Hello, and welcome to this very special episode of Outspoken Amy. We have you back on the podcast to share your birth story. It's been a month since you gave birth to your little boy, Harry. Oh, it's so exciting to be back. I don't know if you guys are happy to have me back. We needed a mediator because Sophie I just recorded Friday's episode before. I'm a bit sick of each other, so it was nice to get a change of scenery and come and record this with you.
Does it feel like any time has passed because sitting here, I mean, because Harry's out the house, your husband and mother in law, I've taken him out for a ward. It almost feels like nothing has happened, but so much has happened at the same time.
Yeah, it is weird.
I mean, as I said, I'm so happy to be back, and I'm really excited to talk through the birth story because I've been telling anybody that's willing to listen about it because it is such a huge thing in your life, and I know so for you've been getting a bit scared of me filling you in on some of the details because it's not long before you're set to give birth. Yeah, I've been finding a bit triggering because you have been going into immense detail, but some people like all the
gory details. Yeah. Amy was just showing us some snaps of her getting willed into the theater because you had a cesarean. Yeah. Well, I was saying to you, guys, isn't it funny how your partners they never really film any content of you. There's a huge joke going around on TikTok and Instagram, how always the wife takes his beautiful photos of the husband and the baby and you get these shit photos.
Or day none, yeah or none.
Well, Dale decided to film me going into surgery, which is probably not vision I'm going to share because once I look absolutely horrendous.
I have a handnet on.
No one looks good in the hairnett No. But it's also sort of mortifying because you know what's about to happen, But very cute that he decided to film that. Actually, what I enjoyed about the vision is I can tell, knowing you so well, that you're trying to look cool about the situation whilst freaking out inside. It's a really weird thing to be wheeled into a surgery when you
can just walk yourself. Well, the thing I found so weird about the whole process was a lot of people have asked, oh, why were you booked in for a C section? And did you elect to have it? I did initially to have a C section, and you get asked so many times by the midwives, oh why did you decide to do that? And the reason I decided to do it was one Kate had such a great experience having a C section, and for me, I need
to know when things are happening. And the part of the c section that I liked is the fact that you can schedule it in, you can really mentally prepare for it. Also, I had a large fibroid and as the midwife appointments went on, a lot of the midwife said, actually, it's really good that you have booked into get a C section because the fibroid was quite large. It was actually in the incision area. There were concerns that maybe if I had had a vaginal birth, that it might
have blocked the birth canal as well. This is the thing that scares me because I hear a lot of people talking about how they were kind of pressured in to have a vaginal birth and then they've gone on to have a emergency C section, and then the doctor goes, oh, yeah, we thought that might happen, but we wanted to give
you a go, And I'm like, what. I think there's a lot of judgment when someone says that they want an elective C section, and I'm kind of used why both processes are incredibly difficult and Tafa, I wouldn't say that one is easier over the other. And at the end of the day, you know your body best, you know your mental health best, you know what's going to work for you. And I think because all three of us have had or having kids so close to each other, a lot of people are being like, why are they
all doing it? Like it's just because one of them's doing it, so they all have to do it. We're not like that at all. If anything, I felt the pressure of, oh God, maybe I should have a vaginal birth just to shake it up a bit. I think some of the judgment comes around the recovery from a C section, and people think, oh, these women are just going into it blindly and they don't understand that you know, for the next six weeks you have to actually go
through that recovery process. I mean, I can't drive for another two weeks. I need to remind you to slow down, though, because the other day you had us over for dinner and you were like mopping the floor on the ground with a piece of paper towel. You went for a five k walk a week after. These are things you should not be doing because you need to let your
body hear. I actually think the judgment comes from people assuming that getting a C section a bit of a copper and it's the easy way out and you're not having to go through, you know, an intense labor. But after hearing both of your experiences, it's definitely not an easy process, and I don't think anyone should go into it blindly. I think everyone should do their own research
and work out what is best for them. I remember watching Sarah's Day's birth blog where she documented her vaginal deliveries, and that was what sealed the deal for me. I definitely booked that as aesari and I cannot go through that hat so off to women that can. Again, though, as you've all said, the cesarian is not an easy process. Well just what one suits you. Let's get into the
day itself. Maybe started off by telling us how many weeks you ended up actually getting to and how you felt the morning of Yeah, so I was thirty nine weeks and one day pregnant when I delivered Harry, and it was quite a surreal morning.
So we were booked in.
So we were told to arrive at ten am, and Kate had been told to arrive at the same time when she gave birth to Jack, but she ended up sitting around until five pm. Well I had him at five yeah, yeah, yeah, So it was quite a long day. So we packed everything. We had Dale's switch, we had books. We looked like we were going to stay at the hospital for two weeks. You had so much food. I
didn't understand. You had bags and bags and bags of Woolies, hot Cross buns or things that you would never eat because I told Dale to go get the snacks, and I think you didn't know specifically what I wanted. So he came home with every kind of chocolate.
It was. It was great.
We didn't really end up eating much of it. But on the morning I got a call at around eight o'clock and it was the hospital saying, actually you were going to go in second but for some reason, I don't know the person who was going in. First, they're not coming before. I don't know what happened. Second, they're like, can you get there a little bit earlier? So I said, yeah, yeah, yeah, we can. So anyway, we didn't get there earlier. We
got there at the ten am time slot. I think you need to tell the listeners what Dale was doing, because there's that trend at the moment where people share what their husband does before guests arrive at the house, and I think Dale, you know, normally Dale does something.
Yeah, well, in the past.
For an example, we had some of Dale's friends coming over and the house was an absolute bomb. While I was inside cleaning the house, he decided to spray paint the shed or spray you know what I mean, like with one of those spray guns. Well, this is a whole new category stupid things that you haven't has done right before you've given a death. So I was telling davee, oh my god, we better hurry up, like we want that first time slot.
Let's get this going.
And Dale hadn't packed the car, so I assumed he was packing the car, but he had been outside cleaning under our car port. So our loungry and we've got a window and it looks out into the car port. And he had said that he couldn't have relaxed during the maternity leave if the if it had been dirty, so he left it to the day of the birth. Let's just put it into perspective. You have this date for six weeks now, you've known when it's happening. Yeah,
so maybe it's nesting. That's his type of nesting. Well, because he'd been up so early and I was like, Dan, what the hell have you been doing? Nothing's packed. And then he insisted that we stop so he could get breakfast at McDonald's on the way, and I said, Dale, we're not missing this time slot, particularly because you have been fasting. Yeah.
So we arrived at the hospital.
I luckily Dale listened to me, and we didn't go past matt Donald's because it wasn't even on the way, because I thought you initially said that you guys were on time, because I thought that there was a bit of an attitude from some of the staff being like, where have you guys been? Oh?
Well, So basically what.
Happens is you arrive and you have to sort of check in as a patient. So while I was doing all the paperwork, Dale went off and there was a nearby cafeteria so in the hospital, so he went, how's this combination? He went and got a coffee and an egg soundwich. I remember this story. I can't remember which influencer said it or who said it, but apparently their husband ate like sour cream and onion chips, and the smell of it on their breath made them want to
punch their husband out whilst they were in labor. That's our favorite chip favorite the more that's good. Yeah, we got it side note on Boxing day because it was the cheapest packet of chips at the only shop that was open. And then we've had a real craving for it. It's been my pregnancy craving it. Well, I can't I don't remember smelling the egg on Dale's breath, but I said to him, that's just a ticking time bomb, like having a coffee and an egg sang, especially when you've
got like public toilets to the Yeah. But the funniest thing was, so Dale was off getting his sandwich and I give you you little what is it like a bracelet? No, like the hospital tag and I ended up putting my arm forward as if I was about to be admitted into a nightclub getting a stamp, like palm up, yeah, and I was like, oh, sorry, that's probably the wrong way. I'm acting like I'm going into a nightclub and the lady's like, you won't be going to a nightclub for a very long time.
Oh, thank you so much.
I'm still getting over the fact that Dale went and got him sell food because Reese was like, oh, I'm not going to eat anything in front of you. I feel bad. I said to Dale, look, I would prefer you to eat, because Dale can get a bit angry, so I said, just go and eat. Well. Every time Brandon and I go to the hospital for a midwife's appointment, I have to line up while he dashes out to get a quick power raid because he is so scared of hospitals and he is convinced hill faint during one
of these appointments. So I'm really even do anything, I said. I said, I'm the one that's getting all the needles and stuff, and I'm the one that's saving your stomach. I don't find the heart right, and then they ask you just like can't you just stand with me. You
know what I mean. Can't you just stick with It's funny you say that, because when we were getting ready to go into surgery, I could tell that the doctor was sort of looking Dale up and down and he said to him, Oh, how are you with needles and everything, like are you feeling okay? And I was like, yeah, yeah, I'm good. I'm just here to support Amy. I'm fine. And they basically said that a lot of husbands actually
faint during the sea section. I can see why because in the lead up to Mother's Day, So I hope you haven't seen it. I know exactly what you're talking about, photo and video going around of how long the epidural needle is and haven't seen that? To keep that in mind when you were buying your wife a Mother's Day present, is it actually like a real pure I was glad I saw this after because I had no idea how
long the needle. But basically, when you go in, it's funny, as you said, Kate, they will you all this way through the hospital and then you have to walk into the operating theater and sit down on the operating table, which is a bit confronting, and that's when they put your canula in, and to be honest, that was probably the most painful thing. Then they give you a pillow and you have to hold onto the pillow and crouch over and this is.
When they're putting in their picture, their perdural and.
Look, it wasn't It was more so just the thought of having a needle in your back, which is the most confronting thing.
It wasn't actually super painful.
I mean, when you're pregnant, you're prodded with every needle in the leader, so you can't still.
It's the mental thing. Did they talk to you?
Because my doctor was like chatting to me and no one really said to stay still, which freaked me out. Well, the weirdest thing was how many people were in the room. So there was I think we counted thirteen people and it was funny because only a few of them spoke to you, So it was like you isaich Dale, it was like we were walked into the set of Er.
There's all these people just walking around. So the doctor said, you're gonna be numb from the neck down, so you're not obviously going to feel anything, but you are going to feel a bit of pressure. So she said Basically, it's like your body is a handbag and we're rummaging around looking for your key. So that's what it's going to feel like. I got to say that was a great description because it did feel like that. I don't know if I need this level of description. Five weeks out,
so Sovie's passed out, Brandon's already on the floor. Well, when they said that a lot of husband's faint, I did instantly think of Brandon. So I think what they do is they make sure that the husband is seated and away because they don't want them collapsing on some of the you know, like the uteniss. I've heard some story about how a husband has collapsed and they've ended up having to have an operation themselves. So this is Brandon's biggest fear. His biggest fear initially was fainting at
our wedding. A wedding then ended up being forty degrees and you know, he gave him a complex. Thankfully, he didn't faint. He lasted the whole day. But now he's got in his head. Imagine if I faint and take away any attention from Sophie and I'm not there, you just support her. You need someone on standby in case he does. I'm sure he will rise for the occasion. I think it's kind of good to know that it
is confronting before going into it. And it would be fascinating if, like Amy or I could go in with you, because I wonder if it would trigger any PTSD. I'd actually I wish you could have two people or three people in because I would like you guys there. Could you maybe explain Brandon's issues with hospitals and maybe you get like a support person. Yeah, I could just fagine Brandon's dad coming in and holding your hand, right, it's
all right. Well, I did say to Brannon, don't feel like you have to cut the umbilical corse because I actually personally would that would make me vomit.
Like that was the funniest thing.
So as soon as they got Harry out of my stomach, they lower the sheet down and you see your baby and it's I was just like, oh my god, how big is he?
It's how big is he?
Joking off Mike, they drop it and then because you showed us a photo, it's like a kind of golumn figure being like ah screaming, it's beautiful. They are not they're so beautiful, but it's so real. Baby thing of seeing you know your stomach is there, and knowing that this baby was removed. It's like it's wide. It's pressure on your stomach because they're like, oh, you might feel something, and then you just feel this massive push.
Yes, you feel the push.
But the instant relief I felt from having Harry out of my stomach, even when you were on the operating taps, it was so such a sophie, You're going to feel this instant relief. But the crazy thing is, so they show him to you and then they have to take him away quickly because they had a nurse and doctor look over here, and they didn't put him on you straightaway. No, so they went over to cut the umbilical cord. So it's quite funny because everyone says, once you've had the baby,
no one cares about the mother. It's sort of everything. You know, all you get asked is about the baby. And it was like this instant thing where I'm lying on this operating table, my arms are spread out. Did you have to spread your arms up? Yeah? I had like chained down. It was they weren't chained down, but I had one because the anethetist or whatever was monitoring all my vitals and everything. And then my other arm was on the other side because I was holding Dale's hand.
But Dale vanished because he had to cut the umbilical cord. So I kind of was just.
Looking over and everyone was suddenly over there with Harry. And then I thought, because they said they were cutting the umbilical cord, I thought, how fucking long is the umbilical cord? This is quite far away and no, but then you realize they've cut it. It's just for show that they let. They cut it further down and they give you like this little re said it was like a rubbery piece of chicken. We want people to still listen.
People might be eating their breakfast. It's making me. I think, if you're tuning into a birth story, you know it's going to be a bit gruesome. What was the moment like when you first saw Harry Well, I immediately noticed his cute eyebrows, and I was like, oh my god, I just yeah, it's funny, because I thought i'd cry or something.
But because you're so amped up and I don't know, is this really weird feeling?
It was so exciting to see him because you do imagine, oh my god, what is this baby going to look like? Because we were joking, I think was the day before we went to Marrion Chopping Center and we're having coffee and there's this one photo of Dale as a baby that's been haunting you because it doesn't look like him.
It looks yeah, it's just it's a very unfa If you saw this photo and maybe you have to share it, well, and you saw fifty other men and the photo of Dale, you would never think that that was a photo of him as a baby. It looks like Fortunately, Harry came out not looking like that photo. He's absolutely gorgeous, but he does look like Dale as in, he looks like he think he would look like as a Yeah. Yeah, but then I also see elements of you as well.
I think maybe the reason you don't cry in those situations, or you didn't cry that situation, is probably because it's such a confronting, slush scary situation to be in an operating theater, and you're probably just trying not to freak out about what's happening. I feel like, yes, once the baby's out, you're just like, oh, hang on, I'm actually under the knife. Did you get a glimpse of anything that was going on? Like I did? Know? Well, what was amusing was the anethetist was talking to me the
whole time. I was talking to him more than Dale because they're clearly trying to take your mind off it. He was lovely my pistol for ages. I just was like, yep, I'm out of here. Maybe if we were the last one of the day. Yeah, he was so nice, and he was talking about his kids and and you know sometimes when it's awkward when you've got really intense eye contact with someone and you sort of look around to
divert the gays. So he was talking to me, and then I kind of like looked up, you know, just to think of what else I was going to say to him. I saw the reflection of my insight, but because I didn't have my glasses on, my eyesight's pretty poor, so I couldn't really make out what was going on. But just look into this guy's eyes. Weren't me joking that you were going to come in with a hair on, like a baseball cap on and shape, Yeah, I disassociate
yourself from the room. Well, the funniest thing was when I was being wheeled out after being sewed up. I was like, oh, thank you everybody, Thanks guys, and I don't think people thank everyone normally when they're removed. He's very polite. Yeah. Well, someone has asked whether you wore makeup or did your hair during the birth, because we have had an episode years ago where we spoke about Indy Clinton, who got a lot of attention for having
a fake tan looking great, like looking at maculate. I can see why people do that because you feel like us as shit, but you can't have this is what is bothering me. You can't have a fake tan on when you get a society due to infection. So technically, when I went to my appointment, I can't remember the exact name of it, but it's the appointment.
You go to. Is it your admissions appointment?
Yeah, so I went to that and I wasn't told that you couldn't wear makeup. You skipped out early, so you didn't even get the flas. So I thank you purposely because I was told that I was not allowed to wear maker, not even a lot of way lotion, how to use special soap, all this stuff. So I follow slope. I didn't, but I followed all the rules and then you were like, oh, no, I'm just gonna wear makeup. How does it really affect things? That's what I'm sort of questioning. I didn't. I just put on
a bit of foundation. I didn't put mascara on.
I just put like water on my eyelight.
Like I didn't look great, but I just, for some reason, I just felt more comfortable with.
A tiny bit of foundation all over TikTok.
I see a lot of pregnant women wearing the Heatless curls, so they'll go in with their hair all rolled up, and then about half an hour before they know they're going to give birth, they get their husband to help them take it out. But they look really good for the I'm so sweaty, like even after the mycees are and I was so sweaty, like I'd straighten my hair because I was like, well, I've got to do something to combat this no makeup, and it was just shit afterwards.
That's what I don't get how some people look. I mean, sorry, this is absolutely fickle, and we're just talking about this becau's a bit of a laugh. But I don't know how some people look so good in the post birth photos at the hospital.
They didn't even really take a photo of Dale and I together.
Really, we only really got photos of Harry and I don't care because I don't even want surprising. I've got a great one of me and a hairnet with no makeup on that I've never seen. The lot of there were generally photos of me looking gross lying there being cut open, but there wasn't actually like a shot of the three of us. Disappointing. But I was going to say, you mentioned Sophie about how fickly it is about makeup and whatever, But I mean, as we said, it's what makes you feel comfortable.
But I know a lot of people.
Say that after you've given birth, you don't give a shit about anybody seeing your private parts, and you and I totally get that now because throughout the whole experience of being pregnant, I didn't have to show anybody in my vagina until the day of the birth, and that was probably the most traumatic thing. And then your frog legging about the whole theater. Yeah, so what happened was I got the epidural or the spinal block, and then it's so crazy you just instantly feel it sweep throughout
your body. You just suddenly you have no feeling in your legs. And then they go, oh, now we're putting in the catheter. And at this stage they had the sheet up so I couldn't see what.
Was going on.
However, I could still feel that they had just taken my gown off, like I could just feel like I feel that still, maybe because because you can feel the sensation, like you can't take it off. Well, whatever they they felt removed, like they'd rolled it up or whatever they had done with it. I feel my legs being pushed into this position. And then that went on for quite a while. Like I'd rather not be told. I'd rather just be like unaware. Again, I don't want to hear.
I just would like to be aware that I'm frog leaking in front of all these Dale said, by the end of it, like the second day or yeah, it was it second or third day we were in hospital. When we're about to leave, He's like, you are a changed woman. You don't even flinch that the nurses will come in. They'll just lift your gown, look at you, remove your pad and you don't even care. It's weird.
That whole pad removal thing. I think it's also because you've got your boobs out the second you get into recovery. So soph and I were recording a podcast episode when you went in to give birth, and it was all very rush and then we were like, hang, we haven't heard from Amy for hours, and we were so annoyed because Dale had your phone and he was being very cryptic with information, and we finally got a message saying,
oh yeah, Mum and bub doing well. And then that was kind of it, and we were like, well, when are we allowed to go down because you guys camped.
Out at the hotel.
But we were all like, oh no, we're not going to do that because I think you ended up wasting like six hours old. Was horrible. What happened was, and I didn't realize this at the time, is they were monitoring me because when I came out of surgery and I was in recovery. This might be a bit TMI, but in my bag, in my catheter, I had a bit of blood, so I think they thought they might have nicked my bladder, and so I was in recovery for probably five hours. So it was something crazy like that.
So but by the time we got back to the room, that's when Dale wanted to tell everyone to come in because we felt so bad after going through that process that we were there in the waiting room knowing what was going on in recovery. I remember like Dad was like, oh, have you let them know that we're here? And we're sitting in recovery and one of the midwives could hear all of this and they're like, Oh, would you like us to get your family into recovery? We were like, no, Oh, gosh,
that would have been awful. There have been some questions about what hospital you delivered Harriet. It was Flinda's Medical Center. So I went public. I've got private health insurance, but I didn't have the complete cover that I needed to go private. But even if I did, I still think I would have opted to go public. Oh the money that you say our public health system, I mean, it has its flaws, but in terms of the eternity, Ward is absolutely excellent. I have nothing but positive things to
say about Flinda's Medical Center. The doctors were amazing, The facility, like the actual operating theater was incredible. Will you have access to a broader range of doctors? As well. That's the thing. If anything bad happens when you're in a private hospital, you get sent to the public host. Yeah, and all of the midwives were so lovely, just going back to the hole, not caring what anyone thinks after giving birth.
I didn't realize and Kate, you never really went into the detail.
I didn't know how much the midwives were hands on with helping you express milk. Yeah, because I had this nurse and she was so nice. She came in, she was the midwife that was on the night shift. She was literally squeezing my boobs to get colostrum out and syringing colostrum out of them. Because I was having trouble with Harry latching, and also because I had a c section. Sometimes your milk doesn't come in here for a while.
You're actually kind of grateful when they do it because I was I was in recovery, just had surgery, and they're like trying to now you just sew it like this, and then the woman's like, dot me just do it for you.
I was like, h yeah, you feel like you're a cow being milked.
It's a strange feeling. Was dale in there with the syringe too, because we joke that Rees turned into a lactation consultant when in the early days, Well, Night Too, A lot of people don't tell you. Night two is when the baby actually wakes up and they start crying. Yeas night one. L Yeah, at night one, it doesn't they don't do anything. So Sophie Bee Warren to Night Too is where they wake up because the baby's trying to help get your milk in, so they're wanting to feed off you constantly.
So Night Too we were like, oh my god, I'm getting no colostrum. I feel so bad.
He's not eating that much. So at one stage Dale was there just I was squeezing my boob and he had the syringe and he was like, come on, let's keep going, keep going.
Like we were just getting all of this and it was kind.
Of really addictive of how much colostrum you get into these syringes. I just looked at him and said, what has our life? Because it's two days ago we were just at home watching suits and there were syringing colosster that weird moment, but it's also like makes your relationship so much stronger. You really feel like a team in that moment.
Yeah, one hundred percent.
We were finally allowed to come in at around six o'clock I think it was, and I was spewing because everyone made this big point that we want everyone to go in together. I was in the car park and mum are called and said, oh, you're waiting for me, and Mom goes, oh, sorry, we've already gone in.
I was like, yeah, what I could hear that you're a notable.
Also, I think Dale's mum was meant to come in at the same time as you, and she couldn't find the car park, so she was a bit late too, so I felt bad about that. I was happy though, because it meant that you guys could record Jack's first meeting of Harry. He wasn't that interesting. I don't think he's been that interested in him. Well, I don't think he really knows that he's a baby. So we're a person. So we brought him in and Jack's new skill is shaking his head. So I think Mum goes and Jack,
is this your best friend? And he started to chasing and said no, and everyone just lost it.
We need to share that video. It's so cute.
I think it's one for the twenty first It was just amazing for me because obviously I've been on the other end of it, and it was so incredible to go in there and get to meet this beautiful baby and cuddle with him without having to actually do anything. It was fantastic. He's such a little cutie. I still think he doesn't wake up that often. Oh you should. Oh my god, he woke up. He was, He was
really fussing. He vomited a few times. I love the fact that we all say he constantly looks like he's judging you, and I don't know whether it's because of his cute eyebrows or the fact that he really didn't open his eyes for the first couple of days.
He constantly looks unimpressed by everybody.
He kind of looks a tiny bit like Jack, because you told me when he first came out, You're like, oh, wow, he looks so much like Jack. Because they both got a dimple on their gin, which we don't really know where it's coming from, Like Rehees has one, but Dale doesn't, so have we got the gene as well?
I don't know gin well.
I think babies they changed so much like when they first come out. They're very puffy. They look quite different. So I'm interested to see how he develops in the next couple of months. I can actually see myself sometimes in him. Sometimes I can see Dale's sister and him. It's so crazy, the different angles, how different he looks. People want to know how you came up with the name.
It is a very royal name, Harry Jimor was that intentional? Oh, it wasn't intentional for it to be a royal sounding name.
That's not true.
You said you were tossing up having hr h oh. That was the initials. I thought it'd be hilarious royal because you're The last name that Harry has is Humphreys. So you selected one of Dale's hyphenated names. Yeah. That's been a bit of a long running joke that Dale has the longest name ever because he has two middle names. And I said to him, look, I'm happy to take one of the last names.
Because I don't know.
I just feel like it's hard growing up as a kid with a hugely long hyphenated name. So, and especially if it's like you don't have one of the surnames in it. Yeah, so I'm going to be changing my surname to Humphreys. So yeah, Harry Humphreys, a friend of mine set it sounded like a rock star name. So I have to ask, were you influenced by your love of Prince Harry why you came up? Or Harry Styles
or Harry Potter because we grew up Harry Potter. See, I always thought soph and I would have a Harry because we were more into Harry Potter than you.
It just when you had Jack.
We were discussing baby names and we both said, oh, I've always really liked Harry, and it was one name we just instantly agreed on it. It's more so I think the Harry Styles reference. I think Harry is a really cute name.
And George.
I googled what are middle names that go with Harry, and I saw George pop up, and I was like, Harry George, that is just such a cute name. And it turns out that Dale's great grandpa was called Harry George as well. That's like our great grandpa was Jack Edward, which is my son's name. I didn't realize, Yeah, their
middle name was the same. There was a while where I was trying to persuade you to call him Harry ed If that was my idea, I said to you that we should all call our sons their middle name Edward. But Sophie doesn't want to do that, so we But that would have been really cute because like that, like they're not going to have the same last name. Yeah, but I think that they should have their own identity. Also, you know, they do have their own identity. It's just
something that joins them, bombs them. Our son is going to have another cousin who doesn't have the same middle name. Amy, You've now been a mom for a month. Is it what you expected it to be? Well, I don't think anything can prepare you for motherhood. Everyone says that I don't even really know what I thought it was going to be like, but I've thoroughly enjoyed it. We were saying before how I didn't cry when Harry was born, like when I saw him for the first time, and
I expected I would. The other night, I was crying looking at him, tears of being so grateful. And I was listening to this podcast and someone was talking about the mindset thing and how sometimes you should think, oh, you know what if I was eighty And then I came back as my younger self and what the perspective. And I was looking at his little eyes and I was like, well, he's like my little baby now, but later he's going to be this grown hard it's to
a softy amy. It's so sweet to see. So I think I shared on the podcast that your first week in your message saying, look, it's just been tough giving birth, but it's been such a magical week the Dale and I have spent together and we just keep looking at him just in awe of how beautiful special here is. We were debating on the podcast and a few people brought it up in our group about tiredness and being tired as a new mum, and I think we were
also talking about tiredness during pregnancy. A lot of people on TikTok have said they're very different levels of tiredness, and I've got to agree. When you're tired in the first few weeks as a new parent, it's different because you're excited and you're running on adrenaline. So I would look forward to feeding Harry. Oh my God, like, look at him, it's so exciting. Last night, I think it
was the adrenaline. Was you know that it's rubbing away because I suppose because you and Dale have been really good. You've had so many people over. I feel like you've had constant visitors through the door. You've tried to take him out as well, so you've gone on walks, You've taken him to outdoor cafes and that sort of thing. So you've tried to really enjoy your maternity leave together. I think that was important as well for our mental health because you hear a lot of people getting down
because you know, it's this new life. Yes and so and so. I mean, we've been really lucky. The weather has been amazing here in Adelaide. But I think it was a day two or three when we were home from the hospital, we set ourselves a challenge that we were going to go out to a cafe with him, and it was great, Like we sat outside away from people, but it was just good to get out there. And we've been enjoying all of our walk so I've thoroughly
been enjoying motherhood. I am a little bit panicked because Day was going back to work next week and just thinking how it's all going to work. How have you been finding the feeding side of things, because I think when you're pregnant, no one actually prepares you for the fact that most of your time is spent just feeding the baby. Because of you, I was aware that the feeding windows starts from when you first start feeding the baby.
It's meant to be about three and a half hours to four hours between each feed, which is so unfair because you like, hang on it should end once the baby's fed. Yeah, because last night it took me about an hour and forty minutes to feed Harry and then you know, you fall asleep and he's wanting to be fed again. Look, it's definitely a full time job feeding a baby. I can see that. So I'm doing a mixed feed of I've been expressing, and then I've also
been doing formula feeding. I've been trying to breastfeed where I can, but hasn't had the best latch. And going into motherhood, I saw a lot of women talking about how they were expressing, and what they liked about it was the fact they could see how much milk they were actually making. So I've been opting to do that because I've found that to be a lot easier for me.
It seems to work with.
Our lifestyle because we had a couple of friends who their babies were struggling to put on weight, and that was actually recommended to them that they pumped so they can make sure that they know that the baby's getting the right amount. Yeah, I think you had that in your head where you're like, look, at the end of the day, my priority is making sure that he's putting on enough weight and yeah, a healthy weight range as
soon as we can. It's also great because that means that you don't have to do all the feeds, Like you can be pumping, You're gonna have milk ready to go. You can also do your formula top ups. Yeah, Dale can do it. Yeah. Have you guys been taking in turns doing the night feeds because that's a game change. Yeah, we've been doing shifts, so I seem to be getting around the four am feed, Dale dot the one am. So what time are you going to bed then?
I mean it depends.
Sometimes it will be nine o'clock and be like, right, let's go to bed for a few hours and then we're going to wake up and we'll do like the eleven o'clock feed together.
But I've been watching so many YouTube.
Videos because I've decided when it's my time to feed him. I'm going to put on a YouTube. I'll get a little drink. I might get a little bit of a snack. I like that. One thing, Amy that you have inspired me to do through this process is to make sure you're taking lots of photos and also filming a lot
of content. And you have recently bought the tiniest camera I've ever seen, which is so funny because outside of the podcast, you work as a videographer for our business, Hula Media, and you have literally every professional camera that you could think of, but you have bought this small handheld one. It is tiny just so that you can take it around and capture those moments that where you
probably can't be bothered to pull out at the camera. Yes, I've got lots of heavy cameras, and as you said, I've been trying to take a lot of nice photos. But I was actually inspired by Georgia Richards. She got this new vlogging camera and I was like, fuck, that looks fantastic, So I went and bought it with a late night Amazon purchase.
It arrived two days later.
And it's because growing up, our mum and dad made the decision to buy a video camera before we were born, and they said it was the best thing they ever did, because you've got these beautiful home videos, and I just wanted it to be able to pull it out and take those, you know, like the really long videos where
everyone's talking in the background. Life here. I remember watching our home videos and it'd be the best to hear what everyone was discussing, even if it was like what was on sale at Cole's at the time of hearing our grandma.
Talking about that.
I remember there was a video of us on the swings and Mum was talking about going in and waking us up, and in this video she said, oh, and Amy's got this fretto frog smile, and we.
Were still laughing so much.
Well, you've made me want to go out and get one, because I think it'd be really funny and really easy to capture the whole birth experience as well. Yeah, yeah, it's I would highly recommend it. I mean, you don't even have to spend that much money on a camera. So if I know that your husband is a videographer, but talking about how much he's going to faint, I don't think he's going to be down the goal end. Well, I don't necessarily want it down the goal end, but
I feel like we'd probably be sitting around waiting. It'd be funny to get some behind the scene Brandon's fainting incident and his power raid and so forth. Well, well, I think we'll wait with baited breaths for both of your vlogs. Definitely not vologging it. This would be a very personal private video. Well, Amy, it was so nice to have you back. Thank you for joining us.
We'll be back soon.
I feel like it's not long now until Sophie gives birth, so I will be back on the podcast. I'm actually really excited for that. Well, we're excited to have you back. Well, just for you and me. Kate waited for a little while, changes scenery for you. I was saying that She's like, can't you join us as well? If you joined remotely? No, you were winging that you wanted to be a part of us, like you won't. You will not have time, Sophie. I can assure you'll be enjoying your newborn bubble. Well,
thanks for joining us for another episode of Outspoken. If you do enjoy the show, we would love it. If you can make sure you're subscribed and leave us a five star review. This episode was recorded on the traditional land of the Ghana people of the Adelaide Planes. We pay respect to elders past and present, to long