Should I Have a VBAC? – Ep. 122

Shanna

Hi, welcome to Big Fat Positive with Shanna and Laura. On this week's episode, we have our weekly check-ins. We have our special segment, What I Googled This Week, where we talk V-backs, chicken nuggets, and mind-blowing facts about somersaults. We wrap it up with our BFPs and BFNs. Let's get to it. Hi, welcome to episode 122. Hello, Laura. Are you there? Are you there? I am still here. Yay. How's it going? What's going on this week?

Laura

So I have a 20 month and four week old toddler. And with him, I'll just give a quick update on what's going on. So it got stupid hot again this week, like into the hundreds, which is so freaking annoying. And So we had to stay indoors, but that's meant that we've had a little more time with potty training indoors and it's going well. I just, you know, we've we're chugging along. He has started to hold his pee a little bit longer. So that's good. And he starts to pee immediately when he gets on the potty, which could lead to some aim issues.

Shanna

He's into it. Yeah.

Laura

He's into it. So that's going really well, but we've just kind of had a cooped up week. But I wanted to talk more about my pregnancy this week, because I am 21 weeks pregnant.

Shanna

Mm-hmm.

Laura

And so I'm officially past halfway, and I had my doctor's appointment, just a regularly scheduled appointment. Today, and everything was normal, did a little quick, very quick ultrasound. Everything's fine. He's like, bing, bang, boom, everything's fine. And it was like, do you have any questions? And I was like, no. And then I was like, oh, wait, I do have a question. Oh, OK. And the question was what he thought about the possibility of a V-back.

Shanna

V-back? Interesting. I didn't know you were considering that. I didn't either. OK, so.

Laura

Some people who don't know a VBAC is a vaginal birth after caesarean. That's what the VBAC stands for. And it's exactly what it sounds like. It's when you've had a previous C-section and then you go on to have a vaginal birth. So I do know that like in the past, there was a lot of resistance about VBACs from doctors. I'm not exactly sure when, but there were like decades where VBACs were like basically considered too dangerous to try and you always had a C-section after you've had a C-section, right? Routine. Right. But I think the feelings have changed because there's been a lot of really good evidence that actually V-backs are not as dangerous as everyone thought. There's always a risk of uterine rupture, but also repeat C-sections carry risks as well. So it's one of those things where it's an option for people that maybe it wasn't an option before.

Shanna

Okay, so why are you considering it now even though you thought you wouldn't?

Laura

Well, I think I've been reading about it and you know, there are a lot of people who are so pro VBAC like it's a lot of people are very, very determined to get their VBACs and do everything possible to get their V-backs and I'm definitely not in that realm like I'm of the I want to have like a healthy mom healthy baby good outcome situation however that needs to happen.

Shanna

I wonder if a lot of pregnant people who really really want to have the V-back maybe wanted to have vaginal birth the first time around and things didn't turn out the way they wanted and so maybe they want to be able to have that experience a second time around.

Laura

I think so. I think for sure there's a lot of people who want to have a birth experience that they imagined and didn't get to have it for whatever reason the first time around. But again, people who listen to this podcast know that that's not my jam. I was never a person who had a birth plan. I was never a person who really was emotionally attached to one way or the other. And there's a lot of reasons people want feedbacks. There's some evidence that vaginal birth is like better for the baby because it helps with their squeeze out like the fluid from their lungs and like you've talked about the vaginal seeding and all this stuff you get benefits from the vaginal birth. So people, there are a lot of people who want to do it for those reasons. And I totally get that. And I'm like more power to you, but it's never been my thing, right? Like I'm just, I want a good outcome.

Shanna

It is a long time. I went through it. So I know exactly what you're talking about. And I had a complicated recovery the first time I got the easy section. Yeah, you did. So that was about, I don't know, 12 weeks of discomfort and dealing with a lot of struggles and hardship. And if there's any chance of being able to avoid that, I think that would be amazing.

Laura

Yeah. You just kind of threw that out there that you had a complicated recovery. I don't think we've ever talked about that with your first because we weren't doing the podcast at the time.

Shanna

Yeah.

Laura

But do you want to fill people in on what happened?

Shanna

Yeah. I mean, it wasn't horrible or anything, but it was very uncomfortable. So about. A week or two after the C-section, I went to the bathroom one day and noticed this is so gross. TMI, fast forward if you don't want to hear stuff about my body. My C-section incision was, I thought it was bleeding, right? It was just like... oozing, and I was like, that's not supposed to happen. And it hurt like shit. Yeah. So I called my OB like in the middle of the night and was like, what is going on? You know, I thought everything was wrong. And she had me come in the next day immediately in the morning. And she was like, oh, you developed a saroma. She's like, basically your C-section incision is infected and has reopened.

Laura

I remember because I went with you at least once.

Shanna

Oh yeah, I couldn't drive for weeks and weeks. I had begged my friends to take me to these appointments sometimes because Steve was working. I think you took me at least once. My friend Jordan, her husband Paul, took me once because I just,

Laura

But that is a perfect example of a thing that would be great to avoid, if I could. I mean, I didn't have any of those complicated. My C-section, when I say it was completely uncomplicated, it was completely uncomplicated. In and out, healed perfectly. I have a little bit of a keloid scar, so it's like a raised scar. But that's it. And that means I know that a C-section can be uncomplicated. And I'm not against it. I'm not against having another one. When I brought this up with my doctor, I realized like the first step was finding out if he was even okay with it, right? Because if he was like, no, based on your medical history and whatever, I don't think that's a good idea. It would have been like, okay, case closed. But he was like, yeah. try? It was like, damn it. Someone make a decision for me.

Shanna

Oh, no, the decisions in your hands.

Laura

Well, yeah, it's the decisions kind of in my body's hands now because here's what we decided. We're talking with Corey and talking with my doctor and also talking with my friend who's a maternal fetal medicine specialist who like she actually persuaded me a little bit because she's been my friend since we were in, I don't know, third grade or something. And I trust her inherently and she's A extremely well trained maternal fetal medicine specialist. She's practicing at Stanford now. So, you know, she knows what she's talking about. And she is super pro V back. Like she thinks that it's a great option for many, many people. And so she was like, I think you should try. She's like, trust me. uncomplicated vaginal birth is so much better than a C-section. And if you do decide to have a third baby, I was like, I'm not deciding that. She's like, you never know.

Shanna

Oh, okay, okay. So there was nothing gentle about it, but also my water had already broken several hours earlier.

Laura

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, the reason that they, he, I think he wouldn't put me on Potosin is because it does increase the risk of like a euterruption. I think, I think the more stuff like that you do with having a C-section in the past, the higher your risk of complication trying for a VVAC. So that is the current plan. just see where we're at and then have the C-section if I get to like 39 and a half weeks or something and nothing's going on.

Shanna

Okay, so you kind of can still put it off. You can procrastinate your V-Back decision kind of.

Laura

Well, it's not even, it's just, I don't, I'm not even making a decision basically. I'm letting the body, my body decide. Although I have to say, so you know how last pregnancy I had interviewed a bunch of doulas and then at the last minute I was like, I'm going to have a C-section. I don't, I shouldn't have a doula. Like I had a premonition about it. Do you remember that? Yeah. So. about four or five weeks ago, I had a similar premonition, which is like, I'm going to go into a little bit like a slightly early labor and have like a precipitous labor and just end up having this baby vaginally. I was like, it just came to me. And I was like, Oh God. So maybe I should start reading about like breathing techniques and stuff.

Shanna

It would not hurt to be prepared.

Laura

Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know. I don't I'm not saying I'm psychic. It's just like it just occurred to me and i was like well that is a possibility you know mm-hmm so that's where we're at but i wanted to update because i know that there's a lot of people out there who are in my you know my situation thinking about a v-back or maybe not thinking about a v-back and mm-hmm

Shanna

Yeah, I just uh, that's where we're at so well at what point will you know if this baby is breech because if it is like the last one you will have Exactly pretty much no choice. Yeah. Yeah. Well. Yeah, it's not I mean you're not gonna try for a vaginal birth if it's breech

Laura

No, I'm not. I'm not. Some people do not. That's definitely beyond my comfort zone. And also, I don't think my doctor would do that. But yeah, well, as of this week, he is Breach. What? Yeah. Oh, no. But asterisk, my doctor said almost all babies are at this point because they're rolling around a lot. There's a lot of room. So he said that's not thing to be concerned about because They're almost always breached at this point. However, that's what he said last time.

Shanna

That's what I was going to say. Didn't he say that last time, but right around the same time? Yeah.

Laura

than every other time. Well, it's like every what? You go every four weeks and then every two weeks and every time it's like, well, baby's still breached, but there's still time to turn. Baby's still breached. There's a little time to turn. The baby's still breached. I don't think there's much time to turn. So yeah, we'll see. We'll see. That's why I'm trying not to get too emotionally attached to any idea because it's out of my control, I feel like. Yeah, so. It's a good attitude to have. Yeah, let the universe decide. So anyway, that is my a little bit rambling, a little bit long thoughts on my 21 week V-Back discussion with my doctor. Thank you for listening. But I want to know what's going on with you this week, Shanna. How old is that adorable little toddler of yours? And what have you been up to?

Shanna

Oh, it's so nice that you called her adorable. She is that adorable toddler has started saying no.

Laura

Yeah, you were saying her defiance is really kicking in, which is a developmentally appropriate thing, right?

Shanna

Oh, yes, exactly. So I embrace it. And this week it's like she finally learned to put together the word no, except she pronounces it wrong. Oh.

Laura

Oh, yeah. She knows what she wants.

Shanna

Yes, she definitely knows what she doesn't want. But you know, that's not true either. She's so obsessed with saying mo, a.k.a. no, that it's gotten to the point, no matter what we ask her, she wants the answers mo, right? It's like, do you want some milk, almond milk? Mo, do you want some juice? Mo, do you want water? Mo. And then like, you know, you'll get a juice and she just instantly drinks it. So it's like, of course she wants something juice. She just wants to express the opposite of what we're offering. Which I also think is developmentally appropriate.

Laura

Yeah. She wants to be the master of her domain. Mm-hmm with Moe.

Shanna

Oh my gosh, I I know it's gonna morph and become no, you know, because that's what toddlers do is they learn the language.

Laura

Well, not if you keep repeating Moe after.

Shanna

Yeah, OK, so maybe I can keep her stuck in Moe forever and then I think it's just adorable for the rest of her life.

Laura

Yeah, it'll be super adorable when she's like at work and they're like, hey, have you finished those TPS reports? Moe. I'll get to them later.

Shanna

I'm sorry, Cece, what did you say? You finished the report? Moe!

Laura

Get the fuck out of my office. Don't you understand?

Shanna

Yeah, she'll definitely be able to say fuck, just not Moe. I mean, no.

Laura

Have you guys been reading that potty book? The Leslie Patricelli? Is that where?

Shanna

Oh yeah, she loves it. She loves that last page, the last bride with all the undies.

Laura

That's what I was going to say. Like the very last page is just like undies.

Shanna

I love it. Oh yeah, she loves to point to everyone and we talk about the pattern on each pair of undies.

Laura

Oh my goodness. See, I'm in the opposite camp because we're in the commando phase, right? In our second week. And I'm kind of afraid to move on to the undies because I'm afraid it'll make him feel like he has a diaper on. But he also doesn't really care about them. Despite my mom pushing them very hard, my mom got a bunch of undies for him and like I said, a whole array of them. And every time I talk to her, she's like, so is he in the undies yet? Maybe you should just put him in the undies. He'd like them. He'd be like daddy. And I was like, Chill out. You got a good thing going here. Yeah.

Shanna

Well, yes. And your guy doesn't have an older sibling that's like running around in undies all day every day to look up to and be obsessed with. So I don't know how long, like when we do the, oh crap, I don't know how long CeCe's going to let me have her go commando. I'm sure she's going to just want to wear undies immediately.

Laura

So also I feel like in skirts, it's a little easier like dresses and skirts. Oh, yeah. Because we're in shorts and pants all the time. So it's a little different. Mm hmm. Yeah, true. Yeah. But that's exciting. So are you guys like setting a date or are you just going to kind of roll into it?

Shanna

No, definitely going to roll into it because I don't see her enthusiasm quite yet. I still think it's a little hesitant and I just don't want to push her into something she's not ready for. Yeah. So I'm going to give it a little while, but the first steps are there. And the consensus is the more expensive, fancy potty that sings to her is of no interest to her. Good purchase. Great purchase. At least it doubles as a step stool. So, you know, she stands on it to brush her teeth. There you go. Yeah.

Laura

Oh, but, Shanna, I think I recall that it hasn't been completely unused. Uh-huh. Didn't you admit on Instagram recently that you used the baby potty recently in a pinch? Oh, why you got to call me out on that?

Shanna

Dude, you put it on our Instagram stories. Oh, yes. It was like my bonus mom confession that week.

Laura

The things we do for our children.

Shanna

Yeah, it didn't motivate her. The thing that motivated her was undies. She was just like, mom's losing it. Oh, yeah. Now after that, she tried to get me to go potty on it all the time. She's like, potty? No, no, no, no, no. That was a one and done thing. Now I'm going to use the toilet. Sheesh.

Laura

Amazing.

Shanna

Yes. But that's all the highlights of my week. So I think we should move on to our special segment. OK, let's do it. Got that.

Laura

Okay. We are back and our special segment this week is what I Googled where we divulge our search history to you. Anything related to parenting, pregnancy, all that jazz. And let's talk about it. Shanna, what is in your search history this week?

Shanna

This week, I googled the phrase, turning chicken nuggets into meatballs.

Laura

You're not a short order chef. Absolutely not. No. Spaghetti and meatballs does sound good. I don't know. Is there ever a time where you're like, I could pass on spaghetti and meatballs?

Shanna

No, maybe if I had just eaten a meal of spaghetti and meatballs.

Laura

Yeah, exactly. Even then, I'd be like, sure, I could do more.

Shanna

OK. I'll have it for dessert.

Laura

Yeah.

Shanna

So I was like, oh, we have some frozen chicken nuggets. I bet I could somehow form meatballs out of chicken nuggets, throw them in some pasta with spaghetti sauce, and the kids will never know. And I'm like, maybe I should consult the internet because I'm sure someone's done this before in a pinch. Dude, no one has at least no one online. There were like the first thing that came up was like chicken nugget meatball recipes. I was like, Oh my God, perfect. No, the first ingredient is ground chickens. Of course. Yeah. It's like copycat chicken nuggets, right? Exactly. Almost every recipe was basically just for chicken nuggets.

Laura

So did you come up with a solution or was Elle just like forever like put you on your shit list and like she told me I could have spaghetti and meatballs. But all I got was spaghetti. No meatballs.

Shanna

How dare I? It's not the same. It's not the same. Well, listen, mama delivered. OK, so I took some chicken nuggets, threw them in the microwave, as you do when you're a mom. And don't have time to make them crispy in the toaster oven. If you got an air fryer, that would not be a problem. Oh, I really got to get an air fryer. Just saying. Oh, side tangent. Side tangent. So I heated them up and I just tried to mush them into balls.

Laura

Did you take the breading off or just leave it on?

Shanna

No, no.

Laura

I guess meatballs have bread crumbs in them usually, right? Yeah, yeah.

Shanna

Looking back, what I should have done was mushed all of the chicken nugget meat. into like a mixture in a bowl and then formed balls. I bet that would have fooled them, but no, I was like one chicken nugget, I just pushed it into a ball in my hands. I was slightly disappointed in how they turned.

Laura

It's a good lesson in life. Right, yes. You can't always get what you want, but you get what you need, which might be mashed up chicken nuggets.

Shanna

So listeners, just if you ever think you want to make a chicken nugget meatball, don't try it like I did. Try a different method. And then let me know if it works, because I need to know. Sounds like a plan. What about you, Laura? What have you googled recently?

Laura

Okay, so this is on theme for my check-in. What I googled was I had curiosity got the better of me and I'm googling before bedtime after I had this discussion with my doctor. And I Googled accidental V-Back stories. Accidental? Oh, like you would go into labor too early? Yeah. So I was trying to see if anyone else was ambivalent like me and just kind of fell into having a V-Back.

Shanna

Oh. OK, OK. I imagined someone who had had a C-section before, but the second time around, went into labor, couldn't get to the hospital fast enough, had a V-Back and a taxi.

Laura

Basically, actually, most of them that I found are accidental home V-backs. Oh, really? I will say that most of the stories I found, they were people who wanted to have a V-back, but they wanted to have them in the hospital. And so the accident part was the home birth. I was having trouble finding people who like, maybe it's the wrong search term, but I was having trouble finding people who like, didn't want to have a V-back and then accidentally had one.

Shanna

Yeah, maybe unexpected would be a better choice because the accidental, it's just so funny, like, oops, I had a V-back. That was an accident. It sounds kind of funny.

Laura

But there is such a thing as precipitous labor. What is that? OK, so precipitous labor is also called rapid labor and it's defined as giving birth after less than three hours of regular contractions. So it's just like really short labor, right? And I actually know someone this happened to. Really? For her second baby, she ended up like giving birth in her bathroom because it was such a fast labor.

Shanna

Whoa.

Laura

You know, it does happen. I don't know exactly how common it is. I mean, it's what you hear about like, I gave birth in an elevator, I gave birth in the back of a taxi.

Shanna

Oh yeah.

Laura

All those stories are precipitous labor usually, unless you're like, I don't think I can't speak because I've never experienced true labor at all. Only Braxton Hicks. But I, from what I understand, it's not like you can really just like ignore labor for 20 hours and then have a baby like, you know what's happening, right? So it says that with the, you know, it's giving birth less than three hours of regular contractions. And it says by comparison, a regular labor, for people who've never given birth before last between three and 30 hours.

Shanna

Yeah.

Laura

And three and 15 and people who have previously delivered a baby. So if you've delivered a baby before, you have a shorter labor on average, I guess. But I don't know if that counts if you've just had a C-section in your body never went into labor. Yeah, I don't know. But I have to say that I love reading about birth stories, but some of these were not what I wanted to read. Thankfully, I only clicked on the ones that I could tell had a happy outcome. But there was this one story, long story from this woman in New Zealand. And she was telling her home, accidental home V-Back story. She wanted to have an actual V-Back in the hospital, but she didn't get there. And she wasn't saying it was fun. You hear about this precipitous labor, and it sounds kind of exciting, right? Oh, I'd love to only have three hours of contractions, you know, as opposed to 20 or whatever.

Shanna

But and they all make it seem like the baby just slips right out like it's coming down the ski slope or something. And you're done.

Laura

Yeah. Yeah. No, it she made it sound a lot harder than that. And, you know, the baby was fine, but she had like pinched nerves and all this stuff. And there were a couple of stories like that, which I was like, I don't want that to happen. So I think the moral of the story is like, get to the hospital if you go into labor. Yeah, that's what I've heard. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, I'd be curious if any one of our listeners had sort of an unintentional V-Back, like where they weren't planning on it, but it ended up happening. I'd love to hear from you.

Shanna

Yes, yes, or maybe even just V-backs in general. Maybe it would be interesting for you to hear stories from our listeners about their experience.

Laura

Yeah, especially if you were ambivalent about it like me, because I know there's so many people who are like very gung-ho about it. And those stories are out there. You know, I feel like those stories are really well represented. Like I want to know about people who feel mixed feelings about it like me. because I feel like it's not. It's almost not cool to talk about how you don't have a strong feeling one way or another, right? You know, we're all supposed to be so empowered and owning our birth stories and stuff. And it's like to admit that you're just like, I don't know. I don't I don't really care one way or another. It's not it's not like it's a little passe, right?

Shanna

Mm hmm. So that's the new cool, you know, maybe that's the new cool attitude. Maybe you're changing the landscape.

Laura

Sure. We'll go with that. Am I an influencer now? Yeah.

Laura

So anyway, that was my first one I googled this week.

Shanna

Do you have another one? I do. On first blush, this one might not seem parenting related, but it is. I'll bring it full circle. Don't worry. OK. What I googled this week is, can you use a Dyson on artificial grass? OK, good question. Right.

Laura

Dyson vacuum cleaner, I'm assuming.

Shanna

A vacuum cleaner, yes. A rather powerful vacuum cleaner. The best vacuum I've ever had, by the way. I'm obsessed with my cordless Dyson.

Laura

I do. I have one of those cordless ones, too, and I like it a lot.

Shanna

Yes, it's so good. So I have artificial grass in the backyard. It's I love it. First of all, I just love that we don't have to water it don't have to mow it. It's always green. It's really just nice and pretty. And it's just it's hard to clean, you know, we have the gardener come and they blow it and stuff, but they don't come all the time. And then I try to blow it. I have a little electric blower and It is very difficult to get the little bits, like little seeds and berries that the trees above drop on it. And so they just like collect inside of the grass and see that being a problem. Yeah. The kids are curious about them. I've caught CECE trying to eat them before, and I don't know what kind of berries they are. It's just like, no, no, no, no, no. The dogs are always munching on them. It's like, oh my God.

Laura

So what did you find? I'm like, my instinct is, yeah. Sure, it's just kind of like plastic carpet, right?

Shanna

That's what you would think. I probably would have just gone and done it. But for some reason, I was like, maybe I should consult people who know more than I do. And it turns out you've maybe for a one-off, but you really shouldn't do it very often. I was so bummed. Why? The reason being, there is something that they do with artificial grass called an infill. It like sand or dirt or something kind of underneath the fake grass that holds the little grass pieces up and makes it look fluffy and stuff like that. So if I take a frickin' Dyson out there, I'm not just gonna get the berries and stuff. I guess I'll suck up all this infill and ruin my grass.

Laura

Shucks. So now are you just like picking them out one by one with your fingers, hands and knees style?

Shanna

Of only I was that dedicated to the health of my children and dogs. No. I just kind of keep an eye on them. And I'm like, no, don't eat those and rake them away when I can.

Laura

So it's such a pain in the back. You got to use that iNaturalist app to figure out what they are. So at least you can know whether they're actually poisonous or not.

Shanna

Oh, right. I completely forgot about that. I only had in mind your Facebook group that was very militant about not asking about things that hadn't already poisoned your kids or something to that effect.

Laura

The toxic plant identification group. Yeah. Ingestion has to have happened.

Shanna

That's all.

Laura

So it has to be like, my dog just ate this or my baby just ate this. You can't be like, I just want to know what this is in my backyard.

Shanna

Mm hmm. OK. That's what the app is for.

Laura

Exactly. The iNaturalStap, you can find out what the hell is in your backyard. It's really pretty easy.

Shanna

OK, cool. What do I take a picture of? The seeds, berries?

Laura

Well, I would probably take a picture of like the tree. Like if I get kind of close up on the tree, you can take multiple pictures. It might take a little figuring out like whether you need to see the leaves of the tree or if there's any berries on the tree. That'd be a good one because I think it's like going off like the shape of the leaf, the shape of the berries, that sort of thing. So it'd be a little more useful if you had it on the tree or on the bush or whatever it is.

Shanna

All right, well, I am going to try that and see if I can just let it go, let go of my worry about the berries.

Laura

Yeah, because if you know they're non-toxic, then you can just be like, well, whatever.

Shanna

Eat them.

Laura

Yeah, I'm excited. Go crazy. Get some roughage. Awesome. Well, Laura, do you have one more for us? I do, but should we take a quick break and then come back and you can hear it? Yeah, let's do it. OK.

Shanna

We're back and Laura, you have another what I googled this week for us. Yeah. I do. I do. Let's hear it. This is toddler related.

Laura

So I googled how to teach a toddler to do a front roll. Oh, like a somersault? Well, I put somersault in and I'm okay. Ready for your mind to be blown, Shanna?

Shanna

Yeah.

Laura

A summer salt is not the same as a front roll.

Shanna

A summer salt is a front roll. What are you talking about? A front roll?

Laura

It's like a re-roll on the ground. Like you put your head down and you do a roll. A summer salt, and I did not know this either, apparently is in the air. What? Right?

Shanna

I'm sorry, what? What even are you talking about? Getting off the ground, catching air and flipping? Yeah, is a somersault. Okay.

Laura

Yeah, definitely haven't been doing those my whole life. Okay, so I had to Google this because I got in this huge argument with my friend group about what a somersault is. And I also thought a somersault was you tuck and you roll forward on the ground, right? That's what a somersault is. Yeah. However, upon consulting the internet, I realized that my whole childhood is a lie because a somersault is an acrobatic movement in which a person turns head over heels in the air according to all these gymnastics blogs and crap. So apparently we are wrong about it being a somersault. It's a front roll. So I had to Google how to teach a toddler a front roll because I'm not ready for him to jump into the air and do a front flip.

Shanna

Wow. Okay. Somersault. That's just crazy. I don't know.

Laura

Maybe our listeners are more in tune with gymnastics, but like, I got to a deep dive on this. And this isn't even what I Google this. This was a previous Google, right? Right. But and it's not toddler related. But I mean, it was like a heated discussion in my friend group WhatsApp, like my we called friends know because it's all the friends from Fresno. And it was it was divided. It was like a A group of friends divided about this but why what camp were you in on this issue? Well, I was in the truth camp. I was a somersault truth or because like I also was taught growing up that it was a role on the ground, but then the internet totally disagrees with me.

Shanna

All right, front roll, whatever. And I'm not giving up that phrase.

Laura

I want to hear from our listeners who did gymnastics, whether I'm right or not. I don't need to be right. I'm just saying that this is what the internet has told me, and now it's blowing my mind. So anyway, teach a toddler how to do a front roll because my guy is like 90% of the way there, just naturally. Yeah, so sissy. He loves going into like downward dog and sticking his head on the ground and putting his palms out beside him. And I was just like, you know, I would kind of stop him. And then it occurred to me like, should I just encourage this? Like this is gymnastics. It's tumbling, right? Like, yeah. So I had to look it up. And it is actually something that they say you can encourage. Well, they I mean, there's a gymnastics blog I found that taught that shows you how to encourage kids to roll different ages. They say it's good for them because it gives them body awareness.

Shanna

Knives, yeah, yeah. our bed of nails. Yes, yes. You always have that bed of nails around. Well, yeah, the reason I'm not too surprised that you can teach them this is that we spent so much time doing my gym, especially when Al was young and we did do it with CeCe for a while. And I remember the first time they were like, OK, we're going to do summer salts or whatever, front rolls with your six months old. And I'm just like, excuse me, what? And they loved it. And so, yeah, we've been doing those for a while. I do have a question, though. Have you done one since you've become an adult?

Laura

I think I have years ago and it was a mistake.

Shanna

Big mistake. I cannot do that shit anymore. I tried a few times with Elle and I was like, dizzy. Yeah, so dizzy, so nauseous from doing one front roll.

Laura

Yeah, no. I think I tried to do a cartwheel a couple of years ago and I was just like, what the hell was I thinking? I used to do that shit. I used to be like, cartwheel, cartwheel here, you know, like everywhere. No.

Shanna

God, I know I can't do that shit anymore. I just my sense of balance or something in my inner ear is just like, you're old. Nope. Don't do that anymore.

Laura

Well, they say that the fluid in your inner ear starts to thicken as you get older. All right. So that's it for me. Should we take a break and come back with our BFPs and BFNs? Okay.

Shanna

We're back and we have our weekly BFPs and BFNs for you. Laura, you're up first. What do you got for us? Oh, I have a BFN. Oh, OK. Tell us. We're here for you. We're listening.

Laura

So the BFN is I've talked about both these things separately about my pregnancy is that I have really bad heartburn and then I have really bad SPD pain, pubic symphysis pain, symphysis pubis. I've got to get clarity over which ones. It's called SBD pain, but if you like Google it, it's like your pubic synthesis. Anyway, I got crotch pain. There you go. CP, baby. Yeah. And I have to be really careful about what I do, like how I move, how I sleep, because it'll flare up and make it really hard to walk if I don't. But the BFN is that the heartburn and the SPD are like at odds in how I manage them at night. And it's becoming a problem. So with the heartburn, You know, I want to have my head elevated and I, you know, you're better off if you're sleeping on your side, so theoretically your left side is better, but because it helps whatever, it helps with the reflex supposedly, right?

Shanna

So that sounds so hard. Can you take anything for the SPD pain, Tylenol or any kind of.

Laura

anti-explanatories. Yeah, you can take Tylenol and it works okay. I'm trying not to take it all the time because you don't want to take it too much. You don't want to save it for the worst times. So I'm just trying to take it sparingly. Not to mention that, well, I wouldn't want to take NSAIDs because they're not indicated for pregnancy. I know that there are some people who end up taking them like Advil.

Shanna

Oh, no, you poor thing. Yeah.

Laura

So and I'm just like, oh, 21 weeks. So just over halfway there.

Shanna

You still got more to go. Yeah.

Laura

So I think the answer is I think I need to be even more vigilant about how I manage my heartburn, my reflex. just eating smaller meals and making sure I don't eat before bed. I still, I mean, I haven't been, but just no tomatoes. Oh, it's so hard.

Shanna

Oh, I have a BFP.

Laura

Good. Painters tape. Oh, I fucking love painters tape. Let's talk about it.

Shanna

Love it. I am shocked I haven't talked about it before because I use it as a mom constantly. You know, we bought tons of rolls when we were actually doing painting and then have them left over. And I use painters tape to hang up sheets and blankets to make forts. I use it to hang up the girl's pictures on the walls so it doesn't tear the paint off. I use it to create streets and arrows on the ground that they can follow and make a parade with their little animals. It's endless. It's so, so handy, so fun. you know, if the kids get a hold of it, it's fun for them to pull off and play with and stick on things. And it's just such an unexpected thing to have in your parent toolbox that I had to share.

Laura

I love it. So I use it for taping down paper that like when we're doing like art projects, you know, like to the table so that he doesn't have to worry about holding it and drawing at the same time, which apparently is a skill he should be learning, but I guess whatever. It's easy to put the painter's tape down. Yeah. Actually, I got a tip from a mom. It's not so applicable now that we're not really flying places. But I had heard that if you have like a 12 month old or something like early toddler and you're on a flight, bring a roll of painter's tape with you and just like tape it to the tray in front of you and like let them just peel it off. Like basically, it just like is an activity for them. And it totally is. I've done that. I've put it on the walls, and he'll just take it off and put it on. Oh, man, that's great. Oh, you can also use it to mask out parts of a drawing, right?

Shanna

That's a great idea. That reminds me of what we did recently. I'd seen this on. Instagram or Pinterest or whatever ever since the quarantine started something people were doing in their backyards was on their block walls taking painters tape and making like a big. Like a big rectangle with you know crisscrossing. pieces of long painters tape and then taking chalk and coloring in all the exposed wall and then you remove all the pieces of tape and you have this really cool geometric design left and Ellen I did that recently and I love it it's so pretty and cute and it's all because of my painters tape. I love that painter's tape.

Laura

Anyway, hot tips.

Shanna

Hot tips, you guys. If you have any hot tips for us, you know, we want to hear them. Please reach out. Laura, where can they reach us?

Laura

We're on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at BFP Podcast. We also have a website, BigBatPositivePodcast.com. If you want to send us an email, you can include a voice memo in that email to contact at BigBatPositivePodcast.com. Finally, join our Facebook community group. Just search Big Fat Positive Community in Facebook. It's a closed private groups, so request to join. If you answer the two questions, you'll get set right through to all the awesome stuff that's getting discussed in there.

Shanna

And if you love our show, please rate and review it wherever you listen. That's so helpful. Other people look at those reviews and think, gosh, that sounds like a great podcast. I'm going to give it a try. And we always love expanding our BFP family. And if you love the show, let your friends know about BFP. Our show is produced by Laura Birek, Shanna Micko, and Steve Yager. Thanks so much for listening. Bye. Bye!