happened. Like after one contraction was
(12:01):
really intense, my husband and Rebecca they said you can
go again. I think you can go another half hour,
and I was like okay, okay, um, I had never
felt something so wild before. My whole body was really intense.
Like the way I explain it is when you know
those kind of like hurricane sirens go off. Although we
don't live in like the Midwest or Florida, Like to me,
(12:25):
that's what I had in my mind. Like, of course,
to you it felt like a sound, because you're you're
a musical genius and you know music more than anything.
Of course you would equate something physical to life and
entire hurricane siren going off. It starts off like low
and slow, and then it ramps up, and then it's bizarre.
You just think you're not gonna make it, and then
(12:46):
it starts to taper off, and then it's like fine
for one minute, and then you start to feel it
ramp up again, the most insane, insane feeling um and
then this guy into this amazing epidural and it took
like another fifteen minutes to kick in, and then I
felt incredible. After it was over, and I was already
eight centimeters. They checked me right after, and I was like,
oh my god, we're so excited. Me and Rebecca like
(13:08):
gave each other five. I was so excited because I
was going to start pushing in like an hour, so
all it was like seven hours of like, wow, this
is such a beautiful story. And I love hearing ones
like this because obviously there's a lot of situations that
can be traumatic, it can be a lot of things
that happened, but for people who are listening who have
never had a baby before, it's also an option for
everything to just go fine. I think it's great for
(13:31):
people to hear for the people listening that want something
like what I had to know that it's possible, right
Like I had that total dream. I got to labor,
I got the eper jural, I got and got the
best of both worlds, and then I had to um
start pushing, and I had this army of women come
in and it was the coolest thing. UM actually have
one funny story of my husband. I was in early contractions,
(13:52):
but it was still really painful, and you know, there's
some couple of people coming in out of the room
and it was just me and Rebecca and David and
UM was being great, but was mostly we're back to
doing like the counter pressure. And there was like someone
who came and willed food in or whatever, because they
have to bring food and legally and I'm just like
totally in it. And I look up and my husband's
just like full on eating a cheeseburger. It was straight
(14:15):
out of a movie, just like how it was when
my doctor told me to freeze my eggs and I
was twenty eight straight of the movie where you look
up and you're like, are you freaking kidding me? You're
eating a cheel Like I'm here blowing my breaking my
body in half, and you're just enjoying your cheese. She's
so glad that you're getting your much needed nutrients. Like
it was. I mean, he was, he was great, but
it was just like a funny moment in my mind. Yeah,
(14:37):
we had the same I was like laboring and Adam
had like a red eye and a nurse noticed it,
and then all of a sudden, all the nurses were
gone because everyone was looking for vizine for him. And
I was like, is this a fucking joke, But like
everyone's looking for vizine because you have a little bit
of like redness, like I'm literally here, uh like about
(14:57):
you know, elde Yeah, I did have in the middle
of a contraction, all of a sudden, I said, this
is like The most gnarly part was I said to everybody,
was like, oh my god, I'm going to throw up.
And before I could finish my sentence, because I knew
there was a bag on my right side and David
was on my right side, and I saw him out
of my profiel turned get it, and I knew it
(15:18):
wasn't It was gonna be too late, and I literally
projectile all over. The went the back of me and
the four the front of me. No way, and I
saw David get up and go walk towards the other corner,
and so my doctor went over to him, sort of
the same thing with the red eye. I was like, David, David,
I'm like literally still gagging, like choking, because I was
afraid he was going to pass out. Rebecca said it
(15:39):
was the craziest exorcist bile green that she'd ever seen.
She was like, it was so gnarly. Why do you
why does that happen? Did you ever find out? No?
I didn't, but well, I think it's the hormones, but
also the probably like the potosan and the epidural because
when I threw this is so two people want to
hear this. Yes, we get reeled and dirty in this Yeah,
(16:02):
tasted like medicine. It tasted like it was the stuff
that was coming out of my blood right like it
was in my blood. Was maybe the antibiotics from the
strappy situation. Honey. It was definitely violent, was really really gross.
But um, Sherry Ross, my doctor gets up and she's
attending to him, and I was like in the middle
of the contraction, right, so they're trying to clean me
up and like get me focused again, Like Katherine, don't
(16:24):
worry about him, stay focused. I'm like David, David the same.
Adam is like he was a fainter from needles or
blood or anything. So for both my children, when the
epidural part comes, he exits and hides in the bathroom
or goes and gets food. But like our sensitive, loving
germophobic sensitive boys, David doesn't take elevators. So I was,
(16:47):
I mean, he's I was very impressed though with his
ability to kind of like he got We have tons
of videos he got down dirty, like watched the whole
thing he did totally. Did you have conversations in advance
where you were like, you're allowed to look at my
vagina or you're not. Um, Yeah, of course we did.
I was more just like curious, like where you going
to look? Are you gonna look? And he's like, I'm
(17:08):
not sure, I'm not sure. So but he did. And
we've like watched the videos back. It's just like the
most insane thing to watch because it's just a miracle
and it's not you, like Adam calls me a transformer.
Adam looked and at first, you know, before we were
in the labor room, I was like, just don't look
to stay up at me like I wanted to have sex,
want to have sex with my vagina like ever again.
(17:29):
And and he said he caught a glance of it
with our first child and then looked and was everything.
But he said his first glance, he was like, Katie,
it wasn't even like I was looking at your vagina
like He's like, your body literally transformed. I mean your
hips spaced out ten centimeters. It doesn't look like anything
I've seen it to look like. And I was like, Okay, well,
(17:50):
I guess that makes me feel I guess sexier. I
don't know. It's it's so true to like there's some
men who have like a weird thing with their spouse
or their partner after, I feel really bad for them,
because they shouldn't. It should be like a dissociation. It
shouldn't be It's not a sexual thing, right, So it's
it's a it's a complete a miracle. How was pushing? Um,
(18:12):
it was a lot harder than I thought. I mean,
I would say, um that the pushing is like more
awful than the pain, which was funny because it's like
our body is just naturally forget. I mean, the pain
was really wild and insane. I'm not trying to but
the pushing was even though I couldn't feel anything, I
couldn't feel pressure, so it's really hard for me. It
was two hours of pushing. No, yeah, I was. I
(18:34):
was pretty tired, and she was like really close to vacuuming,
and then after vacuuming you have to see section right,
So but I got lucky and it all worked out.
But did you have awareness that it was two and
a half hours. I felt that it was long. I
felt that it was starting to go long, you know,
and um, every time I pushed, I couldn't look back,
but I could see that they were watching the heartbeat.
Nothing ever, like got really crazy where it dropped really
(18:56):
low or anything but I felt that they were not
super happy with the outcome of what was like the
progression of the head and all that stuff. So I
was a little bit worried, but I was so kind
of focused, and I was really just high off of
the adrenaline of all these women just cheering me on,
just incredible cheerleaders. So that was really really special. Yeah, okay,
(19:26):
I want to hear how you came up with the name.
Oh yeah, I want to hear. Was it love at
first sight? Was it a slow burn? Tell me all
about the first minutes in first days? Okay, well, definitely
a slow burn. We've known. We met each other when
I was a contestant on American Idol and he and
Andrea Buchelli were the guest mentors. This was back in
two thousand six, season five, so um we were. You know,
(19:50):
he produced one of my first singles that I did
with when I was with our c a um. But
you know, the age difference is pretty pretty well. Oh wait, no,
not with David. I love this story, but no, wait,
what are you talking about your son? Oh? My son?
Was it a slow bro? I love this though. I'm like,
I'm like listening and I'm like I know this story,
(20:10):
and I was like, oh, all the age difference between
me and my son is quite as quite a you know,
I was not clear. This is my fault. Tell me
about when you first met your son. Okay, when I
first met Rennie. Um, Well, let me just talk about
the name first. So we were Our favorite names were Luke,
(20:31):
Lucas um, what was the other one? I also loved
Noah um. And then there was Lincoln. We're like, really
like Lincoln because Lincoln's birthday obviously President lincoln birthday was
February sixteenth or something or seventeen, I can't remember. And
so we're like, oh, he's born early on lincoln birthday,
will name whatever. So that didn't happen, but we still
(20:53):
like the name. We thought like, hey, link Foster right, um,
such a good name. And so we still haven't decided.
We were just like one of those those parents were
we want to meet him. So I Gottennapi Darle finished.
It was already eight centimeters and I was feeling much better,
and David had been messaging people all day long. So
he's so excited, you know, like his family and his friends,
and so he said, oh, I'm on an interesting text
(21:14):
chain with my sisters and he's he's got five sisters now,
his six sisters, but once passed away. Um, and they
were all kind of talking about the name, and David's like,
we haven't decided yet, and she said, well, have you
ever thought about Rennie Rennie Foster? That was our great
great grandfather's name and our great uncle's name. So they
named him another one of their relatives. Um. He died
when he was two, but like back in the day,
(21:36):
like a really old old name. And when he said it,
like my birth my sister brought up Rennie Foster, like, hey,
rend Foster, and I turned my head. He was on
my right again, and I was just like, oh my god,
that's such a cool name. I've never I've never heard
that name before. I just thought it was when he
said hi, rend Foster, I was like, WHOA, that's really strong.
The baby was born and I wasn't even thinking about
(21:58):
the name. I was just thinking about how cute he was,
even though you look back at the pictures and you're
like you were totally cross eyed and looked like an alien,
but I thought you were cute. Did he have a
cone head? He didn't really a little bit, but he
not too bad. Actually, surprisingly it was not as bad
as some cone heads that but he has a pretty
like you know, pretty round head. Anyway, they told me
(22:19):
that when he was in utero, like, well he's a
really round head. Wow, you know, so it might have.
I was like, oh, that's going to change when he
comes out there, Like no, I don't necessarily. Um so
you knew the minute David Foster says his Rennie Foster,
and he said, and you were like, Wren, it was
just you knew, you knew in your gut. It was
like I wanted a name that yes, I love the
name Luke, but it didn't mean anything to me, like
(22:41):
it wasn't I didn't have some history with the with
the name. And so when he said it, it sparked
like it did something to me internally, and it just
also had meaning right to his family, connected to his family.
Um so that was really what it was. And then
of course, like I for me, it wasn't a slow burn.
I was madly in love with him right away. I
was just I kind of knew that I would feel
(23:02):
that way. But some my my one of my best girlfriends,
said like she didn't feel that way. I didn't feel
that way with I didn't. Yeah, no, oh my god.
I was like, so like, what is this stranger? I
mean that must be such a wild feeling in itself.
Oh yeah, because you're like, oh shit, I don't feel
like I feel like I'm supposed to be feeling more
than I do and I don't know why and it.
(23:24):
I kind of felt better about it with the second
kid because I was used to it on the first
where I was like, oh, I think I'm just one
of those people that's like that motherhood has just been
down in the hole so slow burned for me. But um,
like my best friend Amy and you like, there are
some women who literally lock eyes on the baby and
it's like it's a lightning bolt. Like I'm always careful
(23:44):
like around um, even before I had a baby, I
was always cognizant of being careful to like project how
I felt about being a mom, because you know, not
everybody like I had no baby blues this whole time,
in like today, I've actually been had baby blues right
like I've had I woke up this morning it was
much lower than I've been. I think my milk supply
went down, so the hormones drop. And I'm glad you
(24:08):
know all these things because I think there are a
lot of women that don't. My sister really really struggled
with postpartum in like a really bad way, and so
I was never would have been aware of it at all.
Hadn't it been something that like affected our family. You know,
that was really a big struggle for her. And she's
doing great, but um, it was really really hard for her,
and so for me and my mom, because my mom's like,
(24:30):
you're going to be like how I was. My mom
was the second she saw her babies, me and my sister,
she was madly in love and it felt easier to
her and um breastfeeding. She loved it. And it's all
the same things that are true for me. Um, But
for my sister it wasn't that way. She's such a
great mom. She loves being a mom. It's just like
(24:50):
there's a slow burn for some people, yeah, or like
a rough start or their hormones really affect people, um
all differently. So you felt loved first. How does David
feel about having a boy? Oh? My god, he loves it.
I mean, he loves this kid. It's so your I mean,
your parents gonna love every kid you have. But it's
been a long time since had a little baby in
(25:10):
his house. And he is just so cute with him.
And I always ask him every day they do you
love him? Baby? Do you love him? He goes, Okay, Um,
how's it being a step mom? I hear your stepdaughters
are like you guys are all super tight, and they're like,
(25:31):
how is our mom so hot? How have they taken
to Rennie? They make those jokes a lot. It's really funny.
It's been really nice because we're living in this condo
here um in l A. We're building a house, but
it's like a waze away and down the hallway. David
owns the unit next to us, and he had renters
in there for a long time and they moved out
during COVID, and so it's the first time he's not
(25:52):
not how to rent it out. And his youngest daughter, Jordan,
who's like a year younger than me. I think she's
got two kids, um and great husband. And so we
were trying to sell the place next door, but in
the meantime, like, come stay here with us. They live
in New York City. The COVID was really bad, there
and at least here they can enjoy them nice weather outside.
So they've been here since um last November that which
(26:14):
they they're still here. They're going to stay through June
and then they're gonna go back to New York. But
it's been so nice. Um. I love all of them,
but particularly Jordan's because she's a mom of two young
kids and we literally have a hallway and Otto, who
is frequently on Aaron's Instagram, and Jordan's his mom's um
comes running down the hallway and Juny is only ten
(26:38):
months apart from my son as well as my nephew.
They're both all tenzing so um and it was just great,
like I love having them there, and it's really kind
of like feels like just a family sister early type thing.
And it was really nice because I was having another
like little mommy blues thing, so I was like opening
boxes in this foy. I just sitting on the ground
(27:00):
and we'd just come back from driving in the desert
and it was just you know, keeping a baby happy
for two hours in the car. It's just like a
little stressful and um, yeah, impossible. And she came in
and um okay, I said, heh yeah, I'm just I'm
just tired. And then she said something to me and
I totally just started like weeping and crying, and she
gave me the biggest hug and just said, Cat, I'm
(27:22):
so sorry. Being a mom is no joke. She looked
at me and said, like, even when you have this
like picture perfect I say that in quotations like experience
of being a mom and the baby's sleeping really well
and feeding really well and you had a perfect whatever,
She's like, it's still no joke, and it's still a
huge identity shift. It's still such an identity shift. And also,
you know, you're at two months. You know, it's a
(27:44):
little bit of the honeymoon phase is ending. This is
what your life looks like now, and it's really exciting,
but it's really real and it's changed forever. Um, you know,
there's a lot to process and there's a lot to honor.
And yeah, so I have to say Jordan's wins for sure,
as like, you know, such a sweet little you know,
(28:05):
she's your favorite stepdaughter and my favorite stepdaughter. They've all
really been great, and it was just it's been nice
to have someone literally like a sister next door gets
on her knees and gives you a big hug when
you cry. Um, yeah, how old is Renny now? He
(28:30):
is two months in two days. Oh, it just makes
me laugh when I see your reaction. Well, it's that's amazing.
You're doing so well. And also, yeah, like I felt
such a fall off around breastfeeding, to be honest, Like
(28:53):
I remember sobbing in the waitress dressing room because I
got the call that I had to stop breastfeeding because
I out of staff infection in the subways of New
York City and I had to go on so many
different antibiotics in the dirty w No, I don't care, no, No,
I had like like on my side, it traveled down
a hair following and it was a really weird looking
(29:15):
pimple and they kind of open and they cultured and
they were like you have MERSA, which is like the
most deadliest staff and oh my gosh, and there was
a huge breakout. Um, never would have known this. You
were such a professional. No, I never called out for
like it was awful, and but I had to stop breastfeeding,
and it's just like, you know, I had a huge
(29:37):
hormone drop off. Then I sobbed, like crazy. My other
friend who's been on this podcast, um jen Fitting, and
she got postpartum blues around like six months when she
stopped breastfeeding. So there are a lot of hormones in play.
But good Lord, like for you to be where you're
at it two months and two weeks or whatever is great. Well,
my doctor didn't say it was that, like, if you're
(29:58):
going to have some serious postpart him stuff, it's usually
reveals itself within the first two weeks, you know. But
that being said, it doesn't mean that two months, three months,
four months later, even six months, you're not going to
feel some sort of Your hormones are constantly changing, do
you know? Um squirrel Mamas. She goes by Mama Seuss
her company, but she's her name is Desiree, and she's
this incredible missus who kind of worked, who works with
(30:18):
all new minds. I don't know. I don't know this,
so she doesn't. She's incredible. Her hands are like unbelievable.
But yesterday she came to my house and she works
on newborn babies too. She massage them because they're all
like really tight in your row. And yesterday morning I
woke up and I felt kind of bloated, and I
was like, oh, that's so weird. I haven't felt that
in so long, like you know, um menstrual cycle type
(30:38):
stuff like before you get your period. That was before
she came, and I just thought to myself, that's interesting,
I haven't had that in a long time. And then
she's massaging me and she's like, you know, you're ovulating
on your left side and I was like what, and
she's yeah, yeah, you're you're totally obulating obvulating here. I
was like, oh my god, that makes total sense that
I was bloated and that my hormones are like starting
to change. She's exactly right, that's exactly what that is.
(30:59):
And also how people get pregnant while their breastfeeding and
they think that they can't, but you can, even though
you don't have your period yet, you guys, you can
still ovulate and you can still think totally get pregnant.
I was like, to watch out. That would be the
most insane. I said, desert, like, there's no way someone
could have a baby and then two months later get pregnant.
She's like, oh, yeah, it happened. That's called Irish twins.
(31:21):
They are nine to ten months apart. It's like literally
getting pregnant, like the first time you're like allowed to
have sex again. It's insane, it would be. How is
breastfeeding going? It's going great. Um. Another mommy friend was
just like, you're so lucky to have a good supply
and dada and have him latch properly. And I was
(31:41):
just like, I know, I'm so lucky. I've just been
so lucky. Um, he's a big baby. How how big
was he when he was born? He wasn't actually as
big as they told me he was going to be.
He was seven pounds ten ounces. Oh that's big for
a first baby. It's a big but I was eight pounds.
My sister's baby were nine pounds, so I was like,
those to me were big babies, right, Like nine pounds
were big. So I was like, oh, he's under eight pounds.
(32:02):
It wasn't that big. But that being said, he's grown
really fast, so she he's probably almost fourteen pounds now. Wow.
Ready he's in the pile and height right right, So
he's gonna be he's a big boy. But you know,
he's hungry. And I have a really lovely baby nurse
who is obviously it's her specialty to know what to
(32:24):
do with babies, and for me because someone who I
felt like I'm maternal and kind of like naturally know
what to do some things I didn't know. Um, one
of the things I would never have done is like
supplemented with formula, right because, UM, I would have this
thing like I can't give my baby formula. You know,
I can't give him so she had said me, he's hungry,
Like he's going to sleep longer through the night if you,
(32:45):
you know, top him up, which was kind of hard
for me because I didn't love that idea. UM. I
think it's always hard for moms with anything when they
have something in their mind, like how they want something
to go, and you never know what's going to trigger you.
Like I was super triggered by formula to my sister
in law my other friend, Like, that's not a problem
for them. Just because you're giving formula doesn't negate that
(33:07):
you're giving them breast milk. Also, do you know what
I mean? Like, it doesn't all of a sudden cancel out.
It doesn't. It doesn't. But the thing that's happened to
me that I think it's an interesting thing to share
is helping. Well. The first I don't know six weeks,
I was doing like the middle of the night feeding
and then getting up four hours later. He was quite
and he's always been pretty good. He's always gone like
(33:27):
three or four hours. So I've been tired, right, But
I've like not been asked tired because I lovely help
and stuff like that. But as I started to add
in supplementing, right, like, I've not been getting up for
the middle of the night feed, which is funny because
I'm still just trying to be tired. For two years,
I started up at six six thirty after I've had
like a whole night's sleep, and I'm still tired. Um.
(33:49):
But I've noticed that when he wakes up at six
three year seven to eat, he's not ravenous, right. So
I don't realize it until today or yesterday that I
didn't realize it would affect my my milk supply, and
my milk supply has gone down, which is then what's
changed my hormones and has made me a lot more
emotional and upset that I'm not having as much supply,
but also just emotionally. Um, you can affect your milk
(34:13):
supply when you start doing that. So and it's not
that I wasn't pumping, but I don't think I was
pumping as much. UM, And I realized I kind of
just probably need to do the middle of the night feed.
And you have to wait, what's important to you, Like
I'm still tired of the morning, so it doesn't really
matter to me that if I might as well just
get up in the middle of the night to pump
or feed him, um, to keep my milk supply up.
It depends on what battle, like, like how how long
(34:36):
you can sustain that. Like I pumped the middle of
the night feed with Albe till he was like three
months old. And then I was like, I'm it's also
to crash the car, like I cannot do this, and
so I stopped pumping in the middle of the night. Um.
It ended up kind of simultaneously happening where he also
(34:56):
stopped waking up in the middle of the night, and
I would to speed him at seven am, and then
as the second head finished, I would pump because yeah,
because you're so full from going all night that I
would get like an additional bottle out after like a
breastfeed session. But you'll figure it out. He's only two months,
(35:17):
and I've realized like, yeah, for me, it's a little
too early for me to not have that like supply
that I want. So I'm trying to get my milk
supply back up again. So we'll see how that goes.
But um, you can. Yeah, it's you'll It'll go down
and up. Breastfeeding is a full time job. So now
you've got three breastfeeding, being a mom, and also all
of your other ship. So you'll start to know, like, oh,
(35:43):
I didn't drink enough water today, because I'll have a
like I'll have a really low day and'd be like,
have I drinking any water? That's why the breast milk
is based in water. That's good to know because I
don't think I'm drinking enough water too. You know, you
drink some water. And also I mean for me, it sucks,
but breastfeeding and dieting do not go hand in hand.
(36:06):
You know, carry people who breastbed like I have friends
who are like the minute they started doing cardio and
was gone much gone. Because also waters leaving your body,
it sucks. Yeah, I haven't done any really working out
there a lot of walking, but also just running running
around a little bit too much, which is just doing
too much visiting too many people, Like I think the
(36:27):
exhaustion has lowered everything. So um, it's definitely affected things
and it's made it's bumped me out. So now I'm like, Okay,
that bums me out, So I have to that dotting
need to make important more of a priority. You're gonna
get a priority, and it's for a little bit and
then you'll adjust again. Also, you're in this sort of
window where he'll start eating food at six months and
(36:49):
you'll I know it's a lot, it's crazy, but you'll
start to feel less pressure about your supply because he's
going to be getting calories from a lot of different
things and your milk supply will go down. Yeah. Um,
how do you feel getting into body image stuff like
being in Hollywood being famous and and going through I mean,
(37:09):
it's kind of weird that you went through all these
body changes when all the spotlighting caps were kind of
on you. Although I just saw you an American idol
and you look thank you, Oh my god, Adam, and
I just watched you an American idol. Oh my god,
You're so cute. Well that was fun because it was
just fun to get out of the house and like
have hair and makeup and put on a pretty dress
and all that stuff. But you know, for me, because
(37:30):
COVID was so crazy during that, especially December November December,
when I was really the most pregnant and feeling pretty
good because um, that last time master, I had a
lot of energy. I didn't really you know, I didn't
really get to wear a bunch of I wasn't really
worried about fitting into stuff, you know. Um and uh, like,
I've just realized that the extra weight that I put
(37:53):
on through like the pregnancy isn't going to really come
off until I stopped breastfeeding. Like some people say the opposite,
like you'll fall off of you with breastfeed I'm like, actually,
I feel like everything's being You're like nodding your head,
going no way. I have a very small handful of
women who breastfed and more thinner than they ever were
be where they got pregnant, and fuck those ladies. And
(38:14):
I'm not talking about them because I said this to
their face. Me and the rest of the world. The
main stop breastfeeding three months after all of a sudden,
your body is like, I don't know what that is
but I I had a I couldn't lose the last
fifteen until I stopped breasting, right, yeah, and that's gonna
(38:34):
happen to me. Where I was before I got pregnant,
it is about fifteen pounds up from where I am,
and I'm just like, Okay, it's just not gonna go away. Color,
stop bread, but you look beautiful. And also I don't
even know what you're talking about. But okay, so I
wanted to ask, how have you been feeling in your
post pregnancy body? Um, you know, it hasn't bothered me
at all. In my mind post pregnancy, I've never felt
like more patient and more kind to myself because I
(38:58):
think I'm yeah, it's really nice. Um, because i think
I'm just in awe of what my body and our
bodies as women do. And I'm also just so obsessed
with something other than myself, right, I mean, like I'm
in love with something other than my hair and my
makeup and my clothes that at my fashion, clothes that
I want to wear. It's just like I don't care.
I want to, you know, I want to like look nice,
(39:21):
but if I don't fit into my size sixteens, you know,
like or even my twenty seven jeans, like I will
eventually or maybe I won't um or if I really
want to, I can, you know, So it's just not
today and it's maybe not tomorrow. But I really struggled
with my first trimester. I don't know why it was
so hard for me, because I look back at the
pictures of my like fifteen weeks, you know, there's like
(39:44):
a little tiny bump, and I'm like, oh my god,
you were so hard on yourself. Not because of the bump,
but I'm getting weight everywhere else, and I'm gonna be
one of those pregnant women that faces get huge and
their arms get heavy. And I gained fifteen pounds of
actual fat. It's like not a big deal. The first
trimester is really hard, I think in that way because
you feel like shit and you're eating like ship oh
(40:06):
my gosh, to feel better, you know what I mean,
because you're so nauseous and so you're just living on
bread and cheese or that's what I do. You just
feel gross, you don't feel yourself, you feel flu like,
you feel nauseous. The first trimester started to feel better.
Second trimester, I didn't feel as well as I wanted to,
you know, as quickly as I wanted to um. And
I went back to work, which was really interesting. Yeah,
(40:27):
we were let's talk about that. So the net, it's Netflix, right,
and I'm on this show called well, I I say, was,
but I am on a show until I hear further notice, yeah,
called Country Comfort And you were pregnant while you shot?
How did that feel? It was? It was interesting because
I was the first four episodes, was right before the pandemics.
I wasn't pregnant. I was like very lean, very thin, um.
(40:49):
And then I felt like most people during the pandemic,
even though I had an excuse I was pregnant, like
kind of came back and had gained like fifteen pounds,
so I was a little bit like worried. But then
at the same time I wasn't you know, um. But
the costume designer was incredible and it was kind of
fun to hide it. And the funny thing is, like
(41:10):
I was just I saw a girlfriend who is fifteen
weeks pregnant last night and she just popped right and
I'm like, oh, that's so cute. You think you popped right?
Like because I was the same way, Like I thought
that I had popped, and I was like really showing
and stuff. And if you watch the show, which I
would hope you do, how they recommend, yes, everybody watch.
It's just such a cute show. It's really sweet. Um,
(41:32):
I like look back at episode five, six, seven, it's
not until like maybe eight, nine, ten, usually ten episodes
that you start to like, oh, yeah, I could see that,
but my mind thought that I was so much bigger
than I was. Um, And did you choose to get
pregnant in once the pandemic hit? I think a lot
of people probably did, because I know some people who yeah,
(41:53):
because I was just like, you're always trying to find
this this women have the struggle of if they want
to have a career of wins the perfect time and
there really is no perfect time. But um, I was
able to take a break from the show, get pregnant,
and then um finish out the show and not have
it like completely up and everything like make it really
(42:14):
difficult for everyone to shoot. So UM, I was really
happy that it worked out the way it did. And
then you know, I got to be in my little
COVID bubble and just be pregnant and Rebecca's yoga class
I met some great girls. It was really important because
I felt like I was in this little vacuum and
I felt like I didn't get to share my pregnancy
with my friends and go to lunch and were cute
(42:34):
outfits and things like that. I mean, I know it
sounds in the scheme of what people are really struggling
with during COVID seems sort of stupid, but um, but
that was my you know, that was my reality. Also,
like if you're only going to do it a handful
of times in your life, like I don't know how
many kids are gonna have, but like I would love
that more. But I don't know if that's gonna work.
But I think you're gonna get your I feel I
(42:55):
feel it. I gotta wait till this kid starts like
crawling and walking and see how zen I am. Because
this is the stage that I think it is easy
because they're just they sleep, they eat, they poop, they
like their blobs and they're just so cute. And to me,
it's more work as they get older, so we'll see, Well,
it's just different, it's different kind of work. So I
can't before I let you go any words of wisdom
(43:18):
or advice for a pregnant woman right now listening, or
you know women with newborns. Yeah, okay, and I learned
this from my lovely baby nurse. Um, so everyone is
fearful of that first poop, okay, especially after vaginal birth, right,
but not like women who have C section. It's a
little different situation. But my advice is to make this
thing called prune tea. You take a bunch of prunes
(43:41):
that are in you know, the one you come into package.
You put them in a pot of water. You boil
them down for like an hour or two. You know,
you almost like making cranberry cranberry sauce. This is really
important and my mouth is on the job. I've never
heard this, and this is brilliant. It's brilliant and it's
so delicious. The tea gets to be a dark own color,
kind of like poop. And um. You put up like
(44:03):
three or four prunes at the bottom of your tea
and you make sure it's warm. When you drink it,
the tea should get really sweet. Um. The prunes will
be just like this mushy stuff at the bottom. It's
like the treat at the bottom of your tea. Drink
it morning and night, and I'm telling you you have
the smoothest poop you've ever had, which is the biggest miracle,
because when you've pushed as long as you pushed and
(44:25):
then you're expected to like push your first poop out,
you are so scared that you're going to do damage. Yeah,
of course, it's very like the people with my sisters,
Like I fully remember fully remember screaming. It was so
painful and I just didn't have that experience, and I'm
really grateful. Prune ty geene tea and take your because
they give you a they give you a call as yeah,
(44:47):
at the hospital, and I recommend just taking it and
then prune tea morning and night and you can do
that for several weeks, like because you know, it takes
a while for your system to kind of get reacclimated.
So anyway, that's my little bit of advice. It's not
as like you know, world lady, It's so practical, which
is what we need. Yes, Cat, thank you so much
(45:07):
for coming on Katie's Crib. Thank you for all of
your stories and experiences. I feel like as women together
and moms, it's just always so helpful just telling getting
on here and telling honest, true stories and we're all
in this together, and I'm so happy for you. Thank
you and Renny. I can't wait to meet him. I
want your viewers to know I wish I could like
(45:28):
to play the video that you and Adam and the
whole family sent me and David the cutest because I
sent m Adam a video of them. Saw you really
are as lovely and shiny and bright as you are
off of this podcast and off camera because you, just
you and Adam are just you guys. Send me the
coolest fun maybe made me feel so good. Thank you.
(45:51):
Your kid is lucky as hell to have you as
a mom. That's how I feel. And also mommy and me.
Class on Friday is going to be going off. I
know it's gonna be so gonna be going off. You guys,
we did it. It's happening. Season four is upon us,
(46:11):
and I want to hear from you. Please tell me
your thoughts, your comments, If there are topics you want
to talk about it, it's not too late. There are
guests that you want me to have on. I can
try my hardest to go get them. So send me
your thoughts, ideas, opinions, comments at Katie's Crib at Shonda
land dot com. Oh also tell your friends, subscribe, and share. Bye.
(46:33):
Katie's Crib is a production of Shonda land Audio in
partnership with I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from Shanna
land Audio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite ships. You've never know
I'm till you try me
Welcome to Katie's Crib, a production of Shonda land Audio
in partnership with I Heart Radio. I was in early contractions,
but it was still really painful. And I look up
and my husband's just like full on eating a cheeseburger. Hi, everybody,
(00:22):
it's Katie Lows. Welcome to the fourth season of Katie's Crib.
And for the past few months, I have been endlessly
negotiating with my toddler, the three nature Albie. I have
been babbling with my newborn daughter, Vera. I've been getting vaccinated.
I've been getting out of my sweats aka my quarantine uniform.
I've been getting into character for a few new projects.
(00:43):
And basically I couldn't be more excited to be sitting
back in my closet, the one part of the house
that has locks on the door, talking with you guys.
So much has happened over this brief hiatus, some of
which inspired topics that actually I'm in all to see
a little bit nervous about, but ultimately I am very
much looking forward to sharing with you and to dig
(01:05):
into this season. I want season four to provide you
guys with joy and laughter. It has been a very,
very tough time for a lot of people, and I
want us to come together, come back to our Katie's
Crib community, laugh, and have a damn good time. So
pour yourself a drink, sit down, take a breath, listen,
and get into the new season of Katie's Crib. I'm
(01:30):
so excited about today's guest. It's come on. It's really
just a hang sash, That's what it is. It's with
me and my girl, Kat McPhee Foster. I made my
Broadway debut with her in the amazing musical written by
Sarah Burrelli's waitress, and Cat and I have been We've
been friends just ever since. She just became a mom
like two seconds ago. And by two seconds ago, I
(01:50):
mean like a few months by the time of this
podcast airing, and I was like, we gotta have Cat
open season four. I hadn't talked to her yet, and
I just wanted to hear all about her birth story
or in her pregnancy and the whole situation in the
realist dealist form. So here she is Cat McPhee Foster.
You know Cat as an actress, singer, songwriter, and philanthropist.
(02:12):
You may also know her from the fifth season of
American Idol. She has like a huge acting list, CBS
drama Scorpion, the musical drama Smash, which is me and
Adam's favorite. She's been on everything cs I in New York, Guys,
Hello Family, Guy, The House Bunny. She starts on the
new Netflix comedy series Country Comfort. She sings an axe
on it, so be sure to check that out. And
(02:33):
she is married to the now sixteen Grammy Award winner
producer David Foster. And of course they just introduced their
son Renny, into the world in February. Cat Welcome to
Katie's Crib. How you handheld walked me through my Broadway debut.
I have never been so scared in my entire life.
(02:55):
You were the Jenna to um wait, oh my god, mom, brain,
what the heck was my character? His name again, Dawn?
I might have just tuned it all out because I
was so scared. But you're a mom. Now I'm a mom.
Now we're both moms. Well you were already a mom
when I met you, but now you're a two time mom.
I have to say, did you always know you wanted
(03:18):
to be a mom? Because this is so interesting, But
I actually don't have a lot of friends that I
would describe as maternal, and you are one of them, Like, like,
you were always such a caretaker, and um, you're so
good at empathy and and all of these things that
supposed to make a good mom. So have you always
wanted to be a mom? Yeah? I have. I've always
(03:40):
wanted to be a mom. I got married really young,
but that didn't work out, and then I hit my
thirties and I was just like doing that single thing,
and every year that would go by, I would think
I didn't find somebody. This guy's not right, that guy's
not right, and I would get sad because I was
just like, oh my god, I'm I'm such a like natural,
I'm really comfortable around baby these And I just couldn't
(04:01):
believe that I was the girl that grew up wanting
to have kids, even fantasizing about my babies from when
I was a kid, which is you know, some girls
are like that, some girls are not. My sister was
completely not like that. Absolutely. That's why I was always
like so like I felt that vibe from you, Like
I was like, Wow, I'm so lucky that she's like
caretaking me when I'm losing my mind. Were so awesome
(04:25):
and yeah, just I guess from when I was little,
I always just felt natural around babies. I always wanted
to be in the My mom would sing at this
church every Sunday. It was like not a religious experience,
it was like for she was paid as a singer
to sing, and I would go with her and I
would want to be in the nursery because I wanted
to be around the baby. So I finally got my baby. Wait,
so wait, you always wanted to be a mom? You
(04:48):
end up not finding the person you wanted to make
that decision with. Did you ever decide like, oh I
should freeze my eggs or anything like that, or you
were like it came in the nick of time. The
whole the man of your dreams line up when you
asked that, because my doctor, who I love, um when
I was twenty eight, I was going through divorce. It
was really tumultuous experience. It was like, no, you know,
(05:10):
it was some of my low lows and my adult
life and I was like literally in the stirrups doing
a check up and you know, crying to her about like,
you know, my shitty circumstances and shitty choices that I
made and um, it was a straight of a movie.
This sounds like if I'm picturing her in a bad way,
but she was just more of a classic movement where
I like, my legs are distur up, cheers coming down
(05:31):
my eyes and she's like, well, you might want to
consider freezing your eggs And I was like what what? No? Um?
And I was very very against that, Like I just
I wasn't open to the idea at all. It just
for me, it was upsetting the reality of that, you know. Um.
But as I got older, I understood why so many
(05:54):
women use it as an insurance, right, Like it gives
us the power to to have time and have a
career if we want you and to wait for that
special person. Um. So I changed my view on it,
obviously a lot later, but I was mortified. I was like,
I'm I felt like, how are the funk Are we
already having this conversation? Like I'm like a baby, like
absolutely not. Okay, So you do find true love, you
(06:17):
finally have your baby, do you feel like you're good
it parented? I mean from here it definitely seems like
you are. Thanks. Yeah, I think the answer is yes.
But I also want to be careful not to sound like, oh,
I'm just I know it all, and because the reality
is I've I've learned so much and there's things that
I didn't expect. But for the most part, it's been
a total dream. I've been really lucky. The pregnancy was
(06:40):
not as romantic. That's the one thing that I, um,
I fantasize as well about as a young girl like
and a teenager and a young adult like I can't
wait to be pregnant. I don't feel so beautiful, and
I didn't really feel that way throughout most of it,
but I will say from the last month of pregnancy,
I felt so good. I felt strong, long and energized.
(07:01):
And then to going into the doctor's office and realizing
that she needed to induce me. I was like the
four days past my due day, but she needed to
induce me because my fluid level got really low and
dangerously low, and marconium was in the fluid and all
that stuff. But um to that being induced, to laboring
down as long as I wanted to, getting to experience
(07:21):
the pain and having we have so many things in coming.
I know we have the same Dulah Rebecca Benonatti, who
has been on Katie's crib twice. She's the best. She
was my sister's. So the pregnancy wasn't all unicorns, daisies frolicking.
Was there any hiccups or anything out of the ordinary
or was it like a pretty um No, it was
pretty like run of the mill, run of the mill pregnancy.
(07:45):
It was I'm trying to think, you know, I got that, like,
what's that thing that only pregnant women get? Is it strepped?
B oh? Yeah? And Pete, we should talk about that.
We've not talked about that a lot on this Actually,
I don't think we've ever talked about on this post.
But there's not I mean, there's not really that much
to talk about. But I remember when my doctor said, hey,
just so you know, like your cultures came back and
(08:07):
we're gonna have to you have the strep B whatever.
And I was like, what what you know? So I
thought it sounded so horrible and she's like, it's literally
not a big deal. I was thinking it would interrupt
like having a natural child birth or whatever, and they
literally just give you antibiotics before you give birth to
your baby. Yeah, it's basically like and I and I
know this because I had another friend who also had it.
(08:28):
But when you get towards the very end, they do
a little cotton swab around your butt and your vagina
that you don't even say. You're so swollen, you don't
even know what. I actually got mine really early on,
so I knew really early. Yeah you did. Yeah, I don't.
I mean I got mine in the first trimester, so
something new every day. I didn't even know that was possible. Yeah,
(08:49):
it was. It's it's like something you're carrying. It's like
some bacteria that it's not harmful to you at all,
and like it doesn't necessarily mean you'll have it for
your next pregnancies, but like you could pass it to
your baby and it could be harmful to your baby basically,
But like they only just pump you with antibiotics before
you give birth and it's fine, And it's basically only
if the baby gets stuck in the canal or an
endless amount of time. They don't want the bacteria that
(09:11):
you wouldn't have even known about. It's literally in the
acautionary Yeah, it's a precautionary thing. So when in the
head block, when you're hooked up to everything, they put
an antibiotic in there. You don't even know, like it
makes no difference. Literally didn't even know. So, I mean
that's the only slightly unusual thing about But yeah, everything.
I mean, I felt super tired, super nauseous. Um. Yeah, okay,
(09:33):
So tell me your labor. Oh, how did how did
it go? Well? I mean, honestly, I was so blessed
from like the last month of pregnancy. I was kind
of already in labor because I was already two centimeters
and um, I was having a lot of cramping those
last few weeks leading up to it. So soon as
you broke my water, it was like I was in
full blown labor. They gave me like a tiny bit
(09:54):
of potosan, and I was Rebecca got there, you know,
and my husband got there because I was just win
for a doctor's appointment for like my checkup, right because
as I was only four or five days late, um,
and I said, oh, can I go home and get
like my I had my hair was okay, right, I
have like my hair. Everyone wants their hair blown out whatever.
But I had makeup on and I had my hospital
(10:16):
bag in the car. But what I didn't have was
my makeup back right, like as if I thought that
I was going to be able to like at least
have like a fresh face. You know those pictures of
those like pretty girls. Course of course mine are horrible,
but yes, I think those are pictures of girls who
had no judgment, but girls who had a C section,
who literally didn't have to like sweat and scream and
push the entire time. Right. Yeah, one of my best
(10:37):
friends had a scheduled C section and we were like
talking endlessly about like, okay, let's just do with like
one layer of messcarra like a nice like like a
tinted foundation and a little bit of a lip. It
looks like you're not wearing makeup, but like you are.
You're not wearing you don't want to look too perfect. Yes,
but I literally thought that I could, you know, get
(10:57):
my doctor just like me. And she's like, no, I'm
not gonna let you go home. I need to wheel
you to the hospital. Now. I was like, okay, that's
that's fine. Did you cry? No, you were fine. I
was excited. I was like, okay, let's do this. And
then um, I got into some serious contractions and I
was literally shifting my brains out on the toilet at
least it was on the table. I mean, I was
really intense. I labored on the toilet too. I remember
(11:19):
laboring with Albion on the toilet, ripping onto the handicap
rail as if my fucking life depended. It was awful.
I probably labored on there for like a good hour
by myself, like in Rebecca w and knock on the
door and I'm like, I'm good, good, I don't want
me to come in here. Um, And then I mean
it was incredible. It got really intense. I was just
(11:39):
exactly what I wanted. I wanted to labor, and I
wanted to like really feel. Not that I was like
going to throw my badge of honor around other people,
because it really doesn't matter as long as you have
a safe, healthy baby, and but it is important for
each individual person to hopefully try and get their dream scenario.
And mine was to like really labor as long as
I could. I didn't want to have to have any complications.
And that's exactly what happened. Like after one contraction was
(12:01):
really intense, my husband and Rebecca they said you can
go again. I think you can go another half hour,
and I was like okay, okay, um, I had never
felt something so wild before. My whole body was really intense.
Like the way I explain it is when you know
those kind of like hurricane sirens go off. Although we
don't live in like the Midwest or Florida, Like to me,
(12:25):
that's what I had in my mind. Like, of course,
to you it felt like a sound, because you're you're
a musical genius and you know music more than anything.
Of course you would equate something physical to life and
entire hurricane siren going off. It starts off like low
and slow, and then it ramps up, and then it's bizarre.
You just think you're not gonna make it, and then
(12:46):
it starts to taper off, and then it's like fine
for one minute, and then you start to feel it
ramp up again, the most insane, insane feeling um and
then this guy into this amazing epidural and it took
like another fifteen minutes to kick in, and then I
felt incredible. After it was over, and I was already
eight centimeters. They checked me right after, and I was like,
oh my god, we're so excited. Me and Rebecca like
(13:08):
gave each other five. I was so excited because I
was going to start pushing in like an hour, so
all it was like seven hours of like, wow, this
is such a beautiful story. And I love hearing ones
like this because obviously there's a lot of situations that
can be traumatic, it can be a lot of things
that happened, but for people who are listening who have
never had a baby before, it's also an option for
everything to just go fine. I think it's great for
(13:31):
people to hear for the people listening that want something
like what I had to know that it's possible, right
Like I had that total dream. I got to labor,
I got the eper jural, I got and got the
best of both worlds, and then I had to um
start pushing, and I had this army of women come
in and it was the coolest thing. UM actually have
one funny story of my husband. I was in early contractions,
(13:52):
but it was still really painful, and you know, there's
some couple of people coming in out of the room
and it was just me and Rebecca and David and
UM was being great, but was mostly we're back to
doing like the counter pressure. And there was like someone
who came and willed food in or whatever, because they
have to bring food and legally and I'm just like
totally in it. And I look up and my husband's
just like full on eating a cheeseburger. It was straight
(14:15):
out of a movie, just like how it was when
my doctor told me to freeze my eggs and I
was twenty eight straight of the movie where you look
up and you're like, are you freaking kidding me? You're
eating a cheel Like I'm here blowing my breaking my
body in half, and you're just enjoying your cheese. She's
so glad that you're getting your much needed nutrients. Like
it was. I mean, he was, he was great, but
it was just like a funny moment in my mind. Yeah,
(14:37):
we had the same I was like laboring and Adam
had like a red eye and a nurse noticed it,
and then all of a sudden, all the nurses were
gone because everyone was looking for vizine for him. And
I was like, is this a fucking joke, But like
everyone's looking for vizine because you have a little bit
of like redness, like I'm literally here, uh like about
(14:57):
you know, elde Yeah, I did have in the middle
of a contraction, all of a sudden, I said, this
is like The most gnarly part was I said to everybody,
was like, oh my god, I'm going to throw up.
And before I could finish my sentence, because I knew
there was a bag on my right side and David
was on my right side, and I saw him out
of my profiel turned get it, and I knew it
(15:18):
wasn't It was gonna be too late, and I literally
projectile all over. The went the back of me and
the four the front of me. No way, and I
saw David get up and go walk towards the other corner,
and so my doctor went over to him, sort of
the same thing with the red eye. I was like, David, David,
I'm like literally still gagging, like choking, because I was
afraid he was going to pass out. Rebecca said it
(15:39):
was the craziest exorcist bile green that she'd ever seen.
She was like, it was so gnarly. Why do you
why does that happen? Did you ever find out? No?
I didn't, but well, I think it's the hormones, but
also the probably like the potosan and the epidural because
when I threw this is so two people want to
hear this. Yes, we get reeled and dirty in this Yeah,
(16:02):
tasted like medicine. It tasted like it was the stuff
that was coming out of my blood right like it
was in my blood. Was maybe the antibiotics from the
strappy situation. Honey. It was definitely violent, was really really gross.
But um, Sherry Ross, my doctor gets up and she's
attending to him, and I was like in the middle
of the contraction, right, so they're trying to clean me
up and like get me focused again, Like Katherine, don't
(16:24):
worry about him, stay focused. I'm like David, David the same.
Adam is like he was a fainter from needles or
blood or anything. So for both my children, when the
epidural part comes, he exits and hides in the bathroom
or goes and gets food. But like our sensitive, loving
germophobic sensitive boys, David doesn't take elevators. So I was,
(16:47):
I mean, he's I was very impressed though with his
ability to kind of like he got We have tons
of videos he got down dirty, like watched the whole
thing he did totally. Did you have conversations in advance
where you were like, you're allowed to look at my
vagina or you're not. Um, Yeah, of course we did.
I was more just like curious, like where you going
to look? Are you gonna look? And he's like, I'm
(17:08):
not sure, I'm not sure. So but he did. And
we've like watched the videos back. It's just like the
most insane thing to watch because it's just a miracle
and it's not you, like Adam calls me a transformer.
Adam looked and at first, you know, before we were
in the labor room, I was like, just don't look
to stay up at me like I wanted to have sex,
want to have sex with my vagina like ever again.
(17:29):
And and he said he caught a glance of it
with our first child and then looked and was everything.
But he said his first glance, he was like, Katie,
it wasn't even like I was looking at your vagina
like He's like, your body literally transformed. I mean your
hips spaced out ten centimeters. It doesn't look like anything
I've seen it to look like. And I was like, Okay, well,
(17:50):
I guess that makes me feel I guess sexier. I
don't know. It's it's so true to like there's some
men who have like a weird thing with their spouse
or their partner after, I feel really bad for them,
because they shouldn't. It should be like a dissociation. It
shouldn't be It's not a sexual thing, right, So it's
it's a it's a complete a miracle. How was pushing? Um,
(18:12):
it was a lot harder than I thought. I mean,
I would say, um that the pushing is like more
awful than the pain, which was funny because it's like
our body is just naturally forget. I mean, the pain
was really wild and insane. I'm not trying to but
the pushing was even though I couldn't feel anything, I
couldn't feel pressure, so it's really hard for me. It
was two hours of pushing. No, yeah, I was. I
(18:34):
was pretty tired, and she was like really close to vacuuming,
and then after vacuuming you have to see section right,
So but I got lucky and it all worked out.
But did you have awareness that it was two and
a half hours. I felt that it was long. I
felt that it was starting to go long, you know,
and um, every time I pushed, I couldn't look back,
but I could see that they were watching the heartbeat.
Nothing ever, like got really crazy where it dropped really
(18:56):
low or anything but I felt that they were not
super happy with the outcome of what was like the
progression of the head and all that stuff. So I
was a little bit worried, but I was so kind
of focused, and I was really just high off of
the adrenaline of all these women just cheering me on,
just incredible cheerleaders. So that was really really special. Yeah, okay,
(19:26):
I want to hear how you came up with the name.
Oh yeah, I want to hear. Was it love at
first sight? Was it a slow burn? Tell me all
about the first minutes in first days? Okay, well, definitely
a slow burn. We've known. We met each other when
I was a contestant on American Idol and he and
Andrea Buchelli were the guest mentors. This was back in
two thousand six, season five, so um we were. You know,
(19:50):
he produced one of my first singles that I did
with when I was with our c a um. But
you know, the age difference is pretty pretty well. Oh wait, no,
not with David. I love this story, but no, wait,
what are you talking about your son? Oh? My son?
Was it a slow bro? I love this though. I'm like,
I'm like listening and I'm like I know this story,
(20:10):
and I was like, oh, all the age difference between
me and my son is quite as quite a you know,
I was not clear. This is my fault. Tell me
about when you first met your son. Okay, when I
first met Rennie. Um, Well, let me just talk about
the name first. So we were Our favorite names were Luke,
(20:31):
Lucas um, what was the other one? I also loved
Noah um. And then there was Lincoln. We're like, really
like Lincoln because Lincoln's birthday obviously President lincoln birthday was
February sixteenth or something or seventeen, I can't remember. And
so we're like, oh, he's born early on lincoln birthday,
will name whatever. So that didn't happen, but we still
(20:53):
like the name. We thought like, hey, link Foster right, um,
such a good name. And so we still haven't decided.
We were just like one of those those parents were
we want to meet him. So I Gottennapi Darle finished.
It was already eight centimeters and I was feeling much better,
and David had been messaging people all day long. So
he's so excited, you know, like his family and his friends,
and so he said, oh, I'm on an interesting text
(21:14):
chain with my sisters and he's he's got five sisters now,
his six sisters, but once passed away. Um, and they
were all kind of talking about the name, and David's like,
we haven't decided yet, and she said, well, have you
ever thought about Rennie Rennie Foster? That was our great
great grandfather's name and our great uncle's name. So they
named him another one of their relatives. Um. He died
when he was two, but like back in the day,
(21:36):
like a really old old name. And when he said it,
like my birth my sister brought up Rennie Foster, like, hey,
rend Foster, and I turned my head. He was on
my right again, and I was just like, oh my god,
that's such a cool name. I've never I've never heard
that name before. I just thought it was when he
said hi, rend Foster, I was like, WHOA, that's really strong.
The baby was born and I wasn't even thinking about
(21:58):
the name. I was just thinking about how cute he was,
even though you look back at the pictures and you're
like you were totally cross eyed and looked like an alien,
but I thought you were cute. Did he have a
cone head? He didn't really a little bit, but he
not too bad. Actually, surprisingly it was not as bad
as some cone heads that but he has a pretty
like you know, pretty round head. Anyway, they told me
(22:19):
that when he was in utero, like, well he's a
really round head. Wow, you know, so it might have.
I was like, oh, that's going to change when he
comes out there, Like no, I don't necessarily. Um so
you knew the minute David Foster says his Rennie Foster,
and he said, and you were like, Wren, it was
just you knew, you knew in your gut. It was
like I wanted a name that yes, I love the
name Luke, but it didn't mean anything to me, like
(22:41):
it wasn't I didn't have some history with the with
the name. And so when he said it, it sparked
like it did something to me internally, and it just
also had meaning right to his family, connected to his family.
Um so that was really what it was. And then
of course, like I for me, it wasn't a slow burn.
I was madly in love with him right away. I
was just I kind of knew that I would feel
(23:02):
that way. But some my my one of my best girlfriends,
said like she didn't feel that way. I didn't feel
that way with I didn't. Yeah, no, oh my god.
I was like, so like, what is this stranger? I
mean that must be such a wild feeling in itself.
Oh yeah, because you're like, oh shit, I don't feel
like I feel like I'm supposed to be feeling more
than I do and I don't know why and it.
(23:24):
I kind of felt better about it with the second
kid because I was used to it on the first
where I was like, oh, I think I'm just one
of those people that's like that motherhood has just been
down in the hole so slow burned for me. But um,
like my best friend Amy and you like, there are
some women who literally lock eyes on the baby and
it's like it's a lightning bolt. Like I'm always careful
(23:44):
like around um, even before I had a baby, I
was always cognizant of being careful to like project how
I felt about being a mom, because you know, not
everybody like I had no baby blues this whole time,
in like today, I've actually been had baby blues right
like I've had I woke up this morning it was
much lower than I've been. I think my milk supply
went down, so the hormones drop. And I'm glad you
(24:08):
know all these things because I think there are a
lot of women that don't. My sister really really struggled
with postpartum in like a really bad way, and so
I was never would have been aware of it at all.
Hadn't it been something that like affected our family. You know,
that was really a big struggle for her. And she's
doing great, but um, it was really really hard for her,
and so for me and my mom, because my mom's like,
(24:30):
you're going to be like how I was. My mom
was the second she saw her babies, me and my sister,
she was madly in love and it felt easier to
her and um breastfeeding. She loved it. And it's all
the same things that are true for me. Um, But
for my sister it wasn't that way. She's such a
great mom. She loves being a mom. It's just like
(24:50):
there's a slow burn for some people, yeah, or like
a rough start or their hormones really affect people, um
all differently. So you felt loved first. How does David
feel about having a boy? Oh? My god, he loves it.
I mean, he loves this kid. It's so your I mean,
your parents gonna love every kid you have. But it's
been a long time since had a little baby in
(25:10):
his house. And he is just so cute with him.
And I always ask him every day they do you
love him? Baby? Do you love him? He goes, Okay, Um,
how's it being a step mom? I hear your stepdaughters
are like you guys are all super tight, and they're like,
(25:31):
how is our mom so hot? How have they taken
to Rennie? They make those jokes a lot. It's really funny.
It's been really nice because we're living in this condo
here um in l A. We're building a house, but
it's like a waze away and down the hallway. David
owns the unit next to us, and he had renters
in there for a long time and they moved out
during COVID, and so it's the first time he's not
(25:52):
not how to rent it out. And his youngest daughter, Jordan,
who's like a year younger than me. I think she's
got two kids, um and great husband. And so we
were trying to sell the place next door, but in
the meantime, like, come stay here with us. They live
in New York City. The COVID was really bad, there
and at least here they can enjoy them nice weather outside.
So they've been here since um last November that which
(26:14):
they they're still here. They're going to stay through June
and then they're gonna go back to New York. But
it's been so nice. Um. I love all of them,
but particularly Jordan's because she's a mom of two young
kids and we literally have a hallway and Otto, who
is frequently on Aaron's Instagram, and Jordan's his mom's um
comes running down the hallway and Juny is only ten
(26:38):
months apart from my son as well as my nephew.
They're both all tenzing so um and it was just great,
like I love having them there, and it's really kind
of like feels like just a family sister early type thing.
And it was really nice because I was having another
like little mommy blues thing, so I was like opening
boxes in this foy. I just sitting on the ground
(27:00):
and we'd just come back from driving in the desert
and it was just you know, keeping a baby happy
for two hours in the car. It's just like a
little stressful and um, yeah, impossible. And she came in
and um okay, I said, heh yeah, I'm just I'm
just tired. And then she said something to me and
I totally just started like weeping and crying, and she
gave me the biggest hug and just said, Cat, I'm
(27:22):
so sorry. Being a mom is no joke. She looked
at me and said, like, even when you have this
like picture perfect I say that in quotations like experience
of being a mom and the baby's sleeping really well
and feeding really well and you had a perfect whatever,
She's like, it's still no joke, and it's still a
huge identity shift. It's still such an identity shift. And also,
you know, you're at two months. You know, it's a
(27:44):
little bit of the honeymoon phase is ending. This is
what your life looks like now, and it's really exciting,
but it's really real and it's changed forever. Um, you know,
there's a lot to process and there's a lot to honor.
And yeah, so I have to say Jordan's wins for sure,
as like, you know, such a sweet little you know,
(28:05):
she's your favorite stepdaughter and my favorite stepdaughter. They've all
really been great, and it was just it's been nice
to have someone literally like a sister next door gets
on her knees and gives you a big hug when
you cry. Um, yeah, how old is Renny now? He
(28:30):
is two months in two days. Oh, it just makes
me laugh when I see your reaction. Well, it's that's amazing.
You're doing so well. And also, yeah, like I felt
such a fall off around breastfeeding, to be honest, Like
(28:53):
I remember sobbing in the waitress dressing room because I
got the call that I had to stop breastfeeding because
I out of staff infection in the subways of New
York City and I had to go on so many
different antibiotics in the dirty w No, I don't care, no, No,
I had like like on my side, it traveled down
a hair following and it was a really weird looking
(29:15):
pimple and they kind of open and they cultured and
they were like you have MERSA, which is like the
most deadliest staff and oh my gosh, and there was
a huge breakout. Um, never would have known this. You
were such a professional. No, I never called out for
like it was awful, and but I had to stop breastfeeding,
and it's just like, you know, I had a huge
(29:37):
hormone drop off. Then I sobbed, like crazy. My other
friend who's been on this podcast, um jen Fitting, and
she got postpartum blues around like six months when she
stopped breastfeeding. So there are a lot of hormones in play.
But good Lord, like for you to be where you're
at it two months and two weeks or whatever is great. Well,
my doctor didn't say it was that, like, if you're
(29:58):
going to have some serious postpart him stuff, it's usually
reveals itself within the first two weeks, you know. But
that being said, it doesn't mean that two months, three months,
four months later, even six months, you're not going to
feel some sort of Your hormones are constantly changing, do
you know? Um squirrel Mamas. She goes by Mama Seuss
her company, but she's her name is Desiree, and she's
this incredible missus who kind of worked, who works with
(30:18):
all new minds. I don't know. I don't know this,
so she doesn't. She's incredible. Her hands are like unbelievable.
But yesterday she came to my house and she works
on newborn babies too. She massage them because they're all
like really tight in your row. And yesterday morning I
woke up and I felt kind of bloated, and I
was like, oh, that's so weird. I haven't felt that
in so long, like you know, um menstrual cycle type
(30:38):
stuff like before you get your period. That was before
she came, and I just thought to myself, that's interesting,
I haven't had that in a long time. And then
she's massaging me and she's like, you know, you're ovulating
on your left side and I was like what, and
she's yeah, yeah, you're you're totally obulating obvulating here. I
was like, oh my god, that makes total sense that
I was bloated and that my hormones are like starting
to change. She's exactly right, that's exactly what that is.
(30:59):
And also how people get pregnant while their breastfeeding and
they think that they can't, but you can, even though
you don't have your period yet, you guys, you can
still ovulate and you can still think totally get pregnant.
I was like, to watch out. That would be the
most insane. I said, desert, like, there's no way someone
could have a baby and then two months later get pregnant.
She's like, oh, yeah, it happened. That's called Irish twins.
(31:21):
They are nine to ten months apart. It's like literally
getting pregnant, like the first time you're like allowed to
have sex again. It's insane, it would be. How is
breastfeeding going? It's going great. Um. Another mommy friend was
just like, you're so lucky to have a good supply
and dada and have him latch properly. And I was
(31:41):
just like, I know, I'm so lucky. I've just been
so lucky. Um, he's a big baby. How how big
was he when he was born? He wasn't actually as
big as they told me he was going to be.
He was seven pounds ten ounces. Oh that's big for
a first baby. It's a big but I was eight pounds.
My sister's baby were nine pounds, so I was like,
those to me were big babies, right, Like nine pounds
were big. So I was like, oh, he's under eight pounds.
(32:02):
It wasn't that big. But that being said, he's grown
really fast, so she he's probably almost fourteen pounds now. Wow.
Ready he's in the pile and height right right, So
he's gonna be he's a big boy. But you know,
he's hungry. And I have a really lovely baby nurse
who is obviously it's her specialty to know what to
(32:24):
do with babies, and for me because someone who I
felt like I'm maternal and kind of like naturally know
what to do some things I didn't know. Um, one
of the things I would never have done is like
supplemented with formula, right because, UM, I would have this
thing like I can't give my baby formula. You know,
I can't give him so she had said me, he's hungry,
Like he's going to sleep longer through the night if you,
(32:45):
you know, top him up, which was kind of hard
for me because I didn't love that idea. UM. I
think it's always hard for moms with anything when they
have something in their mind, like how they want something
to go, and you never know what's going to trigger you.
Like I was super triggered by formula to my sister
in law my other friend, Like, that's not a problem
for them. Just because you're giving formula doesn't negate that
(33:07):
you're giving them breast milk. Also, do you know what
I mean? Like, it doesn't all of a sudden cancel out.
It doesn't. It doesn't. But the thing that's happened to
me that I think it's an interesting thing to share
is helping. Well. The first I don't know six weeks,
I was doing like the middle of the night feeding
and then getting up four hours later. He was quite
and he's always been pretty good. He's always gone like
(33:27):
three or four hours. So I've been tired, right, But
I've like not been asked tired because I lovely help
and stuff like that. But as I started to add
in supplementing, right, like, I've not been getting up for
the middle of the night feed, which is funny because
I'm still just trying to be tired. For two years,
I started up at six six thirty after I've had
like a whole night's sleep, and I'm still tired. Um.
(33:49):
But I've noticed that when he wakes up at six
three year seven to eat, he's not ravenous, right. So
I don't realize it until today or yesterday that I
didn't realize it would affect my my milk supply, and
my milk supply has gone down, which is then what's
changed my hormones and has made me a lot more
emotional and upset that I'm not having as much supply,
but also just emotionally. Um, you can affect your milk
(34:13):
supply when you start doing that. So and it's not
that I wasn't pumping, but I don't think I was
pumping as much. UM, And I realized I kind of
just probably need to do the middle of the night feed.
And you have to wait, what's important to you, Like
I'm still tired of the morning, so it doesn't really
matter to me that if I might as well just
get up in the middle of the night to pump
or feed him, um, to keep my milk supply up.
It depends on what battle, like, like how how long
(34:36):
you can sustain that. Like I pumped the middle of
the night feed with Albe till he was like three
months old. And then I was like, I'm it's also
to crash the car, like I cannot do this, and
so I stopped pumping in the middle of the night. Um.
It ended up kind of simultaneously happening where he also
(34:56):
stopped waking up in the middle of the night, and
I would to speed him at seven am, and then
as the second head finished, I would pump because yeah,
because you're so full from going all night that I
would get like an additional bottle out after like a
breastfeed session. But you'll figure it out. He's only two months,
(35:17):
and I've realized like, yeah, for me, it's a little
too early for me to not have that like supply
that I want. So I'm trying to get my milk
supply back up again. So we'll see how that goes.
But um, you can. Yeah, it's you'll It'll go down
and up. Breastfeeding is a full time job. So now
you've got three breastfeeding, being a mom, and also all
of your other ship. So you'll start to know, like, oh,
(35:43):
I didn't drink enough water today, because I'll have a
like I'll have a really low day and'd be like,
have I drinking any water? That's why the breast milk
is based in water. That's good to know because I
don't think I'm drinking enough water too. You know, you
drink some water. And also I mean for me, it sucks,
but breastfeeding and dieting do not go hand in hand.
(36:06):
You know, carry people who breastbed like I have friends
who are like the minute they started doing cardio and
was gone much gone. Because also waters leaving your body,
it sucks. Yeah, I haven't done any really working out
there a lot of walking, but also just running running
around a little bit too much, which is just doing
too much visiting too many people, Like I think the
(36:27):
exhaustion has lowered everything. So um, it's definitely affected things
and it's made it's bumped me out. So now I'm like, Okay,
that bums me out, So I have to that dotting
need to make important more of a priority. You're gonna
get a priority, and it's for a little bit and
then you'll adjust again. Also, you're in this sort of
window where he'll start eating food at six months and
(36:49):
you'll I know it's a lot, it's crazy, but you'll
start to feel less pressure about your supply because he's
going to be getting calories from a lot of different
things and your milk supply will go down. Yeah. Um,
how do you feel getting into body image stuff like
being in Hollywood being famous and and going through I mean,
(37:09):
it's kind of weird that you went through all these
body changes when all the spotlighting caps were kind of
on you. Although I just saw you an American idol
and you look thank you, Oh my god, Adam, and
I just watched you an American idol. Oh my god,
You're so cute. Well that was fun because it was
just fun to get out of the house and like
have hair and makeup and put on a pretty dress
and all that stuff. But you know, for me, because
(37:30):
COVID was so crazy during that, especially December November December,
when I was really the most pregnant and feeling pretty
good because um, that last time master, I had a
lot of energy. I didn't really you know, I didn't
really get to wear a bunch of I wasn't really
worried about fitting into stuff, you know. Um and uh, like,
I've just realized that the extra weight that I put
(37:53):
on through like the pregnancy isn't going to really come
off until I stopped breastfeeding. Like some people say the opposite,
like you'll fall off of you with breastfeed I'm like, actually,
I feel like everything's being You're like nodding your head,
going no way. I have a very small handful of
women who breastfed and more thinner than they ever were
be where they got pregnant, and fuck those ladies. And
(38:14):
I'm not talking about them because I said this to
their face. Me and the rest of the world. The
main stop breastfeeding three months after all of a sudden,
your body is like, I don't know what that is
but I I had a I couldn't lose the last
fifteen until I stopped breasting, right, yeah, and that's gonna
(38:34):
happen to me. Where I was before I got pregnant,
it is about fifteen pounds up from where I am,
and I'm just like, Okay, it's just not gonna go away. Color,
stop bread, but you look beautiful. And also I don't
even know what you're talking about. But okay, so I
wanted to ask, how have you been feeling in your
post pregnancy body? Um, you know, it hasn't bothered me
at all. In my mind post pregnancy, I've never felt
like more patient and more kind to myself because I
(38:58):
think I'm yeah, it's really nice. Um, because i think
I'm just in awe of what my body and our
bodies as women do. And I'm also just so obsessed
with something other than myself, right, I mean, like I'm
in love with something other than my hair and my
makeup and my clothes that at my fashion, clothes that
I want to wear. It's just like I don't care.
I want to, you know, I want to like look nice,
(39:21):
but if I don't fit into my size sixteens, you know,
like or even my twenty seven jeans, like I will
eventually or maybe I won't um or if I really
want to, I can, you know, So it's just not
today and it's maybe not tomorrow. But I really struggled
with my first trimester. I don't know why it was
so hard for me, because I look back at the
pictures of my like fifteen weeks, you know, there's like
(39:44):
a little tiny bump, and I'm like, oh my god,
you were so hard on yourself. Not because of the bump,
but I'm getting weight everywhere else, and I'm gonna be
one of those pregnant women that faces get huge and
their arms get heavy. And I gained fifteen pounds of
actual fat. It's like not a big deal. The first
trimester is really hard, I think in that way because
you feel like shit and you're eating like ship oh
(40:06):
my gosh, to feel better, you know what I mean,
because you're so nauseous and so you're just living on
bread and cheese or that's what I do. You just
feel gross, you don't feel yourself, you feel flu like,
you feel nauseous. The first trimester started to feel better.
Second trimester, I didn't feel as well as I wanted to,
you know, as quickly as I wanted to um. And
I went back to work, which was really interesting. Yeah,
(40:27):
we were let's talk about that. So the net, it's Netflix, right,
and I'm on this show called well, I I say, was,
but I am on a show until I hear further notice, yeah,
called Country Comfort And you were pregnant while you shot?
How did that feel? It was? It was interesting because
I was the first four episodes, was right before the pandemics.
I wasn't pregnant. I was like very lean, very thin, um.
(40:49):
And then I felt like most people during the pandemic,
even though I had an excuse I was pregnant, like
kind of came back and had gained like fifteen pounds,
so I was a little bit like worried. But then
at the same time I wasn't you know, um. But
the costume designer was incredible and it was kind of
fun to hide it. And the funny thing is, like
(41:10):
I was just I saw a girlfriend who is fifteen
weeks pregnant last night and she just popped right and
I'm like, oh, that's so cute. You think you popped right?
Like because I was the same way, Like I thought
that I had popped, and I was like really showing
and stuff. And if you watch the show, which I
would hope you do, how they recommend, yes, everybody watch.
It's just such a cute show. It's really sweet. Um,
(41:32):
I like look back at episode five, six, seven, it's
not until like maybe eight, nine, ten, usually ten episodes
that you start to like, oh, yeah, I could see that,
but my mind thought that I was so much bigger
than I was. Um, And did you choose to get
pregnant in once the pandemic hit? I think a lot
of people probably did, because I know some people who yeah,
(41:53):
because I was just like, you're always trying to find
this this women have the struggle of if they want
to have a career of wins the perfect time and
there really is no perfect time. But um, I was
able to take a break from the show, get pregnant,
and then um finish out the show and not have
it like completely up and everything like make it really
(42:14):
difficult for everyone to shoot. So UM, I was really
happy that it worked out the way it did. And
then you know, I got to be in my little
COVID bubble and just be pregnant and Rebecca's yoga class
I met some great girls. It was really important because
I felt like I was in this little vacuum and
I felt like I didn't get to share my pregnancy
with my friends and go to lunch and were cute
(42:34):
outfits and things like that. I mean, I know it
sounds in the scheme of what people are really struggling
with during COVID seems sort of stupid, but um, but
that was my you know, that was my reality. Also,
like if you're only going to do it a handful
of times in your life, like I don't know how
many kids are gonna have, but like I would love
that more. But I don't know if that's gonna work.
But I think you're gonna get your I feel I
(42:55):
feel it. I gotta wait till this kid starts like
crawling and walking and see how zen I am. Because
this is the stage that I think it is easy
because they're just they sleep, they eat, they poop, they
like their blobs and they're just so cute. And to me,
it's more work as they get older, so we'll see, Well,
it's just different, it's different kind of work. So I
can't before I let you go any words of wisdom
(43:18):
or advice for a pregnant woman right now listening, or
you know women with newborns. Yeah, okay, and I learned
this from my lovely baby nurse. Um, so everyone is
fearful of that first poop, okay, especially after vaginal birth, right,
but not like women who have C section. It's a
little different situation. But my advice is to make this
thing called prune tea. You take a bunch of prunes
(43:41):
that are in you know, the one you come into package.
You put them in a pot of water. You boil
them down for like an hour or two. You know,
you almost like making cranberry cranberry sauce. This is really
important and my mouth is on the job. I've never
heard this, and this is brilliant. It's brilliant and it's
so delicious. The tea gets to be a dark own color,
kind of like poop. And um. You put up like
(44:03):
three or four prunes at the bottom of your tea
and you make sure it's warm. When you drink it,
the tea should get really sweet. Um. The prunes will
be just like this mushy stuff at the bottom. It's
like the treat at the bottom of your tea. Drink
it morning and night, and I'm telling you you have
the smoothest poop you've ever had, which is the biggest miracle,
because when you've pushed as long as you pushed and
(44:25):
then you're expected to like push your first poop out,
you are so scared that you're going to do damage. Yeah,
of course, it's very like the people with my sisters,
Like I fully remember fully remember screaming. It was so
painful and I just didn't have that experience, and I'm
really grateful. Prune ty geene tea and take your because
they give you a they give you a call as yeah,
(44:47):
at the hospital, and I recommend just taking it and
then prune tea morning and night and you can do
that for several weeks, like because you know, it takes
a while for your system to kind of get reacclimated.
So anyway, that's my little bit of advice. It's not
as like you know, world lady, It's so practical, which
is what we need. Yes, Cat, thank you so much
(45:07):
for coming on Katie's Crib. Thank you for all of
your stories and experiences. I feel like as women together
and moms, it's just always so helpful just telling getting
on here and telling honest, true stories and we're all
in this together, and I'm so happy for you. Thank
you and Renny. I can't wait to meet him. I
want your viewers to know I wish I could like
(45:28):
to play the video that you and Adam and the
whole family sent me and David the cutest because I
sent m Adam a video of them. Saw you really
are as lovely and shiny and bright as you are
off of this podcast and off camera because you, just
you and Adam are just you guys. Send me the
coolest fun maybe made me feel so good. Thank you.
(45:51):
Your kid is lucky as hell to have you as
a mom. That's how I feel. And also mommy and me.
Class on Friday is going to be going off. I
know it's gonna be so gonna be going off. You guys,
we did it. It's happening. Season four is upon us,
(46:11):
and I want to hear from you. Please tell me
your thoughts, your comments, If there are topics you want
to talk about it, it's not too late. There are
guests that you want me to have on. I can
try my hardest to go get them. So send me
your thoughts, ideas, opinions, comments at Katie's Crib at Shonda
land dot com. Oh also tell your friends, subscribe, and share. Bye.
(46:33):
Katie's Crib is a production of Shonda land Audio in
partnership with I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from Shanna
land Audio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite ships. You've never know
I'm till you try me
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!