June 20, 2025 • 54 mins
Kimberlee Williams shares her emotional journey from planning a home birth after three easy deliveries to facing a life-threatening medical emergency and a 6-week NICU stay with her premature son Houston.
• Mother of four who moved to Utah shortly before unexpectedly becoming pregnant with her fourth child
• Planned a home birth with a midwife after three previous uncomplicated hospital births
• Experienced a severe migraine at six months pregnant that she suspected was preeclampsia
• Midwife dismissed her high blood pressure, attributing symptoms to food she had eaten
• 20-week ultrasound showed baby was measuring two weeks behind with an empty stomach
• Noticed significantly decreased fetal movement and followed her instinct to get it checked
• Ultrasound technician found baby wasn't moving or swallowing properly
• Hospital discovered her blood pressure was dangerously high, in the 200s
• Emergency C-section at 33 weeks resulted in baby born at only 2 pounds 10 ounces
• Community rallied around the family while baby spent six weeks in NICU
• Discovered toxic heavy metals in prescribed formula were causing developmental delays
• Switching formulas led to immediate improvements in baby's development and weight gain
• Learning to trust maternal instincts and advocate for yourself and your baby
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Show Credits
Host: Angie Rosier
Music: Michael Hicks
Photographer: Toni Walker
Episode Artwork: Nick Greenwood
Producer: Gillian Rosier Frampton
Voiceover: Ryan Parker
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to the Ordinary Doula Podcast with
Angie Rozier, hosted by BirthLearning, where we help prepare
folks for labor and birth withexpertise coming from 20 years
of experience in a busy doulapractice Helping thousands of
people prepare for labor,providing essential knowledge
(00:36):
and tools for positive andempowering birth experiences.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Hello and welcome to the Ordinary Doula podcast.
My name is Angie Rozier, I'myour host and we're glad to have
you with us here today.
We have a special guest namedKimberly and Kimberly is going
to share her story with us.
Kimberly is a mom of four andher journey, as you will hear,
has some pretty interestingtwists and turns in it.
And one thing I love aboutKimberly's story is that it's a
(01:10):
story out of advocacy.
You will see kind of how herjourney.
You know some of the choicesshe made and how they shifted
for her, but I love how Kimberlydemonstrates how she has to
advocate for her and for herbaby all the way through her
story.
So let's take a moment to meetKimberly.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
I'm Kimberly Williams .
My husband and I moved hereabout a year ago and we had our
three daughters in Arizona andwe unexpectedly, after trying
for a year year, got pregnanthere in Utah only like a week
(01:48):
after moving here.
Yeah, there's something in thewater here in Utah, I guess so.
That's why there's so many kids.
But we my husband's a pediatricdentist and we my husband's a
pediatric dentist and we yeah,we have four kids.
We have the three girls thatwere born in Arizona and then
(02:15):
Houston that was born here.
My other three were super easypregnancies, super easy
deliveries like my water breaks,and they're here within 15
minutes um, kind of quick, um.
And so we decided that we, afterhaving them in Arizona and
always using an OB and being inthe hospital uh, my husband was
(02:37):
in dental school while we weredoing that, so he, we were
always on Medicaid, um, um, sowe didn't have to worry about
the bill, um, and so, being here, we're new to learning about
the insurance side of things andhaving to pay for the hospital
stay and all of that.
So we decided that we would doit more natural with houston,
(02:59):
and since the others were soeasy, we figured, oh, we could
just do a home birth and shouldbe just as easy.
And so then we found a midwifeand we decided that we'd just
use a midwife this time and justdo the natural birth.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
And then things went differently.
It sounds like oh yeah, verydifferent.
Tell me, tell me when, whenyour journey changed.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Okay, um, so we went down for a trip, like a weekend
trip, to Bryce Canyon and Brianhead and we, when we got back,
uh, we did a lot of hiking, um,and when we got back, I had it
was like the next day I got areally bad headache and I had
(03:53):
had migraines before.
Um, and the headache just gotworse and worse and I it turned
into a migraine and it was theworst migraine I've ever had.
I've never had a migraine whereI was throwing up, and this one
(04:15):
was bad.
I was throwing up and Icouldn't have any light and I
honestly probably got reallydehydrated.
I thought that's all it was,because I was just dehydrated.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
How far along were you in your pregnancy at this
point?
Speaker 3 (04:30):
I was about six months pregnant, okay, and I had
.
So I had texted my midwife andbecause I had done chat, gpt and
like done all of the researchto try to figure out what was
(04:51):
wrong with me before I reachedout to her.
And I reached out to her and Itold her, I texted her I'm
pretty sure I have preeclampsiaand and she said, well, what's
your blood pressure?
And I didn't have a bloodpressure cuff at the time.
So my husband left with thekids and went and got a blood
(05:15):
pressure cuff from her, sinceshe lives just 15 minutes away,
and brought it back and took myblood pressure and probably have
all of the notes.
But my blood pressure waspretty high.
It was pretty high.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
And this is not something normal for you, right?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
No, I don't know how old you are, but you look like a
young, healthy person.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Oh, I had been in my best shape of my life and best
health of my life right beforegetting pregnant with Houston.
Um, and I, normally in thehospital after I have my babies,
the nurses will run in thinkingI'm dead, because they're
they're like well you're, areyou okay?
(06:03):
Like, your blood pressure'slike 60 over 30.
It's really low.
I normally have really lowblood pressure, so to have
really high was way out of thenorm, um, and I want to say it
was.
It was like 160, I think oversomething, I don't know.
(06:27):
It was in the 160s.
And so my midwife said, oh, um,what did you eat the day before
?
Well, we were.
We went hiking, so we had hadSubway.
And so she said, oh, it's thenitrates and stuff from the
Subway sandwiches is probablywhat caused my migraine.
And she gave me some magnesiumto take and said, oh, the
(06:51):
magnesium will help.
And it did help.
And I had gone in for my 20week ultrasound as well just
before that.
And, um, in that ultrasound wesaw that Houston was two weeks
(07:22):
behind what he should have been,so I was only 18 weeks along
because of his size.
And then also, my ultrasoundtech mentioned that he had an
empty stomach as well, he goes.
That's something we should keepan eye on.
I'll talk to your midwife aboutit and we'll just keep an eye
(07:43):
on that.
Talk to your midwife about itand we'll just keep an eye on
that.
Um, but we didn't schedule anymore appointments or anything
like that.
They didn't say that was needed.
Um, so I'm like I don't knowhow they would keep an eye on it
without an ultrasound.
But, um, then we so that was inOctober of the whole migraine
(08:07):
thing and I had been taking themagnesium and the migraines did
get better.
And then three weeks later I hadnoticed that Houston wasn't
kicking as much.
He had been kicking a whole lotand I noticed he wasn't kicking
as much.
He had been kicking a whole lot.
And I noticed he wasn't kickingas much.
(08:29):
And I think it was like it wasa Friday I noticed he wasn't
kicking as much.
And then Saturday rolled around, and Sunday rolled around.
I still didn't feel him kickingvery much around.
And Sunday rolled around, Istill didn't feel him kicking
very much.
And then Monday, I, um, I waslike I'm going to do everything
(08:54):
I can to get him to kick andjust sit there for an hour and
see if I can get him to kick.
So I dropped the kids off toschool on Monday morning and
went in Um.
I got some caffeine and I got areally sugary drink to try to
get him to kick and I used icepacks and tried to put them on
my stomach and tried to feel himkick.
(09:14):
And I sat there for an hourlaying on the couch as still as
I could and I didn't feelanything.
I felt one maybe like rotationof, like a shoulder or something
.
It was down pretty low and itwas just very slight and I was
(09:35):
like something's wrong and sorry, I didn't think I had to get
emotional, it's okay.
I've said this story so manytimes.
I had decided that morning I wasgoing to make another
(09:55):
ultrasound appointment with theultrasound tech and the earliest
he could get me in was 5o'clock that night.
So I made that appointment andI told my midwife that I had
made the appointment and shegoes well, I don't normally work
on Mondays.
But how about you come over tomy house and we'll um, we'll
look at you and we'll check youout and stuff, and I said okay.
So I went to her house at like10 AM and she used the Doppler
(10:21):
and it took a while, but wefound the heartbeat and she goes
oh, that's great, we hear aheartbeat, he's doing so good
and that he sorry, it's okay.
She said that he's doing sogood, there shouldn't be really
(10:43):
anything to worry about, but goahead and keep that ultrasound
appointment that you madealready and just to be sure, and
check on everything.
She didn't check my bloodpressure or anything.
She didn't check reallyanything else and she just told
me that he was doing good.
(11:03):
And I was like, okay, that mademe feel a little bit better and
I kind of hate that.
I hate that.
That like reassured me, becauseit was such a false
reassurement.
And so then I waited all day.
I picked the kids up fromschool, I took them over to my
husband's office, dropped themoff and went straight up to my
appointment at five o'clock andI had drove all the way up to
(11:28):
holiday for it.
Um, I got there and we look atthe ultrasound and he I think I
was just bawling because I knewsomething was wrong that feeling
persist, yes, and I had felt itfor weeks and I had been
talking to friends for weeks too.
(11:48):
I'm like I just I don't want togo into the hospital because
before I, with my other girls, Iwould go into the hospital and
they'd be like oh you're fine,go home.
Oh, you're fine, go home.
And so I didn't want to,especially since we didn't have
the best insurance either at thetime and we were expecting it
to just be an easy delivery.
(12:09):
Um, I didn't want to go into thehospital and have a huge bill
for no reason say just go homesent away again and so I had
talked to all my friends andthey're like you should just go
to the hospital, you should justgo to the hospital, you should
just go to the hospital, and Ishould have.
That probably would have beenmuch better had I have just gone
to the hospital.
(12:30):
But in the ultrasound the techlooked at it and he mentioned
again that Houston's stomach wasempty, and I said his stomach's
empty.
You told me that last time at20 weeks at my 20 week
appointment, and you moved hisdue date back two weeks because
(12:50):
of his size.
Which is interesting because inmy other ultrasounds with all
my other babies my doctor alwaystold me oh, my baby's going to
be like eight pounds and theywere always like six or under.
So they were always reallysmall.
So to hear that he was smallalready was scary for me.
(13:12):
And then hearing it again atthat ultrasound he said he saw
he could get a heartbeat but hewasn't seeing any movement of
Houston at all and that hewasn't seeing any movement of
(13:32):
Houston at all and that hewasn't Sorry.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
It's okay, kimberly, it's hard stuff.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
He said that he wasn't swallowing anything
either and he couldn't see anyswallowing movement at all and
that by this far along he shouldbe doing all of that.
Um, and he said normally whensomething like that happens, it
(14:02):
means that their esophagus, Iguess, isn't connected to their
stomach or whatever that portionis right there yeah, it's not
connected and so they're notable to swallow.
And he said to go to wherever myhusband was.
(14:24):
My husband was at TexasRoadhouse with the girls just
getting them out, so you're byyourself during this, so I was
by myself oh that's hard, wow.
And so I drove to TexasRoadhouse to meet him and the
ultrasound tech said he wouldtalk to my midwife and that they
(14:48):
would let me know if I neededto go into the hospital.
I wish he had just told me justgo straight to the nearest
hospital, although that wouldhave been so far away and
probably even harder.
Um, but so I got to TexasRoadhouse and, as I was pulling
(15:09):
in, my midwife called and saidare you with your husband yet?
And I said no, I'm not.
And she goes okay, um, I needyou to park your car as soon as
you can.
I parked and I said, okay, I'mready.
What is it?
Because the whole drive down.
(15:29):
I had talked to my husband, Ihad called him and I told him
kind of what was going on and hedid some really quick little
research.
And he's his research that hewas finding was that the
esophagus not connected isnormally a symptom of Down
syndrome, and so that's what wewere expecting Is that our baby
(15:53):
was going to be Down syndromeand that I don't know if I could
handle that that would be sohard.
I know they're little freakingangels and they're adorable, but
it's not what you're expecting,though no, being a parent to
one would be very difficult,very challenging.
(16:17):
um, and so that's what we wereexpecting, and my midwife calls
and says something is very wrongwith him.
Um, still, no one has taken myblood pressure at all.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Um, they just checked on the baby and so there's
something going on with you andsomething going on with the baby
.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Yes, um, and she said I needed to go to the nearest
hospital.
And so we went to Lone Peak andI just told her.
I said I need one that can takemy insurance, because I don't
have the best insurance but Ineed.
I don't know if I can affordall of that that's expensive,
(17:03):
afford all of that that'sexpensive.
And so we went into thehospital and that very night
right that night.
Yep, I headed straight to thehospital and Austin, my husband.
He took the girls back home andwe're in Saratoga Springs.
So we were up in South Jordanand I went over to Lone Peak and
(17:27):
he went all the way back toSaratoga Springs with the girls.
So it was a little bit of adrive for him and then a drive
for him to get find someone towatch the kids for us for a
minute and to get back to thehospital to me.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
So you're alone.
I was alone again.
Oh, kimberly, what a journey.
Wow, that's tough.
And then we so.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
I get to the hospital , my midwife meets me there and
we go up to the front desk andshe tells the front desk lady
she doesn't have any of myrecords at all.
For the whole time that I hadbeen seeing her she had no
records.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Because she didn't have them with her or she didn't
keep any.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
She didn't have them with her Okay, but also, she
just didn't, she didn't have anyrecords.
She didn't record anything,anything that come prepared for
this.
No, no, she well, she didn'trecord anything, even in our the
like the little what's itcalled?
The your prenatal visits and,yeah, my prenatal visits.
(18:38):
She's got like a little profilefor me or whatever on her
little site, yeah, and there'sthere's very few notes,
interesting.
Um, they took me back into aroom, um and got me like
examined and stuff um, andwithin 10 minutes there was
(19:03):
another doctor.
Uh, he was wonderful.
He came in and he um trying toremember his name, dr nielsen, I
don't know, but he, he wasawesome.
He they took my blood pressureand all of the things and he
(19:24):
told me with my midwife there hewas not very happy with her and
very like, obviously not happywith her um, what was your blood
pressure when they took it atthe hospital?
um it was?
Was it high?
Finished it um?
It was in the 200s no way, wow,wow, I want to say.
(19:48):
He said it was like 220 or like236 or something like that oh,
oh, my gosh Wow.
Um, it was way high.
And he said um, how do I nothave come in?
When I came in, um, give it twomore hours, and I would have
been seizing and had a stroke orone or the other, or both, um,
(20:15):
and I wouldn't have been able tomake it, and Houston definitely
wouldn't have made it.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Wow, um so this whole time you'd had high blood
pressure, but it wasn't beingchecked on.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
No, Is that?
Speaker 2 (20:26):
what was causing Houston's problems.
That's what was causing.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Houston's problems too.
He had um inner growth, inneruterine growth restriction, yep
Um and okay, sorry, what?
Speaker 2 (20:39):
how far along were you at this point?
How many weeks?
I was 33 weeks in a day, soyou've been dealing with this
for several weeks for three, atleast three weeks, Um, probably
more.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
I just didn't know um until I had that bad migraine,
and I wish that had I.
When I had told my midwifeabout the migraine and like I
literally said, I'm pretty sureI have preeclampsia, Like she
would have taken it more serious.
(21:11):
Like I, I'm pretty crunchy.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
I like, like the, you were going to do a home birth.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Yeah, that's pretty crunchy, I like like the, you
were gonna do a home birth.
Yeah, that's pretty crunchy.
More natural things too, butthere is a time and a place for
medicine and there is a time anda place for, like, more of the
western medicine, stuff um andstuff Um, and my case was
definitely the time to use it.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Um so, Austin, is he with you yet at this point?
No, he's not.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
He was still taking the girls back home, um, and
they told me that I needed tohave an emergency C-section and
that a C-section was my, myworst nightmare.
Like I, my doctor in Arizona,he had prevented me from having
a c-section with my other threegirls, with all three of them,
and I trust that man witheverything.
(22:06):
He was wonderful, but I, yeah,it was so scary to have even
thought of a C-section.
And then I get in there andthey're prepping me within 10
minutes and I went right backfor an emergency C-section.
I asked the doctor is there anyway?
(22:27):
Like my friend, she has reallyearly babies as well and they'll
give her like the Pitocin andthey'll, you know, let her do
the labor naturally and they'lldilate her and everything.
She has really small babies,but they is because she's had so
many like stillborns.
And he said no.
He said, with how bad my bloodpressure is already, um, that is
(22:53):
not an option.
Had we have watched the bloodpressure better or had we have
managed it or come in earlier orwhatever, that would be an
option, but it's too far alongand it's too risky and one or
both of us is probably going todie if we do that and I said,
(23:14):
okay, well, save my baby.
I have three other babies so Ineed to still be alive too.
And so we they prepped me andwent right into an emergency
C-section and I just I felt sonumb.
You're just going through themotions, probably right?
(23:35):
Yes, just going through themotions.
I think I was felt so numb.
You're just going through themotions, probably right.
Yes, just going through themotions.
I think I was probably in shock.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Yeah, huge, huge surprises there yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Yeah, they just, I just like stood there and like
walked where they told me towalk, but they like threw my
hands up and they like undressedme and they then they just like
laid me on the table and theystrapped me down and the
anesthesiologist came over andhe put the, the mask on my face
with the um I don't know thissleepy stuff.
(24:03):
yeah, yeah, um, and I rememberripping it off and I said I'm
gonna be asleep before theystart cutting right and I was
just terrified like I could feelthem drawing where they were
going to be cutting and it was.
It was just so scary, um.
And then I then I remember thenext thing I remember I remember
(24:26):
waking up, um, and I was in aroom.
I didn't have my baby.
They had already put him in theNICU and I didn't get to see
him for a day or two before Igot to actually go in and see
him.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
So when did Austin come?
When did he?
Speaker 3 (24:51):
join austin came.
He got there shortly afterhouston like was was born okay
um but they wouldn't let him inthe room, the operating room or
anything either.
Um, and so he just I think hemet houston, probably, yeah, met
him in the NICU, wow, yeah, um,they.
(25:15):
I.
I had asked my midwife.
I I've heard so many horrorstories about switched babies at
birth and stuff like that andthat, and my husband's grandpa
was actually switched at birthas well, wow, and so with his
own cousin, so there's stillfamily, but like, yeah, the
(25:35):
grandma switched them so shedidn't want a redhead, I guess
something like that.
You're so cute, he's justlooking at you, love you, but
yeah, so I was worried about theswitched at birth thing and I
(25:57):
asked my midwife will you pleasestay with me until I have
houston and then stay withhouston until austin can get
there?
So someone I know is with mybaby the whole time.
As soon as I went into the,they took.
As soon as they were taking meback, she left and I haven't
seen her since.
(26:18):
Interesting, and she, uh, yeah,she just left and it's very
frustrating and it was veryfrustrating very disappointing.
I I thought, since we knewsimilar people and we had
friends that were the samepeople, that I would have been
(26:42):
treated better, but I guess not.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Interesting.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
But the hospital treated me amazing.
That hospital.
If I were to have another babyI don't know if I will ever, but
if I ever have another baby,that's the hospital I would
deliver at for sure yeah, it's agood one wonderful.
Um, they made things very easyfor me, as easy as you can right
in that situation.
Yes, wow um, but Houston.
(27:10):
He was born at like two pounds10 ounces.
Wow, much smaller than somebodythat age right.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Yes, yes, much smaller.
He was um at like two pounds 10ounces.
Wow, much smaller than somebodythat age right.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Yes, yes, much smaller.
He was, um, the size of a 27week old.
Wow, yeah, he was 33.
And yeah, he was 33.
Um, they say he was like thesize of 12 weeks early, but only
six weeks early because of theinteruterine growth restriction,
he hadn't been growing.
(27:36):
And, yep, he hadn't beengrowing.
And he's just a miracle baby.
Yeah, he is.
He's just a miracle baby.
Wow For sure.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
So how long was he in the NICU?
Speaker 3 (27:52):
He was in the NICU for six weeks and you guys Five
and a half to six weeks or so?
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Okay, okay, and tell me about that.
How is you have three kids athome to take care of?
You have a little baby in theNICU for the first time, and
tell me how that was for you andfor your family.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Well, we don't have any family here in Utah.
You and for your family, well,we don't have any family here in
Utah.
The family we have lives like45 minutes to an hour away or
more.
And so we got we just gotreally lucky, honestly, with the
neighborhood that we live inand all of our neighbors and all
(28:37):
of our neighbors we had.
Austin said he came home afterhelping me in Houston and, like
meeting Houston, he came home,someone was watching, he had
gotten some neighbors to watchthe kids for us and help them,
like go to bed and stuff.
(28:59):
And that night that I was inthe hospital, we had a group of
probably five to ten people justfrom our ward in our
neighborhood that came over andthey cleaned our entire house.
Wow, our house was pretty messy.
(29:21):
It wasn't ready to have a babyyet.
Yeah, that wasn't the plan thatweek.
It was not the plan and when wehad moved in here we had
started a bunch of projectsbecause we weren't expecting for
me to get pregnant right away.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Right, right, we had like half done projects and
everything.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Because everything moved slower once I got pregnant
.
Because everything moved sloweronce I got pregnant.
And Austin said he just hewalked in the door and he saw
how clean the whole house wasand he just fell to his knees
and he just started cryingBecause we really did have some
angels that were just watchingover us.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Wow, Hi baby.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
You're going to make me cry too, kimberly.
It's okay.
We really just got really lucky.
I think had we have movedsomewhere else, it would have
been harder, yeah well.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
So you had a little village around you that kind of
came and supported you.
We really did.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
I had, um, one of our neighbors she would take the
kids to school for me and thenanother she's not even a
neighbor, she lives in adifferent neighborhood, but one
of my daughter's friends.
Moms would pick them up fromschool and drop them off to
(30:44):
school or drop them off to homeafter school.
And um, then for my youngestwell, my youngest daughter
anyway she, um, she was inpreschool and I had to cancel
preschool for her for the twoish months that had to cancel
(31:09):
preschool for her for thetwo-ish months the that, um, he
was in the NICU and so until hecame home, um, I had to cancel
preschool.
But then I had to have someonewatching her.
Right, I could go and seeHouston and try to feed him, and
I felt like if I could justnurse him at least once a day,
at least once a day, that wouldhelp him, one to bond with me,
(31:30):
and then two so he could get outof the NICU faster right and
sorry he's fussing a little.
Yeah, and it's being very quiet.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
I'm impressed.
And it's being very quiet, I'mimpressed.
He's pretty quiet most of thetime.
Thank you, buddy.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
But I had one friend that she I didn't even know her
before this and she would watchCarly, my youngest daughter, for
me every day, um, while I wouldgo and feed Houston at the
hospital, um, and I had, for thefirst little bit, I couldn't
(32:14):
even drive because they had meon so much magnesium and so many
drugs that I couldn't drive yet.
Um, for the first two weeks.
Yet for the first two weeks,and I had Austin had gotten some
time off and my parents hadjust driven up here last minute
(32:36):
because he was born November25th, so it was like the day
before Thanksgiving or maybe twodays before Thanksgiving and we
planned on driving down toArizona the next day, wow
Actually.
And my parents, as soon as I wetold them I was in the hospital
(33:00):
and I was having Houston, theywere like wait, it's too early,
and they just drove up, came upto you.
So tell me like, yeah, they hadto manage your blood pressure,
probably for a while afterwards,right, um, I had an appointment
with um, an OB, um that was inmy surgery, um and she, so she
(33:24):
knew just the whole thing yourstory of everything that
happened.
And, um, I want to say it waslike a month after that they
managed that they would likecheck my blood pressure and see
how everything's going.
Um, and everything seemed to begoing down.
I had also gotten a bloodpressure cuff as well, just so I
(33:48):
can manage it on my own, and Iwas managing that just fine.
And yeah, it was a rough likefive and a half six weeks.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
It was exhausting when I was hey, you okay, you
all right, too much.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Too much.
Okay, it's a big swallows ofmilk.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
Yes, when I was at home I would feel kind of
depressed in a way.
I just felt empty, like I feltlike part of me was missing.
I didn't have him with me,right.
(34:36):
And part of it was really niceto have him in the NICU, because
I was able to get some rest, Iwas able to heal a little bit
faster and there are like thosethings that were kind of nice.
But a lot of it was also justreally hard as well.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Yeah, that separation and the logistics of that.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
Yes, I think if it was my only kid it would have
been pretty easy.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
but you have a whole life at home to take care of A
whole lot easier anyways.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
Yeah, and I had asked some of the nurses at the NICU
too, like, if I just happened tofall asleep on the couch, would
you guys kick me out, like can.
I just stay here and they'relike yeah, we can't have you
sleeping here.
And I was like okay, I wish,yes, but all the time with him,
(35:33):
that you can yes, and if I havepeople able to watch the other
kids like they understand, theyknow the baby's in the hospital,
they can understand why mom'snot here constantly.
Wow, he likes to like bobble.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Come on enough, yes.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
But yeah, it was just really rough.
It was hard and my parents cameup again for Christmas.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
He's probably still in the NICU at Christmas right
Still in the NICU.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
He didn't get out until the new year.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (36:16):
Which was also kind of trying and a little bit hard,
because we we had him on oneinsurance and then we were like,
is it going to be a wholenother?
deductible for the next yearbecause he's still there, or
does it count as all one?
I don't even know.
Still, honestly, I don't knowBecause he was there longer than
(36:38):
30 days.
We, we, I guess we qualifiedfor the emergency Medicaid or
something, and so good they, weare very grateful it got written
off and yeah, good, that was ahuge blessing because it was, it
(36:59):
was a five hundred thousanddollar.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Yeah, half a million dollars, wow, wow.
And that's why, for youremergency C-section, his stay,
like that's just his stay.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
Just him Wow.
I was another 7,000 on top ofit.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
Maybe 8,000 with the anesthesia?
Yeah, wow, holy cow, it wasdefinitely crazy.
Yeah, and it was hard becausehe just wouldn't gain weight.
Some days he would gain a wholebunch and then the next he
wouldn't gain anything.
Um, and he never lost weight,but he's a slow gainer.
(37:37):
It was a very slow process toget him to just gain enough, and
that has continued.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
Yeah, that's his journey right now.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
He is.
He's five months now and he'sstill in zero to three-month
clothes.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
Wow, he's just a little guy right now.
He's just little.
Wow, wow, wow, kimberly.
Well, thanks so much forsharing your story.
This is remarkable Like what ajourney, with some unexpected
twists and turns in it it was.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
It was Honestly the hospital I went to was the only
thing that like made it okay,that was a bright spot for you.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Yes, yeah, good yeah, like made it okay, that was a
bright spot for you.
Yes, yeah, good yeah.
And your story continues rightlike this.
It does.
It's something that's changedyour family.
Speaker 3 (38:35):
so, yes, wow, yeah he uh, we, honestly, we thought,
like know the hospital, likeknows the best, and like, even
with like his formulas, like we,he was on the, the one the
hospital recommends, the SimilacNeosher, because it's got extra
(38:58):
calories and stuff, right, theygive that to preemies.
They give it to preemies to helpthem gain weight, and he wasn't
gaining on it, and I must nothave enough fat in my milk, so
he wasn't really gaining muchthere either.
And the do you want me to talkabout all of that too?
(39:22):
Go ahead, yeah, okay, um, we,we had him on the Neo, sure, for
till he was, uh, almost fourmonths, like three and a half
months old or so, and so it wasabout two months out of being in
(39:44):
the NICU that we had him on itand my husband had done some of
his own research of what fatscan we feed to him to help him
gain more weight and help himjust start gaining, enough that
the pediatrician wouldn't be soworried anymore.
(40:06):
And um, in the more organic umformulas they use coconut oil.
So he did some research.
Have there been studies done onthat?
Because we can't feed himbutter yet because he doesn't
have bile to break it down.
(40:27):
So we're like, well, what can hebreak down?
And so we started putting somecoconut oil in his bottles and
he started gaining weight.
He went from preemie clothes to, all of a sudden, he was in
newborn clothes and he startedgaining really good.
He gained a good couple ofpounds and then he started going
(40:49):
a little bit stagnant and ourum, our pediatrician, uh, had us
go see a gastrointestinaldoctor to try to um like a
specialist, to see what wouldhelp him gain weight.
And the gastrointestinal doctorsaid oh, you're doing coconut
(41:12):
oil.
That's basically the exact samething that I would be
prescribing for you.
It's just a man-made versionversus the natural version
interesting you're doing thenatural version already, just
make sure it's a high qualityone.
And I said, oh, we do the likeorganic one from Costco, and
it's like the big tub.
And he goes oh, costco is great, costco has high quality stuff.
(41:34):
most of the time.
He said I wouldn't worry aboutthat, do that and just keep
doing that.
And I said okay, so we did thatand we continued doing that
until he was about almost fourmonths.
It was probably like a weekbefore he turned four months old
and I had been out and aboutand I had noticed that he wasn't
he just wasn't gaining verymuch anymore and he kind of went
(41:59):
stagnant for a little bit and Iwas at Walmart just doing some
grocery shopping and he wasreally hungry and I didn't have
any more formula on me or abottle either.
They had happened to, got dirtyand they weren't in my bag
anymore.
So I went down the baby aisleand one of my friends had told
(42:20):
me about by heart formula andhow much she loved it.
She was like it's pricey but Ilove it, it's really great and
the babies love it and it's alittle easier on their tummies.
And so I went and just checkedout to see if Walmart had it and
they had it and so I was like,well, we'll just try this one
and see how he does.
We'll buy one can, and I alsohad bought some of the Neosure
(42:42):
as well, like a little can of itto just keep in my bag.
So I had some in case the byheart.
He didn't like it or somethinglike that.
And so we went out to the carand I opened it and dang with
those formulas, by the way that,can you want to open that
outside every time it explodes?
Every time, every time itexplodes.
(43:04):
It went all over the car.
But I gave him one bottle ofthat and immediately after he
smiled so big at me and beforethis he wasn't smiling, this he
(43:29):
wasn't smiling, he wasn'tlooking at us in the eyes he
wasn't trying to talk or coo orreally try to sit up or anything
.
He hated tummy time.
Um.
And immediately after feedinghim the bottle, he looked up at
me and smiled so big wow, and hestarted trying to coo and I was
like whoa, that was just onebottle, it shouldn't like take
(43:52):
that much of a drastic change,should it?
so I, I decided, well, that wasa really good result, yeah just
keep feeding it to him for therest of the day, and so I did
and he was so happy.
I tried tummy time with him andhe enjoyed it.
He didn't like scream the wholetime, um, and he was just a
(44:17):
completely different baby.
Like honestly, it was like hewas autistic before and then and
then he was just like a normalbaby, he well so you know
immediate changes, immediatechanges.
It was so drastic, it was crazy.
I was like it's probably just afluke and I talked to Austin
(44:38):
too.
I'm like is it?
Is it possible that it's likeactually the Fila, or it's maybe
a faster flowing bottle, orlike what was the difference?
We tried it in his otherbottles as well and the same
results.
Like he was still just happierand he slept better.
(44:59):
He started sleeping through thenight all of a sudden and I was
like wow this has made my lifeso much easier, interesting.
I decided to do a little bit ofresearch into it and both
formulas were part of the 41powdered formulas that were
tested for toxic levels of, orjust for levels of um, what do
(45:26):
they call it?
It was um detectable levels ofheavy metals, and they were all
tested for the heavy metals andthe neosher um, the similac
neosher the similac neosher hadtoxic levels.
(45:46):
It had come back with toxiclevels of arsenic, lead, mercury
and then two other ones Ireally don't remember what the
names were.
They were a little bit harderto say and not just detectable
in that, but toxic.
Not just detectable in that, buttoxic not just detectable but
toxic levels, and I was like,huh, I've seen studies recently
(46:09):
about, like, um, heavy metalsand how they are linked to
autism and I was like that seemsvery valid here as well.
It's tracking, yes, it'stracking, it's it, it correlates
very so, like direct.
(46:30):
It was crazy.
And then the by heart formulacame back with no detectable
levels of any heavy metals atall and I was like, wow, that's
what it was.
And I talked with like chat GPT, like I got very nitty-gritty
(46:50):
with it.
I was like, hey, could it bethe heavy metals that were the
difference?
And it was like, yeah, heavymetals in the formula were
probably holding Houston's um,his little brain his development
, his development back, becausenow he has cognitive functions
and he didn't present anycognitive functions before.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
Yeah, that's actually 100% true.
Speaker 3 (47:15):
It did it, he didn't have any before and hi, and now
he does.
Yeah, he looks at me and hebabbles all the time.
He's a pretty quiet baby, buthe is so cute yeah, as babies
too.
(47:36):
And he poops regularly now.
He didn't poop regularly before, it was like once a week, and
he sleeps through the night nowand he's been on it for a little
over a month now and he'sgained weight.
He went from I want to say hewas like eight pounds to now 10
(48:02):
pounds.
He gained oh, gained eightpounds in a month, which was
really great.
I can check on it real fast andsee, because I know I posted
about it.
You're happy about it, yeah,yes, yeah, so, yeah.
So he was eight pounds at fourmonths old and now he's 10
(48:26):
pounds.
Wow, five months old.
Yep, that's good gains in amonth.
Yeah, he's, he's doing it, he'sgetting there.
Hi, very cool, but that was thebiggest find for us.
Speaker 2 (48:40):
So tell me like looking back on your story, from
this pregnancy, you weren'tquite expecting your first boy a
home birth.
You had planned unexpected NICUlike.
What big lessons of thatoverall picture?
What big lessons stand out toyou?
Speaker 3 (49:04):
Lessons, I don't know .
Do your research before youfind a doctor, before you pick a
doctor or a midwife, becauseI've heard some people have
amazing stories with midwivesand they don't have any issues.
I would just say find someinterview questions and
(49:24):
interview doctors and midwives.
If you want a midwife, um,interview them and make sure
that they align with your viewsand make sure that they will do
what you want.
Like as picky as that soundslike, make sure that they'll do
what you want when it comes to,like, the delivery and
(49:44):
everything.
Um, because you never know,because I never had any
pregnancy symptoms ofpreeclampsia or the gestational
diabetes or anything like thatwith my other three.
It was just with Houston, um,and it's.
(50:06):
I think I would.
Speaker 2 (50:11):
Yeah, I would just interview, I would interview
them because that's what standsout to me about your story is
you had to be an advocate foryourself every step along the
way, right, yeah, um, and insettings you wouldn't think you
would have to, even afterwards,right, you were told things by
(50:31):
your home birth midwife that youhad to advocate for yourself.
You were told even even theformula that the you know like.
So we're looking atconventional and
non-conventional medicine.
You stepped in both fields here.
Like you had a, you know, youhad a journey and on both of
those planes, and still had toadvocate pretty hard for
yourself, and I love that.
Um, yeah, like you said, doyour research right for yourself
(50:55):
, for your baby, because you, atthe end of the day, are the one
who is in charge of that.
Right, you're the one who hasto, 100%, has to carry your own
journey.
Speaker 3 (51:04):
I've always been the one to be like oh, my husband
can help advocate for me.
I'm a smaller person.
Anyways, a lot of people don'treally take me seriously, like I
I normally am like oh, austinlike defer to him yeah, yeah,
but he wasn't there for any ofthe steps that I had to advocate
for myself right.
(51:24):
I had to be and I think also.
I think the biggest lesson Ilearned is to trust my instincts
to trust my gut, because it isum, it is not gonna lead you
astray.
Honestly, it's not gonna takeyou down as long as you're not
like too emotional about it.
(51:46):
You know, don't get youremotions stuck in it but if you
have a bad feeling or you have afeeling like something's not
right in your pregnancy, go tothe hospital follow that yeah,
follow it like I had thatfeeling for weeks, maybe even a
couple months before, and otherpeople were reassuring you.
Speaker 2 (52:02):
Right, they're like it's fine, it's fine and other
people were reassuring you.
Speaker 3 (52:04):
right, they're like it's fine Even my husband kept
reassuring me oh, you're fine,you're just being emotional.
You know you're just, you knowyou're hormonal.
Speaker 2 (52:14):
Right.
Speaker 3 (52:16):
No, I, I don't think so.
I think you have a strongmotherly instinct.
So some people want to say it'sthe spirit, or it's you know,
mother's intuition, or it's justmother instincts, or whatever
you want to call it, it's yours.
Speaker 2 (52:35):
It's yours yeah.
Speaker 3 (52:36):
Follow it Like.
It is gonna save you and itwill save your baby too.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Had I not have done that foryou, yeah, yeah, it did.
Speaker 2 (52:44):
It saved me and it will save your baby too.
Speaker 3 (52:44):
yeah, yeah, yeah, had I not have done that for you?
Yeah, yeah, it did, it saved meand it saved my baby.
Speaker 2 (52:48):
Yeah, and a very different story now, if you
hadn't listened, it would have.
It would have.
Yeah, oh, wow cool, kimberly.
Thanks for sharing this is.
I know it's been a little bitof a tearful journey and for
both of us today so fine.
But yeah, I appreciate youbeing willing to share your
(53:10):
story with us because that hasyeah, that's some unexpected
twists and turns and you're youcontinue to persevere and keep
going, which is amazing, amazing, amazing, anything, any last,
any last things you want to saybefore we wrap up.
Speaker 3 (53:25):
I can't think of anything, thank you for having
me, though.
Speaker 2 (53:27):
Oh, such a pleasure.
Thanks for being here.
So we're going to wrap it upwith the Ordinary Dealer podcast
and our special guest Kimberly,who shared her remarkable story
with us, and, as always, Iencourage you to go out and make
a unique connection withsomeone today.
Please make a human connection,whether that's online, digital,
in person, eye contact, by handor touch.
(53:48):
Please make a connection withanother human today.
It'll help you and it will helpthem.
Have a great one, and we'll seeyou next time.
Speaker 1 (54:08):
Thank you for listening to the Ordinary Doula
podcast with Angie Rozier,hosted by Birth Learning.
Episode credits will be in theshow notes Tune in next time as
we continue to explore the manyaspects of giving birth.
Welcome to the Ordinary Doula Podcast with
Angie Rozier, hosted by BirthLearning, where we help prepare
folks for labor and birth withexpertise coming from 20 years
of experience in a busy doulapractice Helping thousands of
people prepare for labor,providing essential knowledge
(00:36):
and tools for positive andempowering birth experiences.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Hello and welcome to the Ordinary Doula podcast.
My name is Angie Rozier, I'myour host and we're glad to have
you with us here today.
We have a special guest namedKimberly and Kimberly is going
to share her story with us.
Kimberly is a mom of four andher journey, as you will hear,
has some pretty interestingtwists and turns in it.
And one thing I love aboutKimberly's story is that it's a
(01:10):
story out of advocacy.
You will see kind of how herjourney.
You know some of the choicesshe made and how they shifted
for her, but I love how Kimberlydemonstrates how she has to
advocate for her and for herbaby all the way through her
story.
So let's take a moment to meetKimberly.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
I'm Kimberly Williams .
My husband and I moved hereabout a year ago and we had our
three daughters in Arizona andwe unexpectedly, after trying
for a year year, got pregnanthere in Utah only like a week
(01:48):
after moving here.
Yeah, there's something in thewater here in Utah, I guess so.
That's why there's so many kids.
But we my husband's a pediatricdentist and we my husband's a
pediatric dentist and we yeah,we have four kids.
We have the three girls thatwere born in Arizona and then
(02:15):
Houston that was born here.
My other three were super easypregnancies, super easy
deliveries like my water breaks,and they're here within 15
minutes um, kind of quick, um.
And so we decided that we, afterhaving them in Arizona and
always using an OB and being inthe hospital uh, my husband was
(02:37):
in dental school while we weredoing that, so he, we were
always on Medicaid, um, um, sowe didn't have to worry about
the bill, um, and so, being here, we're new to learning about
the insurance side of things andhaving to pay for the hospital
stay and all of that.
So we decided that we would doit more natural with houston,
(02:59):
and since the others were soeasy, we figured, oh, we could
just do a home birth and shouldbe just as easy.
And so then we found a midwifeand we decided that we'd just
use a midwife this time and justdo the natural birth.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
And then things went differently.
It sounds like oh yeah, verydifferent.
Tell me, tell me when, whenyour journey changed.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Okay, um, so we went down for a trip, like a weekend
trip, to Bryce Canyon and Brianhead and we, when we got back,
uh, we did a lot of hiking, um,and when we got back, I had it
was like the next day I got areally bad headache and I had
(03:53):
had migraines before.
Um, and the headache just gotworse and worse and I it turned
into a migraine and it was theworst migraine I've ever had.
I've never had a migraine whereI was throwing up, and this one
(04:15):
was bad.
I was throwing up and Icouldn't have any light and I
honestly probably got reallydehydrated.
I thought that's all it was,because I was just dehydrated.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
How far along were you in your pregnancy at this
point?
Speaker 3 (04:30):
I was about six months pregnant, okay, and I had
.
So I had texted my midwife andbecause I had done chat, gpt and
like done all of the researchto try to figure out what was
(04:51):
wrong with me before I reachedout to her.
And I reached out to her and Itold her, I texted her I'm
pretty sure I have preeclampsiaand and she said, well, what's
your blood pressure?
And I didn't have a bloodpressure cuff at the time.
So my husband left with thekids and went and got a blood
(05:15):
pressure cuff from her, sinceshe lives just 15 minutes away,
and brought it back and took myblood pressure and probably have
all of the notes.
But my blood pressure waspretty high.
It was pretty high.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
And this is not something normal for you, right?
Speaker 1 (05:38):
No, I don't know how old you are, but you look like a
young, healthy person.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Oh, I had been in my best shape of my life and best
health of my life right beforegetting pregnant with Houston.
Um, and I, normally in thehospital after I have my babies,
the nurses will run in thinkingI'm dead, because they're
they're like well you're, areyou okay?
(06:03):
Like, your blood pressure'slike 60 over 30.
It's really low.
I normally have really lowblood pressure, so to have
really high was way out of thenorm, um, and I want to say it
was.
It was like 160, I think oversomething, I don't know.
(06:27):
It was in the 160s.
And so my midwife said, oh, um,what did you eat the day before
?
Well, we were.
We went hiking, so we had hadSubway.
And so she said, oh, it's thenitrates and stuff from the
Subway sandwiches is probablywhat caused my migraine.
And she gave me some magnesiumto take and said, oh, the
(06:51):
magnesium will help.
And it did help.
And I had gone in for my 20week ultrasound as well just
before that.
And, um, in that ultrasound wesaw that Houston was two weeks
(07:22):
behind what he should have been,so I was only 18 weeks along
because of his size.
And then also, my ultrasoundtech mentioned that he had an
empty stomach as well, he goes.
That's something we should keepan eye on.
I'll talk to your midwife aboutit and we'll just keep an eye
(07:43):
on that.
Talk to your midwife about itand we'll just keep an eye on
that.
Um, but we didn't schedule anymore appointments or anything
like that.
They didn't say that was needed.
Um, so I'm like I don't knowhow they would keep an eye on it
without an ultrasound.
But, um, then we so that was inOctober of the whole migraine
(08:07):
thing and I had been taking themagnesium and the migraines did
get better.
And then three weeks later I hadnoticed that Houston wasn't
kicking as much.
He had been kicking a whole lotand I noticed he wasn't kicking
as much.
He had been kicking a whole lot.
And I noticed he wasn't kickingas much.
(08:29):
And I think it was like it wasa Friday I noticed he wasn't
kicking as much.
And then Saturday rolled around, and Sunday rolled around.
I still didn't feel him kickingvery much around.
And Sunday rolled around, Istill didn't feel him kicking
very much.
And then Monday, I, um, I waslike I'm going to do everything
(08:54):
I can to get him to kick andjust sit there for an hour and
see if I can get him to kick.
So I dropped the kids off toschool on Monday morning and
went in Um.
I got some caffeine and I got areally sugary drink to try to
get him to kick and I used icepacks and tried to put them on
my stomach and tried to feel himkick.
(09:14):
And I sat there for an hourlaying on the couch as still as
I could and I didn't feelanything.
I felt one maybe like rotationof, like a shoulder or something
.
It was down pretty low and itwas just very slight and I was
(09:35):
like something's wrong and sorry, I didn't think I had to get
emotional, it's okay.
I've said this story so manytimes.
I had decided that morning I wasgoing to make another
(09:55):
ultrasound appointment with theultrasound tech and the earliest
he could get me in was 5o'clock that night.
So I made that appointment andI told my midwife that I had
made the appointment and shegoes well, I don't normally work
on Mondays.
But how about you come over tomy house and we'll um, we'll
look at you and we'll check youout and stuff, and I said okay.
So I went to her house at like10 AM and she used the Doppler
(10:21):
and it took a while, but wefound the heartbeat and she goes
oh, that's great, we hear aheartbeat, he's doing so good
and that he sorry, it's okay.
She said that he's doing sogood, there shouldn't be really
(10:43):
anything to worry about, but goahead and keep that ultrasound
appointment that you madealready and just to be sure, and
check on everything.
She didn't check my bloodpressure or anything.
She didn't check reallyanything else and she just told
me that he was doing good.
(11:03):
And I was like, okay, that mademe feel a little bit better and
I kind of hate that.
I hate that.
That like reassured me, becauseit was such a false
reassurement.
And so then I waited all day.
I picked the kids up fromschool, I took them over to my
husband's office, dropped themoff and went straight up to my
appointment at five o'clock andI had drove all the way up to
(11:28):
holiday for it.
Um, I got there and we look atthe ultrasound and he I think I
was just bawling because I knewsomething was wrong that feeling
persist, yes, and I had felt itfor weeks and I had been
talking to friends for weeks too.
(11:48):
I'm like I just I don't want togo into the hospital because
before I, with my other girls, Iwould go into the hospital and
they'd be like oh you're fine,go home.
Oh, you're fine, go home.
And so I didn't want to,especially since we didn't have
the best insurance either at thetime and we were expecting it
to just be an easy delivery.
(12:09):
Um, I didn't want to go into thehospital and have a huge bill
for no reason say just go homesent away again and so I had
talked to all my friends andthey're like you should just go
to the hospital, you should justgo to the hospital, you should
just go to the hospital, and Ishould have.
That probably would have beenmuch better had I have just gone
to the hospital.
(12:30):
But in the ultrasound the techlooked at it and he mentioned
again that Houston's stomach wasempty, and I said his stomach's
empty.
You told me that last time at20 weeks at my 20 week
appointment, and you moved hisdue date back two weeks because
(12:50):
of his size.
Which is interesting because inmy other ultrasounds with all
my other babies my doctor alwaystold me oh, my baby's going to
be like eight pounds and theywere always like six or under.
So they were always reallysmall.
So to hear that he was smallalready was scary for me.
(13:12):
And then hearing it again atthat ultrasound he said he saw
he could get a heartbeat but hewasn't seeing any movement of
Houston at all and that hewasn't seeing any movement of
(13:32):
Houston at all and that hewasn't Sorry.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
It's okay, kimberly, it's hard stuff.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
He said that he wasn't swallowing anything
either and he couldn't see anyswallowing movement at all and
that by this far along he shouldbe doing all of that.
Um, and he said normally whensomething like that happens, it
(14:02):
means that their esophagus, Iguess, isn't connected to their
stomach or whatever that portionis right there yeah, it's not
connected and so they're notable to swallow.
And he said to go to wherever myhusband was.
(14:24):
My husband was at TexasRoadhouse with the girls just
getting them out, so you're byyourself during this, so I was
by myself oh that's hard, wow.
And so I drove to TexasRoadhouse to meet him and the
ultrasound tech said he wouldtalk to my midwife and that they
(14:48):
would let me know if I neededto go into the hospital.
I wish he had just told me justgo straight to the nearest
hospital, although that wouldhave been so far away and
probably even harder.
Um, but so I got to TexasRoadhouse and, as I was pulling
(15:09):
in, my midwife called and saidare you with your husband yet?
And I said no, I'm not.
And she goes okay, um, I needyou to park your car as soon as
you can.
I parked and I said, okay, I'mready.
What is it?
Because the whole drive down.
(15:29):
I had talked to my husband, Ihad called him and I told him
kind of what was going on and hedid some really quick little
research.
And he's his research that hewas finding was that the
esophagus not connected isnormally a symptom of Down
syndrome, and so that's what wewere expecting Is that our baby
(15:53):
was going to be Down syndromeand that I don't know if I could
handle that that would be sohard.
I know they're little freakingangels and they're adorable, but
it's not what you're expecting,though no, being a parent to
one would be very difficult,very challenging.
(16:17):
um, and so that's what we wereexpecting, and my midwife calls
and says something is very wrongwith him.
Um, still, no one has taken myblood pressure at all.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Um, they just checked on the baby and so there's
something going on with you andsomething going on with the baby
.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Yes, um, and she said I needed to go to the nearest
hospital.
And so we went to Lone Peak andI just told her.
I said I need one that can takemy insurance, because I don't
have the best insurance but Ineed.
I don't know if I can affordall of that that's expensive,
(17:03):
afford all of that that'sexpensive.
And so we went into thehospital and that very night
right that night.
Yep, I headed straight to thehospital and Austin, my husband.
He took the girls back home andwe're in Saratoga Springs.
So we were up in South Jordanand I went over to Lone Peak and
(17:27):
he went all the way back toSaratoga Springs with the girls.
So it was a little bit of adrive for him and then a drive
for him to get find someone towatch the kids for us for a
minute and to get back to thehospital to me.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
So you're alone.
I was alone again.
Oh, kimberly, what a journey.
Wow, that's tough.
And then we so.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
I get to the hospital , my midwife meets me there and
we go up to the front desk andshe tells the front desk lady
she doesn't have any of myrecords at all.
For the whole time that I hadbeen seeing her she had no
records.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Because she didn't have them with her or she didn't
keep any.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
She didn't have them with her Okay, but also, she
just didn't, she didn't have anyrecords.
She didn't record anything,anything that come prepared for
this.
No, no, she well, she didn'trecord anything, even in our the
like the little what's itcalled?
The your prenatal visits and,yeah, my prenatal visits.
(18:38):
She's got like a little profilefor me or whatever on her
little site, yeah, and there'sthere's very few notes,
interesting.
Um, they took me back into aroom, um and got me like
examined and stuff um, andwithin 10 minutes there was
(19:03):
another doctor.
Uh, he was wonderful.
He came in and he um trying toremember his name, dr nielsen, I
don't know, but he, he wasawesome.
He they took my blood pressureand all of the things and he
(19:24):
told me with my midwife there hewas not very happy with her and
very like, obviously not happywith her um, what was your blood
pressure when they took it atthe hospital?
um it was?
Was it high?
Finished it um?
It was in the 200s no way, wow,wow, I want to say.
(19:48):
He said it was like 220 or like236 or something like that oh,
oh, my gosh Wow.
Um, it was way high.
And he said um, how do I nothave come in?
When I came in, um, give it twomore hours, and I would have
been seizing and had a stroke orone or the other, or both, um,
(20:15):
and I wouldn't have been able tomake it, and Houston definitely
wouldn't have made it.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Wow, um so this whole time you'd had high blood
pressure, but it wasn't beingchecked on.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
No, Is that?
Speaker 2 (20:26):
what was causing Houston's problems.
That's what was causing.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Houston's problems too.
He had um inner growth, inneruterine growth restriction, yep
Um and okay, sorry, what?
Speaker 2 (20:39):
how far along were you at this point?
How many weeks?
I was 33 weeks in a day, soyou've been dealing with this
for several weeks for three, atleast three weeks, Um, probably
more.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
I just didn't know um until I had that bad migraine,
and I wish that had I.
When I had told my midwifeabout the migraine and like I
literally said, I'm pretty sureI have preeclampsia, Like she
would have taken it more serious.
(21:11):
Like I, I'm pretty crunchy.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
I like, like the, you were going to do a home birth.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Yeah, that's pretty crunchy, I like like the, you
were gonna do a home birth.
Yeah, that's pretty crunchy.
More natural things too, butthere is a time and a place for
medicine and there is a time anda place for, like, more of the
western medicine, stuff um andstuff Um, and my case was
definitely the time to use it.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Um so, Austin, is he with you yet at this point?
No, he's not.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
He was still taking the girls back home, um, and
they told me that I needed tohave an emergency C-section and
that a C-section was my, myworst nightmare.
Like I, my doctor in Arizona,he had prevented me from having
a c-section with my other threegirls, with all three of them,
and I trust that man witheverything.
(22:06):
He was wonderful, but I, yeah,it was so scary to have even
thought of a C-section.
And then I get in there andthey're prepping me within 10
minutes and I went right backfor an emergency C-section.
I asked the doctor is there anyway?
(22:27):
Like my friend, she has reallyearly babies as well and they'll
give her like the Pitocin andthey'll, you know, let her do
the labor naturally and they'lldilate her and everything.
She has really small babies,but they is because she's had so
many like stillborns.
And he said no.
He said, with how bad my bloodpressure is already, um, that is
(22:53):
not an option.
Had we have watched the bloodpressure better or had we have
managed it or come in earlier orwhatever, that would be an
option, but it's too far alongand it's too risky and one or
both of us is probably going todie if we do that and I said,
(23:14):
okay, well, save my baby.
I have three other babies so Ineed to still be alive too.
And so we they prepped me andwent right into an emergency
C-section and I just I felt sonumb.
You're just going through themotions, probably right?
(23:35):
Yes, just going through themotions.
I think I was felt so numb.
You're just going through themotions, probably right.
Yes, just going through themotions.
I think I was probably in shock.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Yeah, huge, huge surprises there yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Yeah, they just, I just like stood there and like
walked where they told me towalk, but they like threw my
hands up and they like undressedme and they then they just like
laid me on the table and theystrapped me down and the
anesthesiologist came over andhe put the, the mask on my face
with the um I don't know thissleepy stuff.
(24:03):
yeah, yeah, um, and I rememberripping it off and I said I'm
gonna be asleep before theystart cutting right and I was
just terrified like I could feelthem drawing where they were
going to be cutting and it was.
It was just so scary, um.
And then I then I remember thenext thing I remember I remember
(24:26):
waking up, um, and I was in aroom.
I didn't have my baby.
They had already put him in theNICU and I didn't get to see
him for a day or two before Igot to actually go in and see
him.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
So when did Austin come?
When did he?
Speaker 3 (24:51):
join austin came.
He got there shortly afterhouston like was was born okay
um but they wouldn't let him inthe room, the operating room or
anything either.
Um, and so he just I think hemet houston, probably, yeah, met
him in the NICU, wow, yeah, um,they.
(25:15):
I.
I had asked my midwife.
I I've heard so many horrorstories about switched babies at
birth and stuff like that andthat, and my husband's grandpa
was actually switched at birthas well, wow, and so with his
own cousin, so there's stillfamily, but like, yeah, the
(25:35):
grandma switched them so shedidn't want a redhead, I guess
something like that.
You're so cute, he's justlooking at you, love you, but
yeah, so I was worried about theswitched at birth thing and I
(25:57):
asked my midwife will you pleasestay with me until I have
houston and then stay withhouston until austin can get
there?
So someone I know is with mybaby the whole time.
As soon as I went into the,they took.
As soon as they were taking meback, she left and I haven't
seen her since.
(26:18):
Interesting, and she, uh, yeah,she just left and it's very
frustrating and it was veryfrustrating very disappointing.
I I thought, since we knewsimilar people and we had
friends that were the samepeople, that I would have been
(26:42):
treated better, but I guess not.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Interesting.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
But the hospital treated me amazing.
That hospital.
If I were to have another babyI don't know if I will ever, but
if I ever have another baby,that's the hospital I would
deliver at for sure yeah, it's agood one wonderful.
Um, they made things very easyfor me, as easy as you can right
in that situation.
Yes, wow um, but Houston.
(27:10):
He was born at like two pounds10 ounces.
Wow, much smaller than somebodythat age right.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Yes, yes, much smaller.
He was um at like two pounds 10ounces.
Wow, much smaller than somebodythat age right.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Yes, yes, much smaller.
He was, um, the size of a 27week old.
Wow, yeah, he was 33.
And yeah, he was 33.
Um, they say he was like thesize of 12 weeks early, but only
six weeks early because of theinteruterine growth restriction,
he hadn't been growing.
(27:36):
And, yep, he hadn't beengrowing.
And he's just a miracle baby.
Yeah, he is.
He's just a miracle baby.
Wow For sure.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
So how long was he in the NICU?
Speaker 3 (27:52):
He was in the NICU for six weeks and you guys Five
and a half to six weeks or so?
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Okay, okay, and tell me about that.
How is you have three kids athome to take care of?
You have a little baby in theNICU for the first time, and
tell me how that was for you andfor your family.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Well, we don't have any family here in Utah.
You and for your family, well,we don't have any family here in
Utah.
The family we have lives like45 minutes to an hour away or
more.
And so we got we just gotreally lucky, honestly, with the
neighborhood that we live inand all of our neighbors and all
(28:37):
of our neighbors we had.
Austin said he came home afterhelping me in Houston and, like
meeting Houston, he came home,someone was watching, he had
gotten some neighbors to watchthe kids for us and help them,
like go to bed and stuff.
(28:59):
And that night that I was inthe hospital, we had a group of
probably five to ten people justfrom our ward in our
neighborhood that came over andthey cleaned our entire house.
Wow, our house was pretty messy.
(29:21):
It wasn't ready to have a babyyet.
Yeah, that wasn't the plan thatweek.
It was not the plan and when wehad moved in here we had
started a bunch of projectsbecause we weren't expecting for
me to get pregnant right away.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Right, right, we had like half done projects and
everything.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Because everything moved slower once I got pregnant
.
Because everything moved sloweronce I got pregnant.
And Austin said he just hewalked in the door and he saw
how clean the whole house wasand he just fell to his knees
and he just started cryingBecause we really did have some
angels that were just watchingover us.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Wow, Hi baby.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
You're going to make me cry too, kimberly.
It's okay.
We really just got really lucky.
I think had we have movedsomewhere else, it would have
been harder, yeah well.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
So you had a little village around you that kind of
came and supported you.
We really did.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
I had, um, one of our neighbors she would take the
kids to school for me and thenanother she's not even a
neighbor, she lives in adifferent neighborhood, but one
of my daughter's friends.
Moms would pick them up fromschool and drop them off to
(30:44):
school or drop them off to homeafter school.
And um, then for my youngestwell, my youngest daughter
anyway she, um, she was inpreschool and I had to cancel
preschool for her for the twoish months that had to cancel
(31:09):
preschool for her for thetwo-ish months the that, um, he
was in the NICU and so until hecame home, um, I had to cancel
preschool.
But then I had to have someonewatching her.
Right, I could go and seeHouston and try to feed him, and
I felt like if I could justnurse him at least once a day,
at least once a day, that wouldhelp him, one to bond with me,
(31:30):
and then two so he could get outof the NICU faster right and
sorry he's fussing a little.
Yeah, and it's being very quiet.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
I'm impressed.
And it's being very quiet, I'mimpressed.
He's pretty quiet most of thetime.
Thank you, buddy.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
But I had one friend that she I didn't even know her
before this and she would watchCarly, my youngest daughter, for
me every day, um, while I wouldgo and feed Houston at the
hospital, um, and I had, for thefirst little bit, I couldn't
(32:14):
even drive because they had meon so much magnesium and so many
drugs that I couldn't drive yet.
Um, for the first two weeks.
Yet for the first two weeks,and I had Austin had gotten some
time off and my parents hadjust driven up here last minute
(32:36):
because he was born November25th, so it was like the day
before Thanksgiving or maybe twodays before Thanksgiving and we
planned on driving down toArizona the next day, wow
Actually.
And my parents, as soon as I wetold them I was in the hospital
(33:00):
and I was having Houston, theywere like wait, it's too early,
and they just drove up, came upto you.
So tell me like, yeah, they hadto manage your blood pressure,
probably for a while afterwards,right, um, I had an appointment
with um, an OB, um that was inmy surgery, um and she, so she
(33:24):
knew just the whole thing yourstory of everything that
happened.
And, um, I want to say it waslike a month after that they
managed that they would likecheck my blood pressure and see
how everything's going.
Um, and everything seemed to begoing down.
I had also gotten a bloodpressure cuff as well, just so I
(33:48):
can manage it on my own, and Iwas managing that just fine.
And yeah, it was a rough likefive and a half six weeks.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
It was exhausting when I was hey, you okay, you
all right, too much.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Too much.
Okay, it's a big swallows ofmilk.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
Yes, when I was at home I would feel kind of
depressed in a way.
I just felt empty, like I feltlike part of me was missing.
I didn't have him with me,right.
(34:36):
And part of it was really niceto have him in the NICU, because
I was able to get some rest, Iwas able to heal a little bit
faster and there are like thosethings that were kind of nice.
But a lot of it was also justreally hard as well.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Yeah, that separation and the logistics of that.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
Yes, I think if it was my only kid it would have
been pretty easy.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
but you have a whole life at home to take care of A
whole lot easier anyways.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
Yeah, and I had asked some of the nurses at the NICU
too, like, if I just happened tofall asleep on the couch, would
you guys kick me out, like can.
I just stay here and they'relike yeah, we can't have you
sleeping here.
And I was like okay, I wish,yes, but all the time with him,
(35:33):
that you can yes, and if I havepeople able to watch the other
kids like they understand, theyknow the baby's in the hospital,
they can understand why mom'snot here constantly.
Wow, he likes to like bobble.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Come on enough, yes.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
But yeah, it was just really rough.
It was hard and my parents cameup again for Christmas.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
He's probably still in the NICU at Christmas right
Still in the NICU.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
He didn't get out until the new year.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (36:16):
Which was also kind of trying and a little bit hard,
because we we had him on oneinsurance and then we were like,
is it going to be a wholenother?
deductible for the next yearbecause he's still there, or
does it count as all one?
I don't even know.
Still, honestly, I don't knowBecause he was there longer than
(36:38):
30 days.
We, we, I guess we qualifiedfor the emergency Medicaid or
something, and so good they, weare very grateful it got written
off and yeah, good, that was ahuge blessing because it was, it
(36:59):
was a five hundred thousanddollar.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Yeah, half a million dollars, wow, wow.
And that's why, for youremergency C-section, his stay,
like that's just his stay.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
Just him Wow.
I was another 7,000 on top ofit.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
Maybe 8,000 with the anesthesia?
Yeah, wow, holy cow, it wasdefinitely crazy.
Yeah, and it was hard becausehe just wouldn't gain weight.
Some days he would gain a wholebunch and then the next he
wouldn't gain anything.
Um, and he never lost weight,but he's a slow gainer.
(37:37):
It was a very slow process toget him to just gain enough, and
that has continued.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
Yeah, that's his journey right now.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
He is.
He's five months now and he'sstill in zero to three-month
clothes.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
Wow, he's just a little guy right now.
He's just little.
Wow, wow, wow, kimberly.
Well, thanks so much forsharing your story.
This is remarkable Like what ajourney, with some unexpected
twists and turns in it it was.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
It was Honestly the hospital I went to was the only
thing that like made it okay,that was a bright spot for you.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Yes, yeah, good yeah, like made it okay, that was a
bright spot for you.
Yes, yeah, good yeah.
And your story continues rightlike this.
It does.
It's something that's changedyour family.
Speaker 3 (38:35):
so, yes, wow, yeah he uh, we, honestly, we thought,
like know the hospital, likeknows the best, and like, even
with like his formulas, like we,he was on the, the one the
hospital recommends, the SimilacNeosher, because it's got extra
(38:58):
calories and stuff, right, theygive that to preemies.
They give it to preemies to helpthem gain weight, and he wasn't
gaining on it, and I must nothave enough fat in my milk, so
he wasn't really gaining muchthere either.
And the do you want me to talkabout all of that too?
(39:22):
Go ahead, yeah, okay, um, we,we had him on the Neo, sure, for
till he was, uh, almost fourmonths, like three and a half
months old or so, and so it wasabout two months out of being in
(39:44):
the NICU that we had him on itand my husband had done some of
his own research of what fatscan we feed to him to help him
gain more weight and help himjust start gaining, enough that
the pediatrician wouldn't be soworried anymore.
(40:06):
And um, in the more organic umformulas they use coconut oil.
So he did some research.
Have there been studies done onthat?
Because we can't feed himbutter yet because he doesn't
have bile to break it down.
(40:27):
So we're like, well, what can hebreak down?
And so we started putting somecoconut oil in his bottles and
he started gaining weight.
He went from preemie clothes to, all of a sudden, he was in
newborn clothes and he startedgaining really good.
He gained a good couple ofpounds and then he started going
(40:49):
a little bit stagnant and ourum, our pediatrician, uh, had us
go see a gastrointestinaldoctor to try to um like a
specialist, to see what wouldhelp him gain weight.
And the gastrointestinal doctorsaid oh, you're doing coconut
(41:12):
oil.
That's basically the exact samething that I would be
prescribing for you.
It's just a man-made versionversus the natural version
interesting you're doing thenatural version already, just
make sure it's a high qualityone.
And I said, oh, we do the likeorganic one from Costco, and
it's like the big tub.
And he goes oh, costco is great, costco has high quality stuff.
(41:34):
most of the time.
He said I wouldn't worry aboutthat, do that and just keep
doing that.
And I said okay, so we did thatand we continued doing that
until he was about almost fourmonths.
It was probably like a weekbefore he turned four months old
and I had been out and aboutand I had noticed that he wasn't
he just wasn't gaining verymuch anymore and he kind of went
(41:59):
stagnant for a little bit and Iwas at Walmart just doing some
grocery shopping and he wasreally hungry and I didn't have
any more formula on me or abottle either.
They had happened to, got dirtyand they weren't in my bag
anymore.
So I went down the baby aisleand one of my friends had told
(42:20):
me about by heart formula andhow much she loved it.
She was like it's pricey but Ilove it, it's really great and
the babies love it and it's alittle easier on their tummies.
And so I went and just checkedout to see if Walmart had it and
they had it and so I was like,well, we'll just try this one
and see how he does.
We'll buy one can, and I alsohad bought some of the Neosure
(42:42):
as well, like a little can of itto just keep in my bag.
So I had some in case the byheart.
He didn't like it or somethinglike that.
And so we went out to the carand I opened it and dang with
those formulas, by the way that,can you want to open that
outside every time it explodes?
Every time, every time itexplodes.
(43:04):
It went all over the car.
But I gave him one bottle ofthat and immediately after he
smiled so big at me and beforethis he wasn't smiling, this he
(43:29):
wasn't smiling, he wasn'tlooking at us in the eyes he
wasn't trying to talk or coo orreally try to sit up or anything
.
He hated tummy time.
Um.
And immediately after feedinghim the bottle, he looked up at
me and smiled so big wow, and hestarted trying to coo and I was
like whoa, that was just onebottle, it shouldn't like take
(43:52):
that much of a drastic change,should it?
so I, I decided, well, that wasa really good result, yeah just
keep feeding it to him for therest of the day, and so I did
and he was so happy.
I tried tummy time with him andhe enjoyed it.
He didn't like scream the wholetime, um, and he was just a
(44:17):
completely different baby.
Like honestly, it was like hewas autistic before and then and
then he was just like a normalbaby, he well so you know
immediate changes, immediatechanges.
It was so drastic, it was crazy.
I was like it's probably just afluke and I talked to Austin
(44:38):
too.
I'm like is it?
Is it possible that it's likeactually the Fila, or it's maybe
a faster flowing bottle, orlike what was the difference?
We tried it in his otherbottles as well and the same
results.
Like he was still just happierand he slept better.
(44:59):
He started sleeping through thenight all of a sudden and I was
like wow this has made my lifeso much easier, interesting.
I decided to do a little bit ofresearch into it and both
formulas were part of the 41powdered formulas that were
tested for toxic levels of, orjust for levels of um, what do
(45:26):
they call it?
It was um detectable levels ofheavy metals, and they were all
tested for the heavy metals andthe neosher um, the similac
neosher the similac neosher hadtoxic levels.
(45:46):
It had come back with toxiclevels of arsenic, lead, mercury
and then two other ones Ireally don't remember what the
names were.
They were a little bit harderto say and not just detectable
in that, but toxic.
Not just detectable in that, buttoxic not just detectable but
toxic levels, and I was like,huh, I've seen studies recently
(46:09):
about, like, um, heavy metalsand how they are linked to
autism and I was like that seemsvery valid here as well.
It's tracking, yes, it'stracking, it's it, it correlates
very so, like direct.
(46:30):
It was crazy.
And then the by heart formulacame back with no detectable
levels of any heavy metals atall and I was like, wow, that's
what it was.
And I talked with like chat GPT, like I got very nitty-gritty
(46:50):
with it.
I was like, hey, could it bethe heavy metals that were the
difference?
And it was like, yeah, heavymetals in the formula were
probably holding Houston's um,his little brain his development
, his development back, becausenow he has cognitive functions
and he didn't present anycognitive functions before.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
Yeah, that's actually 100% true.
Speaker 3 (47:15):
It did it, he didn't have any before and hi, and now
he does.
Yeah, he looks at me and hebabbles all the time.
He's a pretty quiet baby, buthe is so cute yeah, as babies
too.
(47:36):
And he poops regularly now.
He didn't poop regularly before, it was like once a week, and
he sleeps through the night nowand he's been on it for a little
over a month now and he'sgained weight.
He went from I want to say hewas like eight pounds to now 10
(48:02):
pounds.
He gained oh, gained eightpounds in a month, which was
really great.
I can check on it real fast andsee, because I know I posted
about it.
You're happy about it, yeah,yes, yeah, so, yeah.
So he was eight pounds at fourmonths old and now he's 10
(48:26):
pounds.
Wow, five months old.
Yep, that's good gains in amonth.
Yeah, he's, he's doing it, he'sgetting there.
Hi, very cool, but that was thebiggest find for us.
Speaker 2 (48:40):
So tell me like looking back on your story, from
this pregnancy, you weren'tquite expecting your first boy a
home birth.
You had planned unexpected NICUlike.
What big lessons of thatoverall picture?
What big lessons stand out toyou?
Speaker 3 (49:04):
Lessons, I don't know .
Do your research before youfind a doctor, before you pick a
doctor or a midwife, becauseI've heard some people have
amazing stories with midwivesand they don't have any issues.
I would just say find someinterview questions and
(49:24):
interview doctors and midwives.
If you want a midwife, um,interview them and make sure
that they align with your viewsand make sure that they will do
what you want.
Like as picky as that soundslike, make sure that they'll do
what you want when it comes to,like, the delivery and
(49:44):
everything.
Um, because you never know,because I never had any
pregnancy symptoms ofpreeclampsia or the gestational
diabetes or anything like thatwith my other three.
It was just with Houston, um,and it's.
(50:06):
I think I would.
Speaker 2 (50:11):
Yeah, I would just interview, I would interview
them because that's what standsout to me about your story is
you had to be an advocate foryourself every step along the
way, right, yeah, um, and insettings you wouldn't think you
would have to, even afterwards,right, you were told things by
(50:31):
your home birth midwife that youhad to advocate for yourself.
You were told even even theformula that the you know like.
So we're looking atconventional and
non-conventional medicine.
You stepped in both fields here.
Like you had a, you know, youhad a journey and on both of
those planes, and still had toadvocate pretty hard for
yourself, and I love that.
Um, yeah, like you said, doyour research right for yourself
(50:55):
, for your baby, because you, atthe end of the day, are the one
who is in charge of that.
Right, you're the one who hasto, 100%, has to carry your own
journey.
Speaker 3 (51:04):
I've always been the one to be like oh, my husband
can help advocate for me.
I'm a smaller person.
Anyways, a lot of people don'treally take me seriously, like I
I normally am like oh, austinlike defer to him yeah, yeah,
but he wasn't there for any ofthe steps that I had to advocate
for myself right.
(51:24):
I had to be and I think also.
I think the biggest lesson Ilearned is to trust my instincts
to trust my gut, because it isum, it is not gonna lead you
astray.
Honestly, it's not gonna takeyou down as long as you're not
like too emotional about it.
(51:46):
You know, don't get youremotions stuck in it but if you
have a bad feeling or you have afeeling like something's not
right in your pregnancy, go tothe hospital follow that yeah,
follow it like I had thatfeeling for weeks, maybe even a
couple months before, and otherpeople were reassuring you.
Speaker 2 (52:02):
Right, they're like it's fine, it's fine and other
people were reassuring you.
Speaker 3 (52:04):
right, they're like it's fine Even my husband kept
reassuring me oh, you're fine,you're just being emotional.
You know you're just, you knowyou're hormonal.
Speaker 2 (52:14):
Right.
Speaker 3 (52:16):
No, I, I don't think so.
I think you have a strongmotherly instinct.
So some people want to say it'sthe spirit, or it's you know,
mother's intuition, or it's justmother instincts, or whatever
you want to call it, it's yours.
Speaker 2 (52:35):
It's yours yeah.
Speaker 3 (52:36):
Follow it Like.
It is gonna save you and itwill save your baby too.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Had I not have done that foryou, yeah, yeah, it did.
Speaker 2 (52:44):
It saved me and it will save your baby too.
Speaker 3 (52:44):
yeah, yeah, yeah, had I not have done that for you?
Yeah, yeah, it did, it saved meand it saved my baby.
Speaker 2 (52:48):
Yeah, and a very different story now, if you
hadn't listened, it would have.
It would have.
Yeah, oh, wow cool, kimberly.
Thanks for sharing this is.
I know it's been a little bitof a tearful journey and for
both of us today so fine.
But yeah, I appreciate youbeing willing to share your
(53:10):
story with us because that hasyeah, that's some unexpected
twists and turns and you're youcontinue to persevere and keep
going, which is amazing, amazing, amazing, anything, any last,
any last things you want to saybefore we wrap up.
Speaker 3 (53:25):
I can't think of anything, thank you for having
me, though.
Speaker 2 (53:27):
Oh, such a pleasure.
Thanks for being here.
So we're going to wrap it upwith the Ordinary Dealer podcast
and our special guest Kimberly,who shared her remarkable story
with us, and, as always, Iencourage you to go out and make
a unique connection withsomeone today.
Please make a human connection,whether that's online, digital,
in person, eye contact, by handor touch.
(53:48):
Please make a connection withanother human today.
It'll help you and it will helpthem.
Have a great one, and we'll seeyou next time.
Speaker 1 (54:08):
Thank you for listening to the Ordinary Doula
podcast with Angie Rozier,hosted by Birth Learning.
Episode credits will be in theshow notes Tune in next time as
we continue to explore the manyaspects of giving birth.
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