On episode 16, we have Heather from Knoxville, TN. She was 40 and 46 during her pregnancies.
Heather’s pregnancy journey started in her 20’s with her first child. Her story is also unique because she’s been pregnant in her 30’s and 40’s. She shares her pregnancy journey at 40 and 46. Her 9th child wasn’t planned but it also wasn’t a surprise. They were missionaries out of the country when she was 40 and realized she was pregnant. It wasn’t until they were back state-side when she learned she was 19 weeks along. After that pregnancy she assumed she was going through menopause with symptoms and wanted to get it checked. The doctor told her it was standard practice to take a pregnancy test before she came in. And wouldn’t you know she was pregnant with her 10th child! She said her and her husband laughed hysterically.
The truth about pregnancy is a baby is coming no matter how calm or stressed you become. It’s still just going to happen.
During Heather’s pregnancy at 40, they were just coming back from being missionaries. She said she didn’t have time to fuss about having all of the things for the baby, they needed a washing machine! It was really time to get back to having the necessities. She says he was born, they came home and life continued on.
Hear what I’m saying about what’s normal to me verse what’s normal in your text books.
During Heather’s pregnancy at 46, the practice she was going to didn’t have experience with women her age. They didn’t have the experience of caring for women past 40. She said they asked a lot of ‘why would you…?,’ with a lot of things. She didn’t feel supported. She ended up refusing care from one of the doctors in the practice because she felt like she was being treated like she didn’t have a clue what was going on. She knows her body and wanted them to listen to her.
Heather says she’s spent a huge chunk of her life breastfeeding her children! At 40, she nursed her son for almost 3 years. At 46, she stopped nursing her daughter at 11 months when she figured out how to bite. She thinks breastfeeding has helped her children with their immune system, but doesn’t want to idealize it. She believes fed is best because breastfeeding can be hard!
What made this Fabulous: She has so much wisdom and experience with mothering 10 children to share. Being a grandmother and being able to breastfeed her granddaughter is so special!
Here are the topics we discuss in this episode:
- Not finding out the sex of babies
- Diet
- Menopause
- Compression socks
- gestational diabetes
- Miscarriage
- C-sections
- Advocating for yourself
- Breast feeding
- Postpartum
- homesteading
RESOURCES:
Leave a Reply