July 1, 2025 • 17 mins
Laura was shocked to discover something very weird in her chip packet over the weekend. A woman who discovered she had 77 siblings joins the show and Britt accidentally 'gifted' her sister something she DEFINITELY didn't want to get.
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 (00:10):
High Heart podcasts, hear more Kiss podcast playlist and listen
live on the Free iHeart app a good Pickup with
Britt Hockley and Laura Ben Brady.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Your work, our windows done. That's my world rison the dust.
Only good labs.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Are all down.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I've don't much, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
I know I'll beg get and what I want. It
don't matter where goes. This is the pickup.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Hi, guys, you're listening to the Pickup with brid Hockley.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
And Laura Ben. Oh we're seeing now. Sorry, I don't
know where that came from. I'm just in a good
mood today, more different person out. You're pregnant. I don't
know what's happening. There's lots of hormone changes, brain synapses
to change.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
There probably is, though to be fair to really sleep
deprived already sleep.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
In somnia, pregnancy insomnia.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I suppose the other kind of insomnia you can get
that's not sleep related. Bread Yes, okay, so I have
just hit twenty six weeks, which is weird to me
because you're just not even pregnant to me. I know
you do treat me like I'm not pregnant, like that,
I'm in need denial I need everyone to be like
(01:17):
you are gay.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
I am sympathetic, but I'm denial. Yeah, I'm dealing with
it too. It's our pregnancy.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
This is I understand have a guess what size fruits?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Because you know how so.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
When you're pregnant and you go into a new week,
if you've got any of those pregnancy apps, it always
tells you, like what fruit your baby is. Third, I
don't pay a lot of attention to it. I don't
think i've looked since it was the size of a blueberry.
So what is it?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Twenty six weeks? Twenty six weeks? That's just over half way?
Speaker 5 (01:42):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Well more than that?
Speaker 4 (01:43):
But yeah, yeah, so you're a little bit over halfway.
Six weeks over halfway? Yeah, okay, So let me think
of my fruit. Would it be remiss of me to
say it would resemble a premature rock melon?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Premature rock melon like hasn't quite made it to full melon.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
That's pretty good, because I'm pretty sure rock melon is
like twenty nine weeks. So yeah, I think you're pretty
close the paya, Yeah, close to. But no, it's a
lettuce this week letters, which also, why.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Would you want to be a lettuce? Sorry? If you
want to be a fruit pick a like something solid.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Also, the thing is is, if you've ever seen fruits,
they vary a lot in size. So I just don't
know how they've whoever scaled this based on a fruit,
I don't know how accurate it is.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
Is it a big letters melon a stage?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yeah, twenty nine weeks melon. So I'll let you know
when we in that. That's pretty good for someone that's
never been pregnant. I'm press.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Now we've asked the question. Guys, give us a call.
What did you find in your food? Because on the
weekend it was my daughter's sixth birthday party? Right, lots
of preparation. We did it at our house, which is
a terrible idea. Don't whole birthday parties at your house.
Lots of cleaner, lots.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Of prep little question yep, is fairy bread? Does it
still make an appearance at kids' birthday parties?
Speaker 5 (02:58):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, I did, half made.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
I made half a loaf, wonder white butter and sprinkles.
And let me tell you, that was the only food
that was on the table that got complete devoured.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Of course, it was pure sugar. It was shit.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
That can't be shocking, have you No, one eate the
carrot sticks and hummus.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
It was a big fruit platter. No, but have you
actually tried it as an adult? It's terrible. It's really crunchy.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
I don't like butter either, so I've had to forego
the fairy bread as an adult.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah, it's more so that sprinkles are overrated.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
They taste awful, slightly sugary, not sugary enough, and they're
really hard. So all these little kids are just walking
around just getting turned on fairy bread. Anyway, it was
the whole thing. I should have stuck to the fairy bread,
because I did get a couple of packets of chips.
I'm a bit of a lazy mum when it comes
to a birthday party. We didn't do a cake. We
just had cupcakes that I was still bought. You know,
I put some candles in them. I've got a few
(03:49):
bags of chippies. I was like, put them on the
table in bowls. Kids will have a great time. You're
not trad wifing. No, yeah, that's not my that's not
my thing. Anyway. I opened up one of the bags
of chips and it looked okay on top, but then
I looked a.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Bit close to I was like, what is that?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
And I shook the bag a bit and there was
this you don't know entirely what it was it was about.
It was about fifteen centimeters.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Long, half a ruler that doesn't even fit in a
chip bag.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah, about that beer just fitted in like sideways. It
took up the entire side length of the bag. It
looked like a full hash brown, like a McDonald's hash
brown that had been severely overcooked. But then on closer inspection,
I took a moment I was like, is that a
chicken snitzl? Like is there a legit chicken snitsel in
my chip bag? Anyway, pulled it out. I'm pretty sure
(04:38):
it was just layers upon layers of compacted chips that
had been deep fried and deep fried and deep fried.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
And how does it get to that point? God knows.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
We thought it was the golden hash brown that we found,
like we'd run a prize.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
But that's what I was actually gonna ask that did
you look up to see if there is a competition
running for like whoever whatever bag finds it, because that's
a thing.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
No, we have a listen to this.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
I can't tell if this is an entire potato, a.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Hash brown.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Or a lot of chips that have gotten stuff on
the conveyor belt together.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Would you you're disgusting.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
It's probably like the best bit of all the chips,
you know, like when they're kindch It's really that's pretty good.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
That's so right.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Delicacy. We got the special golden hash brown and the
back of the gym.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
It's a delicacy.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Matt, Yeah, it's a delicacy. Matt took one for the team.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
My husband, he ate he took a big bite out
of it.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
I think he just did it.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
No, he told me off camera that it was actually revolting.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
He was like, I'm worried that I ate that maybe
to make me.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
See at least it was something edible that was in there,
because there could be some weird and wonderful things that
get stuck.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Well there have been.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
There have been some weird, wonderful things. Did we put
the call out to you guys, what did you find
in your food? And let me tell you everything from
band aids to nails to it's been disgusting. We've got
Jess on the line. Jess, what did you find in
your food?
Speaker 6 (05:55):
I was at a cafe and my omelet came out
and there was a humongous giant dragonfly just cooked smack
bang in the middle of my almard.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Always so they might not God, they folded it in.
Speaker 6 (06:09):
Yeah, well, you know when you're on what comes out
and it's like half folded over, presented nicely.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
That it just goes beyond negligence.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Imagine being that person that's in their cooking and they're like, nah,
either they see it or they and they can't be.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Bothered to pick it out, or they're like, didn't even look.
They just flipped.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Now, I reckon.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
They the chef knows how to do the flip, right,
I reckon.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
He just turned his head as he flipped it as
it flew in like bad timing.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
What did you do, Jess? You sent it back?
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Well I did.
Speaker 6 (06:36):
They weren't really concerned. They offered to make me a
new one, and I declined that wow.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
All right, great service. Don't let's not name the cafe.
All right, Karin, We've got Kren on the line. What
did you find your food?
Speaker 7 (06:49):
A family member came across a mouse frozen to the
bottom of like frozen pizza.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
But it was like.
Speaker 7 (06:58):
Between the plastic. Yeah, a mouse, a little little mouth
already sealed in a plastic part, so like between the
box of plastic.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
So yeah, I would never be able to eat a
pizza again.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I reckon.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
What's happened is when it was being transferred the mouse
as they'd been through like a hole in the box,
and then it's just kind of like cozy in there.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Because you wouldn't dine in there.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
He'd live forever.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
But then but then it ended up back in the
freezer and so the poor mouse got snap frozen.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
Wow, the nutrients are still in there there, just frozen
like a carrot.
Speaker 7 (07:25):
Al right, the production line, like the mouse happened to
be on the production line, squish bang in the freezer.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
It was oh oh, Krien, thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Look, there's been some real doozies. Okay, guys, just just
look at what you eat before.
Speaker 6 (07:39):
Take.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
A lot of fingernails came in. That was a real problem.
I have a lot of fakey's in the food.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
I nearly put a fake nail once.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Into the nut arena, you know the nutbox at like
the supermarkets.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
The nut woolwors nut arena.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Yeah, it's an arena that is like a great arena.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
We're going to end up in the nut arena if
you're not careful.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
We have a bit of a different guest on the
show today, one I'm quite excited to speak about. I
saw her story online and just couldn't imagine what it
would be like. We're speaking to Lyndall Bubke, who is
a donor conceived woman from Brisbane and she recently found
out that she has seventy seven half siblings that were
also conceived by the same donor sperm.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
So we have Lyndall on the phone. Lindall, welcome to
the show.
Speaker 5 (08:28):
Hi both, thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
What how did you discover that you had seventy seven
half siblings?
Speaker 5 (08:33):
Oh, it's been a bit of a process. I did
an ancestry Dnatis my husband's family really into genealogy and
I'm like, well, that'll be fun.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
What's the worst that I imagine that'd be fun?
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Did you know at that point that you had been
conceived through donor sperm? Like, did you know that that
was the case or was it all a bit of
a Pandora's box.
Speaker 5 (08:52):
It was a bit of a Pandora's box. I'm of
an age. I'm thirty three in most I was conceived
in the early nineties, and at the time, the going
rhetoric that the clinics were really impressing upon parents was
go home and pretend it didn't happen. It's unkind to
tell them. You shouldn't tell them they'll never be able
to find their donor, you know. And yes that's all true,
(09:15):
not only because they destroyed the records in a bit
of a journey, but these days people are told.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
At the time as well, there was nothing like ancestry
dot com, so they probably weren't thinking no future the
people would be able to do their own genealogy tests
like that seems so sci fi for back then.
Speaker 5 (09:30):
I know who would have ever guessed?
Speaker 4 (09:32):
And then so okay, let's just set the scene tapping away.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
You find out you've got seventy seven half siblings. How
do you then connect with them? Because I know quite
a lot of you have reached out and been in contact.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
Yeah, there's like a group chat we have at the
moment because I've fifteen of us in it. We get
in touch mostly VIADEA they're testing. The clinic has put
a couple of us in touch with each other, but
the clinic doesn't have records for all or most of us.
The seventy seven, as you said, is a minimum. It
doesn't include all of the treating doctors that cleans on
(10:05):
fertility groups that destroyed their records might include. So if
it hadn't been the fact that I did a DNA test,
I wouldn't have ever been able to connect with my siblings.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
I imagine when you find out that there's you know, potentially
upwards of one hundred siblings, you would think, okay.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
I have to make two hundred and fifty to three
hundred and fifty conservatively based on how many times my
donor donated.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
Which is wild, and your brain must go to the
fact of saying, okay, well, there's a high likelihood of
all these people growing up in the same area. Did
you just think that maybe you'd come across them in
the past, or what if you were dating them as
a teenager, or what if your husband.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Was related to in some way? Like did those thoughts
cross your mind?
Speaker 5 (10:42):
Bang on the money With my biggest fears, they're Thankfully
my husband had already done a DNA test, So when
I got my results back, it was the first thing
I was checking in and before I looked at the
eleven DNA matches, my parents had got in between the
test results hitting. They told me what to expect. So
the first thing I'm checking is is my husband a relative?
Thank God it wasn't that.
Speaker 7 (11:02):
You know.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
I know that two of my siblings have found out
they were at a party together as teenagers. It's all
really cool to home. The chances of me knowing someone
who's a sibling before I find their sibling is pretty high.
You know, one of my one of my brothers is
my cousin's friend. We're born ten days apart. We're probably
conceived on the same day. And that's that's quite close.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
You be from the same pot of sperm, same clinic.
Speaker 5 (11:26):
Yeah, I think we are.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Actually wow, wow, that is crazy.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
How look I mean, and this might be a little
bit personal, but when your parents did tell you, because
obviously you know, them intervening, trying to probably get a
front foot on that situation, how did you respond to that?
Speaker 5 (11:42):
Oh? Look, it's hard, you know. I think they did
the best they could with the information they had. We
all agree. Now, my parents have been really supportive throughout
this process because this isn't what they signed up for
But now that they know this, they would have told
me earlier. I always tell people who are going through
to own a conception. It's so important to tell your kids.
(12:02):
Have it just be part of the narrative, so it's
not a big shock when they signed out.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Well, you are also campaigning for improved regulations in the
fertility clinics and creations of databases. Tell us exactly what
you're hoping to achieve, Like, what regulations do you think
we need to have to better control this?
Speaker 5 (12:19):
Yeah, well so at the moment we have state based
approaching and not every state has regulation. Until October and
Queensland last year there was literally nothing governing it and
that's why something terrible things happened. So if one state
is letting the team down, then the clinics can get
away with and they do get away with sending the
sperm into state to their related clinics or just selling
(12:42):
it to other clinics and using it in the different jurisdiction,
and that gets around the family limits, and that's how
you create these pods of hundreds, sometimes thousands of siblings
in Australia.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
It's just insane.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
And also, I mean there's been a few documentaries and
stuff that have come out where it's really highlighted this
issue overseas, but I don't think anyone's aware that it's
something that's happened here in Australia on home soil as well's.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
And if we're using sperm that's imported from the state,
there's no checks and balances and how many times they've
used it.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
Well, you're gonna have a fun Christmas windle with three
hundred people.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
I don't know what you hope.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
I don't know if you hope to find them all
or if you're happy to just like sort of live
with seventy seven the Yeah, you would, you.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
Know, it just feels funny thinking there are these people
out there and share half of my DNA, but I
never know. That's just a sadness we all have to wear.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Oh well, we hope you find them. It's a remarkable story.
But we are reading for you. Thanks both, Thanks Linda,
so Laura.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
On the weekend, I tried to do what I think
was a really good deed, well for myself and for
my sister. But what I did was I went through
all my cupboards and cleaned everything out. You know where
you have this like I just had too much stuff
that I have accumulated for years. I could open my
wardrobe and stuff from fifteen years ago would tumble out
and almost suffocate me. I have seen your wardrobe, brit
(14:01):
and one thing like, yes, you have a lot of clothes,
but the thing is you also don't throw anything away,
so you keep all of your clothes, like you have
multiple wardrobes. But I think because most of it's stuff
that you'll keep on rotation, right.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Yes, I do.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
I'm a real sucker for I'm like a hoarder for clothes.
Like some of my favorite pieces of clothing are from
fifteen years ago.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
So I don't necessarily just keep them. I just love it.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
I don't fit anything from fifteen years ago when we
are yellow. And I kind of have a rule now
because my wardrobes one a time was very similar.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
But I have a rule that if I haven't worn
it in a year, it goes.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
I give it away to someone, or I give it
to the Salvos.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
But I can't. I can't keep that. When he closes
my house.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
Every like I don't know, six to eight months, I
do a clean out and I send everything to the
Salvos or I give it to my sister or a
friend to go through.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
If it's like good quality stuff. So I went through.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
I'd been going through it for probably the last four
months and slowly putting things into bags because I knew
my sister was going to.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Move back from overseas.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
I always let her go through and pick stuff and
then I take it to a charity store. And so
I've been accumulating these bags and one was just bin
like stuff that was just so far gone, moss of
eating it or whatever.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Like I'm talking the dregs of my wardrobe. You're like,
I would be embarrassed to give this to someone.
Speaker 7 (15:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Then I had the stuff that my sister could go
through that was like call you know, no would fit out.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Then I had the bag that was just going straight
to the charity win anyway.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
So I handed off to my sister and she went
back to the Gold Coast because she doesn't live near
me and I don't hear from about it. And I
was like really excited because I was giving her really
quality stuff. Anyway, So I bring it up and I
said to her, day, did you go through the bag?
Speaker 3 (15:32):
And She's like, yeah, I did. I was like, okay,
did you keep anything?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Like did you like it?
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Or like you're welcome?
Speaker 2 (15:39):
She's like no, I think he would be nice. She's
like no, Brittany, it was disgusting. When I threw it out.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
I was like, well, I was like, you didn't keep
one thing?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Nothing.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
She's like, no, nothing, Why would I? And I was
so confused. I was like, there's some of my best pieces.
Speaker 8 (15:53):
She was like what it turns out I gave her
a bag of like the oldest undies that you've ever seen,
like undies that I've worn, that have holes in them,
that have like these are undies that have been through it.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
I gave her stuff with moth holes in it.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
I gave her the bag that was supposed to go
straight to the bin, not even a bag that could
go to a charity, not nothing.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
This is like you'd burn this bag, and that's what
she thought I gifted her.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
It's the bag of clothes where you know, they've lived alive,
they have lived a century of life.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
They've seen some stuff. And like, I was mortified.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
So what happened to the bag that she was meant
to get? Did you actually take that one to the salvage?
Speaker 2 (16:28):
So annoying? Yeah, but that's great. There's really great subber videos.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
But I was mortified to think that I gave my
sister a bag of like dirty undies. I don't want
to say it on radio, but I was like, old
use undies because I keep bundies for like I know
you do too, Laura, Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Twenty years.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
I keep underwear until it no longer has an elastic,
which is coming really handy because I now my butt's
about twice the size it used to be and all those.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Houndies hit me again.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
Do you like how I'm trying to whisper it like
Australia can't hear it. If I whispered it, I was like,
I gave her a bag of dirty undies, like.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
You're still seeing it.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
I feel like this is a lesson for everyone, though.
If you're going to do a clean out, you've got
to label stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
It's seemed like if you're moving house.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Because I once maybe about eight months ago, he actually
maybe longer.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
No one cares I had.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Too bad time is irrelevant.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
I had one bag to go to the dry cleaners
and one bag to go to the salvos.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Both bags have been kicking around the back of my car.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
The boot the garage like they've just been moved from
different areas because I kept on thinking I'll take it eventually. Anyway,
I mentioned to Matt, I was like, oh, there's a
bag in the back of my car that.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Needs to go the Salvos.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Didn't tell him that there was one that was supposed
to go to the dry cleaners, and everything ended up
at the Savos, so that was really disappointing for me.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Let's alert everyone. Yeah, there's also.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Some things that the owner didn't want to part with
as well, So off you go, guys, check it out. Anyway, Look,
that is it from us.
High Heart podcasts, hear more Kiss podcast playlist and listen
live on the Free iHeart app a good Pickup with
Britt Hockley and Laura Ben Brady.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Your work, our windows done. That's my world rison the dust.
Only good labs.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Are all down.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I've don't much, but yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
I know I'll beg get and what I want. It
don't matter where goes. This is the pickup.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Hi, guys, you're listening to the Pickup with brid Hockley.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
And Laura Ben. Oh we're seeing now. Sorry, I don't
know where that came from. I'm just in a good
mood today, more different person out. You're pregnant. I don't
know what's happening. There's lots of hormone changes, brain synapses
to change.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
There probably is, though to be fair to really sleep
deprived already sleep.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
In somnia, pregnancy insomnia.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I suppose the other kind of insomnia you can get
that's not sleep related. Bread Yes, okay, so I have
just hit twenty six weeks, which is weird to me
because you're just not even pregnant to me. I know
you do treat me like I'm not pregnant, like that,
I'm in need denial I need everyone to be like
(01:17):
you are gay.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
I am sympathetic, but I'm denial. Yeah, I'm dealing with
it too. It's our pregnancy.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
This is I understand have a guess what size fruits?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Because you know how so.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
When you're pregnant and you go into a new week,
if you've got any of those pregnancy apps, it always
tells you, like what fruit your baby is. Third, I
don't pay a lot of attention to it. I don't
think i've looked since it was the size of a blueberry.
So what is it?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Twenty six weeks? Twenty six weeks? That's just over half way?
Speaker 5 (01:42):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Well more than that?
Speaker 4 (01:43):
But yeah, yeah, so you're a little bit over halfway.
Six weeks over halfway? Yeah, okay, So let me think
of my fruit. Would it be remiss of me to
say it would resemble a premature rock melon?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Premature rock melon like hasn't quite made it to full melon.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
That's pretty good, because I'm pretty sure rock melon is
like twenty nine weeks. So yeah, I think you're pretty
close the paya, Yeah, close to. But no, it's a
lettuce this week letters, which also, why.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Would you want to be a lettuce? Sorry? If you
want to be a fruit pick a like something solid.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Also, the thing is is, if you've ever seen fruits,
they vary a lot in size. So I just don't
know how they've whoever scaled this based on a fruit,
I don't know how accurate it is.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
Is it a big letters melon a stage?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yeah, twenty nine weeks melon. So I'll let you know
when we in that. That's pretty good for someone that's
never been pregnant. I'm press.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Now we've asked the question. Guys, give us a call.
What did you find in your food? Because on the
weekend it was my daughter's sixth birthday party? Right, lots
of preparation. We did it at our house, which is
a terrible idea. Don't whole birthday parties at your house.
Lots of cleaner, lots.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Of prep little question yep, is fairy bread? Does it
still make an appearance at kids' birthday parties?
Speaker 5 (02:58):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, I did, half made.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
I made half a loaf, wonder white butter and sprinkles.
And let me tell you, that was the only food
that was on the table that got complete devoured.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Of course, it was pure sugar. It was shit.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
That can't be shocking, have you No, one eate the
carrot sticks and hummus.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
It was a big fruit platter. No, but have you
actually tried it as an adult? It's terrible. It's really crunchy.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
I don't like butter either, so I've had to forego
the fairy bread as an adult.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah, it's more so that sprinkles are overrated.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
They taste awful, slightly sugary, not sugary enough, and they're
really hard. So all these little kids are just walking
around just getting turned on fairy bread. Anyway, it was
the whole thing. I should have stuck to the fairy bread,
because I did get a couple of packets of chips.
I'm a bit of a lazy mum when it comes
to a birthday party. We didn't do a cake. We
just had cupcakes that I was still bought. You know,
I put some candles in them. I've got a few
(03:49):
bags of chippies. I was like, put them on the
table in bowls. Kids will have a great time. You're
not trad wifing. No, yeah, that's not my that's not
my thing. Anyway. I opened up one of the bags
of chips and it looked okay on top, but then
I looked a.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Bit close to I was like, what is that?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
And I shook the bag a bit and there was
this you don't know entirely what it was it was about.
It was about fifteen centimeters.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Long, half a ruler that doesn't even fit in a
chip bag.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah, about that beer just fitted in like sideways. It
took up the entire side length of the bag. It
looked like a full hash brown, like a McDonald's hash
brown that had been severely overcooked. But then on closer inspection,
I took a moment I was like, is that a
chicken snitzl? Like is there a legit chicken snitsel in
my chip bag? Anyway, pulled it out. I'm pretty sure
(04:38):
it was just layers upon layers of compacted chips that
had been deep fried and deep fried and deep fried.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
And how does it get to that point? God knows.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
We thought it was the golden hash brown that we found,
like we'd run a prize.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
But that's what I was actually gonna ask that did
you look up to see if there is a competition
running for like whoever whatever bag finds it, because that's
a thing.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
No, we have a listen to this.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
I can't tell if this is an entire potato, a.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Hash brown.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Or a lot of chips that have gotten stuff on
the conveyor belt together.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Would you you're disgusting.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
It's probably like the best bit of all the chips,
you know, like when they're kindch It's really that's pretty good.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
That's so right.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Delicacy. We got the special golden hash brown and the
back of the gym.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
It's a delicacy.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Matt, Yeah, it's a delicacy. Matt took one for the team.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
My husband, he ate he took a big bite out
of it.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
I think he just did it.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
No, he told me off camera that it was actually revolting.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
He was like, I'm worried that I ate that maybe
to make me.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
See at least it was something edible that was in there,
because there could be some weird and wonderful things that
get stuck.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Well there have been.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
There have been some weird, wonderful things. Did we put
the call out to you guys, what did you find
in your food? And let me tell you everything from
band aids to nails to it's been disgusting. We've got
Jess on the line. Jess, what did you find in
your food?
Speaker 6 (05:55):
I was at a cafe and my omelet came out
and there was a humongous giant dragonfly just cooked smack
bang in the middle of my almard.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Always so they might not God, they folded it in.
Speaker 6 (06:09):
Yeah, well, you know when you're on what comes out
and it's like half folded over, presented nicely.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
That it just goes beyond negligence.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Imagine being that person that's in their cooking and they're like, nah,
either they see it or they and they can't be.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Bothered to pick it out, or they're like, didn't even look.
They just flipped.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Now, I reckon.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
They the chef knows how to do the flip, right,
I reckon.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
He just turned his head as he flipped it as
it flew in like bad timing.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
What did you do, Jess? You sent it back?
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Well I did.
Speaker 6 (06:36):
They weren't really concerned. They offered to make me a
new one, and I declined that wow.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
All right, great service. Don't let's not name the cafe.
All right, Karin, We've got Kren on the line. What
did you find your food?
Speaker 7 (06:49):
A family member came across a mouse frozen to the
bottom of like frozen pizza.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
But it was like.
Speaker 7 (06:58):
Between the plastic. Yeah, a mouse, a little little mouth
already sealed in a plastic part, so like between the
box of plastic.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
So yeah, I would never be able to eat a
pizza again.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I reckon.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
What's happened is when it was being transferred the mouse
as they'd been through like a hole in the box,
and then it's just kind of like cozy in there.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Because you wouldn't dine in there.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
He'd live forever.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
But then but then it ended up back in the
freezer and so the poor mouse got snap frozen.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
Wow, the nutrients are still in there there, just frozen
like a carrot.
Speaker 7 (07:25):
Al right, the production line, like the mouse happened to
be on the production line, squish bang in the freezer.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
It was oh oh, Krien, thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Look, there's been some real doozies. Okay, guys, just just
look at what you eat before.
Speaker 6 (07:39):
Take.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
A lot of fingernails came in. That was a real problem.
I have a lot of fakey's in the food.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
I nearly put a fake nail once.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Into the nut arena, you know the nutbox at like
the supermarkets.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
The nut woolwors nut arena.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Yeah, it's an arena that is like a great arena.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
We're going to end up in the nut arena if
you're not careful.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
We have a bit of a different guest on the
show today, one I'm quite excited to speak about. I
saw her story online and just couldn't imagine what it
would be like. We're speaking to Lyndall Bubke, who is
a donor conceived woman from Brisbane and she recently found
out that she has seventy seven half siblings that were
also conceived by the same donor sperm.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
So we have Lyndall on the phone. Lindall, welcome to
the show.
Speaker 5 (08:28):
Hi both, thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
What how did you discover that you had seventy seven
half siblings?
Speaker 5 (08:33):
Oh, it's been a bit of a process. I did
an ancestry Dnatis my husband's family really into genealogy and
I'm like, well, that'll be fun.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
What's the worst that I imagine that'd be fun?
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Did you know at that point that you had been
conceived through donor sperm? Like, did you know that that
was the case or was it all a bit of
a Pandora's box.
Speaker 5 (08:52):
It was a bit of a Pandora's box. I'm of
an age. I'm thirty three in most I was conceived
in the early nineties, and at the time, the going
rhetoric that the clinics were really impressing upon parents was
go home and pretend it didn't happen. It's unkind to
tell them. You shouldn't tell them they'll never be able
to find their donor, you know. And yes that's all true,
(09:15):
not only because they destroyed the records in a bit
of a journey, but these days people are told.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
At the time as well, there was nothing like ancestry
dot com, so they probably weren't thinking no future the
people would be able to do their own genealogy tests
like that seems so sci fi for back then.
Speaker 5 (09:30):
I know who would have ever guessed?
Speaker 4 (09:32):
And then so okay, let's just set the scene tapping away.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
You find out you've got seventy seven half siblings. How
do you then connect with them? Because I know quite
a lot of you have reached out and been in contact.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
Yeah, there's like a group chat we have at the
moment because I've fifteen of us in it. We get
in touch mostly VIADEA they're testing. The clinic has put
a couple of us in touch with each other, but
the clinic doesn't have records for all or most of us.
The seventy seven, as you said, is a minimum. It
doesn't include all of the treating doctors that cleans on
(10:05):
fertility groups that destroyed their records might include. So if
it hadn't been the fact that I did a DNA test,
I wouldn't have ever been able to connect with my siblings.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
I imagine when you find out that there's you know, potentially
upwards of one hundred siblings, you would think, okay.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
I have to make two hundred and fifty to three
hundred and fifty conservatively based on how many times my
donor donated.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
Which is wild, and your brain must go to the
fact of saying, okay, well, there's a high likelihood of
all these people growing up in the same area. Did
you just think that maybe you'd come across them in
the past, or what if you were dating them as
a teenager, or what if your husband.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Was related to in some way? Like did those thoughts
cross your mind?
Speaker 5 (10:42):
Bang on the money With my biggest fears, they're Thankfully
my husband had already done a DNA test, So when
I got my results back, it was the first thing
I was checking in and before I looked at the
eleven DNA matches, my parents had got in between the
test results hitting. They told me what to expect. So
the first thing I'm checking is is my husband a relative?
Thank God it wasn't that.
Speaker 7 (11:02):
You know.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
I know that two of my siblings have found out
they were at a party together as teenagers. It's all
really cool to home. The chances of me knowing someone
who's a sibling before I find their sibling is pretty high.
You know, one of my one of my brothers is
my cousin's friend. We're born ten days apart. We're probably
conceived on the same day. And that's that's quite close.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
You be from the same pot of sperm, same clinic.
Speaker 5 (11:26):
Yeah, I think we are.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Actually wow, wow, that is crazy.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
How look I mean, and this might be a little
bit personal, but when your parents did tell you, because
obviously you know, them intervening, trying to probably get a
front foot on that situation, how did you respond to that?
Speaker 5 (11:42):
Oh? Look, it's hard, you know. I think they did
the best they could with the information they had. We
all agree. Now, my parents have been really supportive throughout
this process because this isn't what they signed up for
But now that they know this, they would have told
me earlier. I always tell people who are going through
to own a conception. It's so important to tell your kids.
(12:02):
Have it just be part of the narrative, so it's
not a big shock when they signed out.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Well, you are also campaigning for improved regulations in the
fertility clinics and creations of databases. Tell us exactly what
you're hoping to achieve, Like, what regulations do you think
we need to have to better control this?
Speaker 5 (12:19):
Yeah, well so at the moment we have state based
approaching and not every state has regulation. Until October and
Queensland last year there was literally nothing governing it and
that's why something terrible things happened. So if one state
is letting the team down, then the clinics can get
away with and they do get away with sending the
sperm into state to their related clinics or just selling
(12:42):
it to other clinics and using it in the different jurisdiction,
and that gets around the family limits, and that's how
you create these pods of hundreds, sometimes thousands of siblings
in Australia.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
It's just insane.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
And also, I mean there's been a few documentaries and
stuff that have come out where it's really highlighted this
issue overseas, but I don't think anyone's aware that it's
something that's happened here in Australia on home soil as well's.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
And if we're using sperm that's imported from the state,
there's no checks and balances and how many times they've
used it.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
Well, you're gonna have a fun Christmas windle with three
hundred people.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
I don't know what you hope.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
I don't know if you hope to find them all
or if you're happy to just like sort of live
with seventy seven the Yeah, you would, you.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
Know, it just feels funny thinking there are these people
out there and share half of my DNA, but I
never know. That's just a sadness we all have to wear.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Oh well, we hope you find them. It's a remarkable story.
But we are reading for you. Thanks both, Thanks Linda,
so Laura.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
On the weekend, I tried to do what I think
was a really good deed, well for myself and for
my sister. But what I did was I went through
all my cupboards and cleaned everything out. You know where
you have this like I just had too much stuff
that I have accumulated for years. I could open my
wardrobe and stuff from fifteen years ago would tumble out
and almost suffocate me. I have seen your wardrobe, brit
(14:01):
and one thing like, yes, you have a lot of clothes,
but the thing is you also don't throw anything away,
so you keep all of your clothes, like you have
multiple wardrobes. But I think because most of it's stuff
that you'll keep on rotation, right.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Yes, I do.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
I'm a real sucker for I'm like a hoarder for clothes.
Like some of my favorite pieces of clothing are from
fifteen years ago.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
So I don't necessarily just keep them. I just love it.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
I don't fit anything from fifteen years ago when we
are yellow. And I kind of have a rule now
because my wardrobes one a time was very similar.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
But I have a rule that if I haven't worn
it in a year, it goes.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
I give it away to someone, or I give it
to the Salvos.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
But I can't. I can't keep that. When he closes
my house.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
Every like I don't know, six to eight months, I
do a clean out and I send everything to the
Salvos or I give it to my sister or a
friend to go through.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
If it's like good quality stuff. So I went through.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
I'd been going through it for probably the last four
months and slowly putting things into bags because I knew
my sister was going to.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Move back from overseas.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
I always let her go through and pick stuff and
then I take it to a charity store. And so
I've been accumulating these bags and one was just bin
like stuff that was just so far gone, moss of
eating it or whatever.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Like I'm talking the dregs of my wardrobe. You're like,
I would be embarrassed to give this to someone.
Speaker 7 (15:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Then I had the stuff that my sister could go
through that was like call you know, no would fit out.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Then I had the bag that was just going straight
to the charity win anyway.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
So I handed off to my sister and she went
back to the Gold Coast because she doesn't live near
me and I don't hear from about it. And I
was like really excited because I was giving her really
quality stuff. Anyway, So I bring it up and I
said to her, day, did you go through the bag?
Speaker 3 (15:32):
And She's like, yeah, I did. I was like, okay,
did you keep anything?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Like did you like it?
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Or like you're welcome?
Speaker 2 (15:39):
She's like no, I think he would be nice. She's
like no, Brittany, it was disgusting. When I threw it out.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
I was like, well, I was like, you didn't keep
one thing?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Nothing.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
She's like, no, nothing, Why would I? And I was
so confused. I was like, there's some of my best pieces.
Speaker 8 (15:53):
She was like what it turns out I gave her
a bag of like the oldest undies that you've ever seen,
like undies that I've worn, that have holes in them,
that have like these are undies that have been through it.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
I gave her stuff with moth holes in it.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
I gave her the bag that was supposed to go
straight to the bin, not even a bag that could
go to a charity, not nothing.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
This is like you'd burn this bag, and that's what
she thought I gifted her.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
It's the bag of clothes where you know, they've lived alive,
they have lived a century of life.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
They've seen some stuff. And like, I was mortified.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
So what happened to the bag that she was meant
to get? Did you actually take that one to the salvage?
Speaker 2 (16:28):
So annoying? Yeah, but that's great. There's really great subber videos.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
But I was mortified to think that I gave my
sister a bag of like dirty undies. I don't want
to say it on radio, but I was like, old
use undies because I keep bundies for like I know
you do too, Laura, Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Twenty years.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
I keep underwear until it no longer has an elastic,
which is coming really handy because I now my butt's
about twice the size it used to be and all those.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Houndies hit me again.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
Do you like how I'm trying to whisper it like
Australia can't hear it. If I whispered it, I was like,
I gave her a bag of dirty undies, like.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
You're still seeing it.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
I feel like this is a lesson for everyone, though.
If you're going to do a clean out, you've got
to label stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
It's seemed like if you're moving house.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Because I once maybe about eight months ago, he actually
maybe longer.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
No one cares I had.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Too bad time is irrelevant.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
I had one bag to go to the dry cleaners
and one bag to go to the salvos.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Both bags have been kicking around the back of my car.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
The boot the garage like they've just been moved from
different areas because I kept on thinking I'll take it eventually. Anyway,
I mentioned to Matt, I was like, oh, there's a
bag in the back of my car that.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Needs to go the Salvos.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Didn't tell him that there was one that was supposed
to go to the dry cleaners, and everything ended up
at the Savos, so that was really disappointing for me.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Let's alert everyone. Yeah, there's also.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Some things that the owner didn't want to part with
as well, So off you go, guys, check it out. Anyway, Look,
that is it from us.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
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.