Episode 150 features my wife Stefanie, who has returned to join me in telling the tale of our adventures in pregnancy through to the delivery of our healthy baby.
Who, if you listen closely, will make their debut appearance on this podcast at some point in the background.
Mentioned and Helpful Links from This Episode
Expecting Better by Emily Oster
Other Links
Geddy Lee’s Show About Bassists is Worth Discovering, Even If the Platform Hides It
Coupland Uncovers the Future of Bell Labs and More in Kitten Clone: Inside Alcatel-Lucent
Special Guest Executive Producer: Stefanie Stershic
Music created and provided by Henno Heitur of Monkey Tongue Productions.
–End Show Notes Transmission–
–Begin Transcription–
00:00:00:05 – 00:00:26:20
Agent Palmer
Previously on Agent palmer.com Geddy Lee a show about bassists is worth discovering even if the platform hides it. Copeland uncovers the future of Bell Labs and more in kitten clone inside Alcatel-Lucent. And since last episode, I’ve seen Brian Speed feature more photos of Paradise than a tourism brochure. This is The Palmer Files episode 150. With the return of my lovely wife Stefanie, who is joining me in studio to discuss our journey through pregnancy to the final delivery.
00:00:26:35 – 00:01:00:40
Agent Palmer
Are you ready? You may just hear little Palmer. Let’s do the show.
00:01:00:44 – 00:01:21:44
Agent Palmer
Hello, and welcome to the Palmer Files. I’m your host, Jason Stershic. Also known as Agent Palmer. And on this very special 150th episode. My wife Stefanie has returned to join me in telling the tale of our adventures in pregnancy through to the delivery of our healthy baby, who, if you listen closely, will make their debut appearance on this podcast at some point in the background.
00:01:21:49 – 00:01:41:31
Agent Palmer
We get real in this episode, and we talk about some things that frankly, when they happened to us, we felt alone until we spoke to more people and then we felt less alone. More on that later. The events of this episode are only a few months past, and this recording is only a few weeks past, and it still all feels like another lifetime.
00:01:41:35 – 00:02:01:11
Agent Palmer
Time as a construct is more liquid and pliable than I could have ever imagined. But first, remember that if you want to discuss this episode as you listen or afterwards, you can find all related ways to contact us in the show notes. Don’t forget, you can see all of my ratings and ratings on Agent palmer.com. And of course, email can be sent to the Palmer files at gmail.com.
00:02:01:19 – 00:02:08:06
Agent Palmer
So without further ado, let’s get into it.
00:02:08:10 – 00:02:10:53
Agent Palmer
First comes love, then comes marriage.
00:02:10:58 – 00:02:12:41
Stefanie Stershic
Then comes Palmer with a baby carriage.
00:02:12:46 – 00:02:16:08
Agent Palmer
Yeah, we got one of them in studio.
00:02:16:12 – 00:02:16:55
Stefanie Stershic
A baby carriage.
00:02:16:57 – 00:02:19:27
Agent Palmer
Well, a baby.
00:02:19:32 – 00:02:26:05
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We got married, and then we did the next logical thing. We had a baby.
00:02:26:09 – 00:02:31:37
Agent Palmer
Yes. The next logical thing. Yeah. This was not easy.
00:02:31:42 – 00:02:34:08
Stefanie Stershic
You’re you’re you’re saying it’s the.
00:02:34:08 – 00:02:39:25
Agent Palmer
Wasn’t easy. I’m not even talking about the birth. We haven’t even gone. I’m. I’m talking about,
00:02:39:30 – 00:02:43:02
Stefanie Stershic
The actual conceiving a child was not easy.
00:02:43:04 – 00:02:47:10
Agent Palmer
Yeah. Which came as a very big shock to me.
00:02:47:15 – 00:03:19:52
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah. It didn’t come as big of a shock to me, because me being familiar with my body knew I had, you know, I would say, like, issues with my hormones because I’ve never been diagnosed with any hormone issues or anything like that. But, yeah, I do think my hormones are not quite right. So I wasn’t, I wasn’t not, not ovulating, but I wasn’t ovulating correctly enough.
00:03:19:59 – 00:03:21:56
Stefanie Stershic
Well, we I needed help.
00:03:22:10 – 00:03:25:25
Agent Palmer
Yeah, you needed help. I needed help, but but before that.
00:03:25:30 – 00:03:26:57
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah.
00:03:27:01 – 00:03:38:16
Agent Palmer
In high school. Yes. Sex ed for boys. If you don’t wrap it up, you’re going to have a kid. Yeah. There’s no try. The way they teach you it’s just.
00:03:38:23 – 00:03:39:43
Stefanie Stershic
You don’t do it. It’s going to happen.
00:03:39:43 – 00:04:07:00
Agent Palmer
It’s going to happen. So the idea that we had to try was for a child was not was what you expected. Shocking, because I was like. And look, there are there’s a I’ve talked to parents in our age group as well. Same thing. Okay. Like the trying ignoring your hormones.
00:04:07:02 – 00:04:07:31
Stefanie Stershic
00:04:07:36 – 00:04:18:26
Agent Palmer
The trying is surprising. Yeah. Because you’re just under the expectation that when you’re ready, you just there’s no person. It happens and there’s no birth control involved.
00:04:18:27 – 00:04:19:16
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah.
00:04:19:21 – 00:04:21:20
Agent Palmer
Yeah. Pregnancy happens.
00:04:21:22 – 00:04:23:37
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah.
00:04:23:42 – 00:04:25:21
Agent Palmer
And that, that that did not happen.
00:04:25:23 – 00:04:42:44
Stefanie Stershic
No. But then once we talked to people about us having to try, try and and have additional help, which was in the form of a pill that I had to take. I don’t like once, not once a month. I, I don’t I don’t look like it, but.
00:04:42:47 – 00:04:43:16
Agent Palmer
Already.
00:04:43:25 – 00:04:44:48
Stefanie Stershic
I know it’s already, it’s.
00:04:44:48 – 00:04:49:38
Agent Palmer
Already been forgotten so long. It’s one of the reasons we’re doing this now. So.
00:04:49:43 – 00:04:58:49
Stefanie Stershic
But as I was saying though, like, once we talked to people about having to try and they’re like, oh, yeah. Like, we had to try, like it’s far more common than even you thought.
00:04:58:49 – 00:05:17:13
Agent Palmer
And, not not to start the episode on a downer. Yeah, but we did. We were successful and unsuccessful. Yeah. First we had us. We were successful. We became. We became pregnant, and then it turned into a non-viable pregnancy within six, eight weeks.
00:05:17:15 – 00:05:22:50
Stefanie Stershic
It was like. It was like around seven weeks. It was seven, seven. And two days or something like that.
00:05:22:55 – 00:05:34:50
Agent Palmer
Nothing went. Nothing went. In theory, nothing went wrong. You didn’t feel bad. We just. We went in for a routine visit, and the doctor freaked out a lot more than we. Yeah, yeah.
00:05:34:54 – 00:05:42:20
Stefanie Stershic
He did, he did. They did, they did an ultrasound, and, there was there was no heartbeat. And they’re like, oh, okay.
00:05:42:20 – 00:05:43:14
Agent Palmer
Well we’re we.
00:05:43:14 – 00:05:57:07
Stefanie Stershic
That does that doesn’t appear to be a heartbeat. We’re going to schedule you to go to maternal fetal medicine and have them verify with one of their fancy ultrasounds, because, boy howdy, are those ultrasounds fancy like that?
00:05:57:19 – 00:06:01:24
Agent Palmer
Well, we’ll get we’ll we when we might get into the health care of it later. But yeah. Yeah, yeah.
00:06:01:24 – 00:06:05:44
Stefanie Stershic
And then I but then it was, it was confirmed. We went and got another ultrasound the same day.
00:06:05:45 – 00:06:12:42
Agent Palmer
Well you went and got another ultrasound. I went in and went I can’t handle this right now. I’m going to go get some fresh air. And this is like the this is.
00:06:12:42 – 00:06:13:32
Stefanie Stershic
He left.
00:06:13:32 – 00:06:14:45
Agent Palmer
Me. Yeah, I left her.
00:06:14:46 – 00:06:16:32
Stefanie Stershic
This is all by myself.
00:06:16:39 – 00:06:20:27
Agent Palmer
It’s it’s February. It’s cold.
00:06:20:28 – 00:06:20:59
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah.
00:06:21:04 – 00:06:23:13
Agent Palmer
I’m outside with no jacket on.
00:06:23:13 – 00:06:25:03
Stefanie Stershic
It was really warm in that room.
00:06:25:08 – 00:06:37:02
Agent Palmer
It was warm in that room. It was really warm. And I went outside with no jacket. And I called my parents and said, I don’t have any concrete information, but it’s not good. Yeah, because we had told the parents.
00:06:37:02 – 00:06:48:25
Stefanie Stershic
Yes. Yeah. We were very limited on who we told. And because it was very early on still and lucky, lucky us that we did that because we didn’t have to tell a bunch of people then that, hey, it’s not working out.
00:06:48:25 – 00:06:51:42
Agent Palmer
And, and we.
00:06:51:47 – 00:06:52:58
Agent Palmer
Yeah. Yeah. You’re here.
00:06:52:59 – 00:06:54:20
Stefanie Stershic
Exactly.
00:06:54:25 – 00:06:55:32
Agent Palmer
And for better or worse.
00:06:55:32 – 00:06:57:42
Stefanie Stershic
She’s like, good job.
00:06:57:46 – 00:07:28:26
Agent Palmer
Yeah. Well, we’ll get to you. For better or worse, I, I told my parents who have had trouble with me. Yeah, like, I was one of many, pregnancies, and I’m still an only child, so that was a whole support system thing. And then, it was on February 22nd. You went in and, got is it a they call it a day.
00:07:28:37 – 00:07:31:51
Agent Palmer
It’s an evacuation of sorts.
00:07:31:51 – 00:07:36:58
Stefanie Stershic
And so is it basically a surgery to, to just remove the non-viable pregnancy. Yeah.
00:07:37:00 – 00:07:42:52
Agent Palmer
Yep. And then we waited until we were allowed to try again.
00:07:42:56 – 00:07:43:35
Stefanie Stershic
Yep.
00:07:43:39 – 00:07:44:32
Agent Palmer
And we tried again.
00:07:44:42 – 00:07:51:53
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah.
00:07:51:58 – 00:08:03:32
Agent Palmer
You were going to make an appearance, but, we’ll we’ll we’ll, we’ll be back right after this message.
00:08:03:37 – 00:08:08:16
Agent Palmer
One diaper change later. I’m holding the child.
00:08:08:21 – 00:08:15:13
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah. So February 22nd. Yeah. We go in for the. Well, I go in for the procedure, but you’re you’re there. You take me to the hospital.
00:08:15:13 – 00:08:25:41
Agent Palmer
I do, we’ll get to you. We’ll get to you. You come next anyway.
00:08:25:46 – 00:08:33:24
Stefanie Stershic
And that was another thing that, apparently a lot of people don’t talk about it. We were fine talking about it. That that we.
00:08:33:24 – 00:08:55:55
Agent Palmer
Yeah, we started talking about the the the, non-viable pregnancy. I don’t think there was any couple who had kids that we told that also, there were a few that didn’t. There were a few that were lucky, I guess, in that they never had to experience that. But like everybody, most of the people we told were like, oh yeah, we had a we had one of those.
00:08:55:55 – 00:08:56:42
Agent Palmer
Or we had to admit we had.
00:08:56:42 – 00:09:05:29
Stefanie Stershic
A miscarriage or a non-viable pregnancy, or we know someone like that did. And so it’s it’s very common, but people just don’t talk about it.
00:09:05:34 – 00:09:12:44
Agent Palmer
Yeah. Which is would it would have been a lot more helpful that people talked about it. Yeah. Not like, I mean I was I mean it.
00:09:12:44 – 00:09:24:11
Stefanie Stershic
Was really early on in the pregnancy like and the second time we got pregnant then it made sense why they wait until at least eight weeks before they even consider it a viable.
00:09:24:11 – 00:09:26:47
Agent Palmer
And we waited even longer. The second time around.
00:09:27:01 – 00:09:39:18
Stefanie Stershic
To tell people, I think even the health care people like the first ultrasound to determine whether it’s a viable pregnancy with the new kind of doctor, because I had to change doctors.
00:09:39:22 – 00:09:39:57
Agent Palmer
Health care.
00:09:39:58 – 00:09:56:06
Stefanie Stershic
Because of insurance. The previous doctor was no longer, part of the network. So when I got the new doctors, they basically said, oh, we don’t schedule until eight weeks. You have to wait. Here’s the appointment. This will be your first ultrasound, which.
00:09:56:06 – 00:10:02:26
Agent Palmer
Was great because we had just been through this. Yeah. And it’s like, oh, now you get to now we’re not going to tell you anything.
00:10:02:31 – 00:10:04:08
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah.
00:10:04:13 – 00:10:28:09
Agent Palmer
But I, I think I was always going to be nervous just because of my parents experience and knowing my parents experience. But when, when with this little guy, I don’t know, I just, I was good, like, skip to the end. I was good up. After we got through the first ultrasound. I was good until the last month.
00:10:28:13 – 00:10:34:12
Agent Palmer
Yeah. And then the last month I was a nervous wreck. Like, let’s just get through the last month with nothing, nothing, nothing happening.
00:10:34:17 – 00:10:57:46
Stefanie Stershic
And I was much, much sooner like I was. I was having issues not issues, but like, I was concerned and nervous multiple times throughout the pregnancy because of what happened and also because of all the things that they make you do while you’re pregnant, which I had no idea was a thing. Like kick counts, which doesn’t happen until later, like in the in the second trimester.
00:10:57:59 – 00:11:05:02
Stefanie Stershic
In the third trimester, where you have to keep track of how many times the baby kicks in utero.
00:11:05:07 – 00:11:05:50
Agent Palmer
Within an hour.
00:11:05:50 – 00:11:06:49
Stefanie Stershic
Within two hours.
00:11:06:49 – 00:11:07:45
Agent Palmer
Oh, two hour window.
00:11:07:58 – 00:11:10:54
Stefanie Stershic
You know, they have to at least ten times within two hours.
00:11:10:58 – 00:11:12:58
Agent Palmer
Your baby has to be active within you.
00:11:12:58 – 00:11:14:17
Stefanie Stershic
Yes. Yeah, yeah.
00:11:14:30 – 00:11:20:10
Agent Palmer
And this is great because I’m lying next to her in bed and she’s like, it’s only eight. Yeah. Let’s go kid.
00:11:20:15 – 00:11:42:08
Stefanie Stershic
I’m shaking my belly gently, but I’m shaking my belly to try and get him to react and move. And sometimes I got really used to him moving a lot right off the bat and getting the ten kicks in ten, 15 minutes. And other times he would be very sleepy in there and would move around and I’d panic and go, oh my God.
00:11:42:13 – 00:11:45:49
Agent Palmer
We’ll get we’ll get to him being very sleepy again. Yes, that’ll come back.
00:11:45:49 – 00:11:50:01
Stefanie Stershic
It’s, it’s a, it’s a theme. It’s a theme. It’s a trend.
00:11:50:06 – 00:11:51:31
Agent Palmer
So
00:11:51:36 – 00:12:07:40
Stefanie Stershic
But so, so we, we basically we, we I go through the, the normal recovery period. That happens in February by May is basically when we start trying to almost like a end of April kind of we, we start trying.
00:12:07:45 – 00:12:11:03
Agent Palmer
We were we but we were hot out the chute. It didn’t take long.
00:12:11:03 – 00:12:22:16
Stefanie Stershic
No. We basically we got pregnant in May because based on when he was born, we got pregnant in May again. Told the parents and then.
00:12:22:17 – 00:12:28:45
Agent Palmer
No one else. Which, by the way, this is great because, my parents 50th wedding anniversary is in June.
00:12:28:49 – 00:12:30:02
Stefanie Stershic
Yes.
00:12:30:07 – 00:12:50:58
Agent Palmer
The at the, you know, it’s a big family to do. So like at that event, we told everybody that we were getting married in September. Yeah. Meanwhile, we’re we’re we’re we’re at a table with some very close friends who we did let know. Yeah. About the second pregnancy. One of whom almost lets it slip at the table.
00:12:51:13 – 00:12:54:21
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah. To, to to a couple who we know very well.
00:12:54:27 – 00:12:55:19
Agent Palmer
But who did.
00:12:55:19 – 00:12:55:39
Stefanie Stershic
Not.
00:12:55:39 – 00:12:57:07
Agent Palmer
Know. Yeah.
00:12:57:12 – 00:13:14:48
Stefanie Stershic
So, so. And the reason is because we’re at the table with your, your, your good friends Chris and Zapata, who are like your brothers, which is why we told them, because now they are also like uncles to our child. So they knew. They knew already. Also about the.
00:13:14:53 – 00:13:19:03
Agent Palmer
A little loose lips. Loose lips sink ships, buddy.
00:13:19:05 – 00:13:34:12
Stefanie Stershic
I mean, he’d also had, you know, a drink. It was a celebration. But, but yeah. So he he almost let it slip. We, we managed to to save it and recover, but, there had been conversations from the one couple who are there.
00:13:34:13 – 00:13:37:42
Agent Palmer
They’re they’re all down there in the neighborhoods of the family. And they knew we were trying.
00:13:37:43 – 00:13:47:03
Stefanie Stershic
They knew we were trying. And so they were like, oh, wouldn’t it be great if you guys, now that you’re getting married, would have a kid soon? While you know me secretly already being.
00:13:47:08 – 00:13:50:05
Agent Palmer
Pregnant.
00:13:50:10 – 00:14:02:14
Stefanie Stershic
And just waiting for, you know, the first ultrasound and and stuff like that. So. Yeah. So we we got pregnant. I have about three months of morning sickness.
00:14:02:22 – 00:14:04:13
Agent Palmer
No, but it wasn’t that much.
00:14:04:24 – 00:14:13:48
Stefanie Stershic
No, no no no, I wouldn’t say like, not the morning sickness that you hear of where like you’re throwing up and blah, blah, blah, but morning sickness where I don’t have my normal appetite.
00:14:13:50 – 00:14:27:19
Agent Palmer
You don’t have a normal day. And what’s worse. And this is going to be the trend. This is when it starts. You never got cravings. No. But you did have crazy. You started crossing things off. This what we usually.
00:14:27:19 – 00:14:50:11
Stefanie Stershic
Eat things that we usually eat that I liked, that I enjoyed. I started not enjoying the taste of the texture or whatever. But yeah, I didn’t have pregnancy cravings. And for and it was, it was, it was the first trimester where I could barely eat anything. I had to eat really small portions. Didn’t feel that great. Never really had a lot of throwing up.
00:14:50:11 – 00:14:52:05
Stefanie Stershic
I think maybe a third once. I think,
00:14:52:10 – 00:14:54:59
Agent Palmer
I think you threw up one twice through both.
00:14:55:12 – 00:14:56:17
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah.
00:14:56:22 – 00:15:01:31
Agent Palmer
And the first, the first one. The non-viable one. I think your morning sickness was worse.
00:15:01:31 – 00:15:01:51
Stefanie Stershic
It was.
00:15:01:51 – 00:15:02:50
Agent Palmer
Worse. And it was.
00:15:02:50 – 00:15:04:27
Stefanie Stershic
With then I was with the the the.
00:15:04:27 – 00:15:05:50
Agent Palmer
The baby in my hand.
00:15:06:01 – 00:15:35:18
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah. The one that worked. Yeah. So, but it was the three months. It was the first trimester because then, kind of the transition from the first to the second trimester. I go to Germany for my aunt’s 75th birthday. Yes. So I travel. That’s where I tell that side of my family. Yeah, because I shared the pictures of our first ultrasound and basically have to explain why I can’t eat certain things and why I can’t have alcohol.
00:15:35:23 – 00:15:37:16
Stefanie Stershic
So it’s like, here, let me tell you why.
00:15:37:20 – 00:15:41:01
Agent Palmer
You’re also, prenatal vitamins at this point.
00:15:41:01 – 00:15:43:37
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah, yeah. So I took those with me.
00:15:43:42 – 00:15:48:19
Agent Palmer
I you on the low dose aspirin. You?
00:15:48:24 – 00:15:49:00
Stefanie Stershic
Not.
00:15:49:00 – 00:15:49:28
Agent Palmer
I think you.
00:15:49:28 – 00:15:50:56
Stefanie Stershic
Were, I was, I was because.
00:15:51:04 – 00:15:51:57
Agent Palmer
This is the thing was.
00:15:51:58 – 00:15:55:26
Stefanie Stershic
Out there. I mean, I was considered a geriatric pregnancy. Yeah.
00:15:55:28 – 00:15:56:40
Agent Palmer
Anything, by the way.
00:15:56:40 – 00:15:57:13
Stefanie Stershic
Anything you’re not.
00:15:57:14 – 00:15:59:02
Agent Palmer
That’ll do anything over 32.
00:15:59:04 – 00:16:00:39
Stefanie Stershic
35, 33.
00:16:00:40 – 00:16:01:17
Agent Palmer
No, 30.
00:16:01:17 – 00:16:09:30
Stefanie Stershic
30 to 35. It’s 35. It’s 35. Okay. At least according to to my health care providers.
00:16:09:35 – 00:16:09:58
Agent Palmer
Okay.
00:16:10:05 – 00:16:33:04
Stefanie Stershic
So they could be it could vary. Yeah. But for them, it was anything over the age of 35 and I was 37. So, so I was considered a geriatric pregnancy. And to reduce the risk of preeclampsia, for geriatric pregnancies and then just pregnancies with certain risks and things, you have to take, low dose aspirin every day.
00:16:33:08 – 00:16:41:07
Stefanie Stershic
And that starts from a certain point and then goes up to a certain point, because then you stop taking it as you get closer to like the I think it’s like the last month.
00:16:41:21 – 00:16:42:22
Agent Palmer
This is correct. Yeah.
00:16:42:35 – 00:16:59:08
Stefanie Stershic
So and the last month, you no longer have to take it because then you could have the baby at any point. And you don’t want to be on low dose aspirin when they have to pump you full of other drugs and things like that. So. So I go to Germany, have a lovely time, finally get my appetite back.
00:16:59:13 – 00:17:00:25
Agent Palmer
Yeah.
00:17:00:30 – 00:17:23:08
Stefanie Stershic
Get my appetite back. Can finally eat. I’m so excited about having my appetite back. Get back, get, get to, like, week 20 something and have my first glucose test. Yay! I have a one hour glucose test that they have around that time frame to see if you have gestational diabetes. I fail the one hour glucose test.
00:17:23:08 – 00:17:27:30
Agent Palmer
Time, but but that doesn’t mean you have diabetes. It just means now it’s time for the three hour.
00:17:27:41 – 00:17:49:01
Stefanie Stershic
Yes. Yeah. So I fail the first one. They’re like okay, we’re going to do the three hour glucose test, which is exactly that. You go to a lab, have blood drawn, and then you have blood drawn once an hour for three hours. So you basically and it’s a it’s fasting so you can’t eat from the night before. And I go first thing in the morning to the lab.
00:17:49:12 – 00:18:06:42
Stefanie Stershic
They take a fasting glucose. So they take your blood right at the beginning. Wait an hour. Take it again. Wait an hour, take it again. And then the final one you have to pass. I think two out of the three I did not. So then they were like, oh, hey, you. You basically failed the three hour glucose test as well.
00:18:06:57 – 00:18:11:59
Stefanie Stershic
You have gestational diabetes. And I was like, what? What does this mean?
00:18:11:59 – 00:18:17:19
Agent Palmer
This is at this point we have both read most of or all of expecting better.
00:18:17:22 – 00:18:18:28
Stefanie Stershic
Yes.
00:18:18:33 – 00:18:41:31
Agent Palmer
A book written by an economist. So we kind of have a general idea, some stuff, what to expect. We, this is when the education starts. We have, gestational diabetes. To last, we have a. Yeah, we have a class two weeks. Yeah. For an hour or two hours apiece. One hour plus, I’m not sure.
00:18:41:32 – 00:19:04:18
Stefanie Stershic
The thereabouts. Yeah. Yeah. So basically because they’ve now determined I have gestational by diabetes, they arranged for a class of the dietitian to basically explain exactly what that means and to tell you, what now your diet has to be because that’s how you fight gestational diabetes is you first start with a diet, and it is a low carb diet where you have.
00:19:04:18 – 00:19:11:52
Agent Palmer
To and low sugar, low carb and high and and because and high in exercise which well for.
00:19:11:57 – 00:19:12:48
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah for.
00:19:12:53 – 00:19:13:52
Agent Palmer
For you.
00:19:13:52 – 00:19:15:55
Stefanie Stershic
Not high in exercise. So you still have to limit your.
00:19:15:56 – 00:19:19:30
Agent Palmer
Exercise but yeah. Well high exercise compared to walking.
00:19:19:41 – 00:19:23:10
Stefanie Stershic
They recommend a lot of walking. And and I did.
00:19:23:14 – 00:19:29:48
Agent Palmer
This not not for anybody following along. One of the things about this is this is now winter.
00:19:29:52 – 00:19:30:27
Stefanie Stershic
Yes.
00:19:30:32 – 00:19:40:11
Agent Palmer
That and you’re still working. So daylight’s a problem. So you’re you’re now back to what I like to refer to as our first week together.
00:19:40:16 – 00:19:40:49
Stefanie Stershic
Yes.
00:19:40:49 – 00:19:52:50
Agent Palmer
Because, our first week together, when you came to visit me ahead of a snowstorm, you were still very Fitbit motivated. Yeah. And you would walk. We were 250 steps around the house and.
00:19:52:50 – 00:19:54:56
Stefanie Stershic
Do laps and around the downstairs.
00:19:55:08 – 00:19:57:05
Agent Palmer
And so the.
00:19:57:05 – 00:19:58:01
Stefanie Stershic
So I did that again.
00:19:58:03 – 00:19:59:34
Agent Palmer
You did that again. Exactly.
00:19:59:34 – 00:20:21:51
Stefanie Stershic
I and basically it was walking for at least 20 minutes after every meal I think. And not not after every snack but after every meal. So what it basically wound up being and what gestational diabetes is, it’s not like normal diabetes. It’s basically you have a just while you’re pregnant and it has to do with the placenta. It’s nothing you can help if you have it, you have it.
00:20:21:56 – 00:20:42:07
Stefanie Stershic
It’s the the placenta causes issues with your your ability to regulate sugar. And and it can cause issues where you’re if you have too high sugar, it goes to the baby because everything goes through the placenta from you to the baby. And then the baby could have, you wind up then getting large babies and oversize babies because of this gestational diabetes.
00:20:42:11 – 00:21:01:16
Stefanie Stershic
So my diet basically consisted of low carbs where I was allowed 30 to 45 carbs for breakfast, a 15 carb snack, a 60 carb lunch, a 60 carb dinner, and a.
00:21:01:20 – 00:21:03:48
Agent Palmer
There was a third after there was a mid-afternoon 15.
00:21:03:48 – 00:21:09:51
Stefanie Stershic
Another 15 snack. But then, a 30 carb late night snack.
00:21:09:58 – 00:21:13:38
Agent Palmer
Yeah. To get you through the overnight. Yeah, exactly. And you were testing your blood.
00:21:13:38 – 00:21:30:53
Stefanie Stershic
And so then I also needed a blood monitor, so I had to buy one of those. The testing strips, the, lancets to poke my finger with. And I had to do that. First thing in the morning for my fasting blood sugar. Yeah, I had to do it after breakfast. After.
00:21:30:53 – 00:21:31:17
Agent Palmer
Lunch.
00:21:31:17 – 00:21:35:11
Stefanie Stershic
Lunch after and after dinner. Yeah. So I was poking myself four times a day.
00:21:35:14 – 00:21:54:52
Agent Palmer
Meanwhile, this is the point where we start telling everyone yes. And some people are like, where are you going to go on a vacation? Are you going to you should take her out to eat because you can’t take her out to eat. Once the baby arrives and I’m like, there’s like, we can’t. There’s like, I.
00:21:55:03 – 00:21:56:31
Stefanie Stershic
Like and basically.
00:21:56:31 – 00:21:57:04
Agent Palmer
I.
00:21:57:05 – 00:22:03:16
Stefanie Stershic
Everything stops. Yeah, we can’t go out to eat. We can’t get fast food. We try like, I look at the fast food.
00:22:03:16 – 00:22:30:05
Agent Palmer
Well, we definitely did. According to we did, a Wendy’s something Burger King. Okay, we did a Burger King thing, and according to the menu, it was fine, but according to your blood sugar, it was not. It was not. And so, like, as we’re going along, like we’re getting these people that look, I’ve got cousins that were, ahead of us by a year or in one case, a couple months as far as their children.
00:22:30:10 – 00:22:37:00
Agent Palmer
And so, like, they’re like, yeah, you should go out. You should enjoy this time you have. And it’s like, we we we can’t there’s nothing.
00:22:37:00 – 00:22:41:34
Stefanie Stershic
We have gestational. It’s a nightmare to try and figure out how to eat out.
00:22:41:35 – 00:22:44:42
Agent Palmer
You know, it’s a nightmare to try and figure out how to eat in general because.
00:22:44:42 – 00:22:50:26
Stefanie Stershic
You you had to basically we had to count everything and do math just for her for every meal.
00:22:50:28 – 00:22:57:52
Agent Palmer
And because you are shrinking and at this same time again, the anti cravings you are.
00:22:57:57 – 00:22:59:13
Stefanie Stershic
I’m losing this stuff that we.
00:22:59:27 – 00:23:05:27
Agent Palmer
You know, it’s like, oh how about this. No I don’t want that anymore. All right. Well that’s okay. Now we’re down to like and so so not.
00:23:05:27 – 00:23:07:57
Stefanie Stershic
Only are they things I can’t eat those things I don’t want to eat. Yeah.
00:23:08:00 – 00:23:11:03
Agent Palmer
And so it’s getting less and less and less.
00:23:11:03 – 00:23:21:51
Stefanie Stershic
Thank you for basically just managing all of that and being like you were already doing all the cooking, but you also, you know, I’ll figure all this out. I’ll count this up. I’ll do this. I’ll make sure that you get exactly what you need.
00:23:21:51 – 00:23:43:50
Agent Palmer
It is kind of ridiculous. And it’s not I won’t say it’s an American thing. Yeah. Although Americans are, you know, more obese than others, but like, the idea of, like, we would have you could have, like, soft tacos or fajitas. You can’t have them. You don’t have teeth, but you could have. But but the amount of filling that you could put in them.
00:23:43:50 – 00:23:48:47
Agent Palmer
Yeah. And the amount of salsa and the amount of sour cream and the amount of cheese.
00:23:48:48 – 00:23:49:57
Stefanie Stershic
Not of like, very.
00:23:50:08 – 00:23:50:51
Agent Palmer
Specific.
00:23:50:53 – 00:23:54:02
Stefanie Stershic
One tablespoon of this, one teaspoon of this.
00:23:54:07 – 00:23:55:14
Agent Palmer
It’s not how you would.
00:23:55:14 – 00:23:57:41
Stefanie Stershic
Know a cup of this. It’s a cup of that.
00:23:57:48 – 00:24:12:04
Agent Palmer
It was it’s not how you would normally fit, like if you weren’t counting it and you were just filling it. Yeah. You probably putting in three times the amount of meat that is on the box when it says this amount for this many.
00:24:12:04 – 00:24:17:46
Stefanie Stershic
Carbs, and you have to look at the per serving or the per container versus, all of that stuff.
00:24:17:46 – 00:24:24:16
Agent Palmer
Cheese was fine. It was the only thing that was fine cheeses. Cheese was fine. Everything else was just like, oh, except.
00:24:24:16 – 00:24:27:32
Stefanie Stershic
For, you know, and this was like shredded cheese and stuff. So certain.
00:24:27:32 – 00:24:35:19
Agent Palmer
Cheeses. Well, yeah. Well, like I said, we weren’t. Yeah. And we won’t even get into that. But there’s an amount like. So there was and soft cheeses and so this essentially.
00:24:35:21 – 00:24:48:25
Stefanie Stershic
You can’t have for being pregnant while you’re pregnant, there’s stuff you can’t have. Period. Then on top of that, there’s stuff that I could never because of the gestational diabetes. So that was that was hard. That was that was that was rough. And that was all the way up until the end.
00:24:48:25 – 00:24:54:08
Agent Palmer
And I think a lot of that was not that you wanted it, but that you couldn’t have it there.
00:24:54:12 – 00:25:13:52
Stefanie Stershic
Oh yeah. That was it. The only cravings I had, I wasn’t having these weird pregnancy cravings. I was craving the things I could not have. I was craving lunch meat. I was craving runny eggs. I was, craving, tuna. I was craving soft cheeses. Like it was the fast food. Like all the things I couldn’t have for one reason or another.
00:25:13:52 – 00:25:24:41
Stefanie Stershic
That’s. Those were my cravings. And those aren’t really cravings. Those are just things that you have to do without. And, it’s you’re doing it without it for nine months. So. Yeah.
00:25:24:41 – 00:25:27:22
Agent Palmer
Or longer or longer case. Because as far as.
00:25:27:27 – 00:25:28:16
Stefanie Stershic
Oh, bless you.
00:25:28:21 – 00:25:31:59
Agent Palmer
Bless you, bless you.
00:25:32:04 – 00:25:32:54
Stefanie Stershic
Okay, okay. Only three.
00:25:33:03 – 00:25:38:25
Agent Palmer
So, just like me. Yeah. So what I will say is.
00:25:38:30 – 00:25:40:43
Stefanie Stershic
Because when you’re breastfeeding, you’re saying cut things out.
00:25:40:43 – 00:25:43:52
Agent Palmer
Yeah, but there was the booze because you were trying.
00:25:43:52 – 00:25:47:03
Stefanie Stershic
I wasn’t drinking, I haven’t. Yeah.
00:25:47:04 – 00:25:49:42
Agent Palmer
You had your first glass of wine last year for. Oh.
00:25:49:46 – 00:25:51:14
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah. For, for Passover dinner.
00:25:51:14 – 00:25:52:54
Agent Palmer
And that was.
00:25:52:59 – 00:25:54:43
Stefanie Stershic
We figured out it probably been like 18.
00:25:54:43 – 00:26:06:38
Agent Palmer
Months. Yeah. Because. Because between the first trying. Because. And this and success and and it was just. Yeah. Yeah. It’s been a very dry spell for you as far.
00:26:06:39 – 00:26:09:36
Stefanie Stershic
You’ve been a long time and, and I started with.
00:26:09:40 – 00:26:10:22
Agent Palmer
That’s one of the.
00:26:10:22 – 00:26:11:57
Stefanie Stershic
Reason wasn’t even that full of a glass.
00:26:12:01 – 00:26:23:13
Agent Palmer
And it’s I’m and I’m not I’m not saying we wouldn’t have told Zapata as my best friend sooner, but one of the reasons we told him so soon was because we would invite him over to dinner, and he would bring wine.
00:26:23:15 – 00:26:23:56
Stefanie Stershic
Wine? Yeah.
00:26:23:56 – 00:26:34:09
Agent Palmer
And we told him immediately because he was coming over for dinner. Yeah, this was before the gestational diabetes. But I was like, don’t bring wine. Why? Stef wants to drink wine. I’m like, But.
00:26:34:17 – 00:26:34:56
Stefanie Stershic
Stef can’t.
00:26:34:56 – 00:26:43:02
Agent Palmer
Drink. Stef can’t drink wine. We’ll we’ll we’ll get there. Like. And so. Yeah. Yeah. That that was a big thing. And so you’re going to slowly and.
00:26:43:02 – 00:26:46:18
Stefanie Stershic
Well and we were, we were hosting people for dinner still even while.
00:26:46:20 – 00:26:50:56
Agent Palmer
Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah we did, we did Friendsgiving and some other things. And I think, and.
00:26:50:56 – 00:26:55:08
Stefanie Stershic
Thank God that Friendsgiving was before I got the gestational diabetes.
00:26:55:08 – 00:26:58:27
Agent Palmer
It was right. It was right before you got to eat everything you.
00:26:58:28 – 00:26:58:55
Stefanie Stershic
Had to eat.
00:26:58:55 – 00:27:03:39
Agent Palmer
That would have been so sad. You would have been able to eat turkey.
00:27:03:44 – 00:27:04:02
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah.
00:27:04:06 – 00:27:16:16
Agent Palmer
But the amount the decision making of whether you had stuffing or mashed potatoes, because you wouldn’t have been able to do both based on carbs.
00:27:16:16 – 00:27:17:51
Stefanie Stershic
I could have would had been very cold.
00:27:17:58 – 00:27:28:04
Agent Palmer
It would have been like, here’s a teaspoon of stuffing, here’s a teaspoon of mashed potatoes. Here’s no great reason. No drop of gravy. Oh yeah. Yeah. Oh my God, this is so bad, so bad.
00:27:28:04 – 00:27:31:56
Stefanie Stershic
But that also meant that it was right in the holiday season where.
00:27:31:56 – 00:27:35:57
Agent Palmer
You found out between that and Christmas. So when you, you are.
00:27:35:57 – 00:27:41:08
Stefanie Stershic
I had just bought a bunch of stuff from calamari, which is, a local German deli.
00:27:41:16 – 00:27:47:57
Agent Palmer
And, and when we went to our normal Christmas Eve party, you couldn’t eat much?
00:27:47:57 – 00:27:51:25
Stefanie Stershic
No, I had to really limit what I. But I weren’t going to meet.
00:27:51:25 – 00:27:55:10
Agent Palmer
Any of the seafood anyway. No, because that’s already on this.
00:27:55:10 – 00:28:04:15
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah. No no no no no list. I had some, some, some meat. I had a couple of slices of meat. I think I had some crackers.
00:28:04:20 – 00:28:04:44
Agent Palmer
Yeah.
00:28:04:44 – 00:28:12:38
Stefanie Stershic
It was, And I forget what else, a salad, I had salad, so that was all fine. So it. I had bought all this, like, German.
00:28:12:50 – 00:28:14:08
Agent Palmer
And you’re starting to eat it now.
00:28:14:08 – 00:28:21:44
Stefanie Stershic
All this stuff and chocolate and I. I couldn’t eat any of it, so we had to stuff it all the way. Okay.
00:28:21:49 – 00:28:30:55
Agent Palmer
So, yeah, Thanksgiving turns into Christmas, turns into New Year’s, and now we’re in January and we are within the final two months.
00:28:30:57 – 00:28:31:26
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah.
00:28:31:31 – 00:28:35:06
Agent Palmer
I am losing my mind. Slowly.
00:28:35:11 – 00:28:36:12
Stefanie Stershic
I think we both.
00:28:36:12 – 00:28:38:10
Agent Palmer
Are as the the.
00:28:38:18 – 00:28:44:55
Stefanie Stershic
Because I’m getting bigger. I it’s it’s it’s getting hard to sleep. Yeah. Because that’s what they tell you. You’re, you know, you’re tossing and.
00:28:44:55 – 00:28:48:36
Agent Palmer
Turning and I’m in. I’m impatient. Yeah. Just we’ll just impatient.
00:28:48:36 – 00:28:58:39
Stefanie Stershic
That’s just. And I’m the patient one. And I was starting to get. Yeah. That was especially though the, I think the, the last month I was just like, oh God. I just, I so want to not be pregnant.
00:28:58:40 – 00:29:04:51
Agent Palmer
And, and so in, in true fashion, the due date comes and goes.
00:29:04:51 – 00:29:05:53
Stefanie Stershic
Yes.
00:29:05:57 – 00:29:17:10
Agent Palmer
And you’re still pregnant. Yep. And that was on a Sunday. And so Monday we had regularly scheduled like let’s see how it’s going. Appointment.
00:29:17:22 – 00:29:23:29
Stefanie Stershic
I think it was either it was either Monday or Tuesday. Because then they call.
00:29:23:38 – 00:29:24:40
Agent Palmer
No.
00:29:24:45 – 00:29:31:28
Stefanie Stershic
I think it was because they, I remember talking to them the same day and they’re like, hey, can you do tomorrow? And that was a Wednesday.
00:29:31:33 – 00:29:33:04
Agent Palmer
So then it would have been Tuesday.
00:29:33:08 – 00:29:33:45
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah.
00:29:33:50 – 00:29:40:27
Agent Palmer
So Tuesday we go in for the appointment. You are having contractions. You didn’t know.
00:29:40:27 – 00:29:41:43
Stefanie Stershic
It. Didn’t know it. No.
00:29:41:43 – 00:29:45:54
Agent Palmer
Because what they hook you up to the thing and the and the and it’s, there’s practitioners.
00:29:45:56 – 00:29:51:47
Stefanie Stershic
Like what do they call it. It’s a, it’s a non stress test
00:29:51:52 – 00:29:52:55
Agent Palmer
A whatever.
00:29:53:02 – 00:30:08:05
Stefanie Stershic
It was, whatever they hook you up to a machine and it basically monitors everything and they’re, they come in and go, oh hey, you had a contraction. Oh. It was, is that what that was? I thought that was just him kicking.
00:30:08:05 – 00:30:09:55
Agent Palmer
Yeah. So.
00:30:10:00 – 00:30:12:49
Stefanie Stershic
So I had having contraction, but he’s not knowing it, but he’s fine.
00:30:12:49 – 00:30:23:56
Agent Palmer
But but you not you’re. I think you you weren’t dilated or you were a centimeter. I think you were a centimeter because we told the the parents, our parents, the grandparents that you were you had started.
00:30:23:56 – 00:30:33:23
Stefanie Stershic
So during that, during that appointment. Yes. They they examine me and go, hey, do you want us to go ahead and try to move things along?
00:30:33:24 – 00:30:37:24
Agent Palmer
Yeah, there’s a, legitimately there’s a swipe. It’s a swipe that’s called.
00:30:37:27 – 00:30:45:33
Stefanie Stershic
A swipe where they, they stick a finger in there and like, move it around and that’s supposed to try and and help the water.
00:30:45:33 – 00:30:47:51
Agent Palmer
But it’s supposed to do some things they don’t. They didn’t.
00:30:47:51 – 00:30:48:32
Stefanie Stershic
Hormones.
00:30:48:37 – 00:30:50:16
Agent Palmer
For sure. Yeah. Whatever.
00:30:50:20 – 00:31:01:26
Stefanie Stershic
But because it’s, it’s one I was one centimeter because that’s about as as big as. So you can get a finger in there. And so like, yeah. Go ahead.
00:31:01:31 – 00:31:05:22
Agent Palmer
But nothing like we went home sneezy.
00:31:05:27 – 00:31:08:52
Stefanie Stershic
Although that was at the, the, the other point, man wasn’t it.
00:31:08:55 – 00:31:12:23
Agent Palmer
No, no, no, that was that appointment. Oh.
00:31:12:28 – 00:31:15:19
Stefanie Stershic
And they did it twice.
00:31:15:24 – 00:31:21:59
Agent Palmer
Yeah. That was the day before. So no, they did it the week before. The week they did it.
00:31:21:59 – 00:31:22:32
Stefanie Stershic
That’s how.
00:31:22:37 – 00:31:23:53
Agent Palmer
They swiped you.
00:31:23:58 – 00:31:24:57
Stefanie Stershic
The week, the week.
00:31:24:57 – 00:31:32:08
Agent Palmer
Before and the day after his or whatever it was after his due date. Yeah.
00:31:32:09 – 00:31:38:41
Stefanie Stershic
So so they did it like it’s a 39 week appointment and then the 4040 appointment was one. Still nothing had happened.
00:31:38:46 – 00:31:44:05
Agent Palmer
And so like they call I’m on the phone with a very close friend. So I’m you come down the stairs.
00:31:44:05 – 00:32:02:56
Stefanie Stershic
I’m, I’m, I’m also on a work call. I’m, I’m on a work call with a with a colleague. And get a phone call and see that it’s the hot. It’s the hospital. I’m like, oh, I, I need to put you on hold. I need to take this. It’s my doctor’s office. I know that they’re trying to schedule for for so because we basically told the doctor, I.
00:32:03:01 – 00:32:06:28
Agent Palmer
Was like, are you do you want to do you want to schedule something? And we were like, yeah.
00:32:06:35 – 00:32:20:55
Stefanie Stershic
All the induction. Basically. We’re like, let get this baby out. Let’s do this because we’ve given him the opportunity to do it on his own. We’re now wanting to do this, because I need to be able to tell work when I’m going to be out. I need to be able to, to plan things. My insurance needs.
00:32:20:55 – 00:32:43:11
Stefanie Stershic
No. And it’s all this, this whole hoopla. So we schedule the, So they’re calling me to schedule the induction. I tell my coworker, I need to put you on hold. Answer the phone. They go, hey, we can get you in tomorrow. And it’s with basically. So there were five doctors I was seeing.
00:32:43:13 – 00:32:45:43
Agent Palmer
In the practice. Yeah, we got the doctor we wanted.
00:32:45:45 – 00:33:06:45
Stefanie Stershic
You have to go through all of them. And I had, like, my list of favorites. And it was going to be with the favorite, the one that was at number one on the on the list. And they’re like, we can get you in tomorrow. And then I was like, great. Yeah, let’s do that. Hang up with them, get back on the call.
00:33:06:49 – 00:33:10:37
Stefanie Stershic
And, well, I.
00:33:10:41 – 00:33:12:15
Agent Palmer
So you come down the stairs, I.
00:33:12:15 – 00:33:12:51
Stefanie Stershic
Run down stairs.
00:33:12:55 – 00:33:14:10
Agent Palmer
Run down. Which is, by the way.
00:33:14:12 – 00:33:14:57
Stefanie Stershic
Halfway down the stairs.
00:33:15:00 – 00:33:20:44
Agent Palmer
You’re you’re 40 weeks pregnant. I’m not. I haven’t seen you move this fast. And I haven’t also seen you be this.
00:33:20:44 – 00:33:21:31
Stefanie Stershic
Happy.
00:33:21:36 – 00:33:24:50
Agent Palmer
In so long. You’re just like it’s happening tomorrow.
00:33:24:50 – 00:33:28:28
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah. And then I go back upstairs. Yep. Hop back on my call.
00:33:28:42 – 00:33:29:11
Agent Palmer
Correct.
00:33:29:24 – 00:33:51:47
Stefanie Stershic
The doctor’s office calls back and goes, oh, sorry, it’s not available anymore. How about Thursday? And then it’s with the doctor a little bit lower on my list. Still very nice, but still, and I was like, okay, fine. We’ll do Thursday then. And I go back down, tell you, well, now it may not be happening. We’ll see.
00:33:51:52 – 00:33:56:57
Stefanie Stershic
I go back upstairs, I get back on my call again, the doctor’s office calls again.
00:33:57:01 – 00:33:58:46
Agent Palmer
And I’m like, you’re on for tomorrow.
00:33:58:51 – 00:34:09:24
Stefanie Stershic
And then they go, hey, good news. It is now going to be tomorrow is what the doctor I love. Perfect. Great. All right. I text you then I think because this time, I don’t know, like.
00:34:09:26 – 00:34:10:16
Agent Palmer
It’s back on its.
00:34:10:16 – 00:34:27:03
Stefanie Stershic
Back on, and, and I finish my call with my coworker, the. Yeah. Yeah. So. Yeah. So it’s we show, we show up. We were told to show up at 7 a.m. at, at the hospital, and then we would get checked in and they would start the induction.
00:34:27:12 – 00:34:28:10
Agent Palmer
Yep.
00:34:28:15 – 00:34:35:25
Stefanie Stershic
So they we arrive, they get everything set, they hook me up to an IV, they hook me up to a bunch of.
00:34:35:25 – 00:34:40:22
Agent Palmer
Monitors, they get ready to say they do the drugs, and I ask the doctor the question.
00:34:40:22 – 00:34:49:00
Stefanie Stershic
Well, they also they also check me. And I’m at this point about like three and a half. No dilated. No, I am already at that point. I am already.
00:34:49:14 – 00:34:50:33
Agent Palmer
I think you were at two and then.
00:34:50:33 – 00:34:51:23
Stefanie Stershic
We went to I was at.
00:34:51:23 – 00:34:52:02
Agent Palmer
Three.
00:34:52:07 – 00:34:56:08
Stefanie Stershic
I was at, I was at least at three centimeters already by that point dilated.
00:34:56:11 – 00:35:12:17
Agent Palmer
And I asked the doctor, all right, look, I know it’s not like science and it’s, you know, you don’t know, but, like, when will we see our child? Yeah. And the doc goes, I would say by tomorrow morning. This is fair enough. Like, you know, 24 hours. Okay, well, we’ve.
00:35:12:17 – 00:35:27:21
Stefanie Stershic
Read what we’ve heard from people, a first child, take it could take 12 hours or more, like it could take a really long time. So we’re like okay, so they’ve they’ve hooked me up to an IV. They put pitocin, they’ve given me pitocin, which is what’s supposed to help jumpstart.
00:35:27:21 – 00:35:28:35
Agent Palmer
The contractions.
00:35:28:39 – 00:35:36:33
Stefanie Stershic
Contractions which will start the dilation, which will get everything going. I start to have contractions and really start to have contractions now.
00:35:36:33 – 00:35:38:04
Agent Palmer
Yeah, it takes a bit though.
00:35:38:09 – 00:35:38:42
Stefanie Stershic
It takes about.
00:35:38:55 – 00:35:41:43
Agent Palmer
It’s not nine, 10:00. Yeah, it takes a couple hours.
00:35:41:48 – 00:35:42:55
Stefanie Stershic
It you just.
00:35:43:00 – 00:35:44:06
Agent Palmer
Having the contraction have.
00:35:44:06 – 00:36:01:30
Stefanie Stershic
To get up. We get on the bouncy ball. It helps a little bit. But then I start getting hit with like some really big ones and I’m like I’ve nothing helps. I’m like bending partially over the bed. Just like yelling, telling you to, like, just squeeze the crap out of my, my lower back. Just to try and and.
00:36:01:31 – 00:36:13:19
Agent Palmer
So they give us. So at this point there are two options. We had talked about you taking the drugs and you were going to. Yes. But they said like so they don’t do the epidural. You’re allowed to have like just.
00:36:13:23 – 00:36:24:07
Stefanie Stershic
Pain management, low low level payment. They basically would give you through the IV pain medicine. That’ll help take the edge off. But you could still move around because as soon as you have the epidural, you’re stuck. You’re bedridden, you can’t move.
00:36:24:07 – 00:36:27:12
Agent Palmer
And so we had always been told that if you can move.
00:36:27:14 – 00:36:30:01
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah, it’s easier, it’s easy. It’s supposed to help things along.
00:36:30:01 – 00:36:31:01
Agent Palmer
And I know.
00:36:31:01 – 00:36:35:02
Stefanie Stershic
Because there is a risk of if you take there, it could help slow down.
00:36:35:05 – 00:36:36:00
Agent Palmer
It could slow things down.
00:36:36:01 – 00:36:37:12
Stefanie Stershic
Slow thing. Correct.
00:36:37:16 – 00:36:42:28
Agent Palmer
And so, they go, hey, we can’t give you. So we call the nurse.
00:36:42:28 – 00:36:42:42
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah.
00:36:42:43 – 00:36:45:04
Agent Palmer
It’s because the nurses are in and out, and so we call the nurse.
00:36:45:05 – 00:36:47:18
Stefanie Stershic
I would like the pain medicine. They go, let’s let me talk to her.
00:36:47:19 – 00:36:49:51
Agent Palmer
Doctor. Doctor comes in, he goes, nope.
00:36:49:55 – 00:36:59:13
Stefanie Stershic
Well, the nurse comes back and says, we talked to the doctor. They’ve reviewed the the monitoring that’s happening of the baby. And they tell us he’s too chill. He’s too chill.
00:36:59:13 – 00:37:02:20
Agent Palmer
He’s has to calm. This will chill him even more. And we don’t want to do that.
00:37:02:20 – 00:37:16:25
Stefanie Stershic
Exactly. So because he’s so calm in the womb, and the pain medicine makes me sleepy, will also make him sleepy. They’re like, we can’t really give that to you. And I’m like, okay, great. So I got another contraction. I’m miserable.
00:37:16:25 – 00:37:16:57
Agent Palmer
And they say.
00:37:16:57 – 00:37:26:40
Stefanie Stershic
But but then the nurse comes back in and says, but we could go ahead and just give you the epidural. And I go, yes, do it now. Give me, give it to me. Just do.
00:37:26:40 – 00:37:27:48
Agent Palmer
It. Do it now.
00:37:27:52 – 00:37:45:13
Stefanie Stershic
I’m tapping out I, I just, I, I need it because if you’re not going to give me pain medicine, I’m like, I can’t do this anymore. And like everyone too is like, if they give you if they give you the option, like, do it like don’t try to be like strong or whatever. And I’m like, I’m not, I’m not planning on it because I know for my levels I’ve had these couple of contractions.
00:37:45:13 – 00:37:53:39
Stefanie Stershic
Now I’m like, if this is going to get worse, this is not even that bad yet. And I’m like, no. So they they call the anesthesiologist.
00:37:53:44 – 00:38:01:03
Agent Palmer
And meanwhile I get lunch. Yeah. Because you got I got it. I had a cousin who, who in solidarity with his wife.
00:38:01:08 – 00:38:01:23
Stefanie Stershic
Did.
00:38:01:24 – 00:38:05:48
Agent Palmer
It for him, didn’t eat. I was like, I’m I’m going to be no use to, you know, if I’m like.
00:38:05:48 – 00:38:11:48
Stefanie Stershic
And I was like, I need you by my side. Like, there’s an alert and helpful and you need to be able to distract.
00:38:11:48 – 00:38:28:54
Agent Palmer
Me from things. So, so I was like, bring this over first the the the, the anesthesiologist basically comes in around lunchtime. Yeah. Which is how everything else falls into place. Yeah. Because it’s about the.
00:38:28:58 – 00:38:41:46
Stefanie Stershic
Because, obviously, and for those that may not know, you can’t eat like, once you’re, you’re admitted though the that the as the pregnant lady you can’t eat. You can have fluids. They give you water. They give you ice.
00:38:41:46 – 00:38:42:55
Agent Palmer
You tried chicken broth.
00:38:42:55 – 00:38:57:49
Stefanie Stershic
They, they give you broths, which we didn’t even realize they would do. So they. Yeah, they, they basically they can give you broth. And so I tried to eat some of the broth just to. But then that’s the thing too. It’s like it doesn’t matter that you’re not able to eat because you do not feel like eating you.
00:38:57:51 – 00:39:08:52
Stefanie Stershic
You don’t have an appetite. So. And, and plus, I was hooked up the IV, so I was getting fluids for, from from that. So it was like I, I didn’t need to eat.
00:39:08:57 – 00:39:11:03
Agent Palmer
So but I did.
00:39:11:05 – 00:39:25:44
Stefanie Stershic
Yes, you did, and that was fine. But so finally I’m on. I’m the epidurals working. I still feel contraction contractions. So it needs I’ve obviously needs time to, to kick in, but finally the contractions, I feel them, but there’s no pain. And it’s like, okay, great.
00:39:25:48 – 00:39:28:13
Agent Palmer
This is at about 1212.
00:39:28:13 – 00:39:32:36
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah. And so I’m like, okay, thank God it’s finally kicking in. I’m not feeling it as much.
00:39:32:45 – 00:39:34:24
Agent Palmer
To you again. You’re three and a half.
00:39:34:29 – 00:39:34:56
Stefanie Stershic
Three and a half.
00:39:34:56 – 00:39:36:39
Agent Palmer
Four. No you were three and a half.
00:39:36:46 – 00:39:40:52
Stefanie Stershic
Okay I still think I was at four by that point.
00:39:40:52 – 00:39:44:44
Agent Palmer
Really gone. And the. You went from 3 to 3 and a half. Okay. You hadn’t really gone anywhere.
00:39:44:44 – 00:39:46:14
Stefanie Stershic
I remember them saying something about a four.
00:39:46:14 – 00:39:48:58
Agent Palmer
But trying to sleep. But every time you do.
00:39:49:07 – 00:39:51:25
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah. No. Well I say okay, I’m going to take a nap.
00:39:51:27 – 00:39:54:16
Agent Palmer
No you try. You were trying to get comfortable first.
00:39:54:21 – 00:39:55:21
Stefanie Stershic
Well, I was trying to get every.
00:39:55:21 – 00:39:59:34
Agent Palmer
Time you did, you disconnected something either. And I had to call.
00:39:59:46 – 00:40:01:46
Stefanie Stershic
The monitor or I had.
00:40:01:48 – 00:40:03:50
Agent Palmer
Either the baby monitor or your monitor or.
00:40:03:50 – 00:40:08:12
Stefanie Stershic
My monitor or the IV. I had been the IV in such a way that the IV machine would.
00:40:08:12 – 00:40:09:51
Agent Palmer
Not be calling the nurse in every.
00:40:09:53 – 00:40:11:33
Stefanie Stershic
Because they said something beeps.
00:40:11:38 – 00:40:13:08
Agent Palmer
Call us.
00:40:13:13 – 00:40:14:43
Stefanie Stershic
So stuff was beeping.
00:40:14:48 – 00:40:15:37
Agent Palmer
And we kept.
00:40:15:42 – 00:40:23:29
Stefanie Stershic
Beeping in the not way it was supposed to. So yeah. Yeah. So, that happens. But finally I got comfortable. I’m like, I’m going to take a nap.
00:40:23:36 – 00:40:25:59
Agent Palmer
Yeah, this is about 1230, almost one.
00:40:25:59 – 00:40:26:43
Stefanie Stershic
And I go to sleep.
00:40:26:56 – 00:40:27:25
Agent Palmer
You go to.
00:40:27:25 – 00:40:28:30
Stefanie Stershic
Sleep, I go to sleep.
00:40:28:35 – 00:40:32:18
Agent Palmer
And then at 330, doc comes back in.
00:40:32:18 – 00:40:33:17
Stefanie Stershic
The doctor, the nurse.
00:40:33:19 – 00:40:41:30
Agent Palmer
I’m not. I don’t sleep at all, but I’m just there. Yeah. At 330, doctor comes back in. He’s like, we’re going to check you. We’re going to try and break your water.
00:40:41:44 – 00:40:43:47
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah, we’re going to try to move things along.
00:40:43:57 – 00:40:44:24
Agent Palmer
Get going.
00:40:44:24 – 00:40:49:16
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah. Yep. So we can hopefully continue to to progress things.
00:40:49:21 – 00:40:50:01
Agent Palmer
They broke your water.
00:40:50:02 – 00:40:50:47
Stefanie Stershic
They broke my water.
00:40:51:02 – 00:40:56:09
Agent Palmer
And then the doc goes, hey, you’re you’re fully dilated. Yeah. It’s time to go.
00:40:56:15 – 00:40:59:04
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah, we’re going to we’re going to prepare to start pushing.
00:40:59:09 – 00:41:15:22
Agent Palmer
Oh what if you slept from three and a half to ten. Yeah. And it’s the it’s not like it’s time to push. It’s like it’s time to push. But first we have to get all this stuff into the room.
00:41:15:22 – 00:41:24:22
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah. Because they weren’t expecting this to be the case. So they have to bring in basically this, this cart of all of the, the implements and stuff that they could or maybe.
00:41:24:27 – 00:41:27:52
Agent Palmer
Needed and the recovery stuff. Yeah. And.
00:41:27:52 – 00:41:32:55
Stefanie Stershic
So and they prepare for it. So they’re, they’re kind of explaining like, yeah.
00:41:32:59 – 00:41:36:09
Agent Palmer
Okay, we’re getting to you. You’re not here yet in the story.
00:41:36:14 – 00:41:49:26
Stefanie Stershic
So they’re, they’re kind of explaining what’s going to happen, how to push, all these other things. And meanwhile the nurses are in the background counting all the implements, counting everything because they have to make sure that.
00:41:49:27 – 00:41:55:44
Agent Palmer
Well, and this is good because my mother always tells the story about how, like they were, they were worried at one point that they left a sponge in her.
00:41:55:44 – 00:42:12:07
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah, exactly. So they’re counting and recounting the sponges and the things and all of the implements and tools, and, and recounting and, and then finally about, at this point, almost four.
00:42:12:11 – 00:42:19:40
Agent Palmer
It’s a little before four. Yeah. And you start to push and the nurse. Yeah. The doctor. So by the way.
00:42:19:45 – 00:42:21:24
Stefanie Stershic
It’s okay.
00:42:21:29 – 00:42:28:34
Agent Palmer
So the doctor tells me you do what the nurse does to her leg.
00:42:28:39 – 00:42:28:57
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah.
00:42:29:00 – 00:42:34:33
Agent Palmer
No, I mean, I’m expecting to just be there for moral support, not, no lift up like.
00:42:34:38 – 00:42:37:17
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah, you you you get conscripted.
00:42:37:22 – 00:42:39:58
Agent Palmer
Into service to your leg. So.
00:42:39:58 – 00:42:49:19
Stefanie Stershic
Because basically I’m, I’m lying there, but. And because the epidural, I can’t feel my legs, so I can’t lift my legs. So one nurse has to lift the leg, put in the stirrup, or, well, put it in the stirrup.
00:42:49:19 – 00:42:49:48
Agent Palmer
And and.
00:42:49:48 – 00:42:54:30
Stefanie Stershic
Hold and then lift it out of the stirrups so that I can kind of grab behind my legs and help myself to push.
00:42:54:32 – 00:42:55:27
Agent Palmer
And so.
00:42:55:32 – 00:42:55:57
Stefanie Stershic
So you’re.
00:42:56:02 – 00:42:57:21
Agent Palmer
You’re conscripted to the other.
00:42:57:21 – 00:43:17:00
Stefanie Stershic
Leg. You’re the left leg, the nurse’s the right leg. And so every time it’s getting right, ready to push, they lift. You both lift my legs, I put my hands behind my thighs, and you push and I bear down and basically, like. Like you have to have the biggest poop of your life. That’s how you basically are pushing, and you just push.
00:43:17:04 – 00:43:23:41
Stefanie Stershic
They tell you to kind of like, really just like I said, bear down, push.
00:43:23:45 – 00:43:24:08
Agent Palmer
In.
00:43:24:13 – 00:43:32:04
Stefanie Stershic
For a while, and then you’re, you’re basically holding your breath and then you let it out, and then you breathe in and you do it again. So you’re basically breathing and holding and pushing.
00:43:32:04 – 00:43:49:49
Agent Palmer
The reason I know this is 5 to 4 is because, this bundle of joy in my arms arrived at 419. Yep. And you were basically pushing for less than 25 minutes. And then.
00:43:49:54 – 00:43:52:57
Stefanie Stershic
All of a sudden he was there, there was one, one final big push.
00:43:53:02 – 00:43:53:31
Agent Palmer
And.
00:43:53:42 – 00:44:03:51
Stefanie Stershic
And I, you know, there, there was, there was activity down there. I couldn’t really see it. You didn’t tell me at the time, but apparently he came out with the umbilical cord around his neck. Yeah.
00:44:03:51 – 00:44:04:36
Agent Palmer
And then the doc.
00:44:04:51 – 00:44:06:55
Stefanie Stershic
But the doc just kind of real, real quick.
00:44:06:55 – 00:44:14:42
Agent Palmer
The moment she took it out, he’s we started hearing, the cry cries. Yeah. They went skin to skin with you.
00:44:14:44 – 00:44:25:11
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah. Immediately. They wiped them off real quick. Did a real quick wiping off. And then he was immediately on my chest and I was staring down at the most gorgeous sight I had ever seen.
00:44:25:15 – 00:44:25:33
Agent Palmer
You.
00:44:25:42 – 00:44:32:19
Stefanie Stershic
A beautiful baby boy in my arms. Just not quite staring back at me because his eyes weren’t quite open.
00:44:32:23 – 00:44:34:29
Agent Palmer
You know. And they’re wiping him off. Yeah, and.
00:44:34:29 – 00:44:36:23
Stefanie Stershic
They’re wiping it off while he’s on me.
00:44:36:23 – 00:44:49:23
Agent Palmer
And he was, and then, after that, they start working on fixing you up. Yes. And they take him away to do the normal stuff. Whatever the normal stuff is. The measurements, some measurements, some.
00:44:49:23 – 00:44:51:32
Stefanie Stershic
Well, not even measurements. They they they.
00:44:51:32 – 00:44:52:22
Agent Palmer
Temperature.
00:44:52:26 – 00:44:58:32
Stefanie Stershic
Take they take his temperature. Because really, they were going to leave him on me for like at least an hour.
00:44:58:37 – 00:44:59:16
Agent Palmer
But he was cold.
00:44:59:16 – 00:45:11:00
Stefanie Stershic
But they said he was. It wasn’t they. He was cold, but he was too cold for their liking. Like there was a certain amount of. There was a certain temperature he had to be at. And so they’re like, you know what? We’re going to take him. We’re going to put them under the heat lamp.
00:45:11:05 – 00:45:25:08
Agent Palmer
And I go over to the heat lamp to be with him. Yes, and I can’t, but I’m not allowed to touch him. No, I’m just there. Yeah. So I start texting everyone. I got one photo, I got a couple photos, but there was one I got of him on your chest?
00:45:25:08 – 00:45:25:34
Stefanie Stershic
Yes.
00:45:25:39 – 00:45:38:09
Agent Palmer
Yeah. And so awe of you holding him. I’m not sure which. And so, I start texting people and after I text the grandparents and the friends, then I go, I can get the aunts and uncles in. Yeah. And then I got the aunts and uncles that are like, well, I guess I guess I.
00:45:38:09 – 00:45:46:45
Stefanie Stershic
Can tell you they’re leaving him under the heat lamp until he gets to the right temperature. And so they haven’t done anything at they haven’t measured him, they haven’t figured out his weight.
00:45:46:45 – 00:45:48:08
Agent Palmer
And everybody.
00:45:48:13 – 00:45:49:09
Stefanie Stershic
Everybody all one.
00:45:49:09 – 00:46:00:00
Agent Palmer
Is replying hey height, weight. What, what what what’s the number. Let’s give me the number. I don’t I don’t have any number. My mother’s like what’s the app score? I’m like, I have no idea.
00:46:00:01 – 00:46:14:38
Stefanie Stershic
They haven’t done anything yet because they hold off with that because they want to do skin to skin for a while. Until you get to the recovery room and then they, they basically will take the baby and do all of that stuff. But meanwhile, I have a significant tear. Yeah.
00:46:14:42 – 00:46:15:46
Agent Palmer
They were down.
00:46:15:51 – 00:46:16:25
Stefanie Stershic
They were they were.
00:46:16:25 – 00:46:16:57
Agent Palmer
You up for.
00:46:16:57 – 00:46:25:30
Stefanie Stershic
A while? While a while. And there’s different, there’s different categories at different levels. It’s 1 to 4 A.D.
00:46:25:35 – 00:46:26:54
Agent Palmer
And you had a three.
00:46:26:56 – 00:46:27:28
Stefanie Stershic
Three, eight.
00:46:27:28 – 00:46:28:27
Agent Palmer
Yeah.
00:46:28:31 – 00:46:46:21
Stefanie Stershic
The three eight. So I had a what they would consider a significant, significant tear. So it took a while to sew up to get the bleeding to stop and, and things like that. So it took a while. And then finally his temperature gets, gets up to where it needs to be. They hand it back to me.
00:46:46:21 – 00:46:48:22
Stefanie Stershic
I think you may have held him as well.
00:46:48:24 – 00:47:00:26
Agent Palmer
A little bit. And everybody now everybody knows and most importantly to you to follow up from some stuff from earlier. My parents are on their way. Yeah. With an Italian hoagie.
00:47:00:39 – 00:47:21:07
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah. Because that was the one thing I wanted, the very first thing that I wanted. Like in the hospital, first thing to eat wasn’t Italian hoagie, because that was one of the things, like I that would solve the, the not having had lunch meat dilemma that I had was, wasn’t really a dilemma, but it would basically, help with one of the things I was craving, which was lunch meat.
00:47:21:13 – 00:47:24:45
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah. So but it was all encompassing. It was going to be Italian hoagie.
00:47:24:50 – 00:47:38:20
Agent Palmer
And and when, when I called them because I called them, I said, we’re still in the delivery room. We should be in the recovery room by the time you get here. Yeah.
00:47:38:25 – 00:47:39:00
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah.
00:47:39:04 – 00:47:40:20
Agent Palmer
That was not the case.
00:47:40:20 – 00:47:43:13
Stefanie Stershic
No, because it was a shift change for the nurses. Well, it.
00:47:43:13 – 00:47:43:47
Agent Palmer
Started.
00:47:43:51 – 00:47:53:42
Stefanie Stershic
It was starting to be the shift. So it was going to we were weren’t sure when we were going to, to basically move to the recovery room, but we knew we were we were at some point going to move to the recovery room.
00:47:53:56 – 00:47:54:49
Agent Palmer
But not.
00:47:54:54 – 00:48:11:22
Stefanie Stershic
But not yet. Not yet. Yeah. Although one thing I did want to mention, speaking of nurses and the whole shift change, all the nurses were shocked at how quick this happened for us because it was all I think everybody had. The expectation was going to be hours upon hours upon hours, and.
00:48:11:26 – 00:48:16:43
Agent Palmer
We’d be waiting, or we’d be waiting hours upon hours of labor. But like.
00:48:16:48 – 00:48:25:16
Stefanie Stershic
The labor wouldn’t start for for many hours. Yeah. But nurses kept popping their heads and going, he’s here already.
00:48:25:21 – 00:48:33:16
Agent Palmer
Like, or you’re pushing here now she’s already. And then after. So they they play a lot of plays.
00:48:33:16 – 00:48:35:43
Stefanie Stershic
A lullaby every time a baby’s born, baby’s born.
00:48:35:43 – 00:48:40:34
Agent Palmer
And they were there, a couple were like this baby, this room, this room.
00:48:40:34 – 00:48:44:56
Stefanie Stershic
Hers, it had just gone off. And they’re like, this is for him. Like, this is for this room already.
00:48:45:00 – 00:49:07:20
Agent Palmer
It was so funny. Like, you’re all shocked when when he arrives into the world. Yeah. It’s not just the nurse holding your leg. Me and the doctor and the other two nurses. There’s, like, five other nurses that arrive to cheer you on. Yeah. And help you? Yeah. Like for moral support. Yeah, but they were every time they walked in the room.
00:49:07:33 – 00:49:08:54
Agent Palmer
Yeah. This, this room.
00:49:09:08 – 00:49:11:43
Stefanie Stershic
Already. All right. So it was so funny.
00:49:11:48 – 00:49:18:39
Agent Palmer
My parents arrive and we eat the first meal.
00:49:18:43 – 00:49:19:21
Stefanie Stershic
In the delivery.
00:49:19:21 – 00:49:20:20
Agent Palmer
Room. In the delivery room?
00:49:20:20 – 00:49:22:23
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah. He finally comes off the heat lamp.
00:49:22:23 – 00:49:24:07
Agent Palmer
Yep. He gets passed around.
00:49:24:07 – 00:49:29:11
Stefanie Stershic
He’s passed around like he comes to me. He comes to you. Your parents get to hold him. So we get the first photos of the grandparents.
00:49:29:11 – 00:49:37:56
Agent Palmer
That was very much, so we could eat, but I think I think both of my parents would have starved themselves. They’ll keep holding onto him for a little bit longer. Yeah, yeah.
00:49:37:56 – 00:49:46:57
Stefanie Stershic
And then because they ate first, and, and I was holding him, and then finally you took him from me and handed him to one of the parents, and I got the hoagie, and.
00:49:46:57 – 00:49:47:31
Agent Palmer
Then I got.
00:49:47:36 – 00:49:49:21
Stefanie Stershic
It. I got handed out to we.
00:49:49:21 – 00:49:50:53
Agent Palmer
You traded a baby for a home?
00:49:50:58 – 00:49:52:00
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah.
00:49:52:05 – 00:50:04:08
Agent Palmer
And so they hung. They were with us for, like, an hour or two. And we’re still in the delivery room, and they left around the time we start to get ready.
00:50:04:08 – 00:50:04:45
Stefanie Stershic
Ready to.
00:50:04:45 – 00:50:07:07
Agent Palmer
Move to the recovery room, at which point, which.
00:50:07:07 – 00:50:12:31
Stefanie Stershic
Was we go around the time that visiting hours were ending anyway. So I kind of worked out, I think they were there maybe like ten minutes.
00:50:12:40 – 00:50:13:09
Agent Palmer
Would say, but the.
00:50:13:09 – 00:50:14:39
Stefanie Stershic
Nurses didn’t care. Like nobody was.
00:50:14:39 – 00:50:15:26
Agent Palmer
Like and.
00:50:15:26 – 00:50:16:12
Stefanie Stershic
Right, like.
00:50:16:12 – 00:50:22:34
Agent Palmer
They were getting ready to leave. And I was like, she still has, a line in her back. Yeah. You’re like.
00:50:22:34 – 00:50:24:44
Stefanie Stershic
Oh, the epidural had been turned off for a while.
00:50:24:48 – 00:50:26:49
Agent Palmer
Off, but they didn’t disconnect.
00:50:26:54 – 00:50:43:00
Stefanie Stershic
It. Yeah, it was, it was well it was disconnected from the machine and everything like it was, it wasn’t working anymore. I was still numb. I was still completely numb. I couldn’t feel anything. But it wasn’t actively being used as far as the epidural was concerned, but it it needed to be removed before I went to the recovery room.
00:50:43:00 – 00:50:46:34
Stefanie Stershic
That was one of the things they’re like, oh, so they had to call the anesthesiologist and then.
00:50:46:34 – 00:50:47:40
Agent Palmer
We had to wait a little bit longer.
00:50:47:40 – 00:51:11:09
Stefanie Stershic
It took a little longer. They removed that, which was good Lord, I don’t know how people can get waxed on a regular basis because boy did that tear out all the hair on my back. While they were removing that thing, it was, it was not fun. It was. But they were really quick about it. And because I was still partially numb, like, I could still feel it, like it was, it was rough.
00:51:11:14 – 00:51:12:31
Stefanie Stershic
But then stuff torn on my back.
00:51:12:31 – 00:51:23:27
Agent Palmer
Finally end up in the recovery room. And that at this point, they take him for all of the the measurements, the scores that that’s when they take him.
00:51:23:27 – 00:51:28:54
Stefanie Stershic
Slightly ahead of us. Yep. Because we had to wait for the anesthesiologist. So we would have.
00:51:28:58 – 00:51:37:00
Agent Palmer
He was supposed to meet us in the recovery room. He ended up meeting us in the delivery room and walking with us to the recovery room. Yeah, yeah. Yes, I.
00:51:37:00 – 00:51:37:27
Stefanie Stershic
Think so.
00:51:37:29 – 00:51:38:12
Agent Palmer
Yeah. No.
00:51:38:12 – 00:51:39:01
Stefanie Stershic
Okay. Yeah.
00:51:39:01 – 00:51:46:43
Agent Palmer
I don’t I was the one who wasn’t drugged up. That’s how it happened. Okay. And then we end up in the recovery room. Yeah. And that’s.
00:51:46:54 – 00:51:49:18
Stefanie Stershic
Because I thought he didn’t show up until after we were in the recovery room.
00:51:49:18 – 00:52:02:17
Agent Palmer
No. And that will be, we’ll talk about that next.
00:52:02:22 – 00:52:22:37
Agent Palmer
As many of you know, my process is to work ahead. So I was well prepared for the first few months of fatherhood as far as taking a break from recording this podcast, but it had to start back up. And while I have recently been recording fast and furiously, this was my first time back behind the microphone. This was also Steph’s first time recording with me in the new basement studio.
00:52:22:37 – 00:52:44:16
Agent Palmer
And of course, in the background. Sometimes you can hear our bundle of joy, who I held for half of this episode and for a good portion of the next. If you’ve listened this far, you heard that we have one healthy child and were pregnant twice. For us, this happened early enough on that we didn’t know how to process it because we hadn’t even processed the idea of being pregnant.
00:52:44:21 – 00:53:10:31
Agent Palmer
But regardless of our confused emotions, we felt alone until we spoke to other people. Then we were wondering why, if so many people have gone through this, why is everyone keeping it so under wraps? It’s one of the reasons we wanted to do this episode, to point to something and say, yes, this has a happy ending, but if you can relate to the first non-viable pregnancy, then you’re not alone and you should never feel isolated because of it.
00:53:10:36 – 00:53:31:56
Agent Palmer
In the meantime, the next episode is all about our first few months as new parents. We didn’t skip over that part. We just couldn’t fit it all into one episode. And of course, new episodes will continue every two weeks thereafter. How will fatherhood change? In the podcast other than perspective? I’m not sure it will. Thanks for listening to The Palmer Files episode 150.
00:53:31:56 – 00:53:56:35
Agent Palmer
And now for the official business. The Palmer Files releases every two weeks on Tuesdays. If you’re still listening, I encourage you to join the discussion. You can find all related ways to contact us in the show. Notes. Stefanie. Stershic was a special guest executive producer for this episode. The music for this episode was provided by Henno Heitur. Email and comments can be sent to this show at The Palmer Files at gmail.com, and remember, you’re home for all things.
00:53:56:35 – 00:54:09:28
Agent Palmer
Agent Palmer is Agent palmer.com.
00:54:09:33 – 00:54:43:40
Unknown
You will be.
00:54:43:45 – 00:54:47:00
Agent Palmer
All right, staff, do you have one final question for me?
00:54:47:04 – 00:55:01:03
Stefanie Stershic
Yes. And and I’m going to ask this on behalf of people who have already asked us this, because this is not something that I would normally ask because I know the answer. But, the question is, are we going to have another one.
00:55:01:08 – 00:55:02:08
Agent Palmer
One and done.
00:55:02:13 – 00:55:02:49
Stefanie Stershic
One and done.
00:55:02:49 – 00:55:03:36
Agent Palmer
One and done.
00:55:03:41 – 00:55:04:08
Stefanie Stershic
Easy?
00:55:04:17 – 00:55:05:45
Agent Palmer
It’s like, no.
00:55:05:50 – 00:55:07:43
Stefanie Stershic
We definitely don’t want another one. No.
00:55:07:43 – 00:55:13:13
Agent Palmer
And we talked to nurses that were like, yeah, you forget all the pain.
00:55:13:13 – 00:55:24:57
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah. You basically get amnesia like mother is going to be. Yeah. Because we would never want to do it again. Yeah, I already don’t want to do it again. The amnesia may not be working for me because I remember exactly. I may have not remembered.
00:55:25:10 – 00:55:35:02
Agent Palmer
It takes a little bit, but we’re also in the wheel. Yeah, that’s what another episode is for. Well, yeah, it’s we’re in the not sleeping necessarily and that’s a whole different.
00:55:35:06 – 00:55:42:08
Stefanie Stershic
Yeah. Well plus they tell you to to wait a while before you have another one anyway. So I guess by that point the idea is that, you know, we’re still.
00:55:42:13 – 00:55:47:37
Agent Palmer
Too close for the amnesia to really kick in. But no, we’re not even two months. Yeah, we’re, we’re we’re one and done.
00:55:47:42 – 00:55:58:12
Stefanie Stershic
But we’re one and done. Yeah, yeah. And people are like, are you sure? It’s like, yeah, yeah. No, we were already thinking that beforehand. I mean, you’re an only child. I’m not. But I’m fine with him being an only child. Yeah.
00:55:58:17 – 00:56:00:08
Agent Palmer
It’s fine. It’ll work. It’s fine.
00:56:00:17 – 00:56:03:36
Stefanie Stershic
We we are not the youngest, of of parent. Parent. No.
00:56:03:37 – 00:56:04:41
Agent Palmer
So. And so,
00:56:04:45 – 00:56:11:08
Stefanie Stershic
We don’t exactly have time. And considering what I would consider complications, the gestational diabetes.
00:56:11:19 – 00:56:12:13
Agent Palmer
Yeah, we do that.
00:56:12:19 – 00:56:32:54
Stefanie Stershic
The risks of a geriatric pregnancy. I’m already 38 now because I had my birthday in January, so, while I was still pregnant, I went from 37 to 38. And he was born shortly after, so. Yeah. So I’m younger than you. But not by much. Yeah, but, like four years just now.
00:56:32:54 – 00:56:33:45
Agent Palmer
Just the one.
00:56:33:50 – 00:56:44:25
Stefanie Stershic
I don’t want to know what possible complications and things could happen if we just. If we did have another one and it’s like, yeah, no, I yeah, no. And I’m fine with just having one child.
00:56:44:30 – 00:56:46:36
Agent Palmer
So am I. Yeah.
00:56:46:41 – 00:56:47:15
Stefanie Stershic
So there we go.
–End Transcription–
This transcription was processed by PalmerTech 3.1 and may contain errors for HUMINT (human intelligence).