November 22, 2024 • 30 mins
Gabriela Gerhart is the founder of Motherhood Center. The Motherhood Center educates expecting parents with classes and socials like the Baby Bump Social and the New Dads Meetup. On top of pregnancy education, the Motherhood Center is also a doula and nanny agency. Go to: www.motherhoodcenter.com
Gabriela is also the author of “After the Fall,” an autobiography about her childhood under communism in Czechoslovakia. It’s a great read and we talk about what it was like immigrating to the US.
Gabriela is also the author of “After the Fall,” an autobiography about her childhood under communism in Czechoslovakia. It’s a great read and we talk about what it was like immigrating to the US.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to Houston, PA, Houston's public affairs show, an iHeartMedia broadcast.
Our disclaimer says that the opinions expressed on their show
do not necessarily reflect those held by this radio station,
its management staff, for any of its advertisers. My name
is laurent I am the Texan from France, and my
guest is another European immigrant to the US. Her name
(00:29):
is Gabriella Gerhardt. She is the founder of Motherhood Center.
She was a guest a few months ago. Has a
fascinating story of immigrating from Czechoslovakia in the late eighties.
And I read her book which she wrote about those experiences.
It's called After the Fall, and I highly recommend it.
You know, a lot of times when people write a
(00:51):
personal history, it's boring, that's just the truth. And a
lot of times when you get a book to read
for a show, you know you don't know necessarily read it.
But I actually read this one and got caught up
into it. The first half is about Gabriella's upbringing in
Eastern Europe, where it's cold and communist, and then the
second half is about her life in America, which becomes
(01:14):
adyllic and she is one of those immigrants who came
to the country and built this company. Motherhood Center has
been in business since Wait a minute, Gabriella, I'm looking
at the dates of your moving, but I don't know
when you founded Motherhood Center. When was that two thousand,
So you have been in country five six years.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
So I came here in actually not late eighties, but
late nineties. So I came here in ninety eight so yeah,
and two years later I found it, the Motherhood Center.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
You came here as au pair, which is someone who's
going to come over to help a family with the children.
So you had a visa of some kind, was.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
A student's visa exchange student.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah, and two years from that you built your own company. Yes,
it's rather extraordinary. I don't think that people. First of all,
most people don't do that, and they don't do it
within two years. My dad did though, Actually, yeah, he
had to surcast on similar experience. He didn't build a company,
but he took over a company, and I did it
very quickly. But he had some advantages because he had
(02:14):
an American family and he was very good at English,
and he was familiar with the country. You came here,
you spoke English as taught to Eastern Europeans in the
late eighties, and I remember learning English around that time
in France from French teachers. I had to learn how
to read and write English. I could speak it as
a kid because my mom spoke English to me, but
(02:34):
I didn't know how to read or write. So in
sixth grade I started taking English classes and the teacher
correct did my pronunciation of the word shoe, you know,
the thing you put on your foot. We say shoe here,
but in Great Britain they say shoe. And when I
say shoe in the classroom, my my French teacher teaching
me English, says no, it's shoe, said shoe, No shoe,
(02:56):
And that's the first lesson. It was the funniest thing.
I think she figured out afterwards that I would I
was a native speaker. You left me alone. But the
point being is that when you learn English as a
second language, you don't learn it very fast. It really
takes being in the environment itself and listening to the
(03:17):
language all the time. So when you when you arrived
in the US, how good would you say your English was?
On a scale of one to ten, one well giving
any better than that.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
No, no, no, seriously, no, I was. Yeah, it was
the way I describe it. I knew some words, but
I didn't know how to like really put them together,
that's right. Yeah, and so it was just really it
was a big struggle. And you know, we learned in
a nursing school. We had English teacher, but he was
(03:47):
one lesson ahead of us, you know, so so yeah,
so and and I had like zero interest to learn English.
I hated it. I could not understand it. It. Yeah,
I was just not I was like not my thing
at all.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
And you went into nursing school because you had you
felt like you had a vocation for that.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yes, So I went to nursing school and after that
I went to physical school.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
So the nursing school you describe in your book, it's
in a town that's neighboring the little village you live.
And I picture your house on a hill. I don't
know why it is. Is that accurate? It wasn't on
a hill, sort.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Of kind of our garden, family garden was on the hill.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Okay. So see, you know, I mean, you know this
is an author now, but the way you describe things,
even if you do it very precisely, And of course
you have an intact picture of your memory in your head.
Once the reader gets a hold of it, we have
our own way of interpreting it, and suddenly your childhood
home looks completely different in my head, it must say.
It would be really cool if we could connect and
(04:45):
I could show you what I saw in your words
as opposed to what you actually experience. But I was
going to get to the point that you had to
travel to get to school, because back then your country
was very poor and then't have a lot of amenities,
and those a minute would have been in big cities.
In other words, out there in the country, you were
sort of left at your own volition. Y'all slaughtered animals,
(05:06):
and you had a vegetable garden, which meant that you
lived better than a whole lot of people in the cities.
You weren't y'all didn't go hungry in the same way.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
No, it was, I mean we were living. Yeah, we
were definitely able to provide. Yeah, we had the turkeys,
and we have the chickens, and we had the pigs,
and we would trade with our neighbors, you know, eggs
and veggies, And it's really two degree it's still kind
of a little bit like that in the country.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Yeah. Well, but that's because it's self sustaining. Back in
those days, that was where you wanted to be. You
did not want to be in one of the cities
unless you had a really great job and you had money. Yeah,
you were way better off living if you're going to
be poor and miserable in communism. Were you miserable? Actually
the way you I'll answer my impression from reading your
(05:54):
book and your childhood, you didn't seem like you were
very unhappy at all. Yeah, you kind of maybe even
unaware of the penuries you were experience.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yeah, and I think that's what what I was trying
to kind of maybe convey in the book, because if
you are living in a certain situation and you don't
know that there is anything else, Yeah, that's that's your reality,
you know. And so and it is you know, I
mean we were living in the countryside. I mean, we
were playing outside, We had you know, a great time
(06:22):
with my you know, family members, cousins. So I was
not kind of like a deprived until I started learning
later on what we were actually not allowed were you
know what other people? Yeah, you know, not growing up
in communism had access to So yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I want to come back to that, but I want
to continue describing what the Motherhood Center is, this company
that you founded. They're online at motherhoodcenter dot com, motherhoodcenter
dot com. Gabriella, what do you do? What is the
purpose of Motherhood Center?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
So we call it kind of a mommy country club
or one stop shop for expecting a new parents, and
really it's kind of a unique concept. I started it
now almost twenty five years ago.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Two years after arriving to this country knowing very little English.
It's worth mentioning well.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
And I think because of my background being pediatric nurse
and physical therapists, I start working as a pediatric nurse
or really like a private baby nurse in clients' homes
and realized that there is a need to create something
like the Motherhood Center. And so what we offer besides
the childcare services, which is the baby nurses, night nurses, nannies,
(07:34):
babysitting services, newborn care specialists, we do educational classes like childbirth, breastfeeding, CPR,
grandparents refresher. We have various mommy groups, dads groups. We
have yoga and fitness classes, pregnancy and postpartum focused massages,
breastfeeding support. We have a kind of a boutique with
(07:56):
all kinds of gifty items and so yeah, and we
are open seven days a week, so it's definitely uh,
you know, three sixty five labor. Yeah, lots of lots
of lots of stories, lots of hormones, lots of exciting things.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
You came here from Eastern Europe, which did not have
especially in the late eighties or sorry, you came here
in the late nineties. You just didn't have as many
amenities to help pregnant women even understand what they were
going through. And you came here to America, super rich,
super sophisticated, and you've I got the impression that you
(08:34):
find out that Americans are at least as ignorant as
poor Eastern Europeans living under the boot of communism. That
seems rather extraordinary, considering the difference in availability to information
and the education system, which was supposed to be so
much better in the in the West at the time.
And I think it was, we can objectively say it was.
(08:57):
But somehow and the basic biologies of human life and
even animal life sort of gets swept under the were
you surprised by hy puritanical America still is for a
French guy, we're pretty libertine, as they say, We're pretty
laid back. And the women are known for wearing freely underwear.
(09:19):
You know, they're ordinary women. Some do and some don't.
There's some exaggerations, but the point being is that, you know,
just just just the way humans see other humanity in Europe,
the naked body and the biological function is they're very
different than in America. And in America was like, oh no,
we don't talk about that. It's weird, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Yeah, I mean it was, yeah, I mean definitely you know,
kind of like covered up, you know, breast, nipple. You know,
it's just like wow, it's you know.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Breasts or offensive ladies, what are you talking about?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
But after that you see other things that like wow,
that that's pretty pretty out there. You know, I don't
know if that's okay for children to see on you know,
eight a car. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
So you're talking about the Internet for instance.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Yeah, and you know, and of course back then when
I started the Motherhoods and like Google was really or Internet,
it was really at its infancies, so there was not
there were no like Chad. Yeah. Yeah, there was no
no influencers and you know all of that. So so
you know, coming here, as far as kind of their resources,
(10:28):
it really was like if clients would wanted to take
a class, it was really just hospital class. There was nothing,
nothing else. And so that's when I was kind of
developing the curriculums. It was really geared towards the mainly
professional women which were focusing on their careers and all
(10:49):
of a sudden, it's like, Wow, I'm pregnant and I
have no idea what should I know?
Speaker 1 (10:54):
So what are some of those basics that you teach.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
So it would be everything from kind of the general
baby care, you know, how to take care of your baby,
developing kind of a sleep schedules, you know, diaperring, safety
safety measures. So it's a lot of kind of the
basics and everything from the childbirth you know, different stages
(11:17):
of labor and comfort measures, and it goes into breastfeeding classes.
So it really it's and we do a lot of
customization for our clients as well. Sometimes it could be
like the whole family comes in. It's like we have
no idea, this is going to be the first grand baby,
and it's like tell us what to do or what
to say, what not to say. So we do a
(11:38):
lot of a lot of that as well. So we
just kind of meet our clients where they are and
kind of build up on their knowledge.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
And I remember you explaining to me that when it
comes to breastfeeding children, there's a lot of misinformation and
there are some women for whom it's more difficult than
you would imagine. As a guy, I just feel like
it comes very natural. It's very easy for me to
picture a woman the child. Yeah, you know, breastfeeding, but
apparently it's it's more difficult than that. I do know
(12:06):
that biologically some women have hard time producing milk. There
are a lot of complications that can happen. Is that
part of your preparation. You're explaining to women, here's what
to expect, here's what could also happen, and here's what
to do and trouble shoot.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Yeah, And you know, and I like to do kind
of introductions in front of every class, and we are
having and so like for breastfeeding class, what I often
tell clients, you know, we think of breastfeeding like a
natural thing, but the baby has to learn and mom
has to learn.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
So what do you mean by that, because that's the
part that is a little harder for me to relate to.
I feel like a baby will find a nipple like
there's a there is a human. I mean, there's an
animal instinct to survive, right, But.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
But you know, I mean it could be everything you know,
from the general milk production. Is the baby having the
good latch, you know, because there is definitely a lot
of information where moms maybe our discouraged breastfeeding me because
they are thinking like, oh, it's hurting, and you know,
and it's like it's not supposed to hurt, and so
if it's hurting, why is it hurting? And so like
our lactation consultants do like an hour hour and a
(13:12):
half session around the baby's feeding time, and you know,
they can literally like within that one session they can
adjust things. So sometimes it could be the way mom
is sitting, you know, is there is there a good flow,
or is the mom like leaning towards the baby or
bringing the baby to her. Is the baby having you know,
belly to chest that kind of a connection, or is
(13:34):
the baby you know, so there is definitely a lot
of things. And after that, of course, you have moms
which maybe they had a difficult childbirth, you know, they
are they are having a lot of discomfort and pains.
You know, if mom had a sea section, you know,
so you might there might be positions which are are
maybe better for nursing than others. So and is mom
(13:55):
having proper nutrition? You know, it's all those things.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
That's got to be one of the bigger one. Because
the quality of the milk is entirely dependent on the
quality of the food. So you you have diet hair,
you have diet lessons. I guess here's some high protein
diet is to produce good milk. For instance. What are
some of the things you tell your clients to eat.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
I mean, there's you know, well balanced diet, you know
something what I tell clients kind of as of recent
because sometimes mom's like, oh okay, I need to kind
of get back to shape in shape, and you know,
eat salads and all of that. But it's like, really,
what your body is needing is just really kind of
like almost like the the down home the good good food.
So it's like broad.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Fat, right yeah, and good good butters and good animal fat.
So because broth are so lean, but that that produces
means yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I mean it's yeah, I mean it's it's it's really
just kind of like the whole body recovery because it's
not just building you know, the milk supply, but it's
just really because in one way is if mom is
going to be deprived of some nutrients, the baby, generally,
the baby is still going to get the good stuff
because it's just going to take away from the mom.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
The mom's body prioritizes the baby. It's pretty extraordinary. Actually, Yeah,
at your service. In other words, you are listening to
Houston PA, Houston's Public Affairs Show. My name is Laurent
and my guest is Gabrielle at Gerhart. She is the
founder of Motherhood Center. They're online at motherhoodcenter dot com
motherhoodcenter dot com. Gabriella, you just started a monthly meeting
(15:32):
for dads because, as I've already expressed, I'm really clueless
about certain things about childhooing. It's it is kind of
one of those interestings about being a guy. I can
definitely feel the instinctive wiring to keep an eye out
for women and kids. That's just sort of a natural,
you know, kind of like let the let the old
(15:54):
ladyes sit in the bus chair because you're you're sitting down,
you'll be comfortable standing up, be nice to them, and
you know, obviously if there's a fire, women and children
first and all that. But we've always we just leave
the biology of it to women. And that's how I
grew up in France. It was very much well the
women kind of do that and you do other things.
(16:15):
And I can imagine that it's like suddenly you're faced
with these, with these with a million questions. Oh my gosh,
am I ready. So you have these meetings every month.
Anybody can just show up and uh, what what do you?
What do you discuss everything from what you expect from
the mom.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
So yeah, so it's it's all male. So actually the
facilitator is local pediatrician who is facilitating the group, so
the dads can really very openly have a conversation and
and it really it's I mean, it goes everything from uh,
you know, I almost saw my wife, you know, dying,
(16:53):
you know, and doing childbirth or baby was an iniqui
for a few weeks and you know it was just
so hard to you our relationship is very different now,
or like I cannot do anything right, or you know,
I'm trying to help or you know, I'm juggling you
know now finances and being a new dad and you know,
and I'm doing things right, and so there's just a
(17:14):
lot of it's it's great because dads are able to
really have a conversation with other dudes, you know, it
just and just being very and we've had kind of
like you know, this is my friend. You know, maybe
I should not share all of it or I'm going
to like share all of it, and and your friend
is just going to like, well, this is what we did.
(17:35):
You know here, it's kind of a little bit of
a kind of a neutral ground, I guess, and having
the facilitator who is really able to kind of guide
the guide the dads through the conversations, and you know,
sometimes there might be like angers. You know, the dads
are just kind of frustrated because they are feeling like
they are not able to like help as much as
they maybe would like to, or they don't know how
(17:57):
or so there's just it's just very we brought and
we do serve beer for the dads, so you know.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Hey, beer is good for pregnant Well, no, not for
pregnant women, but for women after they've anyway, I shouldn't
have said that. In fact, I'll edit it out because
that's just dumb. But no beer after when you're as
you're lactating out here, beer is okay.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yeah, there's definitely a lot of a lot of thoughts
about all of that.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Yeah, is it? Is it because of all the calories
and beer is nutritious. That's that's a funny thing about it. Yeah,
when they all have calories in them, that's part of
the problem for us.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Checks it's a it's a liquid bread.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Yeah. Yeah, Oh, y'all make good beer.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
We do.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
I can't believe I've waited this long to mention how
much I like check beer.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Yeah, No, it's yeah, and especially like in my region bread.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
How do women react to these classes? You you must
get feedback from the mothers, their husbands come home. What
did they tell you they get out of these male meetings?
Because it's obviously good for the family.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Oh yeah, communicate.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
And you're you're offering psychological help, is what you're doing here.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
It's a support group. No, and really just kind of
I've been always wanting to have these dads groups and
so Finally we kind of pulled it together. But one
of the last straws that I'm like, okay, we really
have to do that. So I'm leading. We call it
a new mom's meet up group, and so a lot
of times, like you kind of it's not a psychology session,
(19:25):
but there's a lot of kind of conversations and so
often the moms they would be like, oh, I wish
my husband husband had something like that, you know, or
we kind of talk about birth drama, and you know,
you know that it was not just the mom there
in the room. There was usually the partner there as well.
So if she is experiencing, he is experiencing. And so
for the dad's not having the platform to be able
(19:48):
to really share and kind of you know, just talk
about it. And so so I finally, like once I
heard it like two three times from from my kind
of like support group, I lead, I'm like, okay, I
just like we got to do it, and so we did,
and it's been very successful. We have sometimes you know,
fourteen dads show up and uh and you know, they
(20:09):
just have a great time and they really appreciate the
support and kind of the platform to be able to
talk about things.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
So the dads meet up is once a month. It's
every third Thursday. You can just go to Motherhoodcenter dot
com Motherhoodcenter dot com to get their schedule. You'll also
see that do they do a baby bump social every
second Thursday of the month. So this is well, tell
us what this is just an opportunity for young mothers
or expecting mothers. Yeah, it's a bump.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yeah so yeah, so expecting moms, expecting couples, and so
it really is an opportunity, a kind of tour of
the Motherhood Center, visited with our educators and instructors and
really just meet other expecting couples or you know, expecting ladies.
And so it's a we have a Q and a
panel set up so there's opportunity to ask questions and
(21:00):
and oh and we do have which is really fun beer. No,
we do, no, we do do all the above for
the dads. Ladies have the sparkling water. But what we
do is we have dads can try the pregnancy empathy belly.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Oh yeah, I've heard of this. You have to describe it.
It's not a bad idea actually.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
So yeah, so it's you know, it's a twenty plus
pound a vest, you know, but it has really like
it has the belly, it has, the breast, it has
When dads wear it for just a few minutes, I mean,
they are literally like sweating, their blood pressure is going up,
and they have much bigger appreciation for the pregnant ladies.
(21:40):
And I kind of joke with dads. I tell thems
like next time, when she wants you to tie her shoes,
you know, like IM on it, honey, Because yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Think that that's where it could be useful when you
realize just how limited you are, how limited your mobility is.
But there's just there's nothing you can't you can't fake
actually having a human being growing inside your belly and
the various discomforts. But also I mean, I know some
women have pregnancies that are very painful and very difficult.
I mean some women in a bedroomen for nine months.
(22:11):
And you mentioned the father who went through the potential,
you know, the traumatic experience of nearly losing his wife
during childbirth. We've completely forgotten how dangerous child birthing is.
In the Middle Ages, a woman was literally flipping a
coin as far as surviving giving birth to her child.
Fifty percent of them died in childbirth or of complications
(22:34):
a few days later. It was It's dangerous stuff and
a lot is required of the mom, that's for sure.
But man, you can't there's no way that guys can
relate to actually growing the baby. We can only fall
in love with them as people as they come along.
It's kind of one of the interesting things about our species. Anyway.
(22:56):
I want to talk a little bit about your childhood.
You moved to the US in the late nineties as
an au pair, so it was kind of like you
had a job, you stayed with a family, and you
built your life here. I want to encourage people to
read the book After the Fall. It's called After the
Fall by Gabriella Gerhart. You can find it online. There's
an audiobook available. She just recorded. She reads it herself.
(23:21):
There's a lot to discover about her childhood, which is fun.
I was really interested in how your parents reacted to
come into the US for the first time. You had
been here a few times. You've probably gotten over the surprises.
The difference in technology is unimaginable to Americans. I'll give
you an example as a kid in the late eighties
(23:42):
that my friends had a TV and a telephone in
their bedroom. A lot of my friends did, or they
had a Nintendo system. This was like if you had
a Nintendo system in your house in France, it was
in the living room where everybody could use it because
it was expensive. It was just one and of course
no phones and no TV in our bedrooms. This was all.
(24:02):
We still had rodary phones at the late nine eighties.
So it's really difficult to allow Americans to relate to
how what a culture shock the technology itself is. But
the way you describe your parents going around in the
cars and looking around is awesome.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
What are some of the things things that you remember
the most about that?
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Well, I mean, I think it's just for them the
concept of how huge America is. You know, you can
fit six check republics inside Texas.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
I know, France is smaller than Texas even and you know,
and so for them, of course chech republics.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Yeah, and so they just had no you know, they
just had no concept of the largeness, you know, of America.
And so I'll never forget. We were having a breakfast
and and my parents when they were already here, like
on the third day, and they are like well, can
we go to Grand Canyon. That's kind of like.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Yes, well have access to a plane, So there's that.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
But it was just for them, it's like, well let's
just go, you know. And of course, you know, driving
to Dallas, it's almost like the same distance like going
across Czech Republic. So so they just had no, no, no,
no concept of that. And of course for them everything
was so new. I mean, it was two degree traumatic
because of the language barrier, and so of course they
(25:24):
were very relyant on me, and they took them a
couple of days to recover from, you know, just the
flight because they were like they didn't speak any English.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
And so was it their first time on a plane.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
It was like one of I guess their first time
or second time, like leaving my hometown. Wow, So it
was it was huge. I mean for them to even
just going to Prag to the embassy, you know, just
kind of picking up their it was like so everything
every step of the way. It was pretty overwhelming for them.
And they are kind of a home buddies and uh,
(25:57):
you know, so this was there was pretty big trip
for them.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Yeah, have they come back since?
Speaker 2 (26:03):
So my mom came only one time and my dad
came twice. Yeah, but yeah, it's been many years ago.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
When you decided to become a nursing student. This decision
actually entailed you leaving your hometown, your little village, but
you were far. This was not just like a forty
five minute drive, right, It was a few hours by train.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Yeah, it was like an hour and a half, close
to two hours by train.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Yeah, so a lot longer than that by car, but
meaning that you just had to leave home, And wasn't
that kind of unusual?
Speaker 2 (26:32):
So yeah, so because I wanted to be a pediatric nurse,
so that school was really just kind of I think
there were maybe two or three schools in the Czech
Republic which specialized in pediatric nursing, and so that was
kind of the closest I could go.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Too. That would have been one of the realities you
would have had to explain to your family that you
wanted to leave, and they might have been counting on
you to stick around and help on other things.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Yeah, I mean, I have to say, I'm so grateful
to my parents that they just were very supportive of,
you know, whatever ideas I had, And yeah, I'm definitely
grateful for that. And so when I moved to Ostrava,
which was the city, so I was living at the dormitory,
so I was coming home just for the weekends.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Yeah, and you spoke a dialect of Czechoslovakian that there
was so different from your from the people that were
at the school, that you had a hard time being understood, right, Yeah,
I mean it's just wrap yourself, wrap your head around that. Folks.
You come from the same country, you're an hour and
a half away, you speak practically a different language, and
you've just discovered this.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Well, it was just kind of because growing up again
in my village, everybody spoke we call it Pona Schimo,
and so it's kind of like our dialect and so
so it's kind of a mixture of you know, Polish,
a little bit of a German kind of our own
mixture and so going and of course when p weep
would go to school, you know, elementary school, during the
(27:58):
class we would speak check but as soon as classes
over it we would immediately switch into our you know,
Ponashimu dialect.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
So you basically learn two languages as a kid. When
you move to the States. As a pediatric nurse from
Eastern Europe, how much relearning did you have to do?
Speaker 2 (28:16):
So sadly, you know, I was not able to transfer
any of my education.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
I'm not surprised.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
So for me it was really like you have to
start over completely. And so that's kind of where the
decision of do I want to go back to school,
which I did not really wanted to, And so there
was the opportunity when my husband got a call from
friend of a friend. We just got home from the
hospital with a baby, have no idea what to do.
(28:43):
We've heard that your wife does. Can she come and
help us? And so that's really kind of how my
career started. So I did not pursue going back to
nursing school here.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
But just as as another indication of how different life
is in Eastern Europe in the late eighties and the
late nineties from in America. You learn how to take
care of a baby, which is kind of a universal
thing humanity and all that, but when you come to
the States, the availability of the technology and just the
way things are done is so completely different that you
(29:14):
can't practice. That's fascinating and it's also discussed in the
book and She Lived a Whirlwind. She is living a whirlwind. Romance,
you should wait until you find out how her husband
met her. It's a great story. It's just a wonderful book.
It's very short. When I read it in one sitting,
I really enjoyed it. It's called After the Fall by Gabriella Gerhart.
(29:36):
It's available anywhere you buy books Kindle. If you like
audiobooks like I do, you can get the audiobook too.
And if you want to frequent the Motherhood's Center their
online at Motherhoodcenter dot com Motherhoodcenter dot com. Every second
Thursday of the month, they have the baby Bump Special.
It's a wonderful opportunity for expecting parents to or mothers
(29:56):
to show up and get some tips, especially if you're
if you're thinking, if you're drifting without a rudder, this
is the organization for you. And they also have a
dad group every every third Thursday. Anyway, Motherhoodcenter dot com,
Motherhoodcenter dot com. I want to thank you for listening
and caring about the issues that put on this show, folks,
and if you have any questions send me an email.
(30:17):
Texan from France at gmail dot com. Texan from France
at gmail dot com. My name is Laurent I am
the Texan from France and this has been Houston PA,
Houston's public affairs show, Houston Strong,
Welcome to Houston, PA, Houston's public affairs show, an iHeartMedia broadcast.
Our disclaimer says that the opinions expressed on their show
do not necessarily reflect those held by this radio station,
its management staff, for any of its advertisers. My name
is laurent I am the Texan from France, and my
guest is another European immigrant to the US. Her name
(00:29):
is Gabriella Gerhardt. She is the founder of Motherhood Center.
She was a guest a few months ago. Has a
fascinating story of immigrating from Czechoslovakia in the late eighties.
And I read her book which she wrote about those experiences.
It's called After the Fall, and I highly recommend it.
You know, a lot of times when people write a
(00:51):
personal history, it's boring, that's just the truth. And a
lot of times when you get a book to read
for a show, you know you don't know necessarily read it.
But I actually read this one and got caught up
into it. The first half is about Gabriella's upbringing in
Eastern Europe, where it's cold and communist, and then the
second half is about her life in America, which becomes
(01:14):
adyllic and she is one of those immigrants who came
to the country and built this company. Motherhood Center has
been in business since Wait a minute, Gabriella, I'm looking
at the dates of your moving, but I don't know
when you founded Motherhood Center. When was that two thousand,
So you have been in country five six years.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
So I came here in actually not late eighties, but
late nineties. So I came here in ninety eight so yeah,
and two years later I found it, the Motherhood Center.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
You came here as au pair, which is someone who's
going to come over to help a family with the children.
So you had a visa of some kind, was.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
A student's visa exchange student.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah, and two years from that you built your own company. Yes,
it's rather extraordinary. I don't think that people. First of all,
most people don't do that, and they don't do it
within two years. My dad did though, Actually, yeah, he
had to surcast on similar experience. He didn't build a company,
but he took over a company, and I did it
very quickly. But he had some advantages because he had
(02:14):
an American family and he was very good at English,
and he was familiar with the country. You came here,
you spoke English as taught to Eastern Europeans in the
late eighties, and I remember learning English around that time
in France from French teachers. I had to learn how
to read and write English. I could speak it as
a kid because my mom spoke English to me, but
(02:34):
I didn't know how to read or write. So in
sixth grade I started taking English classes and the teacher
correct did my pronunciation of the word shoe, you know,
the thing you put on your foot. We say shoe here,
but in Great Britain they say shoe. And when I
say shoe in the classroom, my my French teacher teaching
me English, says no, it's shoe, said shoe, No shoe,
(02:56):
And that's the first lesson. It was the funniest thing.
I think she figured out afterwards that I would I
was a native speaker. You left me alone. But the
point being is that when you learn English as a
second language, you don't learn it very fast. It really
takes being in the environment itself and listening to the
(03:17):
language all the time. So when you when you arrived
in the US, how good would you say your English was?
On a scale of one to ten, one well giving
any better than that.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
No, no, no, seriously, no, I was. Yeah, it was
the way I describe it. I knew some words, but
I didn't know how to like really put them together,
that's right. Yeah, and so it was just really it
was a big struggle. And you know, we learned in
a nursing school. We had English teacher, but he was
(03:47):
one lesson ahead of us, you know, so so yeah,
so and and I had like zero interest to learn English.
I hated it. I could not understand it. It. Yeah,
I was just not I was like not my thing
at all.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
And you went into nursing school because you had you
felt like you had a vocation for that.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yes, So I went to nursing school and after that
I went to physical school.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
So the nursing school you describe in your book, it's
in a town that's neighboring the little village you live.
And I picture your house on a hill. I don't
know why it is. Is that accurate? It wasn't on
a hill, sort.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Of kind of our garden, family garden was on the hill.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Okay. So see, you know, I mean, you know this
is an author now, but the way you describe things,
even if you do it very precisely, And of course
you have an intact picture of your memory in your head.
Once the reader gets a hold of it, we have
our own way of interpreting it, and suddenly your childhood
home looks completely different in my head, it must say.
It would be really cool if we could connect and
(04:45):
I could show you what I saw in your words
as opposed to what you actually experience. But I was
going to get to the point that you had to
travel to get to school, because back then your country
was very poor and then't have a lot of amenities,
and those a minute would have been in big cities.
In other words, out there in the country, you were
sort of left at your own volition. Y'all slaughtered animals,
(05:06):
and you had a vegetable garden, which meant that you
lived better than a whole lot of people in the cities.
You weren't y'all didn't go hungry in the same way.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
No, it was, I mean we were living. Yeah, we
were definitely able to provide. Yeah, we had the turkeys,
and we have the chickens, and we had the pigs,
and we would trade with our neighbors, you know, eggs
and veggies, And it's really two degree it's still kind
of a little bit like that in the country.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Yeah. Well, but that's because it's self sustaining. Back in
those days, that was where you wanted to be. You
did not want to be in one of the cities
unless you had a really great job and you had money. Yeah,
you were way better off living if you're going to
be poor and miserable in communism. Were you miserable? Actually
the way you I'll answer my impression from reading your
(05:54):
book and your childhood, you didn't seem like you were
very unhappy at all. Yeah, you kind of maybe even
unaware of the penuries you were experience.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yeah, and I think that's what what I was trying
to kind of maybe convey in the book, because if
you are living in a certain situation and you don't
know that there is anything else, Yeah, that's that's your reality,
you know. And so and it is you know, I
mean we were living in the countryside. I mean, we
were playing outside, We had you know, a great time
(06:22):
with my you know, family members, cousins. So I was
not kind of like a deprived until I started learning
later on what we were actually not allowed were you
know what other people? Yeah, you know, not growing up
in communism had access to So yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I want to come back to that, but I want
to continue describing what the Motherhood Center is, this company
that you founded. They're online at motherhoodcenter dot com, motherhoodcenter
dot com. Gabriella, what do you do? What is the
purpose of Motherhood Center?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
So we call it kind of a mommy country club
or one stop shop for expecting a new parents, and
really it's kind of a unique concept. I started it
now almost twenty five years ago.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Two years after arriving to this country knowing very little English.
It's worth mentioning well.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
And I think because of my background being pediatric nurse
and physical therapists, I start working as a pediatric nurse
or really like a private baby nurse in clients' homes
and realized that there is a need to create something
like the Motherhood Center. And so what we offer besides
the childcare services, which is the baby nurses, night nurses, nannies,
(07:34):
babysitting services, newborn care specialists, we do educational classes like childbirth, breastfeeding, CPR,
grandparents refresher. We have various mommy groups, dads groups. We
have yoga and fitness classes, pregnancy and postpartum focused massages,
breastfeeding support. We have a kind of a boutique with
(07:56):
all kinds of gifty items and so yeah, and we
are open seven days a week, so it's definitely uh,
you know, three sixty five labor. Yeah, lots of lots
of lots of stories, lots of hormones, lots of exciting things.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
You came here from Eastern Europe, which did not have
especially in the late eighties or sorry, you came here
in the late nineties. You just didn't have as many
amenities to help pregnant women even understand what they were
going through. And you came here to America, super rich,
super sophisticated, and you've I got the impression that you
(08:34):
find out that Americans are at least as ignorant as
poor Eastern Europeans living under the boot of communism. That
seems rather extraordinary, considering the difference in availability to information
and the education system, which was supposed to be so
much better in the in the West at the time.
And I think it was, we can objectively say it was.
(08:57):
But somehow and the basic biologies of human life and
even animal life sort of gets swept under the were
you surprised by hy puritanical America still is for a
French guy, we're pretty libertine, as they say, We're pretty
laid back. And the women are known for wearing freely underwear.
(09:19):
You know, they're ordinary women. Some do and some don't.
There's some exaggerations, but the point being is that, you know,
just just just the way humans see other humanity in Europe,
the naked body and the biological function is they're very
different than in America. And in America was like, oh no,
we don't talk about that. It's weird, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Yeah, I mean it was, yeah, I mean definitely you know,
kind of like covered up, you know, breast, nipple. You know,
it's just like wow, it's you know.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Breasts or offensive ladies, what are you talking about?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
But after that you see other things that like wow,
that that's pretty pretty out there. You know, I don't
know if that's okay for children to see on you know,
eight a car. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
So you're talking about the Internet for instance.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Yeah, and you know, and of course back then when
I started the Motherhoods and like Google was really or Internet,
it was really at its infancies, so there was not
there were no like Chad. Yeah. Yeah, there was no
no influencers and you know all of that. So so
you know, coming here, as far as kind of their resources,
(10:28):
it really was like if clients would wanted to take
a class, it was really just hospital class. There was nothing,
nothing else. And so that's when I was kind of
developing the curriculums. It was really geared towards the mainly
professional women which were focusing on their careers and all
(10:49):
of a sudden, it's like, Wow, I'm pregnant and I
have no idea what should I know?
Speaker 1 (10:54):
So what are some of those basics that you teach.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
So it would be everything from kind of the general
baby care, you know, how to take care of your baby,
developing kind of a sleep schedules, you know, diaperring, safety
safety measures. So it's a lot of kind of the
basics and everything from the childbirth you know, different stages
(11:17):
of labor and comfort measures, and it goes into breastfeeding classes.
So it really it's and we do a lot of
customization for our clients as well. Sometimes it could be
like the whole family comes in. It's like we have
no idea, this is going to be the first grand baby,
and it's like tell us what to do or what
to say, what not to say. So we do a
(11:38):
lot of a lot of that as well. So we
just kind of meet our clients where they are and
kind of build up on their knowledge.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
And I remember you explaining to me that when it
comes to breastfeeding children, there's a lot of misinformation and
there are some women for whom it's more difficult than
you would imagine. As a guy, I just feel like
it comes very natural. It's very easy for me to
picture a woman the child. Yeah, you know, breastfeeding, but
apparently it's it's more difficult than that. I do know
(12:06):
that biologically some women have hard time producing milk. There
are a lot of complications that can happen. Is that
part of your preparation. You're explaining to women, here's what
to expect, here's what could also happen, and here's what
to do and trouble shoot.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Yeah, And you know, and I like to do kind
of introductions in front of every class, and we are
having and so like for breastfeeding class, what I often
tell clients, you know, we think of breastfeeding like a
natural thing, but the baby has to learn and mom
has to learn.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
So what do you mean by that, because that's the
part that is a little harder for me to relate to.
I feel like a baby will find a nipple like
there's a there is a human. I mean, there's an
animal instinct to survive, right, But.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
But you know, I mean it could be everything you know,
from the general milk production. Is the baby having the
good latch, you know, because there is definitely a lot
of information where moms maybe our discouraged breastfeeding me because
they are thinking like, oh, it's hurting, and you know,
and it's like it's not supposed to hurt, and so
if it's hurting, why is it hurting? And so like
our lactation consultants do like an hour hour and a
(13:12):
half session around the baby's feeding time, and you know,
they can literally like within that one session they can
adjust things. So sometimes it could be the way mom
is sitting, you know, is there is there a good flow,
or is the mom like leaning towards the baby or
bringing the baby to her. Is the baby having you know,
belly to chest that kind of a connection, or is
(13:34):
the baby you know, so there is definitely a lot
of things. And after that, of course, you have moms
which maybe they had a difficult childbirth, you know, they
are they are having a lot of discomfort and pains.
You know, if mom had a sea section, you know,
so you might there might be positions which are are
maybe better for nursing than others. So and is mom
(13:55):
having proper nutrition? You know, it's all those things.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
That's got to be one of the bigger one. Because
the quality of the milk is entirely dependent on the
quality of the food. So you you have diet hair,
you have diet lessons. I guess here's some high protein
diet is to produce good milk. For instance. What are
some of the things you tell your clients to eat.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
I mean, there's you know, well balanced diet, you know
something what I tell clients kind of as of recent
because sometimes mom's like, oh okay, I need to kind
of get back to shape in shape, and you know,
eat salads and all of that. But it's like, really,
what your body is needing is just really kind of
like almost like the the down home the good good food.
So it's like broad.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Fat, right yeah, and good good butters and good animal fat.
So because broth are so lean, but that that produces
means yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I mean it's yeah, I mean it's it's it's really
just kind of like the whole body recovery because it's
not just building you know, the milk supply, but it's
just really because in one way is if mom is
going to be deprived of some nutrients, the baby, generally,
the baby is still going to get the good stuff
because it's just going to take away from the mom.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
The mom's body prioritizes the baby. It's pretty extraordinary. Actually, Yeah,
at your service. In other words, you are listening to
Houston PA, Houston's Public Affairs Show. My name is Laurent
and my guest is Gabrielle at Gerhart. She is the
founder of Motherhood Center. They're online at motherhoodcenter dot com
motherhoodcenter dot com. Gabriella, you just started a monthly meeting
(15:32):
for dads because, as I've already expressed, I'm really clueless
about certain things about childhooing. It's it is kind of
one of those interestings about being a guy. I can
definitely feel the instinctive wiring to keep an eye out
for women and kids. That's just sort of a natural,
you know, kind of like let the let the old
(15:54):
ladyes sit in the bus chair because you're you're sitting down,
you'll be comfortable standing up, be nice to them, and
you know, obviously if there's a fire, women and children
first and all that. But we've always we just leave
the biology of it to women. And that's how I
grew up in France. It was very much well the
women kind of do that and you do other things.
(16:15):
And I can imagine that it's like suddenly you're faced
with these, with these with a million questions. Oh my gosh,
am I ready. So you have these meetings every month.
Anybody can just show up and uh, what what do you?
What do you discuss everything from what you expect from
the mom.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
So yeah, so it's it's all male. So actually the
facilitator is local pediatrician who is facilitating the group, so
the dads can really very openly have a conversation and
and it really it's I mean, it goes everything from uh,
you know, I almost saw my wife, you know, dying,
(16:53):
you know, and doing childbirth or baby was an iniqui
for a few weeks and you know it was just
so hard to you our relationship is very different now,
or like I cannot do anything right, or you know,
I'm trying to help or you know, I'm juggling you
know now finances and being a new dad and you know,
and I'm doing things right, and so there's just a
(17:14):
lot of it's it's great because dads are able to
really have a conversation with other dudes, you know, it
just and just being very and we've had kind of
like you know, this is my friend. You know, maybe
I should not share all of it or I'm going
to like share all of it, and and your friend
is just going to like, well, this is what we did.
(17:35):
You know here, it's kind of a little bit of
a kind of a neutral ground, I guess, and having
the facilitator who is really able to kind of guide
the guide the dads through the conversations, and you know,
sometimes there might be like angers. You know, the dads
are just kind of frustrated because they are feeling like
they are not able to like help as much as
they maybe would like to, or they don't know how
(17:57):
or so there's just it's just very we brought and
we do serve beer for the dads, so you know.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Hey, beer is good for pregnant Well, no, not for
pregnant women, but for women after they've anyway, I shouldn't
have said that. In fact, I'll edit it out because
that's just dumb. But no beer after when you're as
you're lactating out here, beer is okay.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yeah, there's definitely a lot of a lot of thoughts
about all of that.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Yeah, is it? Is it because of all the calories
and beer is nutritious. That's that's a funny thing about it. Yeah,
when they all have calories in them, that's part of
the problem for us.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Checks it's a it's a liquid bread.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Yeah. Yeah, Oh, y'all make good beer.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
We do.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
I can't believe I've waited this long to mention how
much I like check beer.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Yeah, No, it's yeah, and especially like in my region bread.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
How do women react to these classes? You you must
get feedback from the mothers, their husbands come home. What
did they tell you they get out of these male meetings?
Because it's obviously good for the family.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Oh yeah, communicate.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
And you're you're offering psychological help, is what you're doing here.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
It's a support group. No, and really just kind of
I've been always wanting to have these dads groups and
so Finally we kind of pulled it together. But one
of the last straws that I'm like, okay, we really
have to do that. So I'm leading. We call it
a new mom's meet up group, and so a lot
of times, like you kind of it's not a psychology session,
(19:25):
but there's a lot of kind of conversations and so
often the moms they would be like, oh, I wish
my husband husband had something like that, you know, or
we kind of talk about birth drama, and you know,
you know that it was not just the mom there
in the room. There was usually the partner there as well.
So if she is experiencing, he is experiencing. And so
for the dad's not having the platform to be able
(19:48):
to really share and kind of you know, just talk
about it. And so so I finally, like once I
heard it like two three times from from my kind
of like support group, I lead, I'm like, okay, I
just like we got to do it, and so we did,
and it's been very successful. We have sometimes you know,
fourteen dads show up and uh and you know, they
(20:09):
just have a great time and they really appreciate the
support and kind of the platform to be able to
talk about things.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
So the dads meet up is once a month. It's
every third Thursday. You can just go to Motherhoodcenter dot
com Motherhoodcenter dot com to get their schedule. You'll also
see that do they do a baby bump social every
second Thursday of the month. So this is well, tell
us what this is just an opportunity for young mothers
or expecting mothers. Yeah, it's a bump.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yeah so yeah, so expecting moms, expecting couples, and so
it really is an opportunity, a kind of tour of
the Motherhood Center, visited with our educators and instructors and
really just meet other expecting couples or you know, expecting ladies.
And so it's a we have a Q and a
panel set up so there's opportunity to ask questions and
(21:00):
and oh and we do have which is really fun beer. No,
we do, no, we do do all the above for
the dads. Ladies have the sparkling water. But what we
do is we have dads can try the pregnancy empathy belly.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Oh yeah, I've heard of this. You have to describe it.
It's not a bad idea actually.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
So yeah, so it's you know, it's a twenty plus
pound a vest, you know, but it has really like
it has the belly, it has, the breast, it has
When dads wear it for just a few minutes, I mean,
they are literally like sweating, their blood pressure is going up,
and they have much bigger appreciation for the pregnant ladies.
(21:40):
And I kind of joke with dads. I tell thems
like next time, when she wants you to tie her shoes,
you know, like IM on it, honey, Because yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Think that that's where it could be useful when you
realize just how limited you are, how limited your mobility is.
But there's just there's nothing you can't you can't fake
actually having a human being growing inside your belly and
the various discomforts. But also I mean, I know some
women have pregnancies that are very painful and very difficult.
I mean some women in a bedroomen for nine months.
(22:11):
And you mentioned the father who went through the potential,
you know, the traumatic experience of nearly losing his wife
during childbirth. We've completely forgotten how dangerous child birthing is.
In the Middle Ages, a woman was literally flipping a
coin as far as surviving giving birth to her child.
Fifty percent of them died in childbirth or of complications
(22:34):
a few days later. It was It's dangerous stuff and
a lot is required of the mom, that's for sure.
But man, you can't there's no way that guys can
relate to actually growing the baby. We can only fall
in love with them as people as they come along.
It's kind of one of the interesting things about our species. Anyway.
(22:56):
I want to talk a little bit about your childhood.
You moved to the US in the late nineties as
an au pair, so it was kind of like you
had a job, you stayed with a family, and you
built your life here. I want to encourage people to
read the book After the Fall. It's called After the
Fall by Gabriella Gerhart. You can find it online. There's
an audiobook available. She just recorded. She reads it herself.
(23:21):
There's a lot to discover about her childhood, which is fun.
I was really interested in how your parents reacted to
come into the US for the first time. You had
been here a few times. You've probably gotten over the surprises.
The difference in technology is unimaginable to Americans. I'll give
you an example as a kid in the late eighties
(23:42):
that my friends had a TV and a telephone in
their bedroom. A lot of my friends did, or they
had a Nintendo system. This was like if you had
a Nintendo system in your house in France, it was
in the living room where everybody could use it because
it was expensive. It was just one and of course
no phones and no TV in our bedrooms. This was all.
(24:02):
We still had rodary phones at the late nine eighties.
So it's really difficult to allow Americans to relate to
how what a culture shock the technology itself is. But
the way you describe your parents going around in the
cars and looking around is awesome.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
What are some of the things things that you remember
the most about that?
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Well, I mean, I think it's just for them the
concept of how huge America is. You know, you can
fit six check republics inside Texas.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
I know, France is smaller than Texas even and you know,
and so for them, of course chech republics.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Yeah, and so they just had no you know, they
just had no concept of the largeness, you know, of America.
And so I'll never forget. We were having a breakfast
and and my parents when they were already here, like
on the third day, and they are like well, can
we go to Grand Canyon. That's kind of like.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Yes, well have access to a plane, So there's that.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
But it was just for them, it's like, well let's
just go, you know. And of course, you know, driving
to Dallas, it's almost like the same distance like going
across Czech Republic. So so they just had no, no, no,
no concept of that. And of course for them everything
was so new. I mean, it was two degree traumatic
because of the language barrier, and so of course they
(25:24):
were very relyant on me, and they took them a
couple of days to recover from, you know, just the
flight because they were like they didn't speak any English.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
And so was it their first time on a plane.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
It was like one of I guess their first time
or second time, like leaving my hometown. Wow, So it
was it was huge. I mean for them to even
just going to Prag to the embassy, you know, just
kind of picking up their it was like so everything
every step of the way. It was pretty overwhelming for them.
And they are kind of a home buddies and uh,
(25:57):
you know, so this was there was pretty big trip
for them.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Yeah, have they come back since?
Speaker 2 (26:03):
So my mom came only one time and my dad
came twice. Yeah, but yeah, it's been many years ago.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
When you decided to become a nursing student. This decision
actually entailed you leaving your hometown, your little village, but
you were far. This was not just like a forty
five minute drive, right, It was a few hours by train.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Yeah, it was like an hour and a half, close
to two hours by train.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Yeah, so a lot longer than that by car, but
meaning that you just had to leave home, And wasn't
that kind of unusual?
Speaker 2 (26:32):
So yeah, so because I wanted to be a pediatric nurse,
so that school was really just kind of I think
there were maybe two or three schools in the Czech
Republic which specialized in pediatric nursing, and so that was
kind of the closest I could go.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Too. That would have been one of the realities you
would have had to explain to your family that you
wanted to leave, and they might have been counting on
you to stick around and help on other things.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Yeah, I mean, I have to say, I'm so grateful
to my parents that they just were very supportive of,
you know, whatever ideas I had, And yeah, I'm definitely
grateful for that. And so when I moved to Ostrava,
which was the city, so I was living at the dormitory,
so I was coming home just for the weekends.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Yeah, and you spoke a dialect of Czechoslovakian that there
was so different from your from the people that were
at the school, that you had a hard time being understood, right, Yeah,
I mean it's just wrap yourself, wrap your head around that. Folks.
You come from the same country, you're an hour and
a half away, you speak practically a different language, and
you've just discovered this.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Well, it was just kind of because growing up again
in my village, everybody spoke we call it Pona Schimo,
and so it's kind of like our dialect and so
so it's kind of a mixture of you know, Polish,
a little bit of a German kind of our own
mixture and so going and of course when p weep
would go to school, you know, elementary school, during the
(27:58):
class we would speak check but as soon as classes
over it we would immediately switch into our you know,
Ponashimu dialect.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
So you basically learn two languages as a kid. When
you move to the States. As a pediatric nurse from
Eastern Europe, how much relearning did you have to do?
Speaker 2 (28:16):
So sadly, you know, I was not able to transfer
any of my education.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
I'm not surprised.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
So for me it was really like you have to
start over completely. And so that's kind of where the
decision of do I want to go back to school,
which I did not really wanted to, And so there
was the opportunity when my husband got a call from
friend of a friend. We just got home from the
hospital with a baby, have no idea what to do.
(28:43):
We've heard that your wife does. Can she come and
help us? And so that's really kind of how my
career started. So I did not pursue going back to
nursing school here.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
But just as as another indication of how different life
is in Eastern Europe in the late eighties and the
late nineties from in America. You learn how to take
care of a baby, which is kind of a universal
thing humanity and all that, but when you come to
the States, the availability of the technology and just the
way things are done is so completely different that you
(29:14):
can't practice. That's fascinating and it's also discussed in the
book and She Lived a Whirlwind. She is living a whirlwind. Romance,
you should wait until you find out how her husband
met her. It's a great story. It's just a wonderful book.
It's very short. When I read it in one sitting,
I really enjoyed it. It's called After the Fall by Gabriella Gerhart.
(29:36):
It's available anywhere you buy books Kindle. If you like
audiobooks like I do, you can get the audiobook too.
And if you want to frequent the Motherhood's Center their
online at Motherhoodcenter dot com Motherhoodcenter dot com. Every second
Thursday of the month, they have the baby Bump Special.
It's a wonderful opportunity for expecting parents to or mothers
(29:56):
to show up and get some tips, especially if you're
if you're thinking, if you're drifting without a rudder, this
is the organization for you. And they also have a
dad group every every third Thursday. Anyway, Motherhoodcenter dot com,
Motherhoodcenter dot com. I want to thank you for listening
and caring about the issues that put on this show, folks,
and if you have any questions send me an email.
(30:17):
Texan from France at gmail dot com. Texan from France
at gmail dot com. My name is Laurent I am
the Texan from France and this has been Houston PA,
Houston's public affairs show, Houston Strong,
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