Find it here on Apple or Spotify Podcasts

Big thanks to our sponsor The Online Prenatal Class for Couples — if you’re looking to get prepared with your partner, it’s your best option!

Today’s guest is Dani Morin child safety advocate and CPST on TikTok. Helping parents make informed parenting decisions and providing product research to help moms make the perfect baby registry.

Find her on: Tiktok (@danimorin13) or Instagram (@danimorin_)

Links for you:

Baby Proofing 101: Dani Morin’s Mission for Baby Safety Awareness (her previous episode)

Timestamps:

00:00 “Life-Altering Realization of Parenthood”

05:58 Overcoming Grief and Rediscovery

15:20 “Embracing Parenthood Despite Loss”

20:26 Navigating Fertility Challenges Alone

23:06 “Sperm Donation Normality Perception”

29:51 IVF Expenses and Fertility Misconceptions

33:07 Vanishing Twin Syndrome Explained

40:15 Struggles Changing High-Risk Doctor

43:24 Alone for Life-Changing Ultrasound

50:10 Plane Safety and Medical Workaround

56:11 Birth Center Inequality

01:01:18 Three Key Takeaways from Episode

Keypoints:

• Dani Morin shares her experiences with three very different paths to pregnancy, from an unplanned pregnancy in her 20s to home insemination as a single mom, and eventually a natural conception after getting married.
• The episode highlights the emotional aftermath of Dani’s first pregnancy, including the life-changing impact of her son’s tragic loss and her journey through grief, sobriety, and rediscovering her sense of purpose as a mother.
• Dani describes how early parenting trends and online information influenced her choices—she candidly discusses how she embraced “all-natural” parenting, even using products later shown to be unsafe, and how she has since shifted to an evidence-based approach.
• Hilary and Dani emphasize that unplanned pregnancies are far more common than most people believe, and that being surprised by pregnancy doesn’t make anyone less of a mom.
• Dani details her experience with home insemination using donor sperm as a cost-effective and empowering option for single women or couples with fertility challenges, demystifying and normalizing this choice.
• The conversation explores the stigma, criticism, and unsolicited advice Dani encountered online and in real life regarding her non-traditional paths to motherhood.
• Dani shares practical tips for others considering home insemination, including financial readiness, emotional support, and building a “village” before taking that step.
• The difficulties of navigating healthcare, especially when you’re high risk or dissatisfied with your provider, are explored—Dani discusses real challenges in switching OBs, accessing support, and advocating for yourself during pregnancy.
• Dani and Hilary discuss the limitations—and some dangerous pitfalls—of using AI and online sources for pregnancy advice, and stress the value of trustworthy, evidence-based resources.
• Throughout the episode, the importance of compassion from healthcare providers, honest conversations, and finding the right support network for your unique pregnancy and parenting journey shines through.

Producer: Drew Erickson

names removed 262 Dani Morin — getting pregnant

[00:00:00] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: Hey guys. Welcome back to the Pulling Curls podcast. Today, on this episode, we are talking about three different things. So the first one is gonna be different ways to get pregnant and how that affects your pregnancy. Stay tuned. This is gonna be a good one. Also, managing your provider when you don’t really like them, and it’s gonna be real difficult to switch. And then finally, is AI okay to ask pregnancy questions to? So let’s untangle it.

[00:00:21] Hi, I’m Hilary, a Serial over Complicator. I’m also a nurse mom to three and the curly head behind pulling curls and the pregnancy nurse. This podcast aims to help us stop overcomplicating things and remember how much easier it is to keep things simple. Let’s smooth out those snarls with pregnancy and parenting untangled the Pulling Curls podcast.

[00:00:51] This episode of the Pulling Curls podcast is sponsored by the online prenatal class for couples. If you are looking to get prepared for your upcoming birth, please join me. It truly is the easy way to get prepared.

[00:01:01] Today’s guest is a child safety advocate and CPST on TikTok. She loves to provide informed research on product safety for parents who are getting their registry together. I wanna introduce today’s guest, Dani Morin.

[00:01:13] Hey Dani. Welcome back to the Pulling Curls podcast.

[00:01:16] Dani Morin: I’m so excited to be back. I feel like this time you and I have gotten to know each other so well that it’s just really friends talking to friends. So things may just may get intimate here because we are talking about conception in every different way that you could think.

[00:01:36] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: not every, I mean you didn’t, so she never did IVF, like full on IVF, right?

[00:01:41] Dani Morin: I never did IVF people get that so confused, which we’ll get into

[00:01:47] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: Yeah. Okay, so Dani has been pregnant three times in all three very different ways. So most off, I want people to understand that there are different options for people to get pregnant. And your second option, I think is a viable one that a lot of people don’t even consider because they just think it’s too out there. Right? Like, I told your story to my mom and she was like aghast at it. And I was like, why? What is the difference between her going into the office and having it done and doing it at home? But anyway, the just like, a spoiler for everybody. Okay, pregnancy number one, got pregnant.

[00:02:20] Dani Morin: So pregnancy number 1, 24 years old, I was working at a wine company. I was, you know, living the lavish lifestyle of a 24-year-old, kind of like an Alex Earl, right? I was on yachts, I was living in Newport Beach very much up into the party scene. And it was one of those situations where I fell pregnant, having some fun, having fun.

[00:02:45] So the great thing about that pregnancy though is I never, thought I wanted to be a mom and I found out I was pregnant. I was like well into my second trimester, by the way. And I knew, because, you know, I was a big partier, but I could not put down even a glass of wine. I was like vomiting. I’m like, what is going on?

[00:03:05] So I had gone like a month or so without like even having like a sip of alcohol. It was making me so sick. I should have known right then. But I had had a doctor, and so this is for all the girls listening. I had a doctor tell me like, well you have PCOS and a tilted Ute. Not maybe is it a tilted uterus or a tilted?

[00:03:26] A tilted something. So, you know, ’cause.

[00:03:28] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: cervix.

[00:03:29] Dani Morin: A tilted cervix, it was a tilted something. And so I was probably gonna have a tough time ever conceiving. I probably wouldn’t. And I’m like, oh fine by me because you know I’m gonna live in a high rise someday and just be like single and successful. Like that’s just the vibe that I was like putting out 24-year-old me.

[00:03:45] And it’s so crazy because the second I found out I was pregnant with that baby, you know, I go in and like I knew the gender that day. I go in and I know the gender and everything that day. And I had had this like crazy emotion come over me. I cannot even explain it. I have not had this with my other pregnancies, but this crazy emotional connection to this child. And again, we’ve gone into loss and stuff, so I think my other pregnancies, I haven’t had this immediate connection because of my fear of loss. But I had this emotional, crazy connection of just wanting to do everything to make sure that this baby was safe and taken care of.

[00:04:30] And, in the womb and just like the best baby products and all this stuff. And like, I became like, mom 5,000 overnight. Like it was, it was this crazy thing. And I realized at that point I was like, my purpose on this earth is to be a mom. And 10 days prior it was completely opposite. Like, oh, I’m totally fine never having kids. So sometimes things happen that give you a different perspective on life and getting pregnant with my son, Deacon, was just that. Like what I thought my purpose was, was completely different than when I found out I was pregnant. And I’m like, this is my sole purpose and I will do everything to be like the best mom I can.

[00:05:13] Now we’re not gonna dive too much into the grief, but when he was 18 months old, he was strangled by a Baltic amber teething necklace at a negligent daycare. That’s a whole thing. If you guys go on my social media, you could dive more into that. So I lost him around almost 19 months old. And that ruined me, completely shattered me, ruined me. Again, I had just found my purpose and that was like in motherhood and being this boy’s mom. And I was a single mom and I thought I was doing so well with that. And this tragic thing happened and it ruined me. To the point where I, you know, was making really bad choices. I did not know how to grieve. I was medicating with alcohol and other things.

[00:06:01] And I just was like, hoping not to wake up. Like I just, that was just not something I wanted to do anymore, was like live on this earth without being a mother and being that boy’s mom. I did end up getting help for that a couple years into my grief. I just was like, if I’m gonna keep waking up, I don’t want to keep waking up like this.

[00:06:24] Like, there’s has to be more to life than, than this grief and like this pain. And I got my life back together and I just kind of saw things skyrocket. Some of which was sharing my story and opening up about my truth and my story on social media. Believe it or not, I think it was a huge part.

[00:06:42] I mean that and the rehab. But, I think it was a huge part to kind of just living my truth and these are the things that happened and this is how I got pregnant. This is how he passed away. This is the guilt that I’m dealing with. These are the struggles that I have. And now I’m sober going through all of this again.

[00:07:05] But like just in a few years, I literally saw my life skyrocket and it has not stopped. So, I guess now’s the point. We could get into the very controversial subject of my next birth. And you can stop and ask all the questions because I want people to understand that when I am telling you about how I got pregnant with my second child. Who’s now almost five, by the way. All I knew.

[00:07:33] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: really quick. I wanna stop

[00:07:34] Dani Morin: Yeah.

[00:07:35] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: I was thinking it was

[00:07:36] Dani Morin: Okay.

[00:07:36] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: too, how you were talking about how you like turned into mama bear and you wanted to do like everything natural with your first one, right? It turned on

[00:07:46] Dani Morin: Yes,

[00:07:46] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: natural cloth diapering all feet on the ground, like in

[00:07:51] Dani Morin: yes. Okay. I’m so glad that you brought that up because there was, and I had gotten vulnerable with you on this topic at that table actually. And that’s just the gems of Mom 2.0. You just start, you know, word vomiting, your vulnerability. But so when I found out I was pregnant, I thought like, all these people are gonna look down on me for how I became pregnant, right?

[00:08:17] And so I’m gonna prove everyone wrong and I’m gonna be the top mama dog out there. Like, I’m gonna have the best rated car seat at the time. I’m gonna, you know, and then in 2015, it was very much the all natural mama, right? So you breastfeed until your kid goes to kindergarten and like you do not put a regular diaper on your kid.

[00:08:41] You cloth diaper. You do not use regular wipes. You make your own wipes, which is like grape seed oil. And at the time, lavender, which we know is like, you never put lavender on like a boy’s genitals. Like I don’t, it was just the crazy thing, the teething, the baltic amber teething necklaces, which were part of the, how he died. Those were like your badge of honor. Like if you were taking your kid out to Target and he had on a baltic amber teething necklace, like those mamas knew you were all natural mama. And it was just this, you know, this whole thing of, everything’s natural. And I really fell into that and I held a lot of guilt about the baltic amber teething necklace for the longest.

[00:09:23] I still do, to be honest. But I have come to terms with the fact that I was doing the best that I could with the information put in front of me and the information that I was consuming. So at the time, and you are an OG blogger, so you know this, but like at the time in 2014- 15, so I was like pregnant in 2014, 2014, 15, 16.

[00:09:49] The blogger life was like a real big thing. We didn’t have really Instagram or we had Facebook, but we didn’t really have all these things going on that we do now. We didn’t have pediatricians making videos. We didn’t have the experts out there like yourself, like making videos and stuff like that. I didn’t even know what the AAP was like. Don’t even ask me what those acronyms stand for. And so we had these mama bloggers and so when we would Google, you know, all natural remedies or safety or whatever, this is what was popping up on our Googles right, was these mom blogs, which are not reputable at all. I could Google right now, like, “can I do meth while pregnant?” And I’ll find something that supports that. Like, it’s out there. Like people anywhere could write anything that they want online. And so I fell into these like all natural trends. And I was not, not that I wasn’t open to the evidence based. It just was not what was being populated in front of me at the time.

[00:10:51] Now I think people definitely know that they can find the evidence or they can find the topics that, that are gonna support their narrative or how they wanna parent and they’re gonna choose the latter. So it’s a little bit different now and we are seeing kind of a similar thing happening in 2025 with the all natural, the anti-vax, anti evidence, anti pediatrician, anti doctor.

[00:11:21] We’re seeing that again now in 2025. But it was pretty heavy in like 2015. And I definitely fell into that trap. And it took me a while to climb out of this crunchy, crunchy, holistic, homeopathic life. It took me even, I was still lingering a little bit when I had my second child. I’m like, come on, you know better.

[00:11:46] Like, you know better. Like, that sounds good, but that is not safe. So, yeah. So I was sucked into that. But, I have come to, I guess, realization and I guess a little bit of peace. I’ll say I’ve come to a little bit of peace with the fact that there wasn’t anything out there saying that the baltic amber teeth necklaces were bad.

[00:12:07] Now it’s all you’re gonna find. But at the time, thousands of kids were wearing ’em. This was the information put in front of me that instead of giving your kids Tylenol, this is going to help. We know it’s a hoax now and it’s a whole thing, but, i, I do feel that even at that time.

[00:12:23] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: at uh, mom two.

[00:12:24] Dani Morin: I know. And, I do feel like, and we could get into that too. But I do feel like at, at this point, I was the best mom that I could be for that baby with the information that I had.

[00:12:37] And so I’ve actually changed my tone online to how I talk to parents when I see moms using things, and then I’m like, Hey, just so you know, like those aren’t recommended. Here’s some evidence to prove it. And then they’re on the defense and I’m like, you know what? They’re on the defense because they’re doing the best with the information that they got. And that’s an ad for a teething necklace, you know?

[00:12:59] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: Yeah.

[00:13:00] Dani Morin: Or whatever it might be that’s, a mommy blog about, you know, bed sharing or whatever. So it’s whatever they find. It’s just that like they’re, so, my tone has changed a little bit. But yeah, with the teething necklace at Mom 2.0, I had a ton of people coming up to me saying, you should go tell that mom your story because her baby’s wearing a teeth necklace.

[00:13:21] And I’m like, you should go tell that mom my story and just point to me and say that mom doesn’t have a son anymore because of that necklace and you’re wearing it. I was like, there’s a time and place and I’ll never go up to a mom like at a Starbucks in front of a bunch of people and be like, like in line in front of people, and being like, oh, that necklace is what killed my kid.

[00:13:40] I would never do that. I used to. Now I’ll wait and see like, Hey, can I get that mom alone privately and say something. Mom 2.0 and there’s thousands of moms there and everybody’s feeling judged. Sorry, I have a little acid reflex from the pregnancy.

[00:13:55] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: Shocking.

[00:13:56] Dani Morin: so bad. .

[00:13:58] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: So many people have unplanned pregnancies and I think they all feel like no one else has an unplanned pregnancy. But as a nurse, when you’re going through prenatals, ’cause your doctor asked you at your first appointment, was this planned, unexpected, unwanted. So many people say unplanned and so I never want people to think just because they weren’t planning on this, that somehow they’re a worse mom. And, just in case people are listening who are like, yeah, that’s me, like I’m pregnant and wasn’t expecting it, you’re still an amazing mom. That doesn’t, that doesn’t mean anything about you going forward. Hopefully, I wish somebody had told Dani of 2015 that.

[00:14:33] Dani Morin: You know what’s so funny is, is how I look back at it, is that people were very upset with how I got pregnant, right? But when that baby was here, like that all seemed to go away. And I remember at his funeral, like seeing people show up there and like I was able to pull comments that they left on my pregnancy announcement.

[00:14:54] And I’m like, oh, it’s funny that like you cared about him now that he is alive and now dead. But like when I was pregnant, I was this, this, this, and these names that you left in the comments. But like my whole thing is that, once the babies are here, it does not matter how they came to be.

[00:15:10] Like they are so loved on and, it does not matter. And people have unplanned pregnancies while married. Like it’s, you know what I mean? Like, they happen all the time. These are things that happen. And for me it was the best thing that happened.

[00:15:24] I actually get asked a lot, and I’ve never done a video on this, but I get asked quite a bit, like in one-on-one conversations. Like if you knew that you were going to have a child that was gonna die at 18 months. Like, would you have, you know, because I, I got pregnant in this weird way. Like, would you have done it again?

[00:15:44] And my answer is always 100,000 times over. Like the lessons learned, the value of becoming a mom, learning my purpose, of having this love that I’ve never, ever, ever known or experienced before is a love like that of a child. To be able to do that again, I would 100% sign up for it. Even though it would come with the grief and the alcohol and the rehab and the recovery and all of these other things, I would still choose to do that again.

[00:16:15] So, and that’s just like my story, but it’s something that gets asked. I sat on it for the first time and I’m like, and it was too close to the death, you know what I mean? But now I could sit back almost 10 years later and I’m like, I would do it 100 million times over.

[00:16:31] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: That’s amazing.

[00:16:32] ,

[00:16:32] Then you decided you wanted another one.

[00:16:34] Dani Morin: yeah, so I was a couple years into my sobriety life was going really good.

[00:16:39] I had, at my corporate job gotten rep of the year, a couple years in a row. I was starting to do social media by accident. I was just sharing my story to honestly just help. I have a big thing, like sometimes when you share your truth, you’re helping others, and in turn, I felt like I was doing good in my son’s name and doing the safety advocacy and stuff like that, like.

[00:17:01] I felt like I was making him proud and I was making myself proud and it felt really good. And I just really wanted to be a mom. Now, I had started dating, I was going on numerous dates every single week. It was very weird. I just was, this is just not what I want. And I was like finding myself, like, on these dates, being like, could I settle for this?

[00:17:26] Like, and I’m like, why would you wanna just settle to have. Like, my goal was to be a mom again, and I just don’t know if I was wanting to date and wanting a boyfriend or a husband. And I wasn’t finding like that match. And so I started, I had gone to HRC Fertility. They had a fertility night where they were going over IVF options and, they had this fertility night. So I was like, I’m gonna walk up there. The hospital’s like walking distance to my house. I was like, I’m gonna walk up there and sit in on this and hear about IVF. I really just wanted to know what it would cost to do IVF. So I go in there and it was definitely like a salesy thing.

[00:18:06] Like, this is like a money maker, like I realized. But they went into sperm donors. A lot of people that were there actually were married couples where the guy was sterile. And I had never heard of something like that before. So a lot of people there were trying to figure out. So they had like the sperm donation, I think like California cryo might have been there, like some of the sperm donation.

[00:18:29] There was like, it was a salesy thing, like use our services and stuff. So, I never even knew that that was even a thing. So I did do a consultation with them. I remember the doctor in our meeting, like had, like fallen asleep. Anyways, it was like a weird situation. I was like asking what the steps were gonna be and, I had ordered some sperm from a sperm bank, and I was planning on doing IUI. So I, so there’s IVF, and this is, okay, I’m gonna break this down because this is, everyone’s like, did you choose the gender? I’m like, oh my God, they have no idea what I did. Okay, so IVF is where they take the sperm, they put it into the egg and they insert that into the uterus.

[00:19:15] And you could tell me if I’m using these terms wrong. Okay.

[00:19:18] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: All these

[00:19:18] Dani Morin: IUI. Okay. So IUI is where they kind of take like a catheter and they place the sperm directly as close to the egg as possible. So some men have issues with mobility of sperm to where they got the sperm count, the sperms good and clean and all this stuff.

[00:19:38] But for some reason it’s not swimming as it should to the egg. So IUI sometimes like gives the egg, gives the sperm a better chance to penetrate the egg. So to speak. So they used kind of like a catheter. So that was gonna be the option I did because I’m like, I’ve gotten pregnant before. I don’t think I need IVF.

[00:19:57] Well, we were doing this whole thing and because I had, you know, tilted cervix or tilted uterus and PCOS because I’d been diagnosed with that before I was using that and to get IUI covered by insurance. Well, you cannot get IUI covered by insurance until you’re 35 years old, which I did not know.

[00:20:16] So what I thought was gonna cost me like $2,500 was gonna cost me close to 12,000. And I was like, that’s gonna be a negative. I’m crying in the office and I’m like, my whole plan, you know, I was supposed to start the medications, which are on their own like $2,000. So, this nurse kind of like pulls me aside and she’s like, ” you should go on Facebook and join the lesbian communities and they’ll tell you the ways to have a baby on your own at home.” And I’m like, “psychotic? No.” So I had gotten in the car with my mom and I was like, “yeah, I had this idea of you know, getting pregnant on my own, but it’s not gonna work out.”

[00:21:00] And my mom had kind of said something like in a joking fashion where she was like, “what if though you like found somebody and like, you know, friendly or something and you could like get pregnant that way.” So I was like thinking, I’m like, and she’s like, I mean, don’t do that, but like, she’s like, I know, it’s just, this is like what you want this so bad?

[00:21:25] And I went home and like I slept on it and I’m like. No, but for real, like how are the lesbians, like how are they having babies? Are they all going through IVF-IUI? So I find a lesbian group and they’re like, join this group, which is, home insemination is what it’s called. And shout out to the lesbian community for opening your arms wide open and teaching me the ways of how this works.

[00:21:53] There’s a science to, I mean, they taught me the way. So I was on the home insemination group. I ended up finding single mom by choice group. Now I’ve not been on Facebook since probably five years. But I found, single mom by choice group. I found home insemination group. And the home insemination is where, now some people find like live partners that will produce sperm into a cup and then they inseminate it more like in a live situation. I had ordered sperm already, so I just had that then shipped to my house instead of to the IUI place and or to the fertility clinic. And I did it myself. So there was a whole science behind it. You know, you let it thaw for 20 minutes and then it’s basically like a syringe, so smaller than a tampon and you just put it up there and you wait 30 minutes.

[00:22:46] And I got pregnant on the first try. First vile, first try. But these women walked me through it, exactly what to do. And then I thought it would be a good idea to, after I was like nine months pregnant, to make a video of how I did it. And the internet had some things to say. And it’s so funny because I had been researching how I was gonna do this for about seven months before I pulled the trigger.

[00:23:14] So all I thought in my mind, so I had gone to the fertility clinic where I met, there was all these like couples there where the husbands were sterile. So everything was about sperm donation stuff. So in my mind, I had gotten so wrapped up in this that in my mind the only way people were conceiving these days was sperm donation in my, in my mind.

[00:23:36] Like, so when people were like, “oh my God, this is shocking.” I’m like, is it like, this is pretty normal? Because what I’d been going through and like what I was like presented with and the groups that I was in, like this was the most normal thing. So I had to take a step back and be like, people are shocked about this. You know, and I made it very clear in this video, the first thing I said was, I am reviewing my finances because mind you, I got knocked up with my first child, young, in my twenties. And although at the time I thought I was making a lot of money. Oh, you do not equate for your $1,500 of daycare every month and $500 of groceries, clothes, and diapers, or whatever you need.

[00:24:19] And you are not equating for all this other money of this other human that you have to raise. When I had my son, Deacon, I did have to move home. There was no way I was gonna be able to pay rent and then also put him in daycare and work and pay for all these things. Like, so the first thing I ever did in that video was I was like, you have to look at your finances first and foremost.

[00:24:41] Like the last thing you want is now. I figured it out with my son, Deacon. I moved in with my mom and it was great and I love that she was a huge part of his life and my sister was living at there at the time and she like, I love that it worked out that way, but I want people to know. A lot of people just account for how much it costs to get pregnant. They’re not thinking of childcare, groceries, clothing, school. They’re not thinking of all this other stuff. So I’m like, you need to think about this and make sure if you are going to purposely do this, that you do it with intent and that you are set up to the best of your ability? What? Like financially, emotionally.

[00:25:19] I also talked about, I had a lot of help. Like I had my mom, like I knew I was gonna have a village of support already. So I just gave people, I was like, before I dive into how I did this, like these are things that you really need to think about. But everyone’s biggest thing was like, my son was gonna end up in jail because statistics without a father, you know, all this stuff.

[00:25:43] And I’m like, well, those are statistics, so some people don’t end up in jail. You know what I mean? Like, but there was a lot of that. Now my son, I did make sure had a father figure from the day he was born, which was my brother, who is a huge part of my son’s life and has been since that day. And so, I did make sure that I had thought all of these things through, and I think when I made the video, it was at the time, you can, tiktoks are only a minute.

[00:26:12] So my video was 58 seconds. So it’s like, how do you explain all this in 58 seconds? And a lot of people in the comments were like, you should have just, you know, gotten drunk and like hooked up with someone. I’m like, no, I’ve done that before. Like, this is the better option for me at this point.

[00:26:28] So, in the comments I was like, really catty and funny about it, which is what I think made the video go more viral because people are like, oh, these comments are not even phasing this girl. Like, these people are writing vulgar, vulgar, vulgar things. But what I realized, I’m like, they don’t understand also.

[00:26:46] So I had not told people that I lost a child before I was gonna take that to the grave actually, when I had first posted this like video on TikTok. I had very much opened up on the Facebook and some of the other apps. But TikTok is its own thing. So, people were confused like, what just makes?

[00:27:03] And I’m like, I was a mother before. Like, I know what I was getting into. So that’s how I was able to plan for this. Which gave me another leg up, just kind of on motherhood on what to expect. So I had to kind of come on the TikTok and tell people like, “Hey, this is kind of what happened and why I made this choice. And everybody’s choice is different.” So since I’ve posted that video, I’ve had a lot of moms and women reach out to me. One mom reached out, I wanna say she lived maybe Atlanta or something. She’s a lawyer, she’s 40. She got out of a relationship for seven years. It was not going anywhere. She realized this was not her person.

[00:27:42] She had no idea that she could get pregnant this way. She was planning on doing $40,000 for IVF. And like, she’s onto her second baby, single mom by choice. She’s successful. She has these two kids now. And her life is very fulfilled in that way. There is another mom, I think she’s onto her second baby.

[00:28:00] She’s from Florida. She had reached out. I had kind of taught her the ways. And, you know, she had all this support from her dad and her family. And I think she’s now on her second baby too. But like, already successful in her mid thirties. And was feeling like that pull to motherhood. But was like, “oh, I thought I was gonna have to save up 40, $45,000 for IVF. Like, I had no idea that this was an option.” A lot of girls were like, “thank you so much. Like I’ve been with my boyfriend, he’s about to propose and I hate him, but I just like really wanna be a mom.” And I’m like, okay, don’t bring me into this. But like, I gave women another option to take life into your own hands, essentially responsibly, I hope.

[00:28:43] Now there would be 20 year olds reaching out to me and I’m like, live your life. No, I’m not even gonna entertain you. Live your life. You know,

[00:28:53] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: Yeah.

[00:28:53] Dani Morin: wanna be a, I’m like, you have no idea what you’re getting yourself into. I’m like, live your life. Hit me up when you’re 30. You know?

[00:28:59] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: Right.

[00:29:00] Dani Morin: So, ,

[00:29:00] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: it’s such a viable option

[00:29:01] Dani Morin: yeah.

[00:29:02] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: ‘ cause there’s plenty of people who out there find out their partner sperm can’t make it up there or they’re sterile and could try this and save so much money. Right. There’s, there’s a lot of people

[00:29:13] Dani Morin: Yes. Well, and I think a lot of people just don’t know it as an option or they think it’s an unsafe option. Now, I did have a fertility clinic stitch my video. And, they’re like, this is not a safe option. Like you definitely should, you know, come in and do IVF and IUI. It’s the safer option. So like I had on my other account, my Zippy Mom account, I was like, “oh, can you explain like why, what’s unsafe about, about it seems just like sex essentially.”

[00:29:48] And They could not come up with really a way except I realized, I was like, okay, so you’re just like hoping that the moms will spend. You don’t want moms that know that they’re fertile to not spend the 12,000 or $45,000 on IVF. Like, so I think people get in their minds, like going to a doctor’s office is just probably safer.

[00:30:06] But sex and this, it’s the same thing. And so they could not, so what their video back to my comment was, ” well you’ll have a better chance.” And I’m like, if you’re fertile, you’re fertile. You know? So, I got pregnant on the first try, you know, and I’ve clearly that doctor that told me tilted cervix, PCOS thing, you can’t get pregnant. That was a lie. So if, if doctors are telling you guys that just, don’t rely on that as truth. And now I’m pre,

[00:30:34] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: either. Breastfeeding, A lot of

[00:30:35] Dani Morin: yeah.

[00:30:36] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: you can’t get pregnant while you’re breastfeeding. Wrong.

[00:30:38] Dani Morin: Yeah, wrong. So many, that’s probably the robot, saying that. But yeah, so now I’m pregnant with twins, which I also got pregnant pretty quickly. I did have one cycle that I was like tracking ahead of time, but it was the cycle I took out the IUD, so I’m like, maybe that counts, maybe that doesn’t.

[00:30:56] There’s, you know, six week period that you gotta let that rest. But, and then I, I’m pregnant now, twins, so there’s that.

[00:31:05] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: clo or

[00:31:05] Dani Morin: But

[00:31:06] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: right? No. No egg dropping

[00:31:08] Dani Morin: no, so, even when I got pregnant via home insemination, I didn’t take any medication. I took, well, I will tell you what I took. I did vitamin D, I was taking a prenatal vitamin DI was taking something called avocitil, which was for PCOS, which I’d been taking for a while.

[00:31:30] And I was taking something called Vitex. All of these things you could get at Sprouts. Okay, that’s just your regular supplements. Now, Vitex. So my second pregnancy with my son Rett, who’s now almost five. that was actually a twin pregnancy, believe it or not. Vitex I found does the same thing, similar to Clomid.

[00:31:52] You should not be taking Vitex if you don’t need it. So Vitex is for people that are not getting a lengthy enough luteal phase. So this is where I was still kind of dipping into that crunchy stuff. So, Vitex supposedly will help supposedly, and I don’t know how much truth there is to this.

[00:32:12] If your luteal phase is not long enough, it could lengthen your luteal phase and get you more regular period. I did notice it was giving me more of a regular period. I will say that apparently if you do not need it, so if your period’s already regular, you already have a lengthy enough luteal phase that it could cause you to ovulate multiple times.

[00:32:33] So it could do something similar to Clomid. So I did not know that and I must have ovulated twice. Now it was Covid at the time, so you did not have your first doctor’s appointment until 10 weeks. So when I had gone in for my, ultrasound, they thought it was like a sub chronic hematoma, A SCH. And then they looked further into it and they’re like, oh my gosh, it was another baby.

[00:33:01] Just, it had, it looked like it stopped growing around seven weeks. So I was like, well, what happens? What, so what does it do? And they’re like, well, it’s called a vanishing twin syndrome. Which statistically, accounts for, I think it was like 42% of twin pregnancies equate for I could be off on that number, vanishing twin syndrome.

[00:33:22] So it’s very common. And a lot of times moms when they get to their appointment, don’t even know that there had been two babies in there. So, as you can imagine, I get pregnant now and I find out very early on I’m having twins. And I’m just like, I’m not gonna believe that because I know the statistics and I’ve researched this before, ’cause I’ve gone through this before.

[00:33:43] So, finally at like, I think I was like 13 or 14 weeks, and she’s like, have you like told your family and and your friends? And I was like, no. She’s like, well, you’re past vanishing twin syndrome. So I guess now is the point I tell you like, you’re having twins. Like, unless something happens, which like, you know, something like this is, these are twins now.

[00:34:05] Like you could tell people if you want that you’re having twins. But still in my mind I’m like thinking, well, I’ve gone through that. I didn’t go through that. Like I found out at my ultrasound like, here’s one baby that at there was another one, you know?

[00:34:20] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: Yeah.

[00:34:20] Dani Morin: So, and then when I got pregnant this time with twins, I was doing my research again and it was just like the perfect storm.

[00:34:28] So if you’ve been pregnant with twins before and you’re over the age of 35. You’re like three times more likely for that to happen again. So it was just kind of like a perfect storm situation, I guess. I mean, I just don’t know. We look at it honestly like a crazy miracle. You know, they can’t really explain it.

[00:34:50] Ours was a split embryo, so it’s just a crazy situation. And we’re so excited. I fight the paranoia. Me and you talk about this. I have called for those of you guys listening, Hilary in hysterics, just over my

[00:35:09] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: That wasn’t hysterics. Does that make you feel any better? That

[00:35:13] Dani Morin: was.

[00:35:13] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: I don’t even call that hysterical.

[00:35:15] Dani Morin: When I was leaving you the voice messages and I’m like, hold on a second. I’m just like, I didn’t even get it together.

[00:35:24] It’s just like, I think the fear, I’m not vibing with the, and we could get into that with my doctor. And I just like,

[00:35:33] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: should mention you

[00:35:34] Dani Morin: yeah, you got

[00:35:35] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: between,

[00:35:36] Dani Morin: married

[00:35:36] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: re

[00:35:36] Dani Morin: in between. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So this pregnancy now, so I did meet somebody. Yeah, this pregnancy now natural with my husband. So 19 months ago I met a boy and I was set up with a guy that’s, we have mutual friends, we are set up. He lived across the country at the time. And so I thought it would be a good idea to fly out there and that we would have this 10 day road trip back to California where he would live in his friend’s back house until I let him move into the house. And a month after that, we were engaged.

[00:36:12] And eight months after that we were married. And a month after that we became pregnant. So this guy was just this single man bachelor in Boston, living his life. And now he’s essentially a married father of three.

[00:36:26] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: Two years later, right

[00:36:28] Dani Morin: And he loves every minute of it. He’s such a good dad and he is. I had something a scare, I guess. A scare. It’s, I could talk to you if we could talk about that also, but, the other day, and he’s just like immediately hitting up the doctor, looking things up and like he’s so into the pregnancy and so into being Rhett’s dad. And reading the books on discipline and, you know, things like in the baby books. And he has like, just accepted this whole thing and he loves it. And so I, it’s been really fun. It’s been really fun doing this with a partner. So, now I will say the funniest part about this, and this may be TMI. The funniest part about this, so I got knocked up, so I was single. And then I did home insemination single. I’ve never been in a position where you are intimate during pregnancy. And I’m like, can you hurt the baby? Like, how does it, and he is like, well, what? And I’m like, no, I’ve never had to do this in pregnancy before. I’ve always been single. I’ve never, like, you know, and so I have, some of this stuff is also brand new to me.

[00:37:37] Like I’m looking up like, does it, can you. Like pop your amniotic fluid sack. Like, I’m like, I don’t all these. I know it sounds so crazy, but these are things that now as a third time mom, I’m having to look up for the first time, which is just hilarious.

[00:37:54] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: Well, I think that happens on every baby. All of a sudden you have new concerns ’cause you’re older or your other one did something. Also not an unknown concerns. Many people have asked me that question, so I don’t think I have a post,

[00:38:04] Dani Morin: Yeah.

[00:38:05] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: about that on my site, but pretty close.

[00:38:08] Dani Morin: I’m shocked you don’t have a post. I’m shocked you don’t have a post specific to that because when I reached out to you at, was I 14 weeks pregnant and I go, why am I lactating? Am I going into labor?

[00:38:23] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: like, girl, I totally have a post on that.

[00:38:26] Dani Morin: And you sent me a post so fast, like you were faster than the robot at that point. Like you were like, this is actually completely normal.

[00:38:34] Go to Walmart and get some nursing pads because this is your life now. So, yeah, so I’m currently wearing the nursing pads. It was the craziest thing and it wasn’t anything that triggered it. I just, like, my breast had been very tender. And I was like, looked down and I’m like, why are my nipples like I had on a gray t-shirt and I’m like, what is going on?

[00:38:58] To me? I was like, this has to be a sign. I’m going into preterm labor. You know, which is like my biggest fear and a common fear with twins. So I guess it’s normal. And so it’s just like what I’m gonna have to be like dealing with. I’m not collecting milks. So some people I’ve told, they’re like, oh girl, put that in the freezer.

[00:39:15] And I’m like.

[00:39:16] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: first

[00:39:16] Dani Morin: Hilary gave me the, Hilary gave me the advice to chill for a little bit, and we will consider doing that later in pregnancy.

[00:39:23] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: in your third

[00:39:23] Dani Morin: So,

[00:39:24] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: we start doing that.

[00:39:25] Dani Morin: yeah. So, yeah, so that’s where we’re at now, but, so far so good. I think with my pregnancy, I’m not having the O-B-G-Y-N experience that I have had in the past, nor that I thought that I was gonna have.

[00:39:41] So that’s kind of been difficult. But thank God for you and for some other people that I could like, rely on for questions and concerns, so, yeah.

[00:39:49] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: a lot of people online will just say, if you don’t like your provider, just switch. And every time I see that, I’m like, it’s so much more complicated than that. For some people, they live rural.

[00:39:58] Dani Morin: Yeah.

[00:39:59] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: There is one OB in that town and they have to go several hours to a new ob. So that’s not fair to those people.

[00:40:05] And if you’re high risk, you kind of get egged

[00:40:07] Dani Morin: Mm.

[00:40:07] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: into one, one practice. ’cause you need a referral or your insurance only covers one, you know, fetal medicine group. It’s tricky.

[00:40:15] Dani Morin: Well, so kind of what I had learned, and so I had learned a couple things, going through this process of trying to change doctors and just so everybody knows I have yet to be successful. I have one workaround that I have to wait till 18 weeks to try to get out of this situation that I’m in. But I am high risk.

[00:40:37] So I am gestational hypertension, I’m geriatric and I have twins. So kind of how it was explained to me, was that, you know, these doctors, they don’t. They wouldn’t wanna take a risky transfer. Now, if you go to their office and you’re risky, you know, you’re already their patient, they don’t wanna take a risky transfer because for every baby that does not make it, they kind of get a mark on their name a little bit. So they’re like, you’re someone’s already dealing with you. Don’t bring that over here. You know, you already have an MFM and, and a doctor team over there. Like, don’t be bringing that over. Like, we don’t want that. So, it would have been different. So one doctor told me, like, yeah, it would be different if you were, yeah, third successful pregnancy, you had two, you know, positive vaginal birth and this is your third pregnancy and everything is going good.

[00:41:28] Singleton, like, no risks associated with this. Like, yeah, come on over. This is a different situation. And so the transfers are not happening now. I was a little spoiled. I had two doctors in Orange County. I went to St. Jude with my son, Deacon. Phenomenal experience. Great office. Traumatic birth, but that’s because I was trying to be the all natural mom, and I should have listened to the doctor and made different decisions.

[00:41:55] That’s all on me. I’m not gonna look back on that. But my second birth, I was at Hoag, which is just, it’s the mastros of all birthing places, hospitals. Like the way they treat you, the way the doctors treat you. So how it works there is, if you have any concern whatsoever, any concern like.

[00:42:18] A twinge of, and now you’re, and you have gotten it in your mind that your baby has passed in your 10 weeks. Like if you have anything, you just walk right on in there. So you have your own provider and you walk into the doctor’s office, but there is 12 other OBGYNs there. Someone will check you out real quick.

[00:42:36] The high-end ultrasound is right there. The LabCorp is right there that does your blood. Your pelvic floor therapy is in the same office and, the hospital’s across the street, if you needed to waltz over there for something. The NS STS are in there and you have your own private room and a tv ’cause you know you’re in there for hours or two.

[00:42:55] It is a premium experience. This situation, I found out I was having twins. I was so sick with morning sickness, she sent me to that imaging center to get, your ultrasound. So you go to the hospital to get your ultrasounds done. And, I was in there and it was an ultrasound tech who was giving me information out of her scope of practice that she shouldn’t have been.

[00:43:17] And two students all taking turns trans badging me, ultrasound wise. And guess who was not in that room? My husband, because it’s against their policy. And I found out one of the biggest pieces of news of my life alone, while two 20-year-old students trans vaged me. In a ultrasound room for 45 minutes.

[00:43:42] And it was one of those things, again, I did not know that this was not normal because I posted a video and people were like, oh, how did your husband take finding out you’re having twins? And I was like, oh, I have a video of it. ’cause I had walked out in the waiting room and I showed my husband the, the ultrasound and people are like, “Jeremy ultrasounds aren’t scary. You could go in there with her.” And I’m like, “oh no, he’s not allowed to come in.”

[00:44:02] And people are like, dude, that’s basic standard of care is for him to be in there with you during this news. Like, what if he found out bad news? Then I had all these girls riding me and being like, oh my gosh. The ultrasound center, I found out I was having a still birth there alone while my husband was in the waiting room and I had to do the, where I walk out and shake my head at 28 weeks that we lost our baby alone.

[00:44:24] And I’m like, oh my God. Like this is insane. And they’re like, well that’s just our policy, like go to another hospital. And I’m like, no. See, that’s the thing. I would love to, I can’t. And then I’ve just had some issues. So with the gestational hypertension of it all, it’s something very scary ’cause it could turn into preeclampsia.

[00:44:45] Now I have never had preeclampsia, but I’ve had gestational hypertension in both of my pregnancies. Could it be stress? And I have the high blood pressure, who knows what it’s from. But, it’s something that my previous doctor took extremely seriously. Starting at like, I think maybe even 24 weeks, I was having two nst every, every week.

[00:45:05] She took it extremely seriously. I slept overnight in the hospital twice during that pregnancy just because they’re like, “Hey, we’re gonna just do some further monitor.” Like they take it extremely seriously. And I was talking to you ’cause I’m like, usually I start this gestational hypertension protocol around like 10 or 12 weeks from what I can remember.

[00:45:26] Like, I’m shocked. My doctor is like not having me start this, knowing my history. Well, I had, had, I tracked my blood pressure. So I had, tracked my blood pressure for five days and I was on five days of it being high. And I put in the little, ’cause you can’t just go to the office, you have to do it in the health record.

[00:45:43] So I put in the health record like, Hey, I’m concerned about my blood pressure. And they’re like, well, when you were here four weeks ago, it was fine. So that’s what we’re going off of. And I’m like, that’s great. Now we’re here and I’m having five days of high blood, consistent high blood pressure. I’m worried about it.

[00:45:58] I’m also concerned that I haven’t been starting the high blood pressure protocol. Which if you guys don’t know, it’s, it’s essentially baby aspirin. Now, my other doctor, the baby aspirin, I went to the pharmacy, I gave a prescription and they handed it to me. You could buy it over the counter, but that’s just how it worked in the past.

[00:46:15] So she’s like, well, if you feel that strongly about starting it, go ahead and get some. And I’m like, get some what? And she said, and this is via chat. She said, get some LDA. And I’m like, what’s LDA? She’s like, low dose aspirin. And I’m like, milligrams. Like, I’m like having like Why am I having to ask this?

[00:46:33] Like, she’s like, yeah, if that’s what you want. I’m like, okay. So I go and get it. I start that and I felt confident in starting it. ’cause you and I had talked and also because in my previous pregnancies, that’s when I started at 10 weeks. So finally like I’m just getting to a point where I’m like, I feel a little bit in the dark with this pregnancy. I want a meeting with the doctor.

[00:46:57] And so we call a meeting with the doctor. And from what I had heard from people who are kind of in like hospital administration, is that, which is my sister. She’s like, I am certain your doctor’s gonna be very much on your side. I am certain your doctor also doesn’t like the imaging center’s situation of not letting your husband come in.

[00:47:16] She was like, sometimes it’s not the doctors that you should be mad at. It’s just the procedures and like what’s in place. And the protocols in place. And like, I guarantee my sister’s like, you’re gonna go in there and she’s gonna be very empathetic to how you’re feeling and maybe probably agree with you on some things.

[00:47:34] And she’s like, these doctors are overwhelmed. They’re, you know, the hospitals don’t always listen to the doctors and so I think she’s really gonna have your back. So I went in thinking like, I’m gonna be met with some compassion here. That’s what I’m thinking. So I go in and I’m very nice. I’m like, I did the shit sandwich. So, I went in and I was like, I wanna start off by saying that your office has been phenomenal. Like, I love the women that work here. I really appreciate the chat feature, even though I’m used to being able to just go in and see a doctor, but like, okay, I like the chat feature. I’m like, I do have some concerns where I’m not sure if I’m getting the level of care that I deserve.

[00:48:11] And she immediately goes into the defense and she’s like, she’s like, I’ve been doing this for 23 years. I answer you back in the chat. Like, if you need something, you have to ask. Like, if you don’t ask, I’m like, I don’t think that I should be asking, about low dose aspirin for high blood pressure considering I’ve had it in all of my pregnancies. And it’s definitely recorded. And you know about that. She’s like, you’re having twins. You should be taking two. And I was like, so that’s my husband steps in and he’s like, okay, so this right here is the first we’re hearing of this. And at this point I’m like, 15 weeks. So this right here is the first we’re hearing of, she should be taking two.

[00:48:48] I’m like, do I take two prenatals? Do I take 2D HA? Like what else should I be taking? Like, and I’m starting to write stuff down. I’m like, this is the first time you’ve spent more than five minutes with me. So I honestly don’t, is there anything else I should know? And she’s like, well, just ask, what do you want to know?

[00:49:01] And I’m like, I want you to treat me like this is my first pregnancy. I’m like, I also have concerns with my husband not being there in my ultrasounds. She’s like, that’s not on me. Take that up with the hospital. I’m like, it is on you. You sent me there, you sent me to a place that doesn’t allow my husband, so no, it is on you.

[00:49:21] And so we never met, and she’s like, well, if you wanna transfer, you know, good luck with that. Go to the front and I’ll try to do it. And I’m like, okay, well you and I both know I’ve already been trying to transfer and I’m not having luck. So at this point. I’m gonna see the nurse practitioner until my birth.

[00:49:39] You unfortunately are gonna be the one to slice and dice me open. Just land that plane with all souls on board, including my own please. Like that’s, at this point, just land that plane. I don’t care if there’s turbulence. I don’t care if, if, you know, an engine goes out, okay. All souls must be safe when we land and just land that plane.

[00:50:02] And that’s kind of where we have left it. So I did my research with my robot that there is a little bit of a workaround. So, when I start seeing the MFM, if the MFM sees something. In my ultrasound with twin pregnancies, like the MFMs, they go through everything with a fine tooth comb and almost 100% of the time they find something, a shadow, a spot or whatever.

[00:50:28] I can request a second opinion and I can request that second opinion at the hospital in which I would want to go to. And when they take me in to do that second opinion, I’m kind of registered as a patient. So I’m going to, try to do that workaround, possibly. So that’s kind of where we’re at, at from here.

[00:50:49] Again, that’s what my robot’s saying.

[00:50:51] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: should not be having, we’re getting to the robot. Don’t you worry. You should not have to ask your doctor about aspirin. That should be one of the first things that providers are getting on that first appointment is going through all the questions about aspirin, because there’s a lot, like some of it’s if your mom or your sister had high blood pressure, which wouldn’t be related to your health history at all.

[00:51:11] So they have to go through a list of a few questions, which, by the way, you were having twins. They, they don’t even have to go through the questions because that’s one of the ones. But people, I get frustrated when the doctor’s like, well, you should just ask. And I’m like, well, how on earth are people gonna know to ask? Like, that doesn’t make any sense to me, but God bless.

[00:51:29] Dani Morin: Yeah, so I mean, I was kind of being catty towards the end of the situation at this meeting, and I was like, should I ask you now for like maybe an anesthesiologist at my C-section? Like, what else do I need to ask for? Like, I was like, I just asked. Had, and I feel like there is a way, and if providers are listening to this, I just want, and I made a video coming out of this meeting and I will post it after I have my birth.

[00:51:57] There was a way she could have addressed the situation and never admitted that she was wrong or that any of this is bad. There was a way she could have done that, and that’s with a single ounce of compassion. If she could have mustered up the courage to even have a single ounce of compassion. I’m gonna go to a ob GYN, this is on my list. I’m gonna pitch the OB GYN conferences, and I’m gonna go up there as a patient and be like, here’s a way that you can address the concerns of your patient without ever saying that you’re wrong. Had I walked in there and said, I have some concerns. I feel like I’m not being heard. I’m not giving enough time.

[00:52:42] Had you been up there and just said, “I am so sorry that you are feeling this way. I would never want one of my patients who’s pregnant to have to feel this way. Let’s discuss some ways that I could better help you and we could better help each other in communicating so you get the best care possible.”

[00:53:03] Do you see how I just talked right there where I never said like, I am so sorry that I did that. I should have done better. That is totally on me and like, I should, you know, I should be sending you to a different ultrasound. Never she had, she just gone in there and been like, I’m so sorry you are feeling this way.

[00:53:20] I never want my patients to feel this way. Let’s discuss some things together and be a team here. Do you see how a tiny bit of compassion could have changed the entire directory of the situation

[00:53:34] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: Yeah,

[00:53:35] Dani Morin: it, and,

[00:53:35] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: so

[00:53:36] Dani Morin: it, it was just not there.

[00:53:38] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: or any customer service business. Obviously she don’t care about the customer service. Have you watched The PIT yet?

[00:53:44] Dani Morin: I haven’t Is that on Paramount?

[00:53:47] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: It’s on Max,

[00:53:49] Dani Morin: think it’s on paramount.

[00:53:49] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: talking about patient satisfaction scores, which can be frustrating as a healthcare provider because you’re like, you’re not giving us enough staff. That is literally why our patient satisfaction scores suck. So anyway,

[00:54:00] Dani Morin: And that’s what I think my sister was trying to get at was like they’re, the doctors are dealing with a lot too, and they’re very much like on the team of the patient. So I went in there thinking she’s gonna be on the team of the patient and just be like, Hey, there’s some stuff going around. We are fighting for changes right now.

[00:54:15] And like, you know, you got caught up anything. Except she was like, I’ve been doing this 23 years. No one has ever had a problem with me. This is a you thing. Like, and I was like, oh my God. So I’m just hoping that when she sews up my C-section scar that it’s like somewhat in a line. Like, I just hope it’s not like a squiggly mark, like she’s all, I’m gonna show her.

[00:54:38] Like I just, you know, and she’s a professional and I just, one of my good friends just had twins, same doctor, same c-section, super successful babies. Didn’t spend one day in the nicu. She had the best care there. It was the best team of people. She felt very confident. And so therefore, I’m kind of like holding onto that right now.

[00:54:58] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: Yeah.

[00:54:59] Dani Morin: I was sent to this doctor by everybody in my community. Everyone, and I’m not gonna say the doctor’s name, but everybody was like. Like this person, she’s the best. Oh my God, there’s no better doctor. And what I realized is that I have been eating at Mastros with my pregnancies

[00:55:17] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: Yeah.

[00:55:18] Dani Morin: the, and some of these girls, they don’t know anything better than McDonald’s.

[00:55:22] And so to them it’s been a great experience. But I think for me, when I’ve had this high standard of care, and now I’m at a situation where I’m like, but this seems different. You know, not that it’s bad, it’s probably just normal. But I don’t think I’m asking for a lot to just tell me the medications I should be on for something that could cause preeclampsia.

[00:55:44] You know what I mean?

[00:55:45] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: That’s a real push in the United States right now. It’s not like this is something weird. I wanna,

[00:55:50] Dani Morin: Yeah. So we’ll see when this comes out.

[00:55:53] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: It’s hard to watch videos of people like at birth centers that are like lighting and a tub in the room and, you know, special music you can play. Whereas I’ve worked at birth centers that, we were lucky if the, the tile was like intact, right?

[00:56:06] Like, you know,

[00:56:08] Dani Morin: Yeah.

[00:56:09] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: Or that there weren’t roaches falling out of the ceiling, which has happened at some of the hospitals that I worked at. And so sometimes when I watch these, it’s really hard to compare like situations just because it varies so much. And I know even in the south it’s even worse than where I am at. So,

[00:56:25] Dani Morin: Yeah.

[00:56:25] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: It’s always tricky when you compare doctors and stuff like that. But Dani, I have also been talking about how she uses her, AI robot to answer her pregnancy questions. And I’ve always been like. Stop! I am your AI robot. Just text me. And you’re like, no, I have my AI robot trained on the right sites or whatever. what are some things you’re, you’ve

[00:56:44] Dani Morin: What are some things.

[00:56:45] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: robot, and I’m gonna tell you if that’s safe to ask Orate. know what aspirin would’ve been safe to ask? I’ll give it that probably.

[00:56:53] Dani Morin: Okay, so one thing that I asked my robot last night is, is it okay to get Botox and laminate? Not that I’m going to, but I’m seeing pregnant girls and their faces look near perfect, and I know that ain’t natural. And I put that on my stories and people were like, yeah, no, it’s totally fine now. And I’m like, Hmm.

[00:57:14] So you’re saying, no,

[00:57:16] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: I think it’s a no, as far as I know, Botox is a no, just because they don’t know if that could get into your bloodstream or something like that. I don’t understand brow lamination, so I don’t know how, how that could accumulate in your body. The internet told me to write a post on that, but I was so out of my, have

[00:57:33] Dani Morin: it’s too new.

[00:57:34] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: I don’t know. I don’t know.

[00:57:36] Dani Morin: It’s too, it’s too new.

[00:57:38] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: for a long time they didn’t even massage pregnant women because they were worried that they could hurt the baby, which now I’m like, come on. Like we gotta,

[00:57:45] Dani Morin: What about, how do you tell your twins apart?

[00:57:49] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: I’ve seen parents put a little sharpie on one of the toenails, like the big

[00:57:54] Dani Morin: You said that and I feel like that’s a good, okay.

[00:57:58] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: Yeah,

[00:57:59] Dani Morin: so I,

[00:58:00] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: polish

[00:58:00] Dani Morin: so,

[00:58:00] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: off harder. Like it comes off easier. Fingernail polish,

[00:58:05] Dani Morin: okay, so this is another one that I, freaked out over was what’s the difference between discharge or my water breaking? My robot told me like, the,

[00:58:17] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: I have 16 articles about that.

[00:58:17] Dani Morin: can you send those to me? Because I had a scare this weekend. I like sat down and I felt like, what was like a gush or something and I immediately called the doctor and was like, I think my water broke.

[00:58:28] It turned out it was a more of a milky texture and that’s what my robot said. It would be more of a milky texture in which it, in which it was,

[00:58:36] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: Yeah. I have

[00:58:36] Dani Morin: um.

[00:58:37] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: is it pee? What, what does it feel like when my water breaks? Because most people will feel a pop. I would say 70% of the people I say they feel a pop when their water breaks. So that sometimes can help people reassure. But the big one is that your water just

[00:58:51] Dani Morin: Is that

[00:58:52] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: out. If it’s

[00:58:54] Dani Morin: Yes.

[00:58:55] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: not. It.

[00:58:55] Dani Morin: So that’s what I have.

[00:58:57] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: Yeah. So I

[00:58:58] Dani Morin: Yeah.

[00:58:59] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: just, when I was writing articles based on Google searches, I would just do AI for fun. Like, I was like, can you drink wine during pregnancy? And AI was like, absolutely. The antioxidants in wine, I would suggest two to three glasses a day. And I was like, strong work ai, really, really good work.

[00:59:14] And then I wrote one is sour cream safe during pregnancy? And it was like, absolutely not. Your risk of listeria goes up with sour cream. And I was like, pasteurized

[00:59:23] Dani Morin: Oh my gosh. I feel like pasteurization is okay

[00:59:27] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: no

[00:59:28] Dani Morin: anyways.

[00:59:29] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: cream? Totally fine. Yeah. Also, you

[00:59:31] Dani Morin: Okay. Okay.

[00:59:31] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: you get listeria. Maybe you can get listeria from unpasteurized cheese products like brie, you’re not supposed to be eating, unpasteurized cheese

[00:59:40] Dani Morin: Yeah, I don’t, I don’t mess with that. I don’t mess with that. Anyways.

[00:59:43] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: the time for brie. Right.

[00:59:45] Dani Morin: Yeah.

[00:59:46] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: Let’s get some brie in me.

[00:59:48] Dani Morin: Well you’ve just been like the best thing for me during this pregnancy and I so appreciate you and I hope that people use you as a resource. You just put out so much good stuff and you’re someone I trust and your stuff is easily digestible and I just really, really appreciate it and our friendship, so thank you.

[01:00:04] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: you. We gotta get Jeremy in the birth class though ’cause he obviously is ripe and ready to go. So we’re gonna get Dani

[01:00:11] Dani Morin: we will.

[01:00:11] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: the birth class ’cause

[01:00:13] Dani Morin: We will.

[01:00:14] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: that’ll answer a lot of everyone’s questions too, probably. Thank you for coming on. This has been so much fun. I

[01:00:19] Dani Morin: Thank you.

[01:00:20] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: I hate that that doctor was like, this is unsafe.

[01:00:23] Because when doctors do stuff like that, it doesn’t open up the door for like collaboration or the fact that it really is not unsafe. Especially compared to regular sex where you could pass chlamydia or gonorrhea, like a syringe is a lot safer from like a medical perspective.

[01:00:37] Dani Morin: Yeah,

[01:00:38] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: So anyway,

[01:00:40] Dani Morin: they wanna make money. But yeah.

[01:00:42] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: And,

[01:00:43] Dani Morin: Thank you for letting me. You

[01:00:44] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: Make sure you follow Dani. She has so many good tips on car seats, child safety. It’s gonna also be fun to watch Dani head into life with three kids, versus just one ’cause I’m sure there’s gonna be a lot of fun, chaos to, enjoy

[01:00:56] Dani Morin: love you.

[01:00:57] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: all. All right, we’ll talk to you later.

[01:00:59] Dani Morin: Bye.

[01:01:00] Hilary Erickson | The Pregnancy Nurse®: I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. It was fun to like bounce around a different topic. Dani and I are obviously friends, but I think three things that I learned. First off, you know, the money is important. And I really love that she tried something that worked for her instead of just doing something that kind of was the standard for getting pregnant.

[01:01:17] Second of all, if you’re in a position where you can’t switch providers, sometimes you have to make do. She’s definitely looked around like we’ve talked a lot about it. But I just want people to know that sometimes you don’t get the provider of your dreams, but can still have a really great outcome.

[01:01:30] And third watch ai, those robots will get you. thank you for coming on Dani. I hope you guys will join us on our next episode.

[01:01:36] Thanks for joining us on the Pulling Curls podcast today. If you like today’s episode, please consider reviewing, sharing, subscribing. It really helps our podcast grow. Thank you.

Keywords:

getting pregnant, home insemination, sperm donor, unplanned pregnancy, single mom by choice, IVF, IUI, PCOS, tilted cervix, prenatal care, child loss, grief, parenting guilt, Baltic amber teething necklace, child safety, product safety, natural parenting, evidence-based parenting, social media advocacy, birth plan, switching OB providers, high risk pregnancy, gestational hypertension, low dose aspirin in pregnancy, twin pregnancy, pregnancy anxiety, provider communication, hospital policies, AI for pregnancy questions, financial planning for parenthood, support systems

The post Unconventional Conception Stories and Advocacy in Motherhood with Dani Morin appeared first on Pulling Curls.

As a note: Even though I’m a nurse, and I’ve tried to research these as much as I can, I can’t recommend them without you talking to your provider as we live in this day and age.

Alternative Mosquito Bite Remedies:

I itch a TON and I was stopping going outside in the summer because of possible bites — and that’s not the life I want to lead — so, I looked for some other options to help:

Suck It

This one is a favorite of mine, if I can do it just a few minutes after being bit (I don’t find it works as well when you find the bug bite a day later, etc). BUT, great for working in the garden since you know you’re at risk — come and check to see if you have any round lumps.

It’s really simple, you just put it on the bite, and you pull back on the plunger. I like to count to 10 slowly and give myself a small little hickey.

For good measure, a lot of times I’ll follow it with some hydrocortisone…

If I do both of these right after I find a bite, I’m often good for the next few days. Sometimes after the hydrocortisone I follow it with….

Stickers!

These were new to me, but I found a pack at Buc-ee’s last time I was there and I though the beaver can’t steer me wrong.

So, I think the original brand is better than knockoffs…. Because why try one brand? Hahah….

Now, these are entirely un-medicated, and I really had to do some research to figure-out how/why they would even work. The idea here is that it lifts the very top layer of your skin to help your body metabolize the mosquito bite stuff so it doesn’t itch as much/long.

First off, if you’re itching your brains out, it might not be a first line treatment. I’d recommend some hydrocortisone (or my 4th one) and then try the sticker after that’s absorbed.

This is basically just a sticker — so you can’t have any oil or lotion on your skin within the past few hours or it just won’t stick. A downfall of this type of product.

My family is mixed on these. For me…

• I tried it on a moderately itchy bite, and within 5 minutes I wasn’t noticing it much anymore
• They stayed on pretty well — a few days, which was nice
• They come in weird colors which is fun when people see them and ask you what the heck is going on?

Honestly, I think they’re not a bad idea.

Are they better than a band aid? I think so? It gives more air flow to the area… and I’m a fan of that.

I would buy again.

Zit Patches

Ok, we all love zit patches when we have an important something and we have a whitehead the size of our head… but do they help with mosquito bites?

Yes, there are specific ones for mosquito bites. They’re the same hydrocolloid patch also infused with aloe and witch hazel.

Ultimately, I felt like these worked a bit better than the other stickers. They seem pricier though, I seem to be alternating between the two to decide which I like better. But, I think both are worth a try. I did find a pack of these at my local Walmart…

These are also much less noticeable (although there are some with patterns) as they are clear.

Nice when you don’t want everyone asking WHAT HAPPENED?

I thought they stuck better than the other ones, but my daughter said hers came off pretty quickly.

Burn Baby Burn

One worth mentioning that I hear a lot of people liking is a system that sort of burns the bite.

Honestly, it sounded great. I love to dig my nail into the bite to try to get it to STOP itching!

But, I tried it and it not only hurt, but also didn’t seem to help my bite. My friend has this one and felt like it was helpful on a recent trip to Africa, but I tried another one in 2020 and actually sent it back I thought it was so bad.

So, take it for what it’s worth.

Mosquito Bite Repellants

Obviously, the key to most health concerns is PREVENTION — so what can we do there?

Avon Skin so Soft

People rave about this stuff, but honestly — I couldn’t find the “real deal” anywhere. Amazon is full “it” but when it comes it has Chinese words on the back, which made me hesitant. BUT, if you can get yourself some — I think it’s a nice idea. Maybe you have a local Avon lady you can check with?

I was thinking of putting it in a spray bottle like this to make application (especially on legs) easier.

Murphy’s Natural

Ok — so what’s one we can actually get HOLD of without having to find an Avon lady? I found this at Costco and I am a fan.

Now, I should say that I normally HATE the feeling of mosquito repellant. It feel so gross.

This just feels like perfume. I would say my skin feels sort of “lighter” when I use it (like cooler — I guess is a better way to describe it) — but it’s not sticky or gross at all.

I should say that sometimes when I just spray without rubbing it around appropriate parts I do get bites on untouched skin.

Lately I’ve been going heavy on it — trying to spray open areas more, but also spraying my whole body as I know the overall scent is a repellant.

I wish it was in a spray bottle that would spray upside down, but life goes on. It’s my favorite repellant right now, although I did find some Skin so Soft on the Tiktok shop, so maybe I’ll give that a whirl next.

What other remedies or repellants do you like?

I should say that I got ant bites a few weeks ago gardening(!) — and these were NOT helpful. And DANG those little buggars itched for a WHILE. Good thing borax and sugar sent them to their death. Want to know how to make that? Tell me in the comments!

The post Alternative Mosquito Bite Treatments & Repellants appeared first on Pulling Curls.

Now, I am an RN — but I am not here giving you advice to take these pills — but I am here to say that these pills CAN be taken together as long as you don’t have any contraindications. Often people don’t know that they can be taken together. As always, ask your provider before taking any medication. This isn’t medical advice — just what I’ve found effective.

What Kind of Headache Does This Work On?

I bring out this recipe when I’m really feeling the BIG guns — it’s a headache that simply, sleeping, drinking, eating doesn’t seem to touch. I often find this one works wonders on the ones that come to stay during the middle of the night.

Note: Please check with your provider to make sure all these meds are OK for you. One of them really shouldn’t be taken by people with high blood pressure or nursing mothers — so I’m serious about that.

The Headache Remedy You Need:

Ok, it’s a few pills:

Tylenol with Caffeine (find it here) — a lot of places call this a “tension headache”. Personally, I don’t take the one that has aspirin in it because my stomach is pretty sensitive (probably old ulcers from being a nurse). The one I take has just Acetaminophen and Caffeine

• The Tylenol decreases inflammation
• The caffeine shrinks blood vessels probably decreasing blood flow to the brain to give you that “throbbing” feeling

Ibuprofen (find it here) — just the regular kind you already have is fine. I just take the 200 mg one, nothing fancy like the 600 mg they sometimes prescribe.

Sudafed (Pseudoephedrine) — due to FDA regulations, you have to buy this from a pharmacy, but it doesn’t require a prescription. They’ll want to scan your ID as the state restricts how much if this you can buy.

This is a decongestant.

Now, don’t mix this up with the crappy Sudafed (phenylephrine) that you can get on the store shelves.

ALSO, don’t think you could take some sort of Tylenol/Ibuprofen Sudafed comb like “Tylenol Cold” — unless those are sold behind the counter (which I rarely see) they have the crappy Sudafed.

And yes — they both have the brand name Sudafed which is really confusing, but recent studies are showing that phenylephrine (sometimes called Sudafed PE) isn’t effective against congestion.

Looking for more family health info — be sure to check out these posts:

• 3 Medications for Baby to Have On Hand
• Zion Healthshare Reviews & Why Left Liberty Healthshare
• Sore Throat vs STREP throat: How to tell the difference
• Apple Cider Vinegar for Itchy Scalp: Also includes Essential Oils & More
• How to Stop Throwing Up: Proven protocol for the Stomach Flu

How to Take Them?

I just take one of each — like I’m in a candy store:

• One Tylenol with Caffeine
• One Ibuprofen (200 mg)
• and one Sudafed (Pseudoephedrine)

I think wash it down with a GIANT glass of water and something to eat to keep the ibuprofen from bothering my stomach.

If it often bothers your stomach, you may want to eat something first. I don’t find it has to be big — I tend to do a handful of cashews or something like that.

Why does it work?

I don’t know — honestly, I’ve tried taking them each on their own and they are not NEAR as effective as taking them together.

I do think there’s something to the Tylenol/Ibuprofen combination — it’s both attacking the inflammation in their own ways. They’re actually starting to market a Tylenol/Ibuprofen combination (but you can easily just take the pills on their own at a much cheaper price).

The Caffeine isn’t a lot, but it does seem to help.

And the Sudafed targets any congestion that might be the culprit.

You can actually take much higher doses of all of these things, but that combination seems to get the headache for me and for all of my family. Even at the lower doses.

How long does it take to work?

I think I’ve had it take most often 60-90 minutes. It’s definitely not right away. I try to follow it with another giant glass of water about 30 minutes later too — just in case hydration is an issue.

When not to try this?

If you’re pregnant, I wouldn’t recommend this — unless you’ve run it by your doctor first.

Even if you’re postpartum I’d call your provider if you have a really bad headache. PIH can be an issue postpartum too!

If you’re postpartum with the “worst headache of your life” you need to be seen ASAP — that is often what people say if postpartum preeclampsia has come.

If you’ve tried it before and it didn’t work — it might be time to re-assess why it’s happening, which may mean a trip to your provider’s

If you have any other symptoms like weakness on any side of your body, slurring of speech etc. Any symptoms like that — you need to be seen ASAP!

Any Side Effects?

I tend to get a tiny bit jittery from the caffeine/Sudafed combination. I don’t usually sleep all that awesome that night, but I don’t drink caffeine on the daily — this is the only time I really have it.

I also find I really need to up my water intake with this — otherwise I get sort of a “rebound” headache in a couple of days. Not sure why — but it is annoying.

Looking for more family health tips — be sure to check out these posts:

• Put Menthol on Feet
• Best Essential Oil for Sore Muscles: Compares DoTerra, JadeBloom, Rocky Mountain Oils & Plant Therapy
• Fever & Vomiting in Child: Babies, infants & toddlers vomiting with a fever — when to worry, what to do.
• Abnormal Mammogram: My Baseline Screening at 40.
• How do I Know if I Have a Bladder Infection: Causes, Symptoms & Treatment
• What does an ear infection feel like? Symptoms, in babies, adults and cures!

Other things that sometimes helpful:

I sometimes pull my hair lightly — this often releases any tension on my scalp.

Ice on your neck/forehead can sometimes help.

I’d love to know what else you’ve tried for a headache (or if you’ve tried this). Please tell us in the comments!

It has REALLY helped when I have a miserable headache, and I hope it will help you too!

The post The Headache Remedy That Works appeared first on Pulling Curls.

Find it here on Apple or Spotify Podcasts

Big thanks to our sponsor Family Routines — if you want to get some strength training in your life — this is the key!

Today’s guest is Kaleigh Cohen. Kaleigh has two YouTube channels, Kaleigh Cohen Cycling & Kaleigh Cohen Strength. She creates indoor cycle & strength programs that will transform you into an unstoppable force.

Links for you:

Kaleigh’s other episode on exercise in pregnancy (episode 248)

Timestamps:

00:00 Pulling Curls podcast: pregnancy, parenting, routines, YouTube.

06:05 Start with basic weights; focus on form.

07:24 Working out despite weight challenges; gradual progress.

10:23 Workouts help me discover and surprise myself.

Keypoints:

• Discussion on the importance of strength training for women’s overall health, especially as they age.

• Introduction of guest Kaleigh Cohen, who runs two YouTube channels focused on strength training and cycling.

• Personal anecdotes from Hilary about her mother’s severe bone issues and how it motivated her to take strength training seriously.

• Explanation of how resistance training helps increase bone density and overall strength.

• Clarification that strength training won’t lead to unwanted bulking up due to different testosterone levels in women.

• The misconception that walking alone isn’t sufficient for comprehensive strength training benefits.

• Recommendations for starting weights for beginners: light (5 lbs), medium (10 lbs), and heavier (15 lbs) sets, emphasizing good form.

• Encouragement for even small, consistent efforts in strength training, such as 10 minutes, three times a week.

• Personal insights from Kaleigh on how exercising helps her manage life’s challenges and improve other aspects of life.

• Call to action for women to start strength training, regardless of age, to avoid future bone-related health issues and maintain functionality.

Producer: Drew Erickson

Transcript

[00:00:01.410] – Hilary Erickson

Hey, guys. Welcome back to the Pulling Curls Podcast. Today on episode 252, we are talking about strength training for women. Let’s untangle it.

[00:00:10.600] – Hilary Erickson

Hi, I’m Hilary, a serial overcomplicator. I’m also a nurse, mom to three, and the curly head behind Pulling Curls and the pregnancy nurse. This podcast aims to help us stop overcomplicating things and remember how much easier it is to keep things simple. Let’s smooth out those snarls with Pregnancy and Parenting Untangled, the Pulling Curls Podcast.

[00:00:38.790] – Hilary Erickson

This episode of the Pulling Curls Podcast is sponsored by Family Routines. If you are looking to make margins in your life where you have some room to do extra things like strength training, come join me where we help you prioritize what you really want to do with your family and maybe even get those kids to help out a little bit more.

[00:00:56.690] – Hilary Erickson

Today’s guest has two YouTube channels, one about strength, one about cycling, and I join her a few times a week on YouTube so that I can do them with you. I want to introduce today’s guest, Kaleigh Cohen.

[00:01:08.110] – Hilary Erickson

Hey, Kaleigh, welcome back to the Pulling Curls Podcast.

[00:01:10.540] – Hilary Erickson

Thank you.

[00:01:11.100] – Kaleigh Cohen

I am so excited to be here again. This is just so much fun with you, Hilary.

[00:01:14.750] – Hilary Erickson

Yes. So we actually just recorded an episode on exercise and pregnancy, but I was like, we don’t need to leave out all my non-pregnant listeners. Let’s talk about strength training for women, because I feel like growing up, they were like, let’s do aerobics.

[00:01:29.800] – Hilary Erickson

Now I’m older than you, Kaleigh. Let’s just put that out there. But the more I’ve researched strength in women’s lives, the more I’m like, oh, we got to do this.

[00:01:40.020] – Kaleigh Cohen

Absolutely. And for real, it has become my passion to just share how much you can gain from just strength training in your life, especially for women who are hitting that menopause age, and even well after that. It makes such a huge difference in your everyday life. So I love it, and I am so excited to talk about it. Yeah.

[00:02:06.010] – Hilary Erickson

So a little backstory, Kaleigh already knows this, but my mom has bones that are like pretzels. So she got knees done, both femurs broke after she got knees done. It cracked her femurs. And then she recently broke one ankle, went septic, it healed, and then she fell and broke both ankles.

[00:02:25.270] – Hilary Erickson

Literally, it looks like a pretzel, like somebody just stood on a little stick pretzel on X-rays. So in seeing all of this, as I am 47 at the time of… Wait, am I 48? I think I’m 48 at the time of this recording. I’m like, I only have a few more years of estrogen flowing through my body. It’s time to really take strength seriously. I have done pretty lightweights here and there. I loved the Firm back in the day. I don’t know if Kaleigh, do you remember the Firm?

[00:02:53.360] – Kaleigh Cohen

That sounds super familiar. Was there a step?

[00:02:57.270] – Hilary Erickson

Oh, there’s a step. They are like step for wives because They are all perfectly in sync, perfectly with smiles plastered on their face. There’s no sweat at any point, no frustration. I did the firm for a long time, and I was really into that, getting with my Stepford Wives, doing exactly what they were doing. But let’s add heavy weights. That’s what I’ve been doing in the last year, and I am excited to talk about it because we got to grow our bones, ladies.

[00:03:25.990] – Kaleigh Cohen

Absolutely, yes. And that is one of the benefits of strength training is increasing your bone density, which you wouldn’t think so. But I should mention, resistance training kind of umbrellas all of the things.

[00:03:42.330] – Kaleigh Cohen

So I’ll interchange strength training and resistance training. Strength training generally falls under barbells, dumbbells, things like that. So just to put it out there, because there are so many other ways of resistance training that you can do kettlebells, exercise bands, resistance bands, all those things. So just as an umbrella, strength resistance will be interchange with my lingo today.

[00:04:04.910] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. And the beauty is that you can really make a good variety of it. You don’t have to just stick with dumbbells, because in my head, I was like, I’m going to have to get a bench and I’m going to be like Popeye with these big arms.

[00:04:19.110] – Kaleigh Cohen

And that’s another misconception that women are just going to bulk up, and you’re right, look like Popeye. And we don’t want that. But that’s not how strength training will go for us, because we don’t have the same amount of testosterone. So women will generally take a more lean look when they start adding strength training to their routines.

[00:04:38.810] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. And I think that’s what… Well, we all want Michelle Obama arms, right? That’s what we’re hoping for.

[00:04:43.520] – Kaleigh Cohen

Yeah, exactly.

[00:04:46.430] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. And the other thing, a lot of my friends are like, Oh, I just go on walks. And I do think walks are such a great thing for so many different reasons. Vitamin D, getting outside, fresh air, walking with a friend, therapeutic. It’s amazing. Walking with a great podcast. Absolutely. Yeah. But walking isn’t particularly resistance training, right?

[00:05:07.470] – Kaleigh Cohen

No, it’s not really. You don’t necessarily have that weight-bearing aspect that you need to gain all those benefits that you would from resistance training overall or strength training.

[00:05:17.910] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. And it’s just in one range of motion, I always seem. I walked for a long time, but my joints were in a one way. We only go one way.

[00:05:28.290] – Kaleigh Cohen

Exactly. Yes, that’s really true. That’s another really good point, because when you do add resistance training, you’re going to be moving all the different joints in the upper body and the lower body, all the things. So there is that aspect of strength training that really encompasses the entire body as opposed to walking.

[00:05:47.160] – Hilary Erickson

What weight do you suggest most people start at? I just have dumbbells. I have those little tiny dumbbells you can pick up at Walmart. I do not have a barbell. Not interested in that. My husband has some bow and arrow type thing that he’s always like, You should try it. And I was like, I would rather die.

[00:06:04.210] – Kaleigh Cohen

I don’t even know what that would be. So that’s actually really interesting. But that is a really good question because I think part of the most intimidating… One of the most intimidating things of strength training is just getting started because it can be so overwhelming.

[00:06:18.580] – Kaleigh Cohen

You’ve got dumbbells and, like you’ve mentioned, benches and stuff, but you don’t need anything fancy. If you just have a couple of sets of weights to begin with, so the weight that you would select if you’re just starting out will vary. To be honest, when you stick with it, you’re going to have to up your weights probably pretty quickly. But just to make sure as you start out, because I always say getting solid form in your workouts is going to be key, and picking the proper weight for yourself is part of that form.

[00:06:50.500] – Kaleigh Cohen

Starting out, if you had a light, medium, and heavier set, even 5, 10, and 15 pounds, and then from there, work your way up. One thing to is honestly just go into the store and just pick them up and just do 30 seconds of bicep curls. And if you can get away with it with ease, you’re like, This was easy, then that’s probably not where you want to start.

[00:07:12.360] – Kaleigh Cohen

You probably could up your weight a little bit from where you are. So we can test them out in the store and see, too, how we feel. Same with squats. You can check your upper body and lower body right there in the store and then make your decision.

[00:07:24.930] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. It’s such a triumph when I’m like, I think I’m going to try it. I’m going to order… And I I just went up to 10. I don’t want you guys thinking that I’m like… So I do like a 5, 8, 10 when I’m working out with Kaleigh because that’s where I’m at.

[00:07:39.070] – Hilary Erickson

I also have a lot of weight on my body right now that we’re working to get off. But if you guys listen to my weight loss episode that was earlier in the season, I’ll also link to that in the show notes. But if you’re already working with your body overweight, adding more can maybe make you sore. I’m trying not to hate it too much.

[00:07:58.710] – Kaleigh Cohen

Yeah. Well, good. See, that’s the thing. You don’t want to hate it. So wherever you are, wherever you feel like starting, start there, because that is going to be the best place for you to start. Because that is the one thing with any type of exercise, really, is you don’t want to get overwhelmed and you don’t want to get discouraged right out of the gate, because that just leaves a bad taste in your mouth. No one wants that.

[00:08:16.310] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. Or being so sore the next day. You can’t even sit down to pee. Yeah, right.

[00:08:21.460] – Kaleigh Cohen

You’re like, The toilet and the stairs are my enemy right now, and I do not want to go to you. Yes. So I totally get that for sure.

[00:08:29.680] – Hilary Erickson

Okay. Okay. Do you have tips for people who are like, I don’t know about strength training, anything to get them started? By the way, follow Kaleigh on YouTube. I found her workouts, and I was like, I really like that she struggles a little bit. She challenges herself on her weights.

[00:08:42.330] – Hilary Erickson

As we’re recording this, she’s 37 weeks pregnant, still filming workouts, and she’s not so bright and bubbly that I literally want to kill her because I work out at 05:00 AM. So really, when they’re just like, Let’s go. I’m like, Let’s drive a knife into your heart.

[00:08:58.000] – Kaleigh Cohen

Yeah, let’s not. But that’s funny. So when you’re getting started, and we actually talk about this in the pregnancy podcast, is just do what you can to start out. Even if you just start out small, just start where you are. Start.

[00:09:12.130] – Kaleigh Cohen

Because once you get started, you’ll find that you’ll go longer and longer each time, or even that workout in that time that you’re there, that five minutes is going to turn into 10, 15, and 20. I would say the biggest thing is just start, even if it’s five minutes, and go from there. Because you will find that you will love it. And so that’s how I always feel. I mean, there have been a lot of people that I’ve worked with who started and question why we’re doing this. And then after a few sessions, they’re like, I get it. I’m like, yes, you get it. There we go.

[00:09:46.200] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah, that’s amazing. I will say when I was researching it on myself, getting my bones thicker, they were 10 minutes, three times a week. 30 minutes of strength training can really make a difference in your bones. And in my head, I was like, okay, I can do 30 minutes a week. That’s something that’s doable for me. And now I’m increasing that just because I like the benefits and I feel like it could be helping me lose weight, et cetera, and just feel better.

[00:10:08.980] – Kaleigh Cohen

If you just start it for that… If you pick that one reason and just stay dedicated, just for even, like you said, 30 minutes a week, you’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish from there.

[00:10:20.430] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. Anything else? What do you love about working out, Kaleigh?

[00:10:23.040] – Kaleigh Cohen

What I love about working out is it’s that time for me to just let go of everything else, not worry about anything, and just find out what I’m capable of. Because I think sometimes we get so bogged down in life that we are just going through the motions, and we don’t have that opportunity to really step out and just take charge of something.

[00:10:44.020] – Kaleigh Cohen

I feel like when I am doing my workouts, that’s a time for me to really just find out what I am capable of. I usually surprise myself.

[00:10:53.650] – Kaleigh Cohen

Now, every day is not like that, but when you have those days, they’re really good. Those are what always bring me back.

[00:10:59.110] – Hilary Erickson

And they remind you that you can be capable like that in other areas of your life, in your business, in parenting, especially parenting teenagers. I can breathe through this. We’re going to be fine.

[00:11:08.580] – Kaleigh Cohen

Exactly. Yes. That’s what I love, too, is just how what you take away from your workout will actually spread all throughout the other aspects of your life, not just in the weight room or whatever exercise you might be doing.

[00:11:23.930] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. I’ve seen the benefits all through my life, so I can’t recommend people to try it out more. Our moms, the people that are my age, our moms made the mistake of not using weights, and we’re seeing that they’re having to go to nursing homes to assisted living earlier because of their bones.

[00:11:41.020] – Hilary Erickson

Like, mentally, they’re there. They’re still great with my kids, but they’re going to have to go somewhere else because they just can’t hold themselves up. They don’t have the function that they need to live on their own. Yeah.

[00:11:51.470] – Kaleigh Cohen

And that is really a struggle to see. But really, at any age, you can start training. So don’t ever feel like it’s too late for yourself to start if you haven’t yet, and you will still see those benefits come through.

[00:12:06.780] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. And hopefully, I’m hoping that now that I’m doing it now, once I hit menopause, which will probably be in the next year or so, no, probably a couple of years, I’ll feel the benefits even more and keep functional and all those different kinds of things. I just don’t want to end up with pretzel bones.

[00:12:24.000] – Kaleigh Cohen

Yes. No, for sure. It makes such a big difference, especially during that time of your life. I have heard so many benefits from women who do the workouts that have experienced positive outcomes during that time because of their strength training.

[00:12:38.000] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. All right. Thank you for coming on, Kaleigh. Thank you for your workouts, even if I swear at you sometimes at 5:00 AM.

[00:12:44.310] – Kaleigh Cohen

Well, thank you for working out with me. It’s always my favorite to have someone to work out with. It makes the workout way better.

[00:12:50.170] – Hilary Erickson

Yeah. All right. Thanks, Kaleigh Cohen.

[00:12:53.520] – Hilary Erickson

Guys, I hope you enjoyed that episode. I can’t tell you that the more I’ve shared my mom’s issues, other people have tell me that their mom has had similar issues, and I know none of us want to be in that situation as we get older. So let’s grow our bones together. Let’s keep doing strength training. Thank you, Kaleigh, for all the good work you do out there. I love that your YouTube channel is free and totally available for all of us to check out and do, even if I swear you every now and then.

[00:13:22.160] – Hilary Erickson

Thanks for joining us on the Pulling Curls Podcast today. If you liked today’s episode, please consider reviewing, sharing, subscribing. It really helps our podcast grow. Thank you.

Keywords:

strength training for women, resistance training, women’s strength training, bone density, menopause and strength training, strength training benefits, strength training tips, resistance bands, dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, exercise bands, weight lifting for women, increasing bone density, starting strength training, women and weight lifting, workout routine for women, menopause and exercise, strength training misconceptions, strength training form, benefits of strength training, prenatal exercise, postpartum exercise, body weight exercises, importance of resistance training, home workouts, functional fitness, starting weights, motivation to exercise, health benefits of strength training

The post Stronger Bones, Stronger Women: The Benefits of Strength Training appeared first on Pulling Curls.

Find it here on Apple or Spotify Podcasts

Big thanks to our sponsor Family Routines — they can really save you when the stuff hits the fan. If routines have only one fan it’s me — especially after this.

Links for you:

My Semaglutide episode.

Timestamps:

00:00 Mom’s thoughts overwhelm before surgery; responsibilities linger.

05:07 High cost delayed treatment despite severe pain.

07:35 Delayed surgery led to complications, still satisfied.

11:03 Mom’s hospital worries: life insurance and minutiae.

15:18 Gnawing stomach pain caused anxiety and fear.

16:09 Grateful for doctor; small change improved everything.

19:36 Upcoming episodes: pregnancy exercise, health insurance.

Keypoints:

Hilary Erickson shares her recent experience with appendicitis, highlighting the details of her symptoms and diagnosis.

She describes the importance of routines, which helped her family manage during her absence.

Despite the signs, she initially attributed her stomach pain to other causes, including semaglutide and muscle pain.

Hilary discusses the tests for appendicitis, explaining the concept of rebound tenderness and how her symptoms differed.

She eventually went to the ER, detailing the financial concerns and pain that prompted her to seek medical help.

Her appendix had burst, leading to septic shock and a more complicated recovery process.

She emphasizes the challenges of hospital life, including the struggle to get rest and the limited food options.

Hilary voices the emotional weight of being a mom facing surgery, worrying about household tasks and family needs.

Post-surgery, she talks about her recovery process, the trauma of the event, and the importance of communicating with healthcare providers.

Upcoming episodes will cover topics like pregnancy exercise with Kaylee Cohen and her unconventional approach to health insurance.

Producer: Drew Erickson

Transcript

[00:00:00.000] – Hilary Erickson

Hey, guys. Welcome back to the Pulling Curls Podcast. Today on Episode 247, we are talking about my appendicitis. Let’s untangle it. I mean, there’s nothing really to untangle anymore. It’s gone.

[00:00:12.110] – Hilary Erickson

Hi, I’m Hilary, a serial overcomplicator. I’m also a nurse, mom to three, and the curly head behind Pulling Curls and the Pregnancy Nurse. This podcast aims to help us stop overcomplicating things and remember how much easier it is to keep things simple. Let’s smooth out those snarls with Pregnancy and Parenting Untangled, The Pulling Curls Podcast.

[00:00:40.210] – Hilary Erickson

This episode of the Pulling Curls Podcast is sponsored by Family Routines. Guys, I got to tell you that by having routines, we still somehow made it through me being gone for almost a week of our lives. So I cannot stress anymore how important getting in routines in your life is. Do it. Come join me in Family Routines.

[00:01:00.680] – Hilary Erickson

Okay, if you guys didn’t know, late August, my stomach started hurting, and I just thought, maybe it’s my semiglutide. You guys know I did an episode on that. Maybe it’s something I ate. I didn’t know. It did It was a little different than just regular stomach upset, which I will say with semiglutide, your stomach gets upset frequently, less so the more that I’ve learned how to manage it.

[00:01:24.700] – Hilary Erickson

But I was laying in bed on a Friday night and I was like, Oh, my stomach is hurting. And there was some lower right quadrant abdominal pain, but it really felt a lot like pregnancy ligament pain or pain I had felt before. But I just tried to ignore it. I told my husband to sleep down in the guest room because I was up moaning all night.

[00:01:42.240] – Hilary Erickson

I was just miserable, which usually with stomach pains, I am able to sleep. I take something for it. A lot of times I take DigestZen from Doterra. Not a doTERRA person, but somehow it seems to work for me.

[00:01:56.980] – Hilary Erickson

So I tried the things. In the back of my mind, I was like, Oh, right, lower quadrant abdominal pain. This could be an appendicitis. My cousin had actually had an appendicitis when he was visiting Scotland, crazy town. I was like, That’s insane. You’re only thinking this because he had an appendicitis earlier.

[00:02:17.490] – Hilary Erickson

When you’re checking for an appendicitis, in case any of you guys are wondering, some of the tests you do, you jump. That’s supposed to hurt a lot. Didn’t hurt anymore for me. I was hurting, but it didn’t hurt more when I jumped. It’s called rebound tenderness. So you push your hand in, and then when you pull your hand away, that really hurts. Pushing in hurt. Pulling my hand away didn’t hurt anymore. You’re supposed to push on the other side, and that’s supposed to be really painful, too. Wasn’t painful. It was really just painful when you pushed on the right side, enough that I would flinch if people tried to push on it.

[00:02:49.550] – Hilary Erickson

I also didn’t really have a fever. I tend to run low on my temperature anyway, but I was 99, maybe. I felt some chills, which I thought was I was like, Oh, this must be a stomach virus. I ignored so many things, you guys.

[00:03:05.520] – Hilary Erickson

So I called my DPC doctor the next morning, and we went through all the signs, and he was like, Well, you’re doing all the things. And the last thing before we hung up, he said, If it gets worse, you need to go to the ER. And I was like, Okay, cool. I mean, both of us, because I didn’t have all those signs, we both were like, You probably don’t have it.

[00:03:23.580] – Hilary Erickson

In retrospect, it had already busted, and so I didn’t have a lot of the signs that a lot of people would normally have. We’ll talk more about that. But that Saturday afternoon, Drew took the kids to go get something to eat. I hadn’t really eaten anything all day. If this is TMI, watch it. Don’t feel like you have to keep listening. I would throw up now and then, but I knew that I was throwing up mostly because of the pain, not so much that I was nauseated, GI symptoms.

[00:03:51.930] – Hilary Erickson

For me, I just noticed, Okay, why am I throwing up? It’s because of the pain. That happened also when I had kidney stones, when I was pregnant with Paige.

[00:03:59.410] – Hilary Erickson

Saturday, it It got way worse. Drew came home, and I was just desperate to try and find something to fix it. I had used heat all day thinking that it was muscle. I had used a massager, both poor choices. You’re not supposed to use heat on an appendicitis or massage it.

[00:04:14.880] – Hilary Erickson

So we went to the hospital. Now, in my mind, I knew that it was going to be like $1,000 just by going in that door. So that was part of what was holding me back. I’m not going to lie. But I know a lot of us have high deductibles, and you’re thinking, that’s a thousand bucks just to find out that it’s just a muscle thing.

[00:04:31.700] – Hilary Erickson

So it was holding me back. But by the time I was in so much pain, I was like, I don’t care. It would be worth $1,000 to get some pain medicine at this point.

[00:04:38.830] – Hilary Erickson

The doctors were great. I looked miserable by the time I got in. I could not stand up straight, which is another appendicitis sign.

[00:04:45.200] – Hilary Erickson

I was throwing up. It was ugly. It was real, real ugly. They got me back into triage within 20 minutes of me walking in the door, which I thought was amazing. I was afraid I was going to have to wait in the waiting room for hours, and I was so sick, and that would not have been fun at all.

[00:04:59.450] – Hilary Erickson

The doctors were good. They immediately said they would give me pain medicine. Side note, they gave me morphine and took me for a CT scan. That first dose of morphine did nothing. Second dose of morphine maybe started to touch it a little bit, and then they switched to fentanyl, and that started, and then they gave me dilated, and I was finally like, Okay, I’m going to live. But obviously, I was in a lot of pain. Dilated, normally just like… When I take dilated, I feel my soul draining into the bed. But it was worth it because I was in so much pain It took a lot of that away.

[00:05:31.630] – Hilary Erickson

Of course, with the hospital, I was like, trying to pick. I knew that choosing the hospital, it would choose my surgeon, it would choose how long I had to wait in the ER, it would choose billing, all of those different things.

[00:05:44.070] – Hilary Erickson

I finally just decided to go to the one that I thought was the closest to us. So when you go to the ER, I think a lot of people don’t know how it really works. Initially, you go to registration, they take your name, what’s wrong. They may have taken my temperature. I think they may have taken my oxygen level. And then will you pay?

[00:06:01.920] – Hilary Erickson

They get you all the information so that you’ll pay when you’re done. Then you see a triage nurse back with a curtain. Then she brings in a doctor. They order the IV, the pain meds, the labs, and the CT scan. That’s the order that it went in. First off, they put in an IV. They couldn’t get it in a couple of times. Then finally, another nurse got it in.

[00:06:21.680] – Hilary Erickson

My veins were just gone. I was dehydrated. Later, we would find out that I was in septic shock because the bacteria had entered my bloodstream. I was really sick at the point that I got there. The CT scan showed that I had an appendicitis. They’re looking for the size of the appendicitis. I think they’re looking for drainage in the area.

[00:06:39.540] – Hilary Erickson

Mine was big. They said that she said it was the biggest that she had seen. I don’t know how often they read CT scans of appendicitis, but I did it right, probably because I put heat on and massage it like an idiot.

[00:06:50.440] – Hilary Erickson

That night, I saw surgeons, and they were like, We’re going to wait till the morning, which I thought was a little bit weird. I later have gone back and asked my surgeon, Why didn’t they do it the night of if I had real hot appendicitis? He was like, Well, I probably would have. But they made the choice to wait until the next morning.

[00:07:06.270] – Hilary Erickson

I felt some like if I had gotten it done Friday night, maybe it wouldn’t have burst and I wouldn’t have all the complications that I ended up having. But ultimately, I came to the realization that because they waited, I ended up having the surgeon that I did have who I really liked and I think did a very thorough job of the surgery. And so ultimately, I was very happy with it. But I will say that I’ve had a lot of times where I was thinking back, did I make the right choice?

[00:07:30.950] – Hilary Erickson

You’ll notice little bits of trauma that Hilary is picking up as she’s going through this, just like people in any part of the hospital, including labor and delivery, had.

[00:07:39.660] – Hilary Erickson

And then I asked my providers about this later on. Why did we end up having this choice? Why did we end up doing this? That was just one of the things that I was surprised. They didn’t take me back into it that night. They actually took… It was 11:30 the next morning. I waited. I was into the hospital by 07:00 PM, was diagnosed by 08:00 PM. They waited probably 15 hours to do the surgery. There you go.

[00:08:01.500] – Hilary Erickson

They did start infusing IV antibiotics because either way, with an appendicitis, that means you have an infection going on in there. Also, my white blood count was high enough and my lactate levels were high enough that they felt like they needed to get antibiotics on board. That night, they put me in an observation room where I could just hear everything that was going on. It was like just part of a hallway. That’s how I slept the night before my surgery. I would use the word slept in air quotes.

[00:08:30.600] – Hilary Erickson

I heard everything about the guy next to me who was having prostate issues, which just made me giggle. I was already on dilated, so I was feeling pretty good at this point, but him and his prostate issues were the absolute funiest to me. I just waited through the night.

[00:08:44.250] – Hilary Erickson

My favorite thing is every time the nurse came in, she goes, Try and get some rest. I was like, You’re over there typing. You’re talking to prostate man, you’re talking to people in the hallway. How the heck am I supposed to be able to rest?

[00:08:53.610] – Hilary Erickson

I really wish that I had taken earbuds with me to the hospital when I got admitted. That isn’t something that was on my my radar. I briefly glazed over. Maybe I should grab my earbud. I really wish they had been there. I did bring my tablet. I brought an external battery and lip balm because everybody needs lip balm in the hospital.

[00:09:14.250] – Hilary Erickson

Starting that evening, I could no longer have food or drink. They wouldn’t give me… They wouldn’t even give me ice chips, like nothing. And that was super annoying because my mouth was really dry and I was just miserable. I really, really wanted water, but they didn’t give it to me. I hate nurses, just kidding. But that part was really annoying to me.

[00:09:34.770] – Hilary Erickson

I remember I was wheeling up for the operation and all I could think about was like, They’re going to intubate me. You are going to go on that table. And it was all these things that I had seen done a million times. It was super overwhelming to me because all I could think was, They’re going to intubate you. I do not like intubating patients. I’ve done it in C-sections before, but I wasn’t really nervous when I got to the OR. I knew that it needed to be done, but all I kept thinking was, they are going to intubate you. And they did. They did intubate me.

[00:10:03.530] – Hilary Erickson

I did want to say that as I was going into the OR, all these things about being a mom flooded into my brain, I was like, Drew, this is my password. Drew, you know where the life insurance is, right? When a Mom goes into the hospital, there are so many thoughts that come with you. My daughter needed a new cell phone plan.

[00:10:21.600] – Hilary Erickson

Her cell phone plan was going to be up the next week, and I was like, Oh, my gosh, how are we going to do that? Who’s going to do that if I’m not around? There were just all these tiny little minutia that I was carrying around with me that I was like, We’ve got to fix this. We’ve got to fix that.

[00:10:35.650] – Hilary Erickson

Sometimes I don’t think I thought enough about what a mom was going through when they were taking this time out of their life to go into the OR, but that was just something that really struck me, and I wanted to remember moving forward.

[00:10:48.440] – Hilary Erickson

Then I got out of anesthesia. I hated coming out of general anesthesia. It was just the absolute worst. I don’t know why. I wasn’t nauseated. I really wasn’t in pain. Just coming out of the drugs was just so miserable to me. That was something that really surprised me. I’ve had lots of patients under general anesthesia. I didn’t know how much I would just hate everything about coming out of general anesthesia. I was actually only in PACU for half an hour. I came out really well and then got wheeled to Drew back in that same little curtained area.

[00:11:21.060] – Hilary Erickson

In the surgery, though, they found that my appendix had burst. It was also necrotic. Probably this thing had been festering for a while. I’ve had a lot of friends who were like, Did you know you had an appendicitis festering in there for a while?

[00:11:35.100] – Hilary Erickson

I had had this pain on and off, and I just thought it was ligament pain. It felt a lot like ligament pain in pregnancy, because if you’ve been pregnant before, you know that you have a ligament that connects to your hip that holds your uterus on. I’ve had this pain on and off, probably since I had Paige, and haven’t really paid attention to it. Now, it was never this painful. It would just be moments. I don’t know if it was my appendix or not, but I didn’t have any other signs. It didn’t continue for a while, somehow I managed it.

[00:12:02.130] – Hilary Erickson

But there was contents of my GI tract. There was the pus from the appendix, and the appendix was starting to look necrotic. So all of that had to be rinsed out, washed out, put on antibiotics. There is a big difference between just an appendicitis versus a perforated appendicitis.

[00:12:18.810] – Hilary Erickson

I will say that when I went to the hospital, I thought, Oh, I’m just going to get it out, and I’ll be home. Maybe not tonight, but by Sunday night, I would be home. Wrong.

[00:12:27.910] – Hilary Erickson

Once your appendix perforated, he wanted four days of IV antibiotics at the hospital. When I saw infection control, that was even more than that. When they’re in there, they use lots of fluids to try and wash out anything that’s around your appendicitis because if anything stays in there and doesn’t get taken care of by antibiotics, it can lead to an abscess, which my cousin, who had previously had his appendicitis, ended up getting an abscess. So all of that was in my mind.

[00:12:54.890] – Hilary Erickson

Here, I’m recording this 18 days after the surgery. So far, I don’t have any abscess. I’m thinking by Friday or Sunday, I should be out of the woods. But it is something to watch for, especially if you’ve had a perforated appendix. So I went back to my room. I was on clear liquids, and at this point in time, I didn’t even want to drink. It was so annoying to me that I had wanted to drink so bad.

[00:13:16.620] – Hilary Erickson

And then once I could drink, I was like, I do not want to drink. I didn’t want to do anything. But they had me on clear liquids for a day and a half. And clear liquids is the literal absolute worst. You got to think that they were in there. They were playing with my intestines. They were power washing them. One of the biggest fears is that your intestines won’t restart. It can cause something called an ileus. And I knew all of this. So that’s why they put you on clear liquids first, and then they slowly advance you.

[00:13:40.110] – Hilary Erickson

But I got to tell you, they had clear Insure that was the only thing on that tray that had any protein. And it was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever eaten. But I kept drinking it when they brought it because I thought, I need the protein to try and heal this. It was just the absolute worst. Along with that, there was juice and Jell-O. Honestly, I will never look at Jell-O the same. All of it was just so gross to me. Thank goodness for pain meds because they would put me to sleep between having to get meals.

[00:14:09.560] – Hilary Erickson

From there, they advanced me to a soft diet, and I actually ate cream of wheat, and it was so gross. But it was the only thing on there that had fiber. As a nurse, you’re looking at bowel function and how you can maintain your bowel function.

[00:14:24.220] – Hilary Erickson

The eating at the hospital the first couple of days was just the worst. I had two full days where I wasn’t eating actual food, and I had this gnawing pain in my stomach that made me super anxious because I was concerned that that was going to lead to more pain.

[00:14:38.660] – Hilary Erickson

I think the appendicitis pain was worse than labor. That’s a personal opinion.

[00:14:44.470] – Hilary Erickson

But once you’ve had that type of pain, which again also comes with some fear with it because you’re not exactly sure what it is. I started to wonder if I had an ovarian torsion or if I had twisted my intestines. There were all these things in my mind because it was so painful. I wasn’t really aware that an appendicitis could get so painful. But because of that tiny pain that was in my stomach, I wasn’t interested in eating. I was just so anxious.

[00:15:09.000] – Hilary Erickson

I mentioned that to, I don’t know, every nurse that I had, they were like, How are you doing? I was like, Pain’s okay, but I just have this gnawing pain in my stomach. They would strike their heads and shoulders and be like, It’s just part of it. I did have a doctor right before I went home who was like, Hey, why don’t we throw some protonics? That could just be acid pain. It’s a really easy medicine to take. See if it helps. Totally helped.

[00:15:31.870] – Hilary Erickson

Suddenly, I had an appetite. It was amazing because that one doctor had listened to that symptom that was also tied to the trauma of the whole event. And because he was able to fix that one very small thing, this pill is only like a dollar, it changed everything for me. Suddenly, I was able to eat. The anxiety started to leave, and I just felt so much better.

[00:15:52.550] – Hilary Erickson

So grateful for good practitioners who listened. He even said, This is just a stab in the dark, but if it makes you feel better, then we’ll have a win. And it did. It made me feel so much better.

[00:16:03.320] – Hilary Erickson

I think it’s super important for patients to understand that when you’ve had a traumatic event, like an appendicitis, you’re carrying that trauma with you.

[00:16:12.040] – Hilary Erickson

You have the anxiety that it’s going to happen again, that something worse is going to happen, and to verbalize that with your practitioners, doctors, nurses, and just see if anybody has any ideas on how to make it better.

[00:16:22.540] – Hilary Erickson

Anyway, we were in the hospital, so the surgery was on Sunday. We got released on Wednesday, but then we went home with what they call hospital at home, where they continued to do antibiotics until Saturday morning. But a nurse who came morning and night, super, super helpful. We really appreciated them coming in. They would just do vitals. You’re actually still a patient of the hospital. You’re not actually discharged. You could go straight back to the hospital without having to be readmitted, but you’re at home, which I cannot tell you how bad sleep is at the hospital. It was just shocking to me, which is really dumb from somebody who has had to knock and come in in the middle of the night.

[00:16:58.920] – Hilary Erickson

But for the first night I was there, I swear it was every hour when somebody was coming in, including the PAs for surgery came in to look at my incision with their phone lights, 12:30 at night.

[00:17:12.350] – Hilary Erickson

I thought it was the dumbest thing ever. Anyway, slept better at home. Not amazing, but started to sleep better. Then I had those IV antibiotics. The thing that helped the most is the nurse, as I was getting discharged, she just talked about what I was going to see if there really was an appendicitis. She’s like, It’s not going to be fleeting abdominal pain. It’s not going to come and go. It’s going to be really painful. And that’s how you’re going to know. You’re going to take your temperature and you’re going to have a fever. And somebody talking to me about what I would actually see that was a viable complication really helped because, again, every little twinge of pain, I was like, Is this it? Am I going over the edge? Am I going to die?

[00:17:47.840] – Hilary Erickson

Shout out to great nurses and doctors out there. I then saw my surgeon the following Friday. He reminded me how very sick I was when I was back in the OR. And it’s really easy to just tell myself, I’m imagining and it wasn’t really a big deal, but it was nice for him to be like, You were really sick.

[00:18:03.880] – Hilary Erickson

You had a lot of infection, and I’m so glad that you came in when you did. I’m healing up really well. By the time I saw him, I had walked a mile. We were walking in the morning. I was really tired after we walked. It’s been really surprising how tired things make me, but I’m just slowly getting back to normal.

[00:18:21.380] – Hilary Erickson

That’s what happened with my appendicitis. What would I do differently? I probably would have gone to the hospital earlier on that morning, the Saturday morning. But other than that, there really isn’t that much you can do differently. You can’t order a CT at home. You have to go to the emergency room for this problem. I wish it hadn’t gotten as painful as it was, but it was there. If you’re going to do something, do it right.

[00:18:42.840] – Hilary Erickson

So meet me over on Instagram if If you guys have questions, I’d be happy to answer them. Thanks for listening. This is one of the longest episodes I recorded, but I had a lot of people who were interested in my journey, and I think suddenly being a patient at the hospital was just a big eye opener as to what I was going to experience and what people experience in labor and delivery, too. Just a good reminder.

[00:19:02.650] – Hilary Erickson

Stay tuned. We are going to talk about pregnancy exercise next week with Kaylee Cohen. Then the week after that, we are actually talking about how we do health insurance at our house, which is going to be interesting because we don’t have traditional health insurance, and I had this big thing happen in the hospital. I’m going to talk about how all of that works on that episode. So stay tuned.

[00:19:21.540] – Hilary Erickson

Thanks for joining us on the Pulling Curls Podcast today. If you liked today’s episode, please consider reviewing, sharing, subscribing. It really helps our podcast grow. Thank you.

Keywords:

Hilary Erickson, Pulling Curls podcast, appendicitis, episode 247, nurse, pregnancy nurse, family routines, semaglutide, abdominal pain, lower right quadrant, DigestZen, doTERRA, rebound tenderness, ER visit, septic shock, CT scan, morphine, Fentanyl, Dilaudid, IV antibiotics, laparoscopic surgery, general anesthesia, post-operative recovery, hospital stay, clear liquids diet, hospital at home, protonics, infection control, surgeon, home healthcare, patient experience.

The post Appendicitis Tales: Inside the Mind of a Nurse Turned Patient appeared first on Pulling Curls.

Before we get started, obviously contact your provider before giving your baby ANY medication, and children under 2 months should be taken to a provider if they’re having fevers (not just given Tylenol). However, under their instruction you may need to use it.

But first, how do I know all of this? Hi — I’m Hilary. Most people know me as The Pregnancy Nurse® but before I started in L&D I used to work phone triage and as a nurse in the night emergency clinic for a busy pediatrician clinic. I saw lots of times that parents could use this medicine and didn’t have it on hand (or, times that they had WAY TOO MUCH ON HAND) so I’d love to get you started on the right foot.

I do have first aid list that I have as well you might find handy:

Tylenol / Acetaminophen

Tylenol is given to reduce pain, reduce fevers and inflammation.

Likely, you’re a competent adult reading this article so I won’t go into this more — but remember:

• Babies under 2 months who have fevers need to be seen (I always recommend a thermometer like this, none of the weird forehead or ear ones for newborns)
• Infant’s Tylenol and children’s Tylenol are now essentially the same medication. Talk with your provider about what is best for you and be sure to have a dosing syringe so you’re giving the right amount.

You might be wondering about Ibuprofen, it’s not recommended for babies for a few months (usually six months). I think it’s smart to have some on hand once they reach that age though.

Benedryl (liquid)

Again, unlikely you’re going to need this right away, but I think liquid Benedryl great to have on hand if baby was to suddenly become allergic to something.

As always, you’ll want to contact your provider or poison control if baby ingests something they’re not supposed to before dosing this, but it’s great to have on hand.

Honestly, liquid Benedryl is great to keep on hand because if even an adult were to have a big allergy attack they may not be able to take pills.

Diaper Cream

Ok, not really a “medication” but this is something you’ll want to have around.

Note: Many newborns bum’s do NOT like wipes. I often made my own for a few weeks (using paper towels and water) until that skin hardened up a bit and then I switched to regular wipes. You could also try something like water wipes.

I see some parents use this on every diaper change, but I just use it if I see redness.

I like to have a Desitin zinc-oxide based cream to have on hand to protect healing skin, and something similar to A&D ointment to help the skin heal as well (we love this stuff).

I did see a pediatrician on tiktok remind us that you don’t want to entirely wipe away the Desitin at each diaper change, just remove any that has poop on it and then leave the rest — which I thought was a good tactic.

Ok, those are the main ones to have on hand. Here are a few others I recommend with kids:

• Vick’s / Menthol type chest rub — we use this on chests (and sometimes feet) with coughs in kids over 4 mo — prior to that they should see a provider before using.
• Ibuprofen for kids over 6 months of age.
• Simethicone (often called Mylicon) Drops – if baby seems to have gas sometimes these can be helpful (again, ask your pediatrician before giving them to baby).
• Vaseline – It seemed to have a bad rap for a while, but it can help common skin irritation as much as the expensive stuff. I also like Aquaphor (I have heard it’s mostly Vaseline with some lanolin).

Things I do NOT recommend to have on hand for kids:

• Cough or cold medicine, pediatricians don’t recommend these for kids (studies show they aren’t helpful, and can be harmful).
• Stomach medicine like pepto bismal – not helpful in kids.
• Teething rub — most pediatricians don’t recommend this because it can block the gag reflex and kids can choke (unfortunately — teething isn’t fun, tylenol and ibuprofen if they’re old enough are your best options — along with a cold teether).

And, the nurse in me can’t not say that here are a few medications EVERY family should have on hand:

• Aspirin — if you think someone is having a stroke or a heart attack 911 may tell you to have them chew some tablets, you should have some on hand (could come in handy for a neighbor or a visitor as well).
• Tylenol & Ibuprofen. Mom will likely want these after delivery as well.
• Benedryl – if you don’t take it often the liquid is fine, but can be very helpful for a sudden-onset allergy for anyone in the home.

And, be SURE to make sure these medications are up high in a place that baby (who will surprise you how fast they become a climbing toddler) can’t get to. It’s also super important to impress upon kids of all ages that medication isn’t something you take lightly (or like candy — looking at you gummy vitamins) without talking to your parent or a provider.

I also have a whole post on organizing your medicine cabinet (and you may be surprised that your bathroom might not be the best place to keep your meds).

If you haven’t had your baby yet — please get your MIND (and your medicine cabinet) prepared right here.

The post 3 Medications for Baby to Have On Hand appeared first on Pulling Curls.

Find it here on Apple or Spotify Podcasts

Links for you:

The Workout Witch: https://theworkoutwitch.com/

Timestamps:

00:00 Surprise parenting led to seeking somatic exercise.
04:45 Key takeaways: Calories matter, add fiber, beans.
07:14 Preventing osteoporosis through strength and mobility exercises.
10:22 Kelly Clarkson shares honest weight loss journey.

Keypoints:

Sure! Here’s the summary without the numbers:

• Introduction to the Episode:
• Hilary Erickson announces the focus on her personal weight loss journey and the episode aim to help keep things simple.
• Initial Struggles:
• Hilary describes experiencing pain, fatigue, and discomfort, prompting her to consider a focus on her health as her youngest child started high school.
• The Workout Witch:
• She discovered ‘The Workout Witch’ on social media who claimed to heal various pains through somatic exercises. Remarkably, Hilary’s hip pain was alleviated after following the exercises and addressing her jaw tension.
• Health Coach Involvement:
• Hilary engaged a health coach for focused guidance. This coach had a background in dietetics and helped Hilary with diet and nutrition strategies.
• Key Dietary Insights:
• Emphasis on three dietary pillars from the health coach: Protein intake, fiber consumption, and calorie regulation.
• Introduction to Semaglutide:
• Hilary began using semaglutide around Christmas, noting some side effects and the importance of gradual dose increases.
• Exercise Routine:
• Hilary implemented weight-bearing exercises to prevent osteoporosis, aiming for short, consistent sessions throughout the week.
• Weight Loss and Plateaus:
• Over the months, Hilary lost approximately 12 pounds but experienced plateau phases. Emphasis on protein, fiber, and calorie counting continued despite slow progress.
• Food Habits Changes:
• She noted that semaglutide reduced food chatter in her mind and made her cautious about overeating, particularly at restaurants.
• Overall Takeaway:
• Hilary is happy to have reduced pain and improved functionality, prioritizes sustainable small steps in her weight loss journey, and aims to eventually stop using semaglutide while maintaining her progress.

Producer: Drew Erickson

Transcript

[00:00:00.630] – Hilary Erickson

Hey, guys. Welcome back to the Pulling Curls podcast. Today on episode 237, we are talking about my weight loss journey. Let’s untangle it.

[00:00:10.690] – Hilary Erickson

Hi, I’m Hilary, a serial overcomplicator. I’m also a nurse, mom to three, and the curly head behind Pulling Curls and the pregnancy nurse. This podcast aims to help us stop overcomplicating things and remember how much easier it is to keep things simple. Let’s smooth out those snarls with Pregnancy and Parenting Untangled, the Pulling Curls Podcast.

[00:00:38.750] – Hilary Erickson

Okay, last fall, I found myself just in pain, tired, fatigued. No matter what I did, I just was miserable. And my youngest was starting high school. That’s an era where they have a little bit more autonomy. I knew that I wasn’t going to be as important in her life as friends and extracurriculars.

[00:00:56.290] – Hilary Erickson

And I just knew I would probably have some extra time in my life, right? I will say there are times in season in parenting, and I’m getting to that season where parenting doesn’t take as much of my time. Parenting takes you by surprise because all of a sudden a kid will need you a lot in time that you thought you would have otherwise.

[00:01:15.710] – Hilary Erickson

But I knew that I would have some extra time in my life, and I really wanted to start making a difference in my own health. So the first thing I did, I had seen her on social media. Her name is the Workout Witch, and she just said that she would be to heal your back, your pelvis, jaw, all these different types of pain through somatic exercises. And at the time, my pelvis was just really hurting, the right side of my pelvis, right in front of my hipbone.

[00:01:42.200] – Hilary Erickson

I was trying every stretch. I tried mobility, And I honestly felt like mobility had taken my plantar fasciitis away, but had just moved it on my pelvis to that hipbone, and I could not figure out how to heal it. So I was like, you know what? Let’s try this workout, which I really enjoyed her. And during the jaw session, I realized that I was chewing my tongue really frequently.

[00:02:07.920] – Hilary Erickson

And I know you’re going to be like, Hilary, you’re insane. Just go with me. And I was like, okay, I’m going to stop doing that because she was talking a lot about jaw tension. And I actually set up this thing in my phone where every 20 minutes it would remind me, don’t chew on your tongue. And I had that on my phone for a month. We were going on vacation, and my husband was like, is that still going to be on your phone when we go on vacation? And it wasn’t. It only took a little while, and I stopped chewing on my tongue. And just in general, a jaw tightness was what I was feeling. And after I stopped doing it, that hip pain went away entirely, which she does seem like a witch.

[00:02:44.080] – Hilary Erickson

And she said that’s how she got the name her friends. She would show her friends exercises to help with their problems, and they would be like, You are a witch. And it totally took it away. So I’m a big believer in the somatic exercises. I like that lady. It was a one-time purchase, which I’m a big fan of.

[00:02:58.240] – Hilary Erickson

So after I I was done with the Workout Witch, which I still wasn’t losing weight. One of her claims is that you’ll drop weight. Did not happen for me. And I decided to get a health coach. So I had seen a gal online. She had actually reached out to me first asking to partner with me.

[00:03:15.540] – Hilary Erickson

She wasn’t a great fit for that type of thing because I already have a nutritionist that I love for pregnancy. But later I was following her and I just liked the vibe that she had. And so I signed up with her to be my health coach. So she’s a gal who has her bachelor’s in dietetics. She is now on her way to getting her master’s. You have to have a master’s degree before you’re a dietitian, but she knew about diet quite a bit.

[00:03:38.260] – Hilary Erickson

That’s why she was a health coach, not like a dietitian. Side note, I had worked with a dietitian with my health share a few years prior to that and didn’t see much luck. So I wasn’t sure that a dietitian was going to help me anymore. And honestly, I’m not a huge fan of the coaching business model at all. And I was wondering what on earth she could provide me that I couldn’t just provide myself. Now, I will say that I’m an extremely motivated person. Once I say I’m going to do X, Y, Z, that ends up happening.

[00:04:06.190] – Hilary Erickson

But I tend to get caught up in which path am I even supposed to follow. And so sometimes I’ll change direction or too early to tell if something’s working or something like that. And so I found that this health coach ultimately helped me to just stay focused. And I boiled it down to three pillars. So that I needed to focus on protein, and then I also needed to remember about fiber, and then I also needed to remember that calories matter, right? Because you see so many people that are like, eat a high protein diet, and then they’re just like having steak every day.

[00:04:42.630] – Hilary Erickson

And for me, that is not a way to lose weight. You have to remember that the calories matter and you have to add the fiber in, right? Which a lot of things that are high in protein, except for beans and lentils, who doesn’t love a bean and a lentil now and then, are not high in fiber. So adding beans into the diet seemed to fit both of those bills.

[00:05:02.000] – Hilary Erickson

Those are just the three things that ultimately I took out of my health coach journey with her. So I was working with her for, I think, three to four months and had a great experience. She still touches base with me online, and I really appreciate that. But it just helped get my head on straight instead of just always trying the newfangled thing in weight loss. Because you and I know that weight loss is one of those things that we’ll listen to because a lot of people want to lose weight.

[00:05:29.500] – Hilary Erickson

In fact, there is a blogging lady that I followed at the beginning of my blogging journey who had a lot of good things to say about blogging at a reasonable price point. And then she made a coaching thing that was incredibly expensive and just continued to make it more and more and more expensive.

[00:05:46.260] – Hilary Erickson

And then that dried up. There weren’t bloggers who wanted to follow her there. And so what does she switch to? Dieting. She’s not a dietitian. She has no experience. She’s just telling people to follow the keto diet. And I’m like, Isn’t that the way? We just know that people want to do this thing, and so we will charge huge amounts of money to tell you silly things. And so that’s what a health coach did for me. It was a short period of time, and the principles have remained the same for me.

[00:06:14.410] – Hilary Erickson

I did start Semaglutide right before Christmas. I am using a compound pharmacy to get my Semaglutide. It ends up being about 125 a month, I think-ish. It really hasn’t been bad most of the time, but I did try and increase my dose a while ago, and I was like, exercise in the restroom. So I backed it off a little bit, and I’m just slowly increasing it by a unit every week. My doctor is really cool about things. He doesn’t feel like I have to follow the… Because usually it goes like a 5, 10, 15 jump. Right now, I’m at 12.

[00:06:47.310] – Hilary Erickson

This Thursday, I’ll give myself 13 just to see if it can help me lose weight. Ultimately, I am… Well, we’ll get to that. Don’t worry. I don’t want to spoil it, how I’m just a skeleton now. Just kidding. And the other thing that really ultimately became important in this journey was weight-bearing exercises.

[00:07:06.810] – Hilary Erickson

So my mom has had an issue with broken bones, and her bones are just real thin and fragile. And I have made a goal to not let that be me because I’ve ultimately seen that it can be really problematic as you age. So I wanted to prevent osteoporosis, especially before I go into menopause. I’m 48 right now when I’m recording this, and bone growth was something that I really wanted to work on. And studies show that the best thing you can do for bone growth is weight exercises, so strength training.

[00:07:37.970] – Hilary Erickson

And they say you really don’t have to do a ton of it a week. Ten minutes, three times a week is what I focus on. I do some strength training, and then I really work on mobility and functional exercises so that I retain those things. One of my least favorite, but probably best ones, is where you’re kneeling on the ground and then you stand up, and then you get back down, and you kneel, and you stand back up.

[00:07:57.070] – Hilary Erickson

I hate that exercise, but they say that that is one of your best ones to keep your function around. So ultimately, I have lost, since Christmas, maybe 12 pounds. So we’re about six months out when I’m recording this from Christmas. I’ve lost about 12 pounds.

[00:08:16.420] – Hilary Erickson

I mean, I just don’t think that’s anything to write home about. That’s like two pounds a month. I am currently and have been stuck at the last month at a one to two pound variance. Part of me is like, Is it something mental? I did track calories for a week. It seemed to help, but I still have not gotten below. I want that second number to change, and I haven’t had that change yet.

[00:08:38.140] – Hilary Erickson

But I’m going to really just keep trying to focus on protein is important, so is fiber and calories matter, because I think when I do those things, the weight should come off, especially with the semaglutide. In case you were wondering, what have I seen otherwise besides negative side effects, I do feel like my food chatter in my brain is very minimal. I am extra cautious about eating extra because that’s when you get sick.

[00:09:03.220] – Hilary Erickson

So I really listen to that alarm in my head that is like, Okay, you’re full, so that I stop eating, especially at restaurants, because I don’t know what types of fats and things they’re cooking with. So fries, I try not to order any. I just have a couple off of my husband or kids plate, which I’m sure they’re a huge fan of. But you’re also aiming to just not get sick, because if you eat too much on the semi-glutide, you immediately get sick, and it’s not fun for anyone.

[00:09:27.210] – Hilary Erickson

Those are the things I’m going to keep doing moving forward. Focusing on protein, fiber matters too, so do calories, right? I’m going to keep doing the semi-glutide. My goal was to do it for the year and just see how I’m doing. It is a fair amount of money each month, so I don’t want to keep doing it if I’m not losing weight, but I’m not gaining weight, so that seems to be a win. And then keep doing the strength training exercises.

[00:09:51.190] – Hilary Erickson

I’m hesitant to increase my exercise too much because I feel like when I exercise more, I gain weight. Which it could be that I’m gaining muscle, they always say, but I don’t feel like my pants or anything is fitting looser or anything like that. So I’m just trying to keep it those 10 minutes of strength. And then I add cardio walking, pickleball. We love pickleball at my house. Of course, right now it’s summer in Arizona, so I try not to go outside in any form, but I’m just trying to keep moving a little bit more than I used to.

[00:10:22.400] – Hilary Erickson

So that is my weight loss journey. There’s nothing magical. I’m not the Kelly Clarkson who comes back for the next season and is stick thin. That has not been my experience. Would I like it to be? I mean, yes, in my head, I would like it to be, but I also know that small steps are ones that are easier to not roll back on, right? Because I don’t want to keep taking the semi-glutide for the rest of my life. I would like to go off of it at some point and hopefully maintain the weight loss that I found.

[00:10:49.330] – Hilary Erickson

But ultimately, I’m most happy that my body just isn’t hurting anymore. I was having so much pain with my hip and things like that, that it was just difficult to be my person. And so I’m really I’m glad that those are feeling better.

[00:11:01.210] – Hilary Erickson

I’m able to move better, move more. We go to Disneyland and stuff like that, and I’m not just dying. I mean, I’m sort of dying. It’s Disneyland. But in normal physical activities, I’m not dying. I feel fine. So that is my weight loss journey. If you guys have any questions, come find us over on Instagram. We’ll have a post for this episode.

[00:11:19.650] – Hilary Erickson

Stay tuned. We are talking about Aspirin During Pregnancy on our next episode. And the week after that, I am talking about having more fun at home. So stay tuned.

[00:11:28.950] – Hilary Erickson

Thanks for joining us on the Pulling Curls Podcast today. If you liked today’s episode, please consider reviewing, sharing, subscribing. It really helps our podcast grow. Thank you.

Keywords:

weight loss journey, Pulling Curls podcast, Hilary Erickson, overcomplicating things, serial overcomplicator, pregnancy and parenting, weight loss, fatigue, health coach, somatic exercises, workout witch, pelvis pain, fiber intake, protein intake, calories matter, dietetics, dietitian, semaglutide, strength training, osteoporosis prevention, bone growth, mobility exercises, functional exercises, weight bearing exercises, food chatter, nutritionist, resting, dieting myths, keto diet, weight management, health improvement

The post Semaglutide and Strength Training: Wins, Struggles, and Surprises appeared first on Pulling Curls.

Find it here on Apple or Spotify Podcasts

Links for you:

Timestamps:

00:00 Postpartum warning signs for pregnant and post-baby.
06:31 Notice changes in swelling, bleeding, and mood.
07:23 Upcoming topics: to-do lists, interventions, growth.

Keypoints:

1. Topic Introduction: Hilary Erickson introduces the topic of postpartum preeclampsia, emphasizing its occurrence up to a year after childbirth and the importance of recognizing the warning signs.
2. Sponsor Mention: The episode is sponsored by “Postpartum Care Made Easy,” a resource aimed at educating about postpartum care including recognizing the symptoms of preeclampsia.
3. Importance of Awareness: Hilary highlights the need for both the new mothers and their support systems to be aware of postpartum preeclampsia symptoms, as postpartum individuals may be too overwhelmed to notice the signs themselves.
4. Key Symptoms: The major symptoms to watch for include severe headaches, blurry vision, and upper-right quadrant pain which could indicate liver enlargement.
5. Home Monitoring Advice: Hilary stresses the importance of having a home blood pressure monitor to help track any significant changes in blood pressure which is a common sign of preeclampsia.
6. Differentiating Symptoms: Hilary discusses how to differentiate normal postpartum symptoms from those of preeclampsia, such as distinguishing between usual and sudden onset facial swelling.
7. Medical Response: Urgent medical care is encouraged if severe symptoms like the “worst headache of your life” occur, as delaying treatment could lead to severe complications like seizures (eclampsia).
8. Medication and Management: Discussion on the necessity of using blood pressure medication, like labetalol, to manage high blood pressure postpartum to prevent cardiac issues.
9. Communication with Healthcare Providers: The importance of informing healthcare providers that you are in the postpartum period so they can consider preeclampsia as a potential diagnosis.
10. Reminder of Progression: The notion that postpartum recovery should typically show gradual improvement and any sudden worsening of symptoms should prompt immediate medical attention.

Producer: Drew Erickson

Transcript

[00:00:00.970] – Hilary Erickson

Hey, guys. Welcome back to the Pulling Curls podcast. Today on episode 233, we are talking about postpartum preeclampsia. It is more common than you think. So what should you be watching for? Let’s untangle it.

[00:00:13.590] – Hilary Erickson

Hi, I’m Hilary, a serial overcomplicator. I’m also a nurse, mom to three, and the curly head behind Pulling Curls and the pregnancy nurse. This podcast aims to help us stop overcomplicating things and remember how much easier it is to keep things simple. Let’s smooth out those snarls with Pregnancy and Parenting Untangled, The Pulling Curls Podcast.

[00:00:42.190] – Hilary Erickson

This episode of The Pulling Curls Podcast is sponsored by Postpartum care made easy. If you’re looking for the warning signs for you, both while you’re pregnant and after baby, come join me in there. I’m going to tell you exactly what should make you call 911 or get right to the hospital, or what should trigger a call to your doctor after you have the baby. So come join me.

[00:01:00.450] – Hilary Erickson

So many people don’t know that postpartum preeclampsia can happen up to a year after you have your baby. That’s right. It’s taking a while for your system to get back to normal. Honestly, for a long time, we always heard that the main thing to get rid of it was to get the placenta out, which is true in general. But there are more and more people who are suffering with postpartum preeclampsia and really need to know the danger signs ahead of time so that they can be watching for them after they have their baby.

[00:01:26.220] – Hilary Erickson

I think this episode is really important for both the pregnant individual, but It’s also friends, family of the pregnant individual as well, so that they can know what to watch for because sometimes that pregnant person is so tired, breastfeeding, so much has changed.

[00:01:39.570] – Hilary Erickson

They aren’t going to see these problem signs, and it’s really important that they do. Okay, so what are these signs of postpartum preeclampsia? Well, one of them is going to be high blood pressure. That is something that I think everybody should have in their home is a blood pressure monitor. They’re not that expensive. I actually think the at-home ones are better than the ones at the grocery store.

[00:01:58.540] – Hilary Erickson

But having a blood pressure monitor at your home can be really handy for anybody. So that might be something that you consider, you ask for on your next Christmas gift, something like that.

[00:02:07.840] – Hilary Erickson

But here are the signs that you need to watch for. The first one is headache. Now this is tough because after you have a baby, sleep is going to be at a premium. You just aren’t going to be getting the great amount of sleep that you’ve gotten previous in your life. And so that can lead to headaches. But if you have a headache that is not resolved with a Tylenol, food, water, and a nap, that’s something you need to call your provider about. But I will say that if you have the worst headache of your life, it is just pounding, that is something that I would probably head right into either a local urgent care or the ER so they can help you right away.

[00:02:42.120] – Hilary Erickson

Honestly, probably the ER, but I know everybody’s situation varies a lot. So that’s just something you should keep in the back of your mind. You can always call your provider as well. If they’re quick to answer or answer questions or see you, that is a great option as well. Everything I’ve read has said that if you have what you feel like is the worst headache of your life, after you’ve had a baby, you should just head right into the hospital so they can make sure that it’s not preeclampsia, because if it is, it can have some serious consequences.

[00:03:08.480] – Hilary Erickson

Side note, we’re talking about preeclampsia, and a lot of people are like, Pre what? Well, eclampsia is what happens when you have a seizure. If any of you have watched Downton Abbey, you’ll notice that Lady Sibyl has the headache, she has the swelling, she has the weird things going on, and they ignored it. There was this bickering. Then after she has the baby, a couple of hours after, she starts seizing. That’s when you head into eclampsia. Sometimes we can’t get you out of this seizure. It’s a big deal. It’s really important that we take it seriously because we do not want to get it that far. That’s why we want to catch it while it’s just preeclampsia.

[00:03:43.370] – Hilary Erickson

The next one is blurry vision. Now, honestly, I haven’t seen a whole lot of people who had blurry vision that did not have a headache. I’m not talking about you wake up and your eyes are a little fuzzy. You’re waking up, your eyes have woken up, and it’s still blurry. That’s something you want to call your provider about. It can be a sign of preeclampsia. Just because your blood pressure is rising, it impacts your vision nerves and things like that. So blurry vision can be something to watch for after your baby as well.

[00:04:07.720] – Hilary Erickson

Then the final one that you’re going to watch for at home is some right upper quadrant pain. It’s usually pain right under your ribs. That is from an enlarging of your liver, and that can be a sign of preeclampsia as well. But the main one that we watch for is really the headache. Now, if you have a blood pressure monitor at home and you have that headache, you can take your blood pressure and see how it is. Preeclampsia doesn’t always come with increased blood pressure, but most often it does.

[00:04:32.760] – Hilary Erickson

Now, a couple of things that people always thought was preeclampsia was swelling, but it turns out it’s really hard to differentiate regular pregnancy swelling from preeclampsia swelling. Something that we do notice is facial swelling that comes on suddenly. That’s something that’s a little bit more of a trigger that it’s a problem rather than just my feet and my legs are swollen. After you have a baby, your feet and legs are going to feel a little swollen. Usually, we’ve given you a lot of IV fluids in the hospital, especially if you’ve got an epidural, so it takes a little bit of time for those to come down.

[00:04:59.690] – Hilary Erickson

Now, I also want to be really clear that increased blood pressure after delivery, both during pregnancy and after delivery, is getting to be a bigger problem as well. Sometimes doctors are hesitant or just don’t prescribe labetal or other blood pressure medications so that they can keep it under control. But I want to be really clear that if your blood pressure stays high for an extended period of time, that can injure your heart. You got to think it’s a closed system. If, let’s say, you pump your bike tire up too much, which is what that is, at some point, the heart is going to have issues with it.

[00:05:31.090] – Hilary Erickson

It’s really important that you keep an eye on that blood pressure. If you’re on blood pressure medications, keep an eye on all of that because that can end up leading to other things. Now, I do want to be clear that high blood pressure and preeclampsia are two different things. Preeclampsia includes high blood pressure, but high blood pressure does not always include preeclampsia. But either way, you want to keep an eye on all of that. A lot of times you need blood pressure meds if you’ve had preeclampsia to just help that blood pressure come under control. Again, all of that can happen anytime during that first year.

[00:06:03.660] – Hilary Erickson

A couple of things to remind you, if you go in to a provider, remind them that you have had a baby XYZ number of months ago, especially if it was really recent. But they need to know that right off because it’s really important that we’re thinking this could be a problem with pregnancy right away rather than, I’m just coming in with a headache. That looks different than Hilary, who hasn’t had a baby in 14 years coming in with a headache. If that makes sense to you.

[00:06:27.010] – Hilary Erickson

The other thing when you’re postpartum is that everything should be getting a little bit better every day. I think that’s a good thing to notice all along. If suddenly the swelling increases, that’s a problem sign that you’re going to want to keep an eye on. If your bleeding increases, if your mood decreases and it’s been getting better, all those different things. If you’re noticing that something is drastically worse the one day to the next, that’s something to keep an eye on.

[00:06:49.800] – Hilary Erickson

I talk about all of these things over in Postpartum Care Made Easy. There is actually a free walkthrough, like a presentation that you can go through the slides and read the information, or you can include the video walkthrough for just a few dollars more where I go through the slides with you, tell you some of my personal experience, and help you to understand what you need to be watching for.

[00:07:08.810] – Hilary Erickson

Those are my tips for postpartum preeclampsia. Most of all, I want to remind you that it can happen anytime in the first year, plus while you were pregnant. So I think it’s really important that you’re learning these signs during pregnancy and also knowing that you should watch for them after a baby is born. Thanks so much for listening.

[00:07:24.940] – Hilary Erickson

Next week, we are talking about making a weekly list of to-dos for organizing around your home, so stay tuned for that. Then the week after that, we are talking about the cascade of interventions, which you’ll see talked about on social media a little bit. We’re going to talk about how that works and how you can monitor it in your own situation.

[00:07:42.030] – Hilary Erickson

Thanks for joining us on the Pulling Curls podcast today. If you like today’s episode, please consider reviewing, sharing, subscribing. It really helps our podcast grow. Thank you.

Keywords:

postpartum preeclampsia, high blood pressure, headache, blurry vision, right upper quadrant pain, eclampsia, seizure, pregnancy complications, blood pressure monitor, urgent care, emergency room, facial swelling, labetalol, blood pressure medication, heart health, pregnancy health, swelling during pregnancy, postpartum care, pregnancy education, warning signs during pregnancy, maternal health, postpartum monitoring, podcast on pregnancy, pregnancy advice, nurse advice, health education, home health monitoring, pregnancy risks, postpartum symptoms, IV fluids during labor.

The post What Every New Parent Should Know About Postpartum Preeclampsia appeared first on Pulling Curls.

Find it here on Apple or Spotify Podcasts

Big thanks to our sponsor Family Routines — if you’re looking for margins that allow you to fix things like incontinence or pelvic floor issues, you need to get your home life in order so come join me!

Links for You:

The Workout Witch: https://www.tiktok.com/@theworkoutwitch

Timestamps:

00:00 Language barrier made medical visits unbearable. Improved with shots.
05:18 Patience with bladder, routine, calm actions key.
06:20 Mixing up bathroom cues for better control.
10:55 Join me on Instagram, share your experience.

Keypoints:

1. Hilary discusses her experience with pelvic floor physical therapy after experiencing pelvic and tailbone pain post-pregnancy.
2. She shares her challenges with understanding the therapist’s heavy accent and lack of improvement in her condition despite multiple sessions.
3. Hilary tried Deroit shots and chiropractic treatment, but found no relief from her symptoms, including urge incontinence.
4. After seeking help from a well-known pelvic floor therapist on Instagram, she found that the focused core and pelvic floor exercises did not alleviate her urge incontinence issues.
5. Hilary reflects on the importance of learning patience and managing the urge to pee, attributing calmness and a set routine to her improvement.
6. She found that reducing her water intake lessened her urge incontinence symptoms, contrary to conventional advice to stay hydrated.
7. While focusing on pelvic floor training, Hilary experienced worsening hip pain, which she addressed through somatic exercises with The Workout Witch, leading to relief and highlighting the interconnectedness of the body.
8. Hilary emphasizes the need to explore different therapies and practitioners when faced with unresolved issues, with patience and individualized solutions being key.
9. The episode ends with a teaser for upcoming episodes on charting in labor and delivery and valuable Disneyland tips.
10. Hilary encourages engagement with her audience on Instagram to share their experiences with pelvic floor physical therapy and alternative treatments.

Producer: Drew Erickson

Transcript

[00:00:00.000] – Hilary Erickson

Hey, guys. Welcome back to the Pulling Curls podcast. Today on episode 221, we are talking about pelvic floor physical therapy. Might be a little too TMI for some of you, but let’s untangle it.

[00:00:11.980] – Hilary Erickson

Hi, I’m Hilary, a serial overcomplicator. I’m also a nurse, mom to three, and the curly head behind Pulling Curls and the pregnancy nurse. This podcast aims to help us stop overcomplicating things and remember how much easier it is to keep things simple. Let’s smooth out those snarls with Pregnancy and Parenting Untangled: The Pulling Curls podcast.

[00:00:41.030] – Hilary Erickson

Today’s episode is sponsored by Family Routines. If you are looking to make margins in your life to do things like pelvic floor physical therapy, come join family routines where I can help you get into a routine and make more margins in your life and help your family to help out more.

[00:00:55.550] – Hilary Erickson

Okay, so pregnant with last baby, intense tailbone pain. I had lightning crotch as well, said it was going to be to a TMI. So if this is too much, just stop. You can come join me on my next episode. But I had that the whole time. And after I had my baby, the tailbone pain continued to be really intense. Sitting in meetings for work or church were just excruciating. So they sent me to a pelvic floor physical therapist, and I went to her probably six times, and it never was getting better. Nothing was helping. And she was like, Oh, it’ll help next time. Also, big language barrier. She spoke English, but a real heavy accent. And in the area that we were talking about and the things she was doing, I didn’t understand what she was doing. And I was pretty good at speaking accent and the area of anatomy that she was working in.

[00:01:47.230] – Hilary Erickson

So the fact that I couldn’t understand her, it just wasn’t working. And I dreaded every trip. So I just decided to quit that. So I did get some steroid shots in my tailbone. One really helped. And when I noticed the one helped, also took away my plantar fasciitis, which I had as well. And it started to make me think, are these two related? I also went to a chiropractor. No luck with him either. I tried the things, didn’t help. And honestly, my doctor and everyone else was just like, that is how it is. It’ll take a while to heal, right? And I think it was probably maybe two and a half years later before I could sit in the car without just to die the whole time. So magical, yeah.

[00:02:33.210] – Hilary Erickson

So I’d worked on my pelvic floor and my core, and that seemed to help. But I did notice that I still had issues where when I decided I was going to pee, my body was like, “Great, let’s do it. Let’s do it right now.” And I would have a hard time then. So some people call it, I think they call it, a keyhole urinary incontinence or urge incontinence, I think is what a lot of people call it.

[00:02:57.850] – Hilary Erickson

And so I reached out to one of the big pelvic floor physical therapist that’s on Instagram. And I was like, Hey, this is my problem. I said, Urge Incontinence is my problem. Will your program help that? She was like, 100 %. It will totally help. Come join me. Paid cash out of my own pocket. I’m not going to say who it was. Did not help. It was a ton of core and pelvic floor, but honestly, I think my pelvic floor is okay. It’s my brain that’s not okay. So once again, I attended a physical therapist. I did it for 30 days straight, you guys. Like, Sundays, was it more than 30 days? I think it was longer than that. I think it was like 12 weeks. It was 12 weeks. Did it every day, every single day. I tried to speed it up, so that’s why I added Sunday. She was saying, Do it three times a week, and I added another day in there. Anyway, so didn’t help at all. I think I probably strengthened my core. It was just miserable. Strengthened my pelvic floor a little bit. She didn’t talk at all about any other type of incontinence.

[00:04:01.020] – Hilary Erickson

They act like the only type is where if you do jump on the trampoline or jumping jacks, then you wet yourself. And maybe that’s the more common kind, but it wasn’t the kind that I had. And again, I just felt like everyone was ignoring me. And I tagged her a few times in it. Also, her course, she doubled up on some videos, and I was like, did you realize that that week and that week are the same? And she was like, oh, didn’t notice. And I was like, “she’s like, oh, they should be different.” Anyway, that’s a story for another day. But anyway, it just didn’t work out.

[00:04:32.690] – Hilary Erickson

So then I decided it’s just a different incontinence. I shouldn’t have gone searching for something that fixes one type when my type is so different. So my brain, when it says, “yes, we’re going to pee,” my bladder is 100 % on board right then. It’s not like, okay, let me know when you’re on the toilet. It’s like, okay, let’s go now. Kind of like how I am. I’m extremely impatient, and so is my bladder, which is unfortunate. I feel like my bladder could be a little better than I am.

[00:05:00.190] – Hilary Erickson

So let me tell you what I think it came down to for me. First off, I had to learn how to be more patient with myself. I needed to learn to be patient. My bladder needed to learn to be patient because as soon as I would get that urge of you need to pee now, I would tense up, I would get stressed out. I was making it worse. So I wasn’t being patient. My bladder wasn’t being patient. And I had to learn to just take some deep breaths, clench all those muscles that I had worked so freaking hard on in that program that didn’t work. And And then slowly go instead of just running.

[00:05:33.930] – Hilary Erickson

Because it really is like your bladder is like a whiny toddler. And when you give it the attention it wants every time it whines, it’s going to keep doing that. So being patient with myself, making it not an emergency, which means I probably wore pads a lot, helped for sure. Also doing all the things calmly rather than rushing and trying to take care of the winy toddler bladder, right? Doing things more calmly really helped out. The other thing that really helped was I was in a very set routine.

[00:06:07.000] – Hilary Erickson

So I work from home. I was in a routine where I would work for 40 minutes, then go pee. And so my bladder would see that I was on minute 38 and be like, “Okay, we’re going to pee soon. That’s awesome. Let’s go. Let’s get going, right?” My impatient bladder. And so I started to mix up how I peed. And when I got home from the grocery store, I would try to not pee right away. I would try to not pee right before I took my shower. So I was just trying to mix things up so that my body didn’t have all these cues that it was time to pee. Because when I was out and about, I wouldn’t end up having issues because my body didn’t have those cues. When I’m at Disneyland, I can hold my pee forever because there aren’t set cues that are like, “We have to go to the bathroom right now,” if that makes sense.

[00:06:47.880] – Hilary Erickson

And then here’s the last one, which is going to be a real shock coming from me because I’m the pregnancy nurse. I’m all about hydration, all about hydration. You got to drink more, you got to drink more. But I drink less because I watched some videos that they were like, “If you have this issue, it may just be that you’re drinking too much.” Now, my urine was nice and clear, but I would just keep drinking tons of water because that’s what they say you’re supposed to do. So I started drinking less. Instead of a full glass right as soon as I woke up, I would drink half a glass. And I noticed that the problem lessened, which is a real shock. But still feeling very hydrated. I’m making sure to get it in frequently during the day rather than one giant glass and then waiting two hours. I’m having a half glass every hour or so, which actually evens out possibly even water.

[00:07:31.010] – Hilary Erickson

So I think if you have this problem, you could just be making it worse by how much you’re drinking water. And that isn’t to say that you should dehydrate yourself, but I don’t think you need to overhydrate yourself so that you end up having this issue even more. I did watch some videos on YouTube that were super, super helpful for urgent continence. So if you’re looking for stuff like that, there are some really helpful ones.

[00:07:53.250] – Hilary Erickson

The UK has a nice series about it. So the odd thing is while I was doing the pelvic floor training with the big time Instagrammer, I started to notice that I had this hip pain that was getting worse. So I had cured my plantar fasciitis through different things, hip mobility and stuff like that. But it felt like it had come to my hip, it just traveled right up to my hip. And doing all the pelvic floor stuff with her somehow made it worse. The hip pain was an eight out of 10 a lot of the times. If I would stand up from seated, really, really painful. And so I was actually looking around. I found this person called The Workout Witch. She does somatic exercises. And I’ve actually found that by working on my hips, I did her program where you do hips and then jaw, neck, and then abs. I’m in the abs section right now, but the jaw, neck portion really helped my hips. I don’t have the pain at all anymore. And it is literally just from pulling on your ears, working your neck and stuff like that. So it was the workout, which I actually asked her to come on the podcast to talk to us about it. It’s somatic exercise. I doubt that she’s the only one that you should do. Her program was okay priced.  Luckily, the other thing I liked about it is it was a one-time purchase.

[00:09:06.720] – Hilary Erickson

I think so often course creators want to do fairly high priced monthly payments. And that doesn’t work for everybody. And I just needed a one-time program that I want to be able to do several times if I need it. So it was nice that it was a one-time purchase. But the somatic exercises have really helped my hips. Again, I have no idea why, but I’ve seen a lot of information lately about how you’re jaw relates to your pelvis. And I think somehow in doing those things, it helped my hips to relax, which is absolutely insane.

[00:09:39.320] – Hilary Erickson

So a few lessons here because I’m always like, “go to physical therapy.” But a lot of time, physical therapy is just like a doctor. They don’t listen to you or they don’t have the knowledge, and they really aren’t able to help you in your situation. I have done that now three times, all of them pretty darn unhelpful. So I just want to let you guys know that sometimes you have to look around and search, and it takes a little bit of time.

[00:10:02.410] – Hilary Erickson

It doesn’t matter how committed I was to that pelvic floor workout, which I was. I muscled through that baby. It didn’t fix my problem. Even in my head, I thought, “the more I work out, the better I’m going to be.” Side note, see my podcast on letting go. That’s a good one for this one as well. And then the second thing is, try some different things. I saw this lady who just talked about releasing pain in your hips, and I was like, I have pain in my hips. I would like to release it. And it honestly, it seemed crazy. But I was like, “You know what? Let’s give it a whirl because it sure seems different than what I’m trying with these other people.” And it seems to have really helped. And also to be patient with yourself. So you can have a patient bladder and a patient life.

[00:10:41.060] – Hilary Erickson

Those are my thoughts on pelvic floor physical therapy. Still work in I’m going to be in progress over here. Learning to be patient is always a work in progress, but I feel like I’m doing better. And it’s a reminder that sometimes, no matter how hard you work on a problem, you can’t entirely fix it. It just takes time.

[00:10:56.020] – Hilary Erickson

So if you guys are taking pelvic floor physical therapy, I’d love to see you over in my Instagram. We’ll have a post about this, and I would love to know you guys’ experience or if you’ve tried anything else that has helped.

[00:11:07.760] – Hilary Erickson

Stay tuned. We are going to be talking about charting next week about why your nurse or your doctor spend so much time charting even more if they’re in labor and delivery. And then the week after that, I am sharing my best Disneyland tips with my best Disneyland buddies. So stay tuned for both of those.

[00:11:22.940] – Hilary Erickson

Thanks for joining us on the Pulling Curls podcast today. If you like today’s episode, please consider reviewing, sharing, subscribing. It really helps our podcast grow. Thank you.

Keywords:

Pelvic floor physical therapy, TMI, tailbone pain, lightning crotch, deroid shots, plantar fasciitis, chiropractor, urinary incontinence, urge incontinence, core strength, language barrier, anatomy, patient bladder, hydration, somatic exercises, hip pain, physical therapy, routine, pregnancy nurse, Instagram, charting, labor and delivery, Disneyland tips, patience, bladder health, anatomy, somatic exercises, water intake, pelvic floor workout, pain management.

The post Let’s Talk Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy appeared first on Pulling Curls.

As a note, I’ve been a nurse since 1997 and I’ve worked in labor and delivery for 20 year so I’m a great resource on this one, but always check with your provider before trying something new….

Oh, and I’d love to hang out with you during your pregnancy:

Is a Microwavable Heat Pack Safe During Pregnancy?

Yes! Somehow people think it’s filled with radiation from the microwave, but that’s not the case at all. I think those people don’t actually understand how a microwave works. You can learn more about them here. It’s not using radiation to warm things, so you can put that aside. You’re also safe to stand by the microwave as you heat your water for tea.

And most of ALL the food/heat pack does not hold onto anything bad once it’s out.

Which is great news, because a microwavable heat pack is actually my preferred method to use heat during pregnancy for a few reasons….

Reasons to use a microwavable heat pack in pregnancy:

Control the temp: You can easily pick what temperature you want the pack at by heating up for a specific amount of time in the microwave. So, if you just want it “warm” not hot — only do it for a minute or whatever. I think it’s smart to start with small #’s and then move up depending on the heat pack and your microwave.

It cools with time: The pack isn’t going to keep getting hotter as you have it applied, it’s actually going to cool down with time, which means you can fall asleep with it on (which, frankly is pretty frequent when those tight muscles chill out with the heat). An electric heating pad keeps pumping out the heat and can overheat you pretty easily.

Moldable: Since these heat packs are filled with small items (rather than an electric pad) it’s easy to fit them where you need it go to. Maybe on the sides of your belly for ligament pains, or whatever you need. It’s just easier to keep it OFF your belly — which is a big no-no — so let’s talk about what NOT to do with a microwavable heating pad (or frankly, any heating source):

Tips to Stay Safe Using Heat in Pregnancy:

Be sure to talk with your provider if you’re considering using heat for the aches and pains of pregnancy, but these are the general guidelines you can use.

Don’t use it over your belly — it can easily over-heat baby. While early in pregnancy this area has a lot of fat and muscle protecting baby, that won’t be the case as your belly grows. I just recommend not having the heating pad over your belly when you’re pregnant.

You can tuck it on the sides or low just over your pelvis, just don’t drape it across your belly.

Don’t use it for long — this rule is mainly for heating PADS but you don’t want to use it more than 30 minutes or so. It could make your whole body overheat which we know isn’t good for baby.

Don’t go HOT — you want to focus on WARM vs HOT at this point. Again, to prevent you from overheating over all.

BTW, heating pads aren’t ALL you need to worry about during pregnancy — so, grab my safe eating guide here:

Other Heating Options

A lot of people find a warm (not hot) bath to be very relaxing, or even a warm shower. Sometimes the shower is easier since you don’t have to hoist yourself out of it like you do the bath later in pregnancy.

A hot water bottle is always a good option as well. Since it has the same properties as to not getting hotter (and if you’re scared of the whole microwave thing that’s a good alternative). I don’t find them as moldable, so that’s the reason I prefer the microwave pad.

When can you use a microwavable heating pad in pregnancy?

I think heat is often under-used during pregnancy due to the fear of overheating during pregnancy. But, again — a microwavable pad takes a lot of those concerns out of the equation.

Ligament pain — When you have those stabbing pains on the sides of your uterus/belly heat can be used to help those angry body parts cool down.

Back or Pelvic Pain — Heat, again, can just help stressed-out muscles relax during your pregnancy. Remember that you’ve walked your whole life one specific way, but as your belly expands your body has to carry you in an entirely new way and those muscles are not a fan.

Early labor — I actually talk a lot about heat in my natural pain management bonus video in here because I think it can be really comforting to people in early labor.

So often pregnancy pains are dismissed as “normal” when something like heat can help you feel better, more relaxed and able to manage the aches and pains that come each day. If you have pains ask your provider what you can do to HELP them, so you can have a better quality of life!

Of course, some of the aches and pains of pregnancy are enhanced by all the “unknown” about delivery — so join The Online Prenatal Class for Couples where we’ll reduce your anxiety by over 50% and help you feel more prepared for your birth and life after baby!

And, if you’re not quite sure you’re ready for that whole thing, check out the free lesson from it. It’s your first step toward getting in the driver’s seat of your birth.

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