Latest / Corpus Christi Originals Podcast / #94 | Women’s Edition #2 | Melanie Sandoval founder of Doula Things with Mel

Transcript

#94 | Women’s Edition #2 | Melanie Sandoval founder of Doula Things with Mel · Corpus Christi Originals Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: What's going on y'all?
• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to the Corpus Christi Originals Podcast, Women's Edition, episode number two.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Estu Siladio, and this is our second episode celebrating the extraordinary women shaping our city for South Texas.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Today's guest, Melanie Sandoval, a full-spectrum doula, certified doula trainer and founder of Doula Things with Male and Kindred Hearts, Perinatal and Family Support.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: A nonprofit she launched in 2023 while 18 weeks pregnant and dealing with a brain tumor diagnosis.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: As a first-generation Mexican-American woman and single mother of three, Melanie has turned her own traumatic birth experiences and health struggles into a mission, providing bilingual trauma-informed care to South Texas families, especially to those who've been left out of the system.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: She pays for her own medical care out of pocket and knows what it's like to have access to basic health care, which drives everything she does.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're talking about maternal health, uh men's mental health, immigration, healthcare access, and building stronger communities for our families.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: Melanie, thank you for being here, part of the Women's Edition.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you so much.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_04: It's such an honor to be here, you know, just to be given the space and a platform for my voice to be heard and for the message to be heard, you know, because especially in times right now, community means everything.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_04: Because we are we're getting to some hard spots, you know, and when it comes to services, the government we've seen that will push us to the side, you know.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_04: They we have to figure out a way to get things um in a way that isn't just survival, you know.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_04: We need to also be able to thrive, not all just be surviving, you know, and it starts from our food, you know, our food, our healthcare.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and even I think the way of living and the style of living recently has changed a lot.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_04: And that community mindset and that community lifestyle has changed.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and I really feel like it should come back.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's very interesting.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: I've recently been putting my thoughts on paper regarding this podcast and the direction that it's headed.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: And community always it seems to be a huge theme, basic the basic theme around it.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Because when people tell me, Oh, I like what you're doing with your podcast, I don't know.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because when I started, like when we were just talking before we started, I started my podcast out of from from a brand that I created for hats and t-shirts to generate more content, right?
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then started doing that, and then I just started noticing people's stories, how much people love the community and stuff like that.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: So now, like it I have more of a mission now for what this is about.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: So it's cool that you entered mentioned community.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I mean it's a really big thing, you know.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_04: Everyone is going through something, you know, whether it be mental health or you're avoiding your mental health problems and drowning them and whatever it may be, you know, because at the end of the day, if we're being real, you can be addicted to any single thing.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_04: And that's where mental health comes in, you know.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and now there are tools and resources that you can do, and it shouldn't be something you should be ashamed about, you know.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_04: Like, for instance, I went through something very hard at the beginning of this year where I had to be committed into the hospital.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_04: And me for me to go through something like that, it was earth-shattering because I was like, what am I doing?
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_04: I'm a mom, I'm a business owner, you know, like the shame hit me so hard.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_04: And it made me feel so weak.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_04: But when I hit that rock bottom moment, the ones who were giving me the strength and just allowing me and giving me space to just exist and not have to be the doula or have to be Melanie, or I could just be and exist and not have to do anything, it was very restorative, and it got me to a point where I thought to myself, we can literally do what we want to do with our time.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_04: If we want to build something that's gonna benefit others, we can do that, and that's where we're at in this political climate, in this um gen these generations, because nobody's gonna save us.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_04: And the only way to create these resources is that we come together as a community and use these tools and resources to amplify voices, to um talk about the things that we we go through as a community.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I was born in Aranzas, raised in Ingleside, like I said earlier.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_04: But I spent the last 10 years in San Antonio and seeing the way that community comes together.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_04: For instance, when I found out that I had my brain tumor, I was 18 weeks pregnant, and I was already a well-known doula in San Antonio, and so the community completely surrounded me and my family and my partner.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_04: Um, well, my ex-boyfriend.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_04: And so it was beautiful to see everyone come together and and literally save me.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_04: Because when someone goes through something like that, you what are the next steps?
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_04: You know, you don't know what to do.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_04: And so that's also why my passion for and why Kindred Hearts exists.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_04: Because also, like you said, it's like a mission that you you get from it.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_04: Um, Kindred Hearts is is here to be able to provide doula support, not just for mothers and for birthing people, but also for people who are navigating the medical system.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_04: Community health workers that are covered by Medicaid.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_04: I'm a community health worker now as well.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_04: And so I'm really trying to build something to where we can give these services to people and help them navigate the system.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_04: Because the system is there to help, but we don't know how to navigate it.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it makes yeah, it makes me think about like uh financial like responsibility in our households and stuff like that, you know?
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um something that's not taught, but I think it's important to touch on, you know.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: As far as being responsible with money, so that way you can have access to these instead of depending on the system.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, you know what I'm saying?
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um and because like you said, they're they're not gonna come for like uh what did you say?
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: You said like they're not gonna save us.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: They're not gonna save us.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: They're not.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: So we have to save ourselves survive and then eventually thrive.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_04: And it's a it's a system, you know, like I recently last year in November, actually, it's gonna be a year this week.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_04: Um the last birth that I went to.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I actually had a seizure at that birth.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_04: I was practicing with the brain tumor.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I was on seizure medication, I was taking them around the clock.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_04: I hadn't had a seizure in over a year, and I decided to take a client.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_04: She was a repeat client, so she was like, I don't want anybody, it's fine.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_04: I'm here, like I know you, it's okay.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_04: And I was like, okay.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_04: And so I had her sign like a disclosure and everything.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_04: And so I ended up having a seizure in her living room.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_04: And when that happened, I I realized that there was also something else next to the brain tumor.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_04: Um, because they did studies and things, but that was such a pivotal moment for me because um I got sick again.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_04: I couldn't handle like life anymore.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_04: I needed, I depended on so many people after having that one seizure.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_04: And so I had to not just physically but mentally and emotionally get out of the depression of not being able to function anymore, not being able to be the mom that takes the kids to the zoo and to the duceum, you know, all the places.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_04: And I had to rebuild myself from scratch.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_04: And so now that I'm at a point where I'm going to the gym four to five times a week, I'm lifting 205 pounds on a deadlift, and I'm hitting PRs, and I'm just like, I actually just made a post.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_04: Like, I had you told me that this was gonna be me three years from my brain tumor diagnosis, I would say that you're crazy.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_04: Holy smoke.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_04: And a lot of people, you know, a lot of people have a lot to say.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_04: People are like, oh, she goes out to dance, and she's fine, she doesn't have a brain tumor.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_04: Or she's working out, she doesn't have a brain tumor, she's fine.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_04: It's come out of people's mouths.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: Damn, all that on top of all the other.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_04: What noise to listen to?
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Music to listen to.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it's bad.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's right.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Man, that's that's quite a story.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: So man, so all you go through all that stuff and people wouldn't want to like continue.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Some people were would just be stuck.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: I was thinking about this the other day too.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: I I have a personal podcast and I was mentioning you just gotta keep going, right?
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: And that some people just decide like they want not want to continue because of adversity or whatever happens to them.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's uh it's not gonna stop.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: We know that now.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be until basically we die, there's no adversity, uh you know, whatever your beliefs are, but uh up until that point it seems like it's always gonna be there and so people just like give up.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, and it's cool that you you're able to create things, even though you have you know the tumor and you have kids and you're single and you got like you're like like the persona of Latina strength, you know what I'm saying?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_03: This is why I wore the jean jacket with the sandals and the Selena vibe.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well you're you're first gen you said you you mentioned your first generation.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so my mother was brought here um because my grandfather came in the in the time where they were handing out social security cards at the border.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_04: Oh wow.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_04: I think it's because they were they were doing like a reform to get workers.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_04: Um and my grandpa, they came in legally.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_04: Um, they're all residents now.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_04: Don't come from my family.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but yeah, so she she I was made in Mexico and born here.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_04: So um yeah, they were here and we actually were a family that worked at the Ingleside Tortilla factory, Twin Pizza.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_04: Um there was so many different little spots there in Ingleside that that we that we were a part of.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_04: And my grandmother actually was the first in our no, actually my my sister and my grandmother.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_04: So my sister lives with one lung, one functioning lung.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, when she I don't know if there's some sort of correlation, which I'll probably talk about because why not?
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_04: Because of the water, because of corpus, because of the all of the things, but she had a tumor.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know what type of tumor it was, but um, because I was six years old, she was four, and she had a tumor that grew in her lung and she just stopped breathing.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_04: And they had to remove the tumor, but then it came back three months later, and so they had to remove her entire lung.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_04: So she lives with one lung and has since she was four.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_04: And so she played soccer, and so anytime that it gets hard for me, I think of my sister.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_04: Wow, yes, I'm like, she excuse my friend, she's a bad bean, yeah, for sure, because she's doing it on 50% oxygen, yeah, genius.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_04: So, um, but yeah, so and then my grandmother also has cancer, and she's had cancer for a very long time.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_04: I've helped navigate the system and all that with her and translating, you know, because they only know Spanish.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_04: Spanish, wow, and so being here in the United States actually gave them the privilege of being able to be seen by the world's best oncologists and all of the things.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_04: My sister was seen at Driscoll Children's Hospital, my grandmother is seen at MD Anderson in Houston.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_04: And she's she's worked, she worked at a as a janitor in a school in Eagleside and she had insurance.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, there was things that were privileges because they were able to come here.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_04: And so I think that people see immigration and they see it, oh, it's so easy to get like status.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_04: It's not.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_04: My my grandparents, my parents have been here since I was born.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_04: I'm 29 years old.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_04: My mother just got her green card six years ago, and she couldn't go back to Mexico.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_04: My father, he also couldn't go back to Mexico because as soon as you go, you can't come back.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_04: And he his parents both passed away in Mexico with him here because he had a family to provide for.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_04: So those are the things that people don't talk about.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_04: Those are the things that people like when we're talking about immigration, when we're talking about mental health, you know, especially men's mental health, you know, like yes, uh women's mental health and all the things, but also when you're talking about the family unit, which has been completely destroyed in this generation, we we've miss out on speaking on the man as well.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_04: And the man doesn't know how to articulate what they're feeling because the previous generation said, no, you're a man, you don't cry.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_04: Boys don't cry, and so now they can't they see it as a weakness, and they think that they're not emotional, but the only emotion they know how to feel is anger.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I can definitely relate to that.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've been married uh 13 plus years.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: Man, I did not know how to communicate at all.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: That on top of being ADD, ADHD, you know, bottling up all those thoughts for years and just like being taught to like work uh at work hard at what you do, you know, and don't pick your head up unless you you're you're going to a different task or something, you know.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um so definitely can relate to that, man.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it's interesting that you bring up mental men's mental health in all the stuff that you're doing, you know.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so I guess so I go why why do you think well another thing you mentioned too is the family unit that it's basically destroyed with this generation.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um what are your thoughts on on those on those for further?
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_04: So I think that when you look at the history of uh America, you know, the public school system was built back with the industrial revolution and it was teaching people how to work and the working hours, and it was like a factory to just create working bodies, you know.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_04: The public school system has now changed, but it still hasn't really changed.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_04: You know, they're they're teaching us the basic things that we need, um, but they aren't teaching the social and emotional um well-being of the children.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_04: For instance, um I had my girls in San Antonio in a school called Acton Academy, which they actually just opened one here in Corpus, which was amazing to see.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_04: I was so excited.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but their way of teaching is um they use like a bucks or a uh a B buck system.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_04: So each kid has a task that they have to do a responsibility.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_04: If they don't do that task and somebody catches that they don't do that task, that person can then go, give me a B buck.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_04: You didn't do your task.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and so that's kind of how and at the end of the week, they're able to buy from a little thing that it's like a dollar tree little thing.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_04: So they they learn responsibility and community and holding each other accountable and working together as a community.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_04: And my oldest has autism, and she knows that she has autism and she knows that she is different, and she feels that people treat her differently.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_04: And so it was really important for me to find something like that with my kids because I wanted to build that sense of community.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_04: You know, that sense of community starts with if you see trash on the floor, pick it up.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_04: If you see that somebody is missing or that they lost, they dropped$100, call them, tell them, hey, you just dropped$100, you know?
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_04: And that's kind of where that starts.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I think I got way off topic.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_04: I'm sorry.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, definitely community, community is huge, and it's interesting that you mention mentioned the industrial, I guess, revolution.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like just working bodies and kids going to school, parents going to work, the kids are at school eight hours, ten, ten hours a day, you know.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: You really don't have a lot of time to speak into your kids' life.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, homeschooled my my daughter's homeschooled.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um she's uh she's I think she's ADD, kind of like me.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: And my son is a little on on the autistic spectrum.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: And uh the kids the schools like the not the school system, but the community is brutal against those kids.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because they're they're not the normal working person that they want them to be.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: They're they don't fit the mold, you know what I mean?
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: And uh definitely relate to that.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, you mentioned that that about uh the family unit.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and for men it the responsibility, especially now with finances, you know, the the load that they carry where they have to physically work, especially down here in South Texas, you know, most are working blue-collared working men, you know.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_04: My ex is my ex-husband is a master plumber, and um my ex-boyfriend is a crane operator.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_04: And so both of them, I had to hold down the house 24-7.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_04: So they never they never got to come home.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, well, well, with me, yes.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_04: Like they would get to come home and I I would be like, let's talk about it, you know, like let's let's figure out how to move forward.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_04: But because men aren't taught to talk about their feelings, sometimes they feel attacked or um they only know how to feel angry and they don't know how to communicate what they're feeling.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_04: And so now that I'm raising a son, my entire perspective has changed.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_04: And I see my ex-partners and I see how I could have been better as a partner because I'm not perfect, and I'm a Latina.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_04: They say we're spicy, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_04: But I think that understanding that it comes from a place where it's the way that we're raised.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_04: It's not just what religion or what this, what it's not that.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_04: It's how you treat your neighbor.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_04: It's how you're, for instance, like me, ever I I've always been this way.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_04: I I'll see um somebody in their little the wheelchair at the cart, I mean at the car coming up to their car.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_04: I'll load their groceries up and then I'll go put the cart up and help them into their car because I know what it's like.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_04: My own grandmother goes through these things.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_04: So I think it's important to also talk about that men's mental health.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_04: I also watched my grandfather, he was the provider for our entire family.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_04: And he was once bit by a rattlesnake and they had to amputate his toe.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, shoot.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_04: That hurts a man's ego when you have to sit on your butt for a really long time when you're used to waking up at five in the morning, going and doing this and that, and you know, it it's that that urgency to provide and the responsibility, and it can be really hard.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_04: And the suicide rate for men is actually very high because of that, because it gets so heavy that they can't carry it anymore.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I had Creon Martin uh the last podcast.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well, his his uh leg got messed up and and on the job.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so he he was like on the verge of tears, like just thinking about it because he was saying thinking like how am I gonna provide for my family now?
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: So he had a whole stint where he was basically grieving over that and it's real, you know, it's uh it is a real thing um for for for men as well as women.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like we both have our e our share of difficulties, you know.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's almost like you have to want to stay together, you know, or want the the marriage to work or want to stay with your partner for a long time, you know.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: And um we mentioned that too that it's it's rare nowadays.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: The trouble is finding a uh you know finding somebody that you want to spend the rest of your life with.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: Teaching my daughter, my son how how to look for a spouse should that point come in in time, you know?
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um and one of the ways is for for me being an example which is I think is one of the main ways that kids learn is their parents being the example and how that's how they actually learn uh instead of just telling them you know you have to like show them how to do it.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_04: They watch everything.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: Everything.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: They watch how you 'cause I'm teaching my daughter how to I teach you where money comes from.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: It comes from work.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Does it I mean because like I guess when growing up like some families are they give their kids money because they like an allowance or something.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: An allowance or they feel like it's their duty like I have to give them money for college or I have to give them money for this.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: Oh they're asking me for money I have to yeah I mean it's your responsibility to clothe them you know give them a roof give them food stuff like that.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: But when when they're when they leave the house what are they going to think of that money comes from oh it comes from mom and dad.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: Mom and dad I need some more money.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: Mom and dad I need some more money if you show them you clean your room you get five bucks.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: You don't clean your room you don't get five bucks basic stuff instead of allowing them yeah that's a responsibility responsibility yeah there are things that are there yeah that's exactly how I parent my kids to that's you can't just hand out money it doesn't grow on trees I mean yeah I mean I I like to give them stuff I mean yeah but did you earn it?
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah yeah have you given me attitude because I want to give you attitude all the time man so uh messy 24 so you launched uh Kindred Hearts what what is that so what is that um yeah so kindred hearts um is a nonprofit and right now I am fiscally sponsored by moms in motion the moms in motion project um I'm a host with her so what I do is every Wednesdays and Thursdays I we meet at Cole Park and me and all of the moms who want even if you're not a mom who are just wanting to come out um women coming out and walking and we walk two miles we all have our strollers I have my kid with me so a lot of the times I'll be with him but most of the time I'm helping with other moms um with their kids or like we kind of just like a little community like a network.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah pretty cool.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah and some people have businesses some are stay at home moms um some are on their own personal health journeys yeah um and so it's really cool to to have built this little community of women who are all different in all kinds of ways but we have one thing in common and it's motherhood or womanhood.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_04: Right right and so having that safe split that safe space where everyone is welcome you know like we I'm very big especially with kindred hearts and including all communities so BIPUC um LGBTQ IA plus communities um and I coming from an Indigenous descent from a bloodline of indigenous descent it's really important to also incorporate all of those things and so I I named it Kindred Hearts because I feel like the work that I do is heart work.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_04: It's heart work because people are welcoming me into their life and trusting me with this information and allowing me to guide them through that experience.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_04: And I always say I want everyone's experience with me to be the best experience that they could have you know but there are times like for instance when I was getting sick there were times that things happen and um and sometimes we have to hold ourselves accountable and do the growth to then hit the next level you know so yeah Kendred Hearts what it does is it provides uh doula trainings so I am a doula trainer with Kappa International which is a big doula training agency they're very well known and they're about 30 years old um and so I'm a bilingual teacher so I teach doula's in both English and in Spanish so that is where I want to be able to offer scholarships for BIPOC um people who want to become doulas.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_04: What's BIPOC BIPUC is black, indigenous or people of color okay okay um and so the the communities have always been excluded you know because we're different it's almost like how you describe like the ADD and the ADHD it's like they treat us different because of a different culture or our skin tone you know and so it's still very prevalent.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_04: I've seen it even in the hospitals when I'm supporting a client.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_04: Interesting.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_04: So um Kindred Hearts offers scholarships for doula trainings um also free doula services um eventually I want to be able to serve the entire state of Texas but right now my mission is South Texas.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_04: So San Antonio down to the valley and I want to be able to help where it needs help.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_04: So there's a lot of teenage pregnancies down here there's 13 14 15 16 year olds having babies babies having babies um teenagers are one of my missions as well having a doula for them is detrimental to not just their childhood they're having a baby but that is part of their childhood and so adula is someone who is trained and some are certified some aren't um but they're trained to navigate the um birth process so for instance we are educated in the anatomy the physiology um we also teach um some of us like only home births some like only birth center births and some do all of them I love doing hospital births hospital births are my favorite um yeah it's I think it's because I'm able to bridge the gap between the ob and the provid and the the patient because most of the time dot OBs are like oh my god they have a doula and they think that like I'm gonna come for them or something but I'm not I'm really just there to help the communication you know and so informed decision making we teach all of those things um and then we we guide through the process but not just the person who's giving birth the mom we're also supporting the partner and that's where my passion for men's mental health and all of that happened.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_04: I've literally had six foot five giant gladiator man that had three world tours in Afghanistan crying in my shoulder because he couldn't do anything while his wife was going through an emergency.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_04: Oh and nobody could support her but the staff the people that were there.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_04: So you know like when you're a doula you see the sides of people that not even they have seen and that's why I became a trauma informed care provider.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_04: Whoa trauma informed care provider can you talk about that a little bit more yeah so um as a trauma informed care provider I understand and I was trained to understand the way that trauma happens and the way that it's stored in the body I have witnessed over 200 births.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_04: Wow and it every single one of those births those people were going through a transformation within themselves and either they were releasing reliving or just completely going through trauma.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_04: So for instance I'll I'll talk about a client um she I I was the backup doula for her the previous doula was already with her for 24 hours she was delivering at a birth center um but because she was so exhausted and maternal exhaustion is one of the biggest reasons why women transfer from a home birth or a birth center birth which is out of the hospital to the hospital um because they get really excited about labor and birth and all these things instead of like really just taking their time and not getting too excited but it's inevitable.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_04: So um she I ended up coming in and she we were going to transfer to the hospital we had the conversation and we got to the hospital and she said I don't want a male OB I was like okay that gave me one indication of like okay she might be a survivor survivor of rape sexual assault abuse physical abuse emotional whatever it may be I never pry because obviously I was the back Abdullah so I didn't have a rapport with this client so um we ended up getting into the room and I cleared the room and I asked her and I because of the way that she was so sheltered and she was covered she didn't want um anybody to look at her it was very obvious that something was happening and so I asked her I was like are you a survivor of sexual assault and she just started crying and she told me yes and as a doula I know that an epidural sometimes can be trauma informed care.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_04: Because when a person survives rape that stays with them when a person is having their cervix checked with the doctor's fingers it can be a very similar feeling.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_04: Oh so it can bring back those feelings and because birth is such an innate experience it can our brain will shut down and we'll we're not safe we're not doing this we can't the baby's not coming out wow yes so an epidural what it does is it numbs the nerves from the waist down and allows the body to open so that's why sometimes I feel like an epidural is uh trauma informed care.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_04: That's so crazy.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_04: So we actually recommended an epidural to her and she had a baby four hours later.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah so and and these are the experiences that I've gone through and that have really given me the knowledge to understand the way that the human body works the way that trauma works and I can see how the family unit has just been completely shattered and and it has to do a lot with men's mental health you know like for instance both of my ex-partners their dads weren't present in their life because they were part of that industrial revolution because they had to work so much and they were parented or their moms were single moms you know so so yeah so so you're talking so you're touching on mental health again which is cool it's fine yeah so I guess I I want to dig into that more like what's the I mean and then you mentioned that that the what that the family system is is messed up.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah so can you explain a little bit more we'll talk a little bit more about that I think that people really need to understand that when it comes to having children you really like it's not just like let's get pregnant.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_04: Right you have to do your research like there's actually it's at the tip of your fingers there's literal research that shows you what ways you can parent a child and the way that they will thrive and that correlates with the social emotional wellbeing of the child with trauma if a child is living in an environment where it's chaos all the time and people are constantly changing and they're not gonna thrive and so there are some times where it's inevitable.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_04: For instance I guilt myself all the time because I'm like I could have just stayed quiet.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_04: I could have just stayed you know but I have so much peace now and so that's I think people need to understand that you make those choices you choose who you want in your life and you choose the life that you want to live and that goes into the parenting you know when you're parenting it's a sacrifice for both not just for mom it's both like dad also has to start getting the mentality right of like you're not gonna be going all those locals anymore.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_04: You're not gonna be having your bachelor pad you're not gonna be going out with friends like yeah once a month but making sure that your wife or your partner is taken care of or that she's also getting a break when you're getting a break you know so it's like it's that dynamic that needs to be found and it's not there.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_04: And I feel like a lot of men have this new culture of I don't know if it's because of the whole Andrew Tate thing.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know if you ever saw Andrew Tate yeah for sure for sure yeah yeah yeah I got where they see us as like disposable or you know when it's like I'm a human too I also carry the same value and the same worth we just have different responsibilities in society.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah for sure you know yeah yeah no for sure like I think I want to bring up too like even even like pornography.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah um it's desensitized definitely definitely like I was victim to it you know um when I was younger and I think that that had had my mind to think that women are objects intersexualize that way.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yes and so and I think that music culture talks about women that way so that's how they're gonna get treated.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: It isn't until you change that mindset you realize that there's an actual person here that is a woman different from a man and not not to step on anybody's toes or whatever goes but there's a difference you know um in between the two and it isn't until you realize that then you can actually move forward and go forward.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because otherwise you're just gonna keep treating them like that.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know um and I definitely think that marriage is is another step a a level up from singlehood.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because you'd be single for so long and then eventually it's like the natural progression is to have a partner with you.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: Have kids.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: So for me it's like that's the next level marriage is is the next level in in a man's perspective just from a man's perspective because like you said no more go you know you have responsibilities now.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: You've got a person that you're sharing a life with and you have two kids you know I have two kids that I'm responsible for along you know together with my spouse.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's like if people if we could grasp that as a society it society would be a lot better.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_04: Oh yeah one thousand but and now we've gotten to a place where society has built this fear around getting into a relationship with someone just because of like the instability of one person or another or mental health you know like they're like oh well for instance with me I'm very transparent with my entire situation because I don't want anybody popping up into my inbox thinking that they can handle everything when they really can so um but it's it's honestly like people make the choice you make the choice of what you want to put up with at the end of the day you make the choice of what you want to go through what you want to put up with and people now they're like I'd rather be single you know and that's kind of where I'm at right now.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah you know like I've been dating here and there but it's like it's it's almost like a waste of time because you get ghosted or you know like there's no more respect.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: So crazy yeah it's like because like uh like I look like sometimes I listen to like the those that whole man culture and like on YouTube and stuff.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's like uh what do they they say like different things they have different terms and stuff like that and I don't know but definitely I think that plays a part into it too like you mentioned earlier about Andrew Tate and all that stuff especially the young boy the young teenagers they I mean wow it's just uh you have to find I think you have to find that uh find faith you know what I mean find have faith in in in in what humanity is you know what I mean you could and there's there's a bunch of different arguments on that as well you know so I think that has a lot to do with it as well.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah but I think that it's up to us to understand that as humans we are all allowed to exist in our s in our own self regardless if my beliefs are different than your beliefs but then there comes a times where where those beliefs start impacting entire community.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah like how we're experiencing now.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_04: Explain like going to more about Yeah um I've watched so I have I have a lot of friends who are activists from all over the country.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_04: You know I have people in New York and Los Angeles like and they post videos of the protests where they are in and these are people that I know yeah they have posted videos of ICE agents ramming doors down with children in the home and arresting people because they have an illegal status and is it like first of all the argument is anyone illegal on stolen land first of all second of all there should be they should be doing that in a kind way to get them their green cards.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_04: They're making this claim that they are they're only going for the the drug dealers and the rapists and all they're not they are not they're going for the welders they're going for the blue collar workers that are out here building Shineer and building Volstapine and building all of the things here in the harbor even people who are building the houses you know like they're literally arresting them even people who don't have who do have green cards and it's really stressful for me to and I speak about it because it's stressful for me.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_04: My ex-husband has DACA and DACA is a legal status and you renew every two years um and you have certain qualifications or you have certain requirements in order to qualify and he qualified with all of them because he graduated from here he he's been here since he was 10 years old and so um he's here legally but if at any point in time he gets arrested and he has my girls with him which he takes every weekend with him where do my kids go and I don't think that like this is just a situation I'm an American citizen because I was born here.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_04: But I don't I think people are so far detached from situations like this that they can turn a blind eye.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_04: And us that it's happening to us and it's we're living the actual fear it almost brings back I don't know if you remember like in 05 where they had in the Aranzus um Walmart I remember they had they're called retenis um blockage I think I don't know where where they were stopping everyone and asking for their okay their status and I remember that my my parents were so scared to leave the house you know and it was like what what do we do?
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_04: You know and I remember those those feelings of fear and those children are going through that now.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_04: Wow and this trauma is happening again to another generation.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah yeah so so I guess since like the these recent events have been happening were were you were you like I guess passionate?
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_00: I I assuming you're a bit passionate about it but like were your thoughts like that before all this stuff started happening?
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_04: Oh yeah I feel like I've always been an activist.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_04: Okay okay right yeah I think I always tell my friends know this I always I'm like I love making people feel uncomfortable but I mean I'm just I'm just real you know and we really can't care what people have to say or think.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_04: Imagine if I cared I wouldn't I wouldn't be sitting here right now.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_00: For sure like and we can get so caught up in like what what our family thinks and how we were raised Like if say you had like I like I research like narcissism and stuff like that, right?
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have a narcissist, somebody that you live with like a mother or a father, all you did was wanting what they did.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_00: So when you're you leave the house or you grow up and want to have your own stuff, it's difficult because you've had so many years of being I guess trapped, you could say, uh, in that mentality.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: So having to break it is is uh is huge.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: What's up, Monty, Monty on YouTube, uh Facebook, thanks for joining.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_00: So just uh break breaking that mold and like even I think that's huge for a society also for people to have their own thoughts and their own be able to set boundaries.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, and that's the biggest thing.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_04: I think that people get upset when we set boundaries.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_04: But people are entitled to have and feel their own feelings.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_04: Of course, yeah.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_04: But you're not gonna be hurting people because you don't like something.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_00: For sure, yeah.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_00: And it it's still so constraining when people when people do that to you, and you see it in the workplace, and it's just bad for society altogether.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_00: And then social media comes, plays a part to all that, and people can just say whatever they want and not even be in front of you, you know what I mean?
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_04: No, I that was one of the things that recently irked me because there was someone that was very close to me who was claiming that I made up the brain tumor and the cancer and all, and actually like blasted it all over in a community on social media.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, crazy.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_04: So it it was really, yeah.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_00: How does it make you feel?
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I was really hurt, I was really hurt because I was like, damn, I I trusted my intuition with this one.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_04: But it just reminded me of the work that I still had to do within myself, and then at the same time, I was like, why?
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_04: How do you have so much time?
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_04: But it's like I I was genuinely going through something really, really hard, and then this is what you have to say.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_04: No, yeah, that's tough, but that's all I have to say on that.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_00: I had a I had a community member on uh Facebook, uh Shay, I think her name is Shay or Shy.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, sorry if I'm pronouncing that wrong.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_00: She had a question for you regarding uh and she was and she was like, Oh yeah, that was that's an awesome person to have on.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_00: So she I don't know, you might know her Shay Davenport or Shy Davenport.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, is she with uh Wild Waves?
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_00: I have no idea.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_00: She's got I think she has like red hair.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, she does art, she makes like paintings and like little earrings and stuff like that.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh, what did she say?
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_00: It was about uh PPD or PPA or something like that.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, yes, yes.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so I'm actually a survivor.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_04: Okay with my first so the reason why I became a doula was because um with my first baby, I didn't know anything.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we had gotten pregnant, and then we're like, okay, well, you go see the OB that your insurance gives you, and then you go to every appointment, and then once your contraction starts, you go to the hospital.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_04: So I ended up going to the hospital, and they were like, Oh, you're four centimeters dilated, you can have your baby, and I was like, Okay.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_04: So I ended up going in and then they hooked me up to all kinds of things, and three days later, and an extremely traumatic birth, um, I had my baby.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_04: But excuse me, the birth that I had had triggered my experience when I was raped.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_04: And it was triggered because the OB, so the OBs are not supposed to pull on the um on the placenta for it to detach, it does it on its own naturally.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, and there's a way for the body to let somebody know, hey, it's it's done.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_04: And it's gentle traction that they do, not like pulling on it.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_04: My OB pulled on it and it ruptured inside of me, so he had to manually extract the placenta.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yes, in front of my ex-husband, which was like the most traumatic experience of my life going through that and watching it happen.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_04: So I didn't know that I had postpartum psychosis until I became a doula because of the education that it brought.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, wow.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_04: So I would get the thoughts of like wanting to shake my baby crazy, of wanting to put a pillow on her face so she would stop crying.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and they were intrusive thoughts, and those are the thoughts that people don't think about, that they don't talk about because it's like, oh, you're a bad mother for having these thoughts, and how could you think that about your baby?
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_04: The news articles where they where the mother kills their baby, and that that's what that is, it's undiagnosed.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, crazy postpartum psychosis.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_04: Wow, and postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety can also be a thing where you literally cannot leave your baby out of your sight, even to a point where you're like checking if they're breathing.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, like it's normal to do that every once in a while, but when you're fixated, that those are signs of having postpartum, also postpartum rage.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we have an attitude when we have postpartum because yeah, it's exhausting to be.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, would you say that that women like forget about taking care of themselves?
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, because because of the postpartum mood disorders.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_04: But I also think that people don't understand what it's like to be freshly postpartum because they don't physically go through it versus someone who actually has already gone through the giving birth, the process of giving birth and postpartum.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_04: We can only have empathy, and most people don't have empathy, they have sympathy.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_04: It's like, oh, I feel bad for you.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_04: I'm sorry.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_04: But there's people that are like empathetic and they sit with you and they're they're more present for you, holding space.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_04: And they're for instance, you can tell because as a society, when a mother gives birth, immediately they want to go see her and the baby, and they want her to like put her makeup on and like get already, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_04: Not knowing, not understanding that she's literally leaking out of everything.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right, right.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_01: She's just pain, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_04: And the hormone fluctuation, and just so I I actually encourage my clients to at least wait two weeks before having anybody over.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_04: And even for labor, just have your list of people who you're gonna tell you're in labor, but even then try to time it because then you're gonna get the questions of are you still in labor?
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and you know that can mess with your mind.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_04: And it's it's a very delicate um phase.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and we actually call it the fourth trimester because there's three trimesters in pregnancy, and then the fourth trimester is the last three months, which are the first three months of the baby's life.
• 51:05
  unknown: Oh my god.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so it's a huge transformation, and in different cultures, like um, like in for instance, in my culture, they do the cuarentena.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_04: I'm Mexican.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_04: Um what is it?
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_04: Cuarentena, which is 40 days.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay, okay.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, 40 days.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_04: As a doula, I always say um five days in the bed, five days around the bed, and five days in the room.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_04: So you're pretty isolated and surrounded by warmth, and that's the best healing practice that that we do in my culture.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_04: They also do cerradura de car de caderas, which is a closing of the bone ceremony, and they with rebozos, they go through um the pelvis, the shoulders, the head, the ankles, and it's like a a ceremony that's done to honor the body for all the work that it just went through and putting it back together.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's cool.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's like why don't we do why don't we still do stuff like that?
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I do, so hit me up if y'all want it.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like like once once women have have a baby in the hospital, they're already they're out like in so many days, right?
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_04: It's just been so industrialized, yeah.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_00: There's another one coming in the next day or whatever.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's just basically that supplementary.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_04: So turning beds.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_00: Turning beds.
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_00: So you so with your work, oh so the babies that you've delivered, they're mostly in the hospital.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_00: You have do you done you've done home.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_00: Have you done like home delivery?
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_00: What's the difference between the two?
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_04: I mean so there are out-of-hospital births and then there are hospital births.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_04: Um, the difference between them is obviously the location and also the care.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_04: It's very different.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_04: Um as a doula, I do not actually deliver babies.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but I support the parents and the provider in that.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so it's more a mental yeah, emotional.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I also do physical, like I've been in a squat for two hours doing hip squeezes for someone because obviously she's pushing a baby out.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_04: I'm not in pain.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_04: She is right, right.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_04: So, and that's actually like why my workout journey started because I I didn't want to not bounce back from a birth that was really physical, right?
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_04: Because I have kids, I have to be going.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and so um, yeah, I had to work out to get strong enough to be able to do those things.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's cool.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, that's that's like really thinking about your craft.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_04: It just got really hard to feel like I got run over by a bus after a birth.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_04: And then my kids needing something.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_04: So I was like, oh, I guess I have to read it.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, I obviously I was researching doula and then the term midwife came up.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and there's totally different it's yeah, so there's so many different ones.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_04: There's certified nurse midwives, there's certified professional midwives, there's licensed midwives.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so they're all different.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_04: Each state has different legalities surrounding midwifery.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but all in all, I mean, midwives just have a more patient-centered holistic care, and it's more of a physiological um type of approach versus medical.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_04: So for instance, in the hospital, they're always anticipating that something is happening.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_04: So, like if you're high risk, a hospital is great.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_04: But if you're a low-risk pregnancy, which means that you don't have any um genetic diseases, um, your pregnancy is healthy, you are healthy, then you're a candidate for having a birth outside of the hospital.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_04: And usually those run anywhere from six to eight thousand dollars, just depending on where you are in Texas.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_04: Um so here it's legal to have home birth and um birth center births.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_04: And in the event of an emergency, um, they transfer to the hospital.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_04: It's really important for the providers to have a relationship in the hospital and outside of the hospital so that they could bridge the care in case of an emergency.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, because sometimes we do need interventions, like for instance, I said the epidural, you know, sometimes people need the epidural, and that's okay.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_04: It doesn't mean that they failed, it means that we respected their choices and now we're supporting them in the changes.
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_04: And a lot of providers don't understand that.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_04: So there's still a lot of animosity um with some providers in San Antonio.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_04: I've I've been able to do doulas.
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_00: Doula's with OBs.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, with OBs, like the medical providers.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, medical providers, okay.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_04: Because we still do las have been around for so long.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_04: It's an indigenous practice, but it's now being because people more people give birth in the hospital than outside of the hospital.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_04: Doulas and OBs have had to learn how to coexist.
• 56:03
  SPEAKER_04: To work with each other.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_04: And when the training and the the teachings that OBs have, and their doctors, when we teach our clients all of the information, they now have an informed decision that they can make.
• 56:19
  SPEAKER_04: So sometimes doctors may prefer things to be done a certain way, but now the patient knows that it can be done this way, and this is the way that they want it.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, wow.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_04: So it may be a little bit more work for the OB, but that's how the patient wants it.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_04: And I know that when I'm giving birth, I'm gonna have what I want.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_04: No, I'm just giving.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but no, I mean that, and that's where as a doula, you need to know the balance, you know, because as a doula, you have the influence.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_04: You can influence a person's decisions.
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_04: And it shouldn't be that way.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_04: It should just be guidance, it shouldn't be swaying them in one way or another.
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_04: And that's that goes into like the way that I ask questions to my clients is how do you see your family?
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_04: How do you feel like, are you doing circumcision?
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_04: Are you not doing circumcision?
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_04: Are you um breastfeeding?
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_04: Are you bottle feeding?
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_04: You know, and and asking them to see what's beneficial to them versus what as a society we're doing.
• 57:21
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_00: Well, even at that, like, do do I mean I guess most uh w pregnant women, like, do they even know that they have those options?
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_00: No, you know what I mean?
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_00: They don't.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_04: And that's why I'm so grateful for you and for this podcast because we're hitting a whole different community.
• 57:40
  SPEAKER_04: That's why and even if you are low income, you can have a birth out.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_04: It's actually cheaper to have birth out to give birth outside of the hospital.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_04: Wow, and so yeah, I mean, I I always recommend that everyone do their research, make an inform a truly informed decision.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but it's at the tip of your fingers, it's in your phone.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_00: Do you do you think uh because I was doing a lot of I was doing some research, I wouldn't say a lot.
• 58:03
  SPEAKER_04: Hey, you know a lot.
• 58:05
  SPEAKER_04: You know more than the normal than the common person.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_00: Well, anyways, uh, so like doula is like it seems like a TikTok is obviously run with a lot of different industries, but it seems like there's a lot on TikTok, on YouTube, everywhere.
• 58:20
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think it's like flooded or there's there's more than there was?
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_00: What are your thoughts on that?
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_04: We are we're in a revolutionary point in birth work.
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_04: Um people are realizing that they now have options, people are now taking childbirth education classes that are not from the hospital.
• 58:43
  SPEAKER_04: People are really waking up and seeing that, especially because I believe at the end of last year we were at a 34% cesarean rate in the United States, which is good, which is very high, and it's actually very bad.
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_04: Oh but um when you look at like the induction rate as well, the induction is rate is also very high.
• 59:07
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm not saying that every induction is this way, but a lot of the times they'll just schedule it to get you in the books.
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_04: Oh wow, you know, and and so there I have supported some women that literally think they cannot produce contractions on their own because they have always been induced and then they experience the physiological process of birth without being induced, and they're mind blown.
• 59:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_00: What about the women that are like I'm ready to get this baby out?
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, I always tell them yes, let's do it.
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_00: Let's do it now.
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_04: This is what we're gonna go through.
• 59:47
  SPEAKER_04: If that if you're okay with that, let's do it.
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_04: Because I also have to remind them, because we're impulsive.
• 59:54
  SPEAKER_04: I always say, and this isn't to like degrade women, but I always say that in labor, I'm like, it's like I'm negotiating with a toddler because they all of our senses are heightened when we're in labor.
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_04: Whoa, all of our senses, crazy, and so we will literally have a tantrum, like that's so amazing to me.
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like you you you said you mentioned that all your senses are enhanced, it just reminds me of how awesome the human body is.
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, and how man, just just to have a baby to me is like a it's like a miracle, like it is wow, you know?
• 1:00:33
  SPEAKER_00: It really is, you know what I'm saying?
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off.
• 1:00:37
  SPEAKER_04: No, it's okay, and it's true.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_04: It really is a miracle when you think about it at a cellular level.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_04: And there's actual there's actual research now because they've started researching um more of the reproductive system, they show that the health of the male sperm depends on the health of the man and how physical they are, how they eat, right?
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_04: That determines how healthy the genetics, the cellular makeup of the baby is.
• 1:01:06
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 1:01:07
  SPEAKER_04: And so it's not just the woman that's creating life, it's also the man.
• 1:01:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 1:01:12
  SPEAKER_04: And it's not just at a level where it's like, oh, he does the placenta, or what it's at a cellular level.
• 1:01:20
  SPEAKER_04: And people, I really think people don't understand that.
• 1:01:23
  SPEAKER_00: We don't, like, especially like like you said, teen teen mom, teen pregnancies, like, oh my, it's just it's weird how we we view it.
• 1:01:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's lost its meaning, it seems like it uh the the having birthed, like that whole experience, you know what I'm saying?
• 1:01:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's almost like a transaction.
• 1:01:42
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, yeah.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_04: And that's that's why my mission is to just change that, you know, change the way that it's viewed as a society, not just um for people who are giving birth, you know.
• 1:01:57
  SPEAKER_04: If you see a pregnant woman, like help her with her things, you know, like she's literally.
• 1:02:02
  SPEAKER_04: I love the women who are like, you're gonna put a watermelon with saran wrap on your belly and you're gonna do the whole day like this.
• 1:02:10
  SPEAKER_04: Because yes, you need to experience that.
• 1:02:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so so you're starting in South Texas.
• 1:02:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I guess what's the main uh the main drive for Corpus in South Texas?
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because you starting in this area, right?
• 1:02:23
  SPEAKER_04: Your your uh Yeah, so eventually because we have so many rural areas, so in the 77 corridor and the 37 corridor to San Antonio, there are no hospitals.
• 1:02:37
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 1:02:38
  SPEAKER_04: So everyone comes to Corpus to give birth.
• 1:02:42
  SPEAKER_04: That makes this a maternal desert.
• 1:02:44
  SPEAKER_04: And in talks with Bay Area, Chrysalispawn, um Corpus is down by over 20 OBGYNs.
• 1:02:54
  SPEAKER_04: People are being seen at 12 to 14, sometimes 16 weeks of pregnancy, which is almost at the halfway mark.
• 1:03:05
  SPEAKER_04: People don't understand how much of a crisis we're in.
• 1:03:09
  SPEAKER_04: And that's why I'm so passionate about this.
• 1:03:12
  SPEAKER_04: Because this is gonna bridge the gaps to where at least Adula can come out to them and see what their living conditions are like, if they have food, if they um even like the bait to the small basic things, even to just being a source of support, whether it be companionship or helping them, you know, because when we're pregnant and we're doing things alone, sometimes we get really sick or we get really tired.
• 1:03:41
  SPEAKER_04: The symptoms of the pregnancy are just hard.
• 1:03:45
  SPEAKER_04: And that's how we can start lowering all these rates of depression and psychosis, and also helping the male or the the counterpart, the partner, you know, because I feel like as a society, going back to community, going back to all of that, this is the way that you start bridging those gaps.
• 1:04:06
  SPEAKER_04: And doulas, I feel like that's kind of what we are.
• 1:04:09
  SPEAKER_04: It's what we just bridge those gaps, we kind of just close it so that we can finally have that support that we need.
• 1:04:16
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I I went to school in Ingleside, but I graduated from Beeville.
• 1:04:21
  SPEAKER_04: And I have a little sister who's 13.
• 1:04:23
  SPEAKER_04: So she was born when I was 17.
• 1:04:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:04:26
  SPEAKER_04: When my mom was in labor, we had to drive all the way to Corpus.
• 1:04:30
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, shoot.
• 1:04:31
  SPEAKER_04: So that experience really opened my eyes.
• 1:04:35
  SPEAKER_04: And my mom was the first woman I took care of.
• 1:04:37
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 1:04:38
  SPEAKER_04: Postpartum.
• 1:04:39
  SPEAKER_04: And I was 17.
• 1:04:40
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 1:04:41
  SPEAKER_04: So I I've lived what it's like here, and something needs to change.
• 1:04:47
  SPEAKER_04: Because if not, it's gonna it's gonna get worse.
• 1:04:50
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, yeah.
• 1:04:51
  SPEAKER_00: Man, so you were you were lit, uh so you graduated in Bville, huh?
• 1:04:55
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I did.
• 1:04:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it makes me think about this question I had.
• 1:04:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh well, I bring it, I bring this, I used to bring this question up.
• 1:05:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's about H E B.
• 1:05:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I hadn't done it for for some episodes now.
• 1:05:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking of bringing it back.
• 1:05:07
  SPEAKER_00: So which H E B are you rep in at the moment, or which H E B do you shop at?
• 1:05:12
  SPEAKER_04: My favorite H E B is the Saratoga in Staples.
• 1:05:17
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah, plus H E B plus because we try to eat um, like I use a lot of central market um brands, and we try to eat dye free, we're dairy free.
• 1:05:29
  SPEAKER_04: Cool.
• 1:05:29
  SPEAKER_04: I'm not my kids are.
• 1:05:31
  SPEAKER_04: I have a dairy allergy too, and I probably shouldn't be eating dairy, but I still do.
• 1:05:36
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and they always tell me they're like, You have it too.
• 1:05:38
  SPEAKER_04: Why are you eating it?
• 1:05:39
  SPEAKER_04: You're gonna get sick.
• 1:05:41
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but yeah, so that's my favorite right now.
• 1:05:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, H B plus, yeah.
• 1:05:47
  SPEAKER_00: We're we're alameda and Texan or that one's nice too.
• 1:05:51
  SPEAKER_00: You like that one?
• 1:05:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, a lot of people say Alameda and Robert, which I don't know.
• 1:05:56
  SPEAKER_00: I like Alameda and Texan a lot better.
• 1:05:58
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that one's nice.
• 1:05:59
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's
• 1:06:01
  SPEAKER_00: But uh well man, that is an awesome interview.
• 1:06:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, is there anything you want to share um or talk about or maybe plug your information?
• 1:06:10
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, for sure.
• 1:06:11
  SPEAKER_04: Um I really just want to invite the community.
• 1:06:15
  SPEAKER_04: Um, if you feel called to supporting people, women, children, um, people who are navigating the system, let me know.
• 1:06:26
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I know that there's people, there's trainings out there.
• 1:06:29
  SPEAKER_04: We can do community health worker trainings.
• 1:06:31
  SPEAKER_04: I do have a doula training that's gonna be coming up um in both Spanish and in English.
• 1:06:37
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and I do have Doula Things with Mel is a doula agency.
• 1:06:42
  SPEAKER_04: And so I handle the administrative, the marketing, everything, and contract the services out.
• 1:06:48
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and so they're able to serve the clients and also have that sense of community amongst themselves.
• 1:06:54
  SPEAKER_04: So I am hiring doula and kindred hearts is accepting donations, and those donations will go straight to supporting scholarships for doulas or supporting families, um, especially if they are low-income or part of the excluded communities.
• 1:07:14
  SPEAKER_00: So, what what education is required for for somebody to be a doula?
• 1:07:20
  SPEAKER_04: So the the trainings are through recognized organizations.
• 1:07:24
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 1:07:24
  SPEAKER_04: Um, there are a lot of them.
• 1:07:26
  SPEAKER_04: So you really want to do your research on which one you'd like.
• 1:07:30
  SPEAKER_04: I have taken four different trainings because I never really found one that I liked until Kappa.
• 1:07:37
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 1:07:38
  SPEAKER_04: Kappa was the fourth training, and then they were doing a Spanish doula training to become a doula trainer, and I was like, I wanted so I that's how I kind of like ended up growing with them.
• 1:07:50
  SPEAKER_04: But that curriculum I feel like talks about everything because there are some curriculums that will put a band-aid over talking about the inductions and like advocating for yourself or to understand more, you know, to even ask more questions.
• 1:08:07
  SPEAKER_04: Um, there are some doula trainings that are religious space, you know, and they don't let you pray or they don't let you do.
• 1:08:14
  SPEAKER_04: And for me as a doula, I'm like, why are you letting me do something when each family unit is completely different and you don't know what you're running into?
• 1:08:24
  SPEAKER_04: And we don't have the privilege to be picky like that, you know.
• 1:08:28
  SPEAKER_04: So Kappa was very straightforward to the point.
• 1:08:33
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and I knew how to be a doula after that.
• 1:08:36
  SPEAKER_04: But not only a doula to be um a practicing doula, but also the work that I had to do on myself.
• 1:08:44
  SPEAKER_04: And the Kappa doula training, I took, I was already five years in as a doula.
• 1:08:49
  SPEAKER_04: That's cool, and I still learned something.
• 1:08:51
  SPEAKER_00: Cool.
• 1:08:52
  SPEAKER_00: So C-A-D-P-A.
• 1:08:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, Kappa International.
• 1:08:56
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, this is the Mex the Hispanic Mexican goodbye we talk and then say goodbye.
• 1:09:01
  unknown: Talk.
• 1:09:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so you said induction.
• 1:09:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um you mentioned that a couple of times.
• 1:09:07
  SPEAKER_00: I was confused as to what it was, and I'm thinking like uh induce?
• 1:09:12
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, so there is a medical way to um provoke someone's labor.
• 1:09:22
  SPEAKER_04: Um so what they do, they use a different different types of interventions.
• 1:09:27
  SPEAKER_04: These interventions are also tools, so that's why I always teach about these interventions because yes, inductions are offered a lot, but sometimes an induction is needed.
• 1:09:36
  SPEAKER_04: So you have to ask the questions to realize okay, it's needed, or okay, I can wait a bit a little bit longer.
• 1:09:42
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 1:09:43
  SPEAKER_04: Because you want to trust your doctor, right?
• 1:09:45
  SPEAKER_04: But it's like uh how how do you trust them if you don't ask the questions that you need to make that decision?
• 1:09:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
• 1:09:54
  SPEAKER_00: Even like even like the like getting a doula too, right?
• 1:09:58
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe one that you're comfortable with this.
• 1:10:00
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, asking questions.
• 1:10:01
  SPEAKER_04: You know, asking questions is gonna be the best thing.
• 1:10:03
  SPEAKER_04: There's a doula for everyone.
• 1:10:05
  SPEAKER_04: Um, that's what I always tell the newer doulas.
• 1:10:08
  SPEAKER_04: People sometimes they get hurt when they don't get picked.
• 1:10:10
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, and I always tell them, I'm like, there's a doula for everyone.
• 1:10:15
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and honestly, it that's it, it that's what it is.
• 1:10:18
  SPEAKER_04: It's a connection, you have to make that connection with the client.
• 1:10:21
  SPEAKER_04: I have a client, oh, I love her so much.
• 1:10:23
  SPEAKER_04: I love all my clients, but I have a client that I was with her for all three of her babies.
• 1:10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 1:10:29
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, I think about it and I want to cry.
• 1:10:31
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, no, that's so her first was in the hospital, and it was a really traumatic birth, and I was a newer doula, and I didn't know any better.
• 1:10:41
  SPEAKER_04: So I also had a lot of trauma from that birth.
• 1:10:44
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, sure.
• 1:10:44
  SPEAKER_04: Because I witnessed a lot of things and I didn't speak up when I knew I could speak up, but I couldn't speak up.
• 1:10:53
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, because I was a brand new doula, so I it was like I was getting my feet wet, I was doing all of those things, but then um we kind of both went through that together, and then luckily we went through it together because we were able to support each other.
• 1:11:10
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, cool, and I was able to support her through her um journey, and then with her second baby, she decided to do a home birth.
• 1:11:18
  SPEAKER_04: Right, and that was that was uh such a redemptive experience.
• 1:11:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it it's I was thinking about the pri like prices and stuff because I researching that too.
• 1:11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Some people may think it's a lot of money, right?
• 1:11:30
  SPEAKER_00: But it's it's a one-time, seems like it's a one-time pay payment, it's not like a monthly subscription that you have to do.
• 1:11:38
  SPEAKER_00: So it's I think it would be it's worth it, you know.
• 1:11:40
  SPEAKER_04: It is.
• 1:11:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's you're paying for the experience for the experience, for the mental well-being.
• 1:11:46
  SPEAKER_00: The husband could learn some stuff as well, you know, or the per the you know, the partner or whatever can learn some stuff as well.
• 1:11:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's a good I think it's a good practice.
• 1:11:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's pretty cool that that well, you actually so we found each other through a post that I made, right?
• 1:12:00
  SPEAKER_04: Uh I think it was.
• 1:12:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, Who should I who should I interview?
• 1:12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like, she I was like, Me, yeah, me right here.
• 1:12:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then yeah, and I started restarting, I was like, What is this?
• 1:12:10
  SPEAKER_00: This is pretty interesting, and man, that I'm I'm glad you came to talk about this stuff.
• 1:12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because I it I think it's something that a community needs to hear about, learn about, um to help make society better.
• 1:12:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's one of the reasons why I do this.
• 1:12:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, actually, probably the main reason why I do this to help make society better, help build the community around it, and this is amazing.
• 1:12:32
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, amazing.
• 1:12:33
  SPEAKER_04: I also wanted to mention um the Corpus Chrissy Birth Center.
• 1:12:36
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 1:12:37
  SPEAKER_04: Um just opened.
• 1:12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, nice.
• 1:12:39
  SPEAKER_04: They changed locations and they opened.
• 1:12:41
  SPEAKER_04: It's a new owner, all of the things are different.
• 1:12:43
  SPEAKER_04: I love the midwife there.
• 1:12:45
  SPEAKER_04: Um, we also have our first black midwife in Corpus, which is amazing.
• 1:12:52
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and the prices there, they're they're flexible on payments.
• 1:12:56
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and when you really look at it, if you have just insurance, um, the HMO insurance, you end up having to pay out of pocket around five to ten thousand dollars anyway to the hospital.
• 1:13:09
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 1:13:10
  SPEAKER_04: And so it's really something that you want to think about when you're talking about that like literacy part of it, especially for the younger generation.
• 1:13:18
  SPEAKER_04: If y'all are listening to me, please financially plan for a child.
• 1:13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, for sure.
• 1:13:25
  SPEAKER_04: And if you are a young male, consider giving habasectomy because it can be reversed.
• 1:13:32
  SPEAKER_03: Which that's a whole nother thing that we didn't even touch.
• 1:13:35
  SPEAKER_00: But but we'll invite you back on for sure.
• 1:13:38
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely, man.
• 1:13:39
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 1:13:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh was I had a thought there.
• 1:13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, so you people can have so women can have their kids at the birth center.
• 1:13:47
  SPEAKER_00: At the birth center, yeah.
• 1:13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, that's amazing.
• 1:13:50
  SPEAKER_00: So we always, I mean, we we I guess gro ladies are in in tech in corpus are led to think, oh, only spawn is the only place that we can have it.
• 1:13:58
  SPEAKER_04: Or yeah, no, we have you can give birth at home.
• 1:14:01
  SPEAKER_04: We have like, I think there's either six or seven home birth midwives.
• 1:14:06
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and they attend at your home, um, and they're with you throughout the entire birth process.
• 1:14:12
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, um, and then at the birth center, you'll see it's like a clinic, and um, you can tour the birth center, they show the rooms to you and everything.
• 1:14:21
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:14:22
  SPEAKER_04: And it's like it's like you don't want to give birth at home, but you also want to not want to be somewhere where it's nice and cozy.
• 1:14:30
  SPEAKER_04: Right, right.
• 1:14:31
  SPEAKER_04: That's what the birth the birth center would be for.
• 1:14:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because man, those hospital rooms, oh my gosh.
• 1:14:35
  SPEAKER_04: And they don't let you sleep.
• 1:14:36
  SPEAKER_04: And then you only stay two hours postpartum at the birth center, and then you go home.
• 1:14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 1:14:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh is that the best place to like get information about this stuff?
• 1:14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Or I mean online, right?
• 1:14:47
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously.
• 1:14:48
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, online.
• 1:14:48
  SPEAKER_04: Locally, the Corpus Christi Birth Center.
• 1:14:51
  SPEAKER_04: Um, also the Moms in Motion project.
• 1:14:53
  SPEAKER_04: We have a um on the website, there's a providers tab, and on the providers tab, we have all of the dualists, childbirth educators, midwives, pelvic floor therapists, chiropractors.
• 1:15:05
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, that's amazing.
• 1:15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Massage therapists, everywhere that culture is, man, just that culture.
• 1:15:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm learning about a bunch of different cultures doing this, man.
• 1:15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't it just yes, it is?
• 1:15:15
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
• 1:15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like I want to be a part of all of them, but like a kid, people want me to be a part of listen.
• 1:15:21
  SPEAKER_03: I got a list for you already.
• 1:15:24
  SPEAKER_00: Matt, real quick, one more thing.
• 1:15:26
  SPEAKER_00: What about before before they have birth?
• 1:15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, do they have do do women have to see a doctor how there's their stuff how their pregnancy is going?
• 1:15:37
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so the midwife does all of that care.
• 1:15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:15:40
  SPEAKER_04: The midwife, um, they do all they'll send you for ultrasounds, they read the ultrasounds.
• 1:15:47
  SPEAKER_04: They do, they also have Pitocin, which is medication that they have at the hospital.
• 1:15:51
  SPEAKER_04: They also have Cytotech, which is also medication that they have at the hospital.
• 1:15:54
  SPEAKER_00: And the midwives can prescribe that.
• 1:15:56
  SPEAKER_04: They can give it administer it to them.
• 1:15:59
  SPEAKER_04: I've actually watched a hemorrhage at home before.
• 1:16:02
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 1:16:02
  SPEAKER_04: I've actually like a client started hearing ringing in her ears when I she was going, it just her her birth was way too fast.
• 1:16:12
  SPEAKER_04: And her body finally caught up and it was in shock.
• 1:16:14
  SPEAKER_04: And so, like, I literally picked her up and put her in the bed, and the midwife rectally inserted cytotech, which is a medication that allows the uterus to start contracting because she was having a postpartum hemorrhage.
• 1:16:31
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, wow.
• 1:16:31
  SPEAKER_04: And I watched it be controlled and I knew how to act because I of the training I had and everything, but emergencies do happen at home.
• 1:16:38
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, of course.
• 1:16:39
  SPEAKER_04: But the midwives also have yes, and they have the shots, they have the medications.
• 1:16:45
  SPEAKER_04: When it's something that is getting out of their control and it's a complete emergency, they do transfer to the hospital.
• 1:16:51
  SPEAKER_00: I can see how it can be a scary thing to like not want to do to not want to do it at home.
• 1:16:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:16:57
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:16:57
  SPEAKER_00: For for for people that have maybe done it for the first time or haven't experienced it at all.
• 1:17:01
  SPEAKER_04: Mm-hmm.
• 1:17:01
  SPEAKER_04: That's why I always say at least hire a doula.
• 1:17:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
• 1:17:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 1:17:06
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thanks, Melanie, for coming on.
• 1:17:08
  SPEAKER_00: So uh how do we find you or how do how do we get your information?
• 1:17:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure I'll put it on the description below.
• 1:17:13
  SPEAKER_04: For sure.
• 1:17:14
  SPEAKER_04: So um my tags are Mel Takes on Life, Doula Things with Mel, and Kindred Hearts TX.
• 1:17:23
  SPEAKER_00: Cool, cool.
• 1:17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'll put the the information on the description, you guys.
• 1:17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so here's the outro.
• 1:17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Where's my notes?
• 1:17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah.
• 1:17:30
  SPEAKER_00: So thank thanks a lot for coming on, Melanie.
• 1:17:32
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for talking about this stuff, you guys.
• 1:17:33
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for watching.
• 1:17:34
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, this is helpful.
• 1:17:35
  SPEAKER_00: Share this with somebody who might think this is would be helpful too.
• 1:17:38
  SPEAKER_00: We got a lot of mothers, we got a lot of anticipating mothers uh on the scene, especially in South Texas and here in Corpus Christi, Texas.
• 1:17:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, a lot of young mothers, young pregnant mothers, uh women that are going to have babies that could use this, and you know, it would help them out.
• 1:17:54
  SPEAKER_00: So get the word out, you guys.
• 1:17:55
  SPEAKER_00: And Melanie, thanks for coming on, talking about other stuff too, men's health, immigration, all this other stuff.
• 1:18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Man, that's good conversation.
• 1:18:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so this is this this is the second edition of the women's edition for the Corpse Christian Originals podcast, and this was a good one.
• 1:18:08
  SPEAKER_00: But stay tuned for the next couple ones, you guys.
• 1:18:10
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for uh for watching, for listening.
• 1:18:12
  SPEAKER_00: Melanie, thank you.
• 1:18:13
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 1:18:14
  SPEAKER_00: Have a good one, y'all.