Can You Get a Mammogram While Breastfeeding? – Ep. 340

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Laura

Welcome to Big Fat Positive with Shanna and Laura. This week we have our weekly check-ins. We have our special segment, Why Is My Kid Crying? Where we find out why our kids were crying in Whole Foods, the frozen yogurt shop, and their bedrooms at night, and we close with our BFPs and BFNs for the week. Let's get started! Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 340. Also, happy New Year, everyone. Hello, and happy New Year, friends. So we are starting off 2025, the way we've started off 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2020 by recording the podcast and doing our check-ins. Yes! Yay!

Shanna

Five weeks before this actual New Year that you are listening to this.

Laura

Also true, but Shanna, let's get right to it. I want to hear about your week. I think you've got an epic check in for us.

Shanna

I do. I do. This was the week that was leading up to CeCe's birthday party, which I mentioned before on the show. I was planning well in advance this year because Sisi knew she wanted to have her party at our house. She had her guest list. She had her theme, which was super kiddies. And I was like, I am not going to be behind doing things at the last minute for this party. And I got my pinata done. And I have been working my butt off to get everything in order for this party that I've been super duper excited about.

Laura

OK, so tell us what you've been up to. So you had the pinata already done. What other preparations were going on this week?

Shanna

Well, I took off Friday and my mom came into town and we got quite a bit done. We went to Costco and got all the snacks and all the food ready. We decorated the house. I don't think I've ever decorated the house early for a party ever. So that was in place, wrapped Cici's presents. There was a lot of prep work that was done, except for like a lot of the fun stuff that I was really excited about, which was the crafting things, you know, super kiddies doesn't have a lot of decorations out there for sale. So I was like, let me do it. I got a color printer, I have a Cricut, and so I was making these really cute super kitty decorations, cupcake toppers. I had a really fun activity planned for the party, which I'll talk about in a minute, and all the really fun stuff I had saved for the last day or two, including making the cake. I had all the supplies, but hadn't made the cake yet.

So Saturday morning I wake up, I head out, I get the last couple things that I need for my projects, I come home, and there is a Paul over the house. I walk in and everyone is silent and I immediately am like, what is going on here? And I see Steve sitting at the dining room table on the chair and he's got Sasha in his lap and his mom is there and my mom is there and they're all staring at him. And I'm like, what happened? Just immediately like, what happened? And Steve looks at me and he's somewhat somber. And he's like, Sasha had a seizure. And I was like, what? My mom was like, I was out here with the kids and I heard something in your office. And I went in to see what it was because it was a sound I didn't recognize. And Sasha was on the floor having a seizure.

Laura

I feel like we should make sure everyone understands Sasha is your dog, your old lady dog, yes.

Shanna

Yes, my old lady dog. She's 14, but let me tell you, she has been as spry as a young chicken, right? So this was very out of the blue for me. I mean, this was not on my radar. I had recently taken her in for a comprehensive checkup and she was fine, got a total clean bill of health. So I was really caught off guard by this. And I just started sobbing because she looked horrible after having a seizure. I mean, she was so discombobulated, disoriented. She was walking around in circles. She had glassy eyes. I mean, she was not herself at all. It's not like she bounced back from having the seizure. So I didn't know what was going on. I called the vet. Yeah. And they were like, well, usually we just monitor. Dogs for 24 hours like we can't see you today, but you might have to take her to the emergency hospital. She has another one and I'm just like what is happening?

I'm not ready for Sasha to be a sick old dog and especially like today.

Laura

I was yeah 24 hours before the birthday party that you prepped for yeah.

Shanna

Yes. And I had been so fricking optimistic about this party. I was like, I'm going to plan ahead. I'm going to do everything. I'm so happy. And then so that really threw a wrench in my emotional state, as you can imagine.

Laura

Well, yeah. I mean, you have all this anticipation for a thing and then this creature that you love. Suddenly sick and it's scary and you're distracted now. You can't just be one emotion like I feel like that is really Adulting at its finest is like not being able to just have one emotion at any given time You can't just be happy for something for once. There's always got to be some mitigating circumstance You got to have an asterisk after the end of like, I'm very excited and happy for this party. However, my dog is sick.

Shanna

Yes, it's so true. And I couldn't just be sad for Sasha. I couldn't just be like worried about her either because I've got my kids there who saw the seizure, by the way, and we're trying to process it. And CECE was also still trying to be very excited about her party. So I'm trying to be joyful, but also Very worried like what is this mean what is happening what is causing this I don't know so we kept an eye on her for the rest of the day and she seemed to get a little bit better she was like drinking some water and eating and less woozy on her feet so I powered forward with my. crafting, which felt so superficial at that point. It was just so weird, but I still enjoyed it.

Laura

And I must say the crafting looked great. I noticed all the fun things you did, like the cupcake toppers and your house looked wonderful.

Shanna

Aw, thank you. Thank you so much. I did somehow pull it all together. I did a lot that day. That night, Sasha did have another seizure. Steve took her to the vet and they gave her some anti-seizure medication. And so I went to bed just Not able to sleep. I was so anxious Sasha was in our room, but you know I could hear her wandering around and bumping into things I had to put it like we have a dog Gate thing and so I set her in an area and I was anxious about the party I was anxious about her I think I got like three hours of sleep which this is not how I was hoping this weekend would go. You know what I mean?

Laura

Yeah, totally. You wanted it to go off without a hitch and there was a big hitch.

Shanna

Yes, there was a big hitch. So I wake up the next morning trying to put the finishing touches on things. We had to pick up 20 chairs and some tables that we were borrowing from a neighbor. That was Steve's job. He was on that. And right before he was about to go and get those tables and chairs two hours before the party, little Sasha had three more seizures right in a row i was holding her through them i'm sobbing i'm like steve called the vet what do we do we called and he's like i need to take her to the to the pet hospital and they're gonna have to admit her so i'm like okay you go do that and like i ran and got the chairs and tables and i'm like so upset inside but also like must power through for a party. And by the time the party started, I had not taken a shower. I'm not even sure I had brushed my teeth. This is not how I like to roll into a party that I'm hosting.

So I like brushed my hair real quick and just threw on some clothes. My eyes were like red and swollen. People are arriving and I'm in the bathroom just like trying to freshen up a bit and be jolly. So, yeah, that's how the party started.

Laura

Well, I must say that I did not notice. And I knew some of this was going on, right? You had been texting me like, oh, my fucking god.

Right before the party, Sasha had more seizures and I'm like, you can do this. Everything's gonna be okay. Compartmentalize. Yes. You know, you looked none the worse for wear to me. And I know you pretty well. I didn't notice that you were unshowered.

Shanna

Oh, good.

Laura

And red-eyed.

Shanna

Good. And thank you, friend, for being on pizza duty. You picked up Costco pizza for me on the way, which was a huge help. I can't even imagine having to manage that. So thank you.

Laura

It was no problem. We even got a little shopping in ourselves while we waited for the pizzas.

Shanna

Perfect. Perfect. I'm glad it worked out. But as they say, the show must go on. And that's what we did. I powered through with a smile on my face. At least I knew Sasha was in like care, right? Like she was where she was supposed to be because I didn't know what to do about her in the home. So she's there. I'm at the party. CeCe is having the time of her life. Everybody came. Like sometimes you have no shows, but it was like, no, everybody came. It was so fun. And probably the highlight for me was this activity I set up for the kids, which was an adopt a pet activity, which doubled as party favors. where I bought a bunch of little stuffed dogs and cats and each kid got to choose a dog or cat to adopt.

And then I had little adoption certificates that I designed and printed out in little cardboard boxes that everyone could decorate as their little pet house and they could make collars with beads and everything. And it was So fun. The kids loved it. Everyone loved their little pet so much. There was some drama, of course, because some people didn't get the pet they wanted and all that jazz. But it was great. It was a blast. Everyone had a great time. And at the end of the party, after everything settled down, Cece said to me, thank you so much. That party was better than I had even pictured. And I felt very glad that I was able to do that for her and give that to her. despite what I was feeling inside.

Laura

Yes, the adoptive pet thing was genius. It was elaborate. At first, I was like, oh, this is a lot of steps, but they were like, the kids were into it. They loved their pets. I will be talking more about that in our next segment, a little bit of a little sneak peek. But I did notice that when it was cake time, that wasn't one of your signature Shanna cakes. What happened?

Shanna

Ah, I had to scrap the cake idea. By Saturday night, I think, I was like, I am too drained to make a cake now. Chances are shit's going to hit the fan Sunday morning. So I need to just buy a store cake and scrap making a cake. I got to take that off my plate. Very good. Very smart. And that's what I did. So yes. The next morning, first thing, Steve went to Ralph's, the grocery store, and video chatted with me. He's like, here are the options for cakes and blah, blah, blah. And I was like, okay, the purple one. And that's what we did. And it was fine. It was fine. It was fine. It was great.

Laura

You know, the kids aren't going to remember that there wasn't some elaborate cake, but they remember all the other fun activities. You had the bounce house out. You had this weird blow up circle thing. The kids were rolling up around. Human hamster wheel. A human hamster wheel, yeah. So it was very, very fun. We, of course, closed out the party because, you know, BFF privilege. We get to hang out once everyone else is gone. It was super fun.

Shanna

Yeah, I'm so glad you guys could make it this year. It was awesome having you. And yeah, so yeah, that was my experience of the weekend.

Laura

So Sasha is at the pet hospital. You know what? You're right that it's the better place for her to be, because even if she wasn't actively having seizures, she probably would have been so stressed by all the kids and people at the house. Yeah.

Shanna

Yeah, exactly.

Laura

Poor little Sasha's.

Shanna

I know. I love her so much. But yeah, so that's me. What about you? I really hope you had a less dramatic week than I did.

Laura

Yes, thankfully, there were no medical emergencies amongst any of the beings in my house this week.

Shanna

Good.

Laura

Yeah. But I actually did want to talk about something medical. Nothing grows, nothing's scary, nothing anyone needs to skip ahead on. But I wanted to check in because I actually got my first mammogram this week. Oh, okay. Good, good. And part of the reason I wanted to talk about it on this show is because it was my very first mammogram, even though I am 42 and you're supposed to start getting them at 40, because I have been continuously breastfeeding or pregnant since, well, actually, yes, continuously breastfeeding and pregnant since I was 35. Right. Wow. Yeah.

Shanna

Wow, that's a long time.

Laura

But they put it that way, Laura. It sounds a little crazy. It does sound a little crazy. And I am down to like one time a day, some days we skip with Sebastian. I think the end is near on that. But it was one of those things where it's like they tell you you're not supposed to get a mammogram when you're breastfeeding, because I don't exactly know why. I think because the milk and the ducks and stuff can get in the way of a clear picture from the mammogram, I think.

Shanna

It's not because they don't want milk squirted on their face when they compress your boob in the machine.

Laura

They probably don't want that either. I'm also wondering if it could maybe cause mastitis or something or clogged up because they really do smush those suckers down. They do. For whatever reason, they generally don't recommend you get it while breastfeeding. But last year, when I went to my annual gyno checkup, my doctor was like, how come you haven't gotten mammogram yet. And I was like, well, because I'm breastfeeding and you're not supposed to. And he's like, just get it. He's like, are you going to stop anytime soon? I'm like, well, knowing Sebastian probably not. He's like, so just go get it. He's like, just lie to them. I was like, OK. Oh, OK. Spoiler alert. I did not lie to them. I lied to them when I signed up because there was like a question like are you breastfeeding? And he's like just don't check that box and then when you get there explain to them what's going on.

It's like because when they're asking that question, are you nursing? Are you breastfeeding? That's for like the first six months or the first year of breastfeeding when your boobs are like constantly full of milk. They're engorged. It's a different story. than someone who's been breastfeeding for, you know, coming up on six years. He's like, it's a different story. You just need to get it done. So it took me almost a year to get the appointment and blah, you know, get my act together, figure it out, get the appointment, blah, blah, blah. But I finally went this week to get my very first mammogram. And I just wanted to give a little report of what happened. So other people who might be in my situation can know. All right. So how did it go? Well, let me ask you, I assume you've gotten a handful of mammograms by this point, right, Shanna?

Shanna

Yeah, big handful because I'm so old. Yes, I've had several and they were long after I was done breastfeeding. And they were fine just, yeah, very squishy.

Laura

Very squishy. So for me, what happened was I went to this imaging center. It was like all they do are mammograms. So it's like very much like a very quick process, you know, they've got the system down. So they sent me back, told me to get undressed from the waist up. One interesting thing that I didn't realize is that you can't be wearing deodorant or antiperspirant because apparently the metals in the aluminum can reflect the x-rays or whatever and make it look like there's masses that aren't there. And my big anxiety was less about the breastfeeding thing and more about the fact that I could not remember if I had put on deodorant after my shower. the night before, which is like, at some point I saw some TikTok that was like, you should be putting on your deodorant right after you get out of the shower instead of first thing in the morning.

And I was like, okay, so I took that to heart. And then I was like, did I do it? Like, I don't remember. But anyway, so they send me back in my little half-robe and then the woman brings me in and I told her, I was like, I'm breastfeeding. It's like once a day, maybe once every other day. And she's like, oh, that's fine. She was totally not worried about it at all. Like it wasn't a red flag. It wasn't like, oh, well, maybe we need to change it. She was just like, okay, I'm breastfeeding too. I have an 11 month old. I'm like, okay, cool. Like we chatted about motherhood, you know. And I have to say, I was happy that I have kind of big boobs because it really made the like plopping them up on the little like platter and getting them smushed a little bit easier.

Shanna

You know, plopping them up on the platter. Oh my gosh. That's basically what you do.

Laura

Oh my gosh. All right. So you plopped them on the platter and then. you got to get smushed down and get an x-ray and honestly all these people who are like it's awful it's awful i get it if that's your experience i'm not diminishing that but like i honestly think that most people who've had a baby or have been pregnant or even if you haven't had the baby yet like The discomfort of pregnancy and childbirth is far worse than the like 10 seconds of discomfort by getting your boobs smushed. I mean, gosh, if you've breastfed, you've already had your boobs manhandled worse than this mammogram. So it was a very quick in and out, and then I left. And then I got a message saying, you're going to need to come in for a sonogram because your boobs are too dense for a mammogram. Sorry, ma'am. Oh, okay. And I don't know if it's related to the breastfeeding or not.

I'm actually guessing it's not because I've always had super dense boobs. Like that's something that every doctor who's ever done a breast exam on me is like, oh, you got some really dense breast tissue. I'm like, yep. And my mom does too. My mom was like, oh, I can't do mammograms either. I have to get sonograms, like all this stuff. So it was a kind of a waste of a smushed boob.

Shanna

You know, I don't even know for sure what it means to have dense breasts, because I think my report says mine are or somewhat, but I don't think I would know that just by looking at them or I don't know.

Laura

No, I think it's a feel thing. So some people have just more fat in their breasts than others. Like my boobs are less fat, more glands. That makes them dense, like the more glandular tissue you have. the denser they are. And other people have lots of fat in their boobs and they don't have as much glandular tissue.

Shanna

Glandular tissue.

Laura

Yeah. But those glands made it so mammogram is not good enough. So I have to now schedule a sonogram. They did say there's no reason to think there was anything in there. There was nothing suspicious that they saw on the actual mammogram. But jokes on you, your boobs are too dense to make this useful. So.

Shanna

Oh, good times. All right. So you have not done the sonogram yet.

Laura

I have not because who knows how long the wait time is for that. I have to get the order from my doctor, yada, yada, yada. But I do want to say for anyone out there who's like thinking they need a mammogram and their breastfeeding still, maybe ask your doctor if you can skip straight to the sonogram because then you won't have to go through this whole smushed boob for no reason situation. So that's my hot tip. Yeah, that was the most exciting thing that happened to me this week other than going to Cece's birthday party, which was obviously the highlight. But yeah, that's it for me. And I think we should move on to our special segment. Yes, we should.

Shanna

We are back and this week's special segment is, Why is my kid crying? Where we explore the interesting or unusual reasons that our kids have been crying lately. And as always, this is not an opportunity to make fun of our kiddos for their big emotions. It's more to unpack the reason behind the obvious and talk about what really made our kids melt down. Laura, you were up first. And if you remember, we make this into a bit of a game. You tell me where the incident happened and who was involved. And I will do my best to guess what made your kid cry.

Laura

OK, so this first one is Augie before bedtime in his bedroom.

Shanna

Okay, let's see. I think Augie was crying in his bedroom because he wanted to sleep on the bottom bunk that night. He wanted to switch places with Sebastian and Sebastian was like, no, this is my cave. I want to sleep here. And he got really upset about that.

Laura

You know, I'm shocked that hasn't happened yet to be honest. Really? Yeah. Thankfully, they're both very into their own spots and they don't want the other ones so far. Okay, that's good. No, Augie was curled up in my arms, sobbing uncontrollably. I mean, in that deep Super sad thing, not like whining, not like angry, just devastated, okay? And cradling him in my arms, and he's just saying, Avocado! Avocado!

Shanna

Oh no! Aw, buddy. Okay, I know what avocado means. Our listeners might think he's sobbing about the fruit slash vegetable. Not sure technically what that is, but okay, tell us what's avocado about.

Laura

So rewind to that afternoon. We were at your house for CeCe's birthday party and you were doing the aforementioned Adopt-a-Pet craft. And it's interesting at first, he was sort of not as interested in it. And I expected him not to be as interested because he's not as into, you know, cute things. He's into like spooky things, you know, he's not into plushies as much. And so I thought, oh, he might sit it out. And I think at first he was like, I don't want to do it. But then 30 seconds later, he was like, wait a second, I do want to do it. and he picked out his dog. And also surprisingly, it's got a pink collar on it. It was clearly meant to be a feminine dog, but he was going for it, and I did not point it out, because I'm like, I want him to be less rigid in his gender normativity. So he picks out his dog. He decorated his dog house. He decided the dog's name was Avocado.

And he kept losing it around the party. Like every five minutes he'd run up, he'd be like, where's avocado? Where's avocado? And he'd be like, we have avocado, avocado's fine. At some point, he told me, actually, I'm going to leave avocado with Elle. Elle's going to take care of avocado. And I was like, are you sure, baby? Because I think you're going to be sad when you get home and avocado's not there. He's like, no, I'll be fine. I'll be fine. I did not believe him. We were neither of us. And you were like, Elle, are you trying to get an extra stuffed animal out of Augie?

Shanna

Yeah.

Laura

Is this some oldest kid manipulation?

Shanna

Yeah, I was a little suspicious. I don't know if that happened or not. I don't want to throw her under the bus.

Laura

So I don't know. We don't know. But I was like, we're not leaving Avocado because I can predict the future where you're going to be sad if you don't have him. And especially if Sebastian has his who he named QQU.

So as we were leaving it was a bit hectic we were trying to get a picture of all of us together because we never have a picture of all of us together all the kids all the bfp kids were like. taking bunch of photos taking videos and then like your kids are running into my mini van and like trying to stow away in the mini van all this stuff right it was like chaos and i do remember i'd like gathered up avocado and q and all their other crap and i was bringing it all to the car and then we stopped to take pictures and blah blah anyway. Point is, we get home, we do bedtime routine, we do all this stuff, and that's when Augie says, where's avocado?

Shanna

Uh-oh.

Laura

And I was like, oh, he must be in the car. Like, we must be in the car. We just had a bunch of shit. We didn't know, like, get out of the car, send Corey out. Corey's like, I couldn't find avocado. I was like, well, fuck. I was like, I'm gonna go look. I go look, can't find avocado. I'm like, well, shit. Meanwhile, he starts freaking out. Like, he is panicked. He's like, where's avocado? Did avocado get hurt? Is avocado gone forever? And I was like, I am sure. The avocado is safe. I'm sure we just left avocado with all the other stuff we were doing. And he starts really getting upset. He's like, but avocado's gonna be lonely. Avocado doesn't know why I left him. And he's just spinning this whole story in his head about how avocado, how he's like failed avocado. And I'm feeling terrible, right? Because I'm... I feel like a bad mom, right? Because I had predicted this.

I knew this was going to happen. I'm so ironic. I don't think I knew the depth of it. I thought he would get a little jealous and upset, but not sobbing about it. But this poor child cried at least for 30 minutes about avocado. Meanwhile, I'm sending you text messages. Hey, so I know you just threw a birthday party for your daughter and had a million people at your house and it's probably very busy and you're worried about your actual real dog that's in the hospital. But I would like to know if avocado is safe and if you could send a proof of life picture that would be excellent.

Shanna

And I felt so bad because I did not see that text for a long time because I was putting the kids to bed and I just did not have my phone or watch on me. So I finally come out and I see that. I'm like, oh my God, yes, yes, Avocado's here. Elle had found Avocado and totally like adopted it in like a care taking way, not like this is mine, but like I need to take care of this for Augie and set it up next to her bed before bedtime and like had him in his little house. And I was like, yes, I was taking care of him. Let me, I snuck into the bedroom and got him and took a picture for you and everything. Oh my gosh, poor guy.

Laura

Yeah, and I had to like show him the picture and be like, L is taking such good care of avocado. L picked a special spot for him and all this stuff. I had to be like, I'm going to meet up with Shanna for lunch in the next couple of days and we're going to get avocado. And he literally fell asleep being like, oh my god. I was like, wow, the whole this thing hasn't my child. I had no idea. So yeah, that was why Augie was crying.

Shanna

It's so interesting too, especially since you didn't even know if he would be into this activity in the beginning because he doesn't seem to have that connection to stuffies and things like that for it to come to that. Like what a deep connection he had to avocado. That's so surprising.

Laura

Yeah. Although Corey pointed out that this was the first toy he's gotten for months because of our no toys till Christmas ban. And so we think that might have something to do with it. But yeah, he was sad about avocado, man. Very sad. Didn't help that Sebastian was right below him being like, I've got Q. Q is cute. I love Q. And we're like, OK, stop rubbing it in, kid.

Shanna

No kidding, we're rubbing in, dude. Well, avocado is here in good care and ready to be returned to his rightful human whenever that time comes.

Laura

Yes, we'll have to meet up and do an exchange. But I really did feel bad because I was like, oh my gosh, I didn't want to tell the kids that Sasha was like really sick. You know what I mean? Like, I didn't want to be like, she's about her own freaking dog, guys. Like this stuff is not that important. So I'm just like, they've got stuff going on. But yes, thank you for saving Avocado's life.

Shanna

Of course. Of course.

Laura

So that was my first why is my kid crying. Shanna, what is your scenario you'd like to share with us?

Shanna

Okay, this was in Cece's bedroom at bedtime, like right before bed with Cece.

Laura

Cece was crying because she wanted Jasmine and Coco to sleep in bed with her, but they were not having it because they're cats and they're weird.

Shanna

I feel like that has definitely happened at some point. But that is not what this is about.

Laura

OK.

Shanna

This was a few months back when Steve and I were doing a bedroom refresh. Like, we decided that we wanted to paint the walls, get some new furniture, kind of just spruce up the bedroom. And so we were doing that. We had just put some finishing touches on it. And she had been in there with me looking around. Like, I was like, hey, it's easy to look like. What do you think? Do you like it? And so this was a couple minutes after that. I took her to her bed, we were in bed, and she starts sobbing. And I am so confused. I'm just like, what just happened? Like literally nothing I could tell had happened to her. And finally, through heaves and sobs, she says, your bedroom is better than mine.

And she is so upset about it. And my instinct was to be like, no, no, your room is beautiful. But I was like, you know, let's think of the Janet Lansbury in the back of my head and all these people I listened to. Instead of just telling her what she should think and feel, let me listen to her and see why this is upsetting her so much. So I put my arm around her. I'm like, oh, that sounds really disappointing. Like, why are you feeling that way? And she said, well, why are you redoing your bedroom and not my bedroom or Elle's bedroom? Like she couldn't understand why it was our room that was getting the new stuff and the refresh. I was like, oh, well, because when we moved into this house, the very first thing I did was spend a lot of time and care making your bedroom and Elle's bedroom look beautiful for you.

Like look at the paint that I chose and the pictures on the wall, like all of this stuff. I spent a lot of time picking just for you. And I never did anything for my own room. Me and Daddy's room has not looked good for a long time. And so it was time for us to do that too. And she's like, sniffling, kind of calming down a little bit. And she's just kind of nodded and stuff. And she's looking around at her room. She saw the little wall decal stickers of there's like little clouds or whatever. They're very cute. She's like, did you pick those from my room before I was born? I was like, yeah, I picked those and that picture. And she said, well, I don't like my room. And I was like, what? She goes, I love it. I'm like, oh, good.

Laura

OK. That's so funny.

Shanna

Awesome. She scammed me there at the end. She did. You got scammed. I got scammed. You got emotionally scammed. Totally. But I was so surprised by that jealousy of fixing up my room instead of hers. I don't know. Caught me off guard. Totally. Totally.

Laura

Oh, poor sweetie.

Shanna

Yeah. Alright, do you have another Why Is My Kid Crying for us?

Laura

Yes, I do. Okay, the scene is I'm in a very busy, very crowded Whole Foods pushing Sebastian and Augie in our wagon stroller. And it's Sebastian who's crying.

Shanna

Okay, a very, very busy Whole Foods. That might make me cry too, but I'm assuming he's not crying about the crowds. Okay, so you probably stopped by the bakery, Whole Foods got to meet you cookie or pushing him around and he dropped his cookie and couldn't eat it.

Laura

No, that's a way more logical answer.

Okay, so here's what was happening. He was trying to tell me something and his speech and language is really great these days. I mean, he's got this very complex sentient structure. Like he's really doing a great job communicating, but he still has a little bit of like a lisp. And I don't know if it's because he needs speech therapy or if it's just because it's like the way he's face is formed, like sometimes he sounds really stuffy. I don't know if it's because he spent six months probably at least with like reduced hearing before he got his ear tubes. But his speech isn't always the clearest, right? And I think that's typical. I think that At his age, it's like I'm supposed to understand like 75% of what he says or something and the rest of the world's supposed to understand 50 or something.

Shanna

Yeah, that sounds about right.

Laura

Yeah, I don't remember the exact numbers, but I looked it up once because I was anxious and it was fine. So I was like, okay, he's fine. And I really do understand most of what he says these days. But he was trying to tell me something and it was loud in there. And, you know, he's down at like, you know, knee level in the stroller and I'm a pie trying to search for the food we need. And he keeps telling me something. And I'm like, I'm so sorry. Say what? What? And I kept having to ask him to repeat himself and I couldn't understand. And he was so mad that I couldn't understand him. He started screaming what he was saying, which didn't help. And he's like starting to cry because I don't understand. Meanwhile, there's people everywhere, like trying to push us out of the way. I'm trying to crouch down and do my, you know, Janet Lansbury like, oh, you're frustrated.

I can, I bet it's so frustrating when you are trying to say something and I don't understand. I'm really trying, baby. It's so loud in here. He's like so mad. Tears are streaming down his face.

Shanna

Uh-huh.

Laura

Okay, so I actually just went and got him to recreate this scenario because I want to see if you can understand what the heck he's saying or if it's just me being a bad mom.

Shanna

Oh, gosh. Okay, the pressure's on.

Speaker 1

The Subaru is 100. The Subaru is 100. The Subaru is 100!

Shanna

Okay, the Subaru is 100? No!

Oh, the silver ran a bundred? I really don't know, Laura. What did he say?

Laura

This is where having another kid comes in really handy because this would have been a mystery for maybe, I mean, until I saw Corey because it turns out Corey knew about this. But thank goodness I had Augie with me and Augie knew. And we've done this before where we'll ask Augie, like, can you translate your brother's language to us? Because we don't know what he's saying. And Augie will be like, oh, OK, it's actually really cute. Augie will go, boop, boop, boop, boop, translating. OK. And so he did that. I was like, Augie, what is he saying? Like, I'm so sorry, Sebastian. I wish I understood. I don't know what you're saying. And I'm thinking like he wants something from a shelf. He's, you know, I'm like, what's going on? No. What he was saying was the sewer footprints 100.

Shanna

What? Okay, I can skip that now, but what does that mean? Exactly. It's meaningless.

Laura

And he was so mad at me. The reason he was saying that is that's the name of his movie. He has decided, you know how Augie's been making those movie posters and we've started including Sebastian in it and Augie, the movie that he's quote unquote making in his head that he's always talking about is the last fight for Attack of the Stage. And apparently now Sebastian has a movie called the sewer footprints 100 but this was like created when I was not around so I never got the the origin story. So to me he's like picking a random word generator like that would be a great password right sewer footprints 100 exclamation point got it right. Yeah, totally. And so he was so mad at me because he was trying to tell me something that happens in the sewer footprints 100, Shanna, in the middle of Whole Foods while we're trying to get our groceries.

Shanna

Yeah. Right, right. So it probably felt very personal to him because you are not able to understand something that means something to him. He's not just talking about some Subaru. He's talking about his movie.

Yeah.

Laura

Even though it makes no sense. So yeah, so I was very caught off guard by that. And once I figured it out, I was like, okay. And now I know. And that's why I didn't know because it doesn't mean anything out of context. My love.

Shanna

Good thing you have your translator there.

Laura

Thank goodness for my translator, Augie. All right. That was my last, why is my kid crying? Sean, did you have one more scenario to share with us?

Shanna

I do, but I think maybe we should do it after the break.

Laura

Yes, we should.

All right, we are back and we have one more. Why is my kid crying? Shanna, tell me who and where and I'll try to take a guess.

Shanna

All right, this is getting in the car on the way to Menchie's and the whole family is there, but the person crying is Cece. And Menchie's for those who might not know or remember is our favorite little ice cream shop nearby or frozen yogurt shop, I should say.

Laura

Cece is crying because she already had a poop at home and she didn't save it for Menchie's.

Shanna

Sweet callback to the fact that my children always go number two in the Menchies bathroom.

No, it had nothing to do with that. In fact, I think this might have been a toilet-free trip. Yay. Wow, they're growing and maturing. I know my little girls. No, no, no. Okay. So you know how occasionally you get mailers of coupons for surrounding businesses in your mailbox? I tend to chuck those straight in the trash. I never look at them, but my kids love to look through them. And they had recently found some Menchies coupons. And so we cut them out and saved them. There were two of them. There was a Buy One Get One Free, a Bogo coupon, and a 20% Off Your Order coupon. So we had clipped those out and we were taking them to Menchies to get our sweet deal. And as we're walking out to the car to go to Menchies, I was coupon strategizing, I guess, I don't know.

I was just like, okay, me and L will do the Bogo and Daddy and Cici can use the 20% off coupon because you're not supposed to combine them or whatever. Mm-hmm. Cici heard that and was like, oh, I want the Bogo. And we're like, well, I mean, we can only really do like one or the other. I mean, maybe I don't know. I'm just like, what? She's like, I want the Bogo. And I'm getting her into the car seat, and she's getting so upset. Saying, what? But I want the Bogo. And then Elle's like, no, I'm going to get the Bogo. I'm going to use the Bogo. Oh my gosh. And the whole drive to Menchie's, which thank God is like two minutes. I mean, we really should have just walked there. She's crying and complaining and whining because she doesn't get Bogo. And we finally park and she's still crying about Bogo. And Steve goes, CECE, do you know what Bogo is? And she goes, no.

And he goes, it just means buy one, get one free. So we're going to buy one, get another one free. And she goes, oh, OK, I don't need Bogo.

Oh my god.

Shanna

She didn't even know what she was crying about.

Laura

She totally thought it was some fun prize, right?

Shanna

Yes, which to be fair, it does sound like a fun prize. I mean, it doesn't love saying Bogo. It's good.

Laura

It reminds me of when I was a kid and I was really disappointed because we went out to dinner and I discovered that there was no such thing as a super salad. I thought it was like a Superman salad. But no, my mom had to be like soup or salad. I was like, oh, well, that's less fun.

Shanna

This restaurant is suddenly less exciting. Yes. Exactly. Just get ideas in your head when you're a kid and you really get attached to them. And then reality is like, no. So she did not get her Bogo, but she was okay with it once she knew what it was.

Laura

Have I told you that the only reason Augie eats kebabs? It's like one of his safe foods is because we got a kebab shop flyer. And it like made it into rotation. It like got from the mailbox to the car and he was fascinated with it. And then one day he was like, mama, let's have kebabs for dinner. And I'm like, okay, like, sure, like the sounds great. And now it's one of his like very short list of safe foods because of the flyer.

Shanna

Oh, direct marketing works. It works, folks. It works on the children.

Laura

It makes me want to manufacture some more flyers for things like, I don't know, something green maybe for once. Yes.

Shanna

Put a fake flyer back there for broccoli and just have him discover it one day. Yeah.

Laura

Yeah. See if that works.

Shanna

I'm sure that'll work.

Laura

Well, you know what? I'm glad you got the Bogo one way or another. Me too.

Shanna

Mama loves a deal.

But yeah, that's it for me and I believe that's it for our segment. So shall we move on to our BFPs and BFNs? I think we should.

Laura

We close every episode with a Big Fat Positive or a big fat negative from the week. And Shanna, you are up first. Do you have a BFP or a BFN?

Shanna

I have a BFP. Yay. My BFP is one of the activities that I arranged for CECE's party that was a... Huge hit and I want to talk about it.

Laura

Okay. Tell me more.

Shanna

I don't know about your kids, but anytime my kids go somewhere like kids empire or any of these kids places, there are claw machines there and my kids love them. They've arranged them in these kids locations where you can kind of play till you win. You know, you pay, but you play till you win. So they love claw machines. Well, as luck would have it, CECE's best friends, parents have recently invested in a bunch of small claw machines that they rent out for birthday parties and they have a company that they just rent out These cool fun little claw machines and every time CECE goes over to their house. She loves playing on the claw machine. She comes home and talks about it. She just thinks it's the best thing ever. And so I was like, I have to rent this claw machine for her birthday party and it's gonna be a complete surprise.

So I arranged to rent it and I went on the internet and bought all these different prizes that I thought would be fun to throw in there. And the day of the party arrives and the friends dad brings the machine they had printed out like a custom label at the top with CECE's name and super kiddies on it. And the kids and even the adults got to play claw machine and grab prizes for the whole party. And it was just so fun and like a fun thing to do for party favors too. I think I might have gone overboard on party favors. But whatever, it was a blast. And I really, really liked that aspect of the party.

Laura

Yes, I was reminded how bad I am at the claw machine despite my, you know, internal sense of self thinking that I'm better at it than I turned out to be. But yeah, that was so fun. I figured it was there because I walk in the door carrying a bunch of pizzas and stuff or whatever. And then Augie runs off and then immediately runs back. He's like, mama, mama, do you have coins? Do you have coins? And I was like, what are you doing? coins for and he's like, there's a claw machine. I want to play. I want to play. And I was like, oh, you don't need coins for this one. It's just free. And he was like, what? Are you kidding? Yes. It also cracked me up that at some point towards the end of the party or maybe even after it had wrapped up and we were all like cleaning up, I looked over and your mother-in-law had just been playing it for like 20 straight minutes.

Shanna

It really does delight all age groups. And the benefit of knowing the owner is that when things get too stock, he just walks over and unlocks the door and kind of jiggles it and brings the bigger toys up to the top and everything. I have to plug them because I love this family. They're so nice. Of course, they gave me like a friend's deal on this thing and it's a fun party favor. So if you are looking to rent something similar, check out Klossom CLAW SOME in the LA area and you can rent one for your next party.

Laura

I think I might have to do that honestly. It was so fun.

Shanna

Yeah. Yeah. Kids really get a kick out of being able to do that for free and until they win. It's a blast.

Laura

Yeah.

Shanna

All right. So that's me.

Laura

What about you, Laura? BFP or BFN? I have a BFP as well. Woohoo. Um, my BFB is you, Shanna. What? Me. Yeah. Why? Because you hosted and organized and threw, like, such a fun party. Aw. Both of my boys had such a good time, but also because you did it going through all the stuff with Sasha and, you know, also just being generally stressed with life and your job and all that stuff. And I was very impressed with how you were able to pull it all off with total grace. And I just thought when I was trying to pick a BFP for this week, I was like, I think Shanna is my BFP because she really went above and beyond for this party even through trying circumstances. So I wanted to give you the recognition you deserve.

Shanna

Thank you, friend. Oh, you're going to make me cry. No. That's so sweet. Aw, man. Thank you.

Laura

Your inspiration. I feel like I always half-ass my party decorations and stuff, and I feel like I maybe need to go bigger for the next birthdays, you know, coming up pretty soon.

Shanna

It's very soon, very soon. But only if you want to, right? Like, that's the thing I always try to tell people is, like, that is a thing that brings me true joy in life. Even when I was a kid, I loved parties. I love decorating for them, decorating for the holidays, you know, making things. That's just a joy I have. And sometimes people come and see the things I've done at parties and stuff. And I think they either think I've gone overboard or I pushed myself too hard or something. And it's like, or they compare themselves and like, oh, I'm not good enough to with my it's like, no, no, no, I just love that. Like I do. So only if you want to and you're feeling it.

Laura

OK. OK. I won't feel peer pressured.

Shanna

Yeah.

Laura

Just inspired.

Shanna

Aw, that's so sweet. Thanks, friend. I was really so happy you guys were there, especially considering what I was going through emotionally and not trying to show people. You know, it's like having your bestie there is like, okay, good. I've got some grounding foundation here, so that was really, really nice.

Laura

Well, we loved being there. But yeah, that's it for me and I think that might be it for our show.

Shanna

I think it is listeners. If you want to start the year off helping the BFP podcast, do us a huge favor. Please go on over to wherever you listen to our show. Leave us a five star review. Say a few things you love about the show and we might read it on an upcoming episode. And make sure that you are subscribed or following the show in whatever platform you listen. That way you can get our content delivered to your device as soon as it is released. And share the show with your friends, your loved ones, anyone who might relate to what we're talking about here. If you have anything you want to comment on about today's episode or anything else, please drop us a line. We love hearing from you. Laura, where can everyone find us?

Laura

We're on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook at BFP Podcast. We have a website, bigfatpositivepodcast.com. And if you want to send us an email, you can always throw a voice memo in there. We'd love those. Just send it to contact at bigfatpositivepodcast.com. And finally, if you want to join the coolest group of people on the internet, just search Facebook for Big Fat Positive Community. It is a private group, so you got a request to join and answer those two membership questions so we know you're not a robot. But once you do that, you'll be sent straight through to all the amazing, wonderful, hilarious, supportive, just all-around awesome conversations we're having in there.

Shanna

Our show is produced by Laura Birek, Shanna Micko, and Steve Yager. Thanks for listening, everyone. Have a big, fat, positive week. Bye. Bye.

Can You Get a Mammogram While Breastfeeding? – Ep. 340

January 6, 2025

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Episode Transcript

Can You Get a Mammogram While Breastfeeding? – Ep. 340

January 6, 2025

Listen Now:

This episode's sponsors:

Whisker Litter-Robot

Once Upon a Dance

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Episode Transcript