Mama Drama: Fake Groom, Tiny Womb, Ancient Tomb

sound like okay, we're talking about here. Stop an insult to say, you know you're the top of the mountain. If I if you sang a Beyonce song and I was like, oh, you were fantastic. I mean you you know Beyonce you can't get out of can't you know? If I gave an incredible perform in a movie and you said, oh, you were phenomenal, but you're no Jesse Plemons, you know, I wouldn't say, how dare you? Jesse Clemons is a very good actor. It's very good. I guess

I see it. It's still offended. Jesse Clemons is the Beyonce of movie actors. Yes, I feel everyone gets some notes about that. Can I just say, speaking of actors, we got to go see Glass Onion. Just telling y'all it's so good and everyone in it is amazing, amazing. Yeah, Janelle Monae so good. Her Edward Norton. Edward Norton is the Jesse Plemons of Beyonce's. Huh's a little tangled up for me? Maybe someone me what you read? I'm not sure which brings me my ex point. I'm kind of

sick again. I'm so mad about it. I've got another call old. Yeah. Meanwhile, I feel amazing. I've been cooking dinners for you, and you still don't get my sicknesses. You hear that servers go to work sick, it does nothing. Hear that everybody make your six spouses cook dinner for you. Still I didn't make you. How dare you anyway? A little loopy right now and definitely voices a little off, y'all.

Can tell you listen to this show so much, you know, and if you're a new listener, uh, it doesn't always sound like this. I don't know if that's better or worse. You kind of gave it like a sex. New listeners, It's not always this good. You know you tuned in. This is and lo dinner. I cooked it myself, even the one. You probably won't catch it. I'll catch your heart, but you'll catch my cold. Wow. What a what a slogan. That's your restaurants slogan. Oh wait, the restaurant's theme is

that the chef is always sick. People like a theme. What do you can I say, Well, we got an episode to get to, so I got my hot tea here, so we got some hot stories to tell today, I said, hot stories. Today's episodes are about babies. I told you it's the it's the sickness, everybody. You're just gonna get some weird stuff today. All right, Look, this is ridiculous romance. We tell stories about romance on this show. And romance and babies go together like peanut butter and chocolate, you know,

because like you can have peanut butter without chocolate. Of course, romance being peanut butter, babies being chocolate. In this particular situation, you can also have chocolate without peanut butter if you want. And I hear it's a life changing experience. Chocolate isn't for everyone. And some people hate peanut butter, and that's okay. I mean personally, I love peanut butter. I put it on anything. Honestly, peanut butter and romance go together for

me like chocolate and chocolate. Anyway, Look, it's a little lost in the metaphor here, but the point is we're talking about babies today. Babies, and we're gonna start with a woman who used pregnancy to scam money out of her government job. And then we're gonna move on and talk about a woman who really defied the odds by having babies of her own. And finally we'll talk about an ancient baby that was found inside of mummy. Very exciting stuff. So I say we jump right into it

and get these baby stories. Lets go, hey, their French, come listen. Well, Elia and Diana got some stories to tell. There's no matchmaking, a romantic tips. It's just about particulous relationships, a love it might be any type of person at all, and abstract cons and drawing a concrete all. But if there's a story, were the second clinch Ridiculous roles A production of I Heart Radio. Okay, so before we get

to the babies today. We gotta do a little bit of housekeeping, right because you know, we said some things and then we got a message, so it's time for us to go into corrections corner. You're such a loser. This correction comes to us from Josh Green. Hi, Josh, thank you for emailing us. This is very vital information.

Vital information now right, Um, this is from our Collette Part three episode, if you call our Collette series, where we were talking about um uh, the language of flowers and now gay people in the twenties, we're using like violets and carnations to sort of advertise, subbly advertised to one another who they were and what they were into

and stuff. And we mentioned that there was something like a handkerchief code, right that we thought was happened kind of around the two thousands, and it was like what color handkerchief you wore in your back pocket and stuff like that. But I learned about it anyway. That's right, Well,

Josh had the goods. He writes, quote, I haven't heard a correction to this episode for it yet, But the handkerchief coding you mentioned in the episode, also known as the hanky code, was more of a common occurrence in the nineteen seventies as a way of advertising yourself quietly across the country, but more commonly in larger cities. The position and color of the handkerchief was important to disclose

what you were looking for. Worn in the back left pocket means you are a top, back right means you're a bottom. And then the colors, such as a white means you're into come orange means you're into anything, anywhere, everything everywhere, all at once handkerchief and blue means you want to fuck, and light blue means oral. The color codes get rather specific, but pore colors tended to be

the most common. So when I said that a black and white polka dot handkerchief in your pocket indicated that you wanted to be tied up in a dungeon, uh, it might not have gotten that complicated. Maybe not that complicated, Josh goes on. The practice fell out of favor in the mid to late eighties, but did make a comeback in the early two thousands of your Head as more

of a club bar scene flagging. Now this practice is still going on, but many types of people wear hankies in their back pockets, and it can be weird to hit on a guy who has a hanky but turns out to be very straight. Josh, thank you for that, because that was very comprehensive. I did not know all right well enough about sex. It's time to get into the consequences of sex. Today. We're telling these baby stories, and our first one today is about Robin Fulsome right

here in the Great State of Georgia. Oh g A represent h Robin Folsom was working for the Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency or the g v r A, as the director of External Affairs. G v r A is a government agency which, in their own words, quote helps people with disabilities find and maintain employment. Very important government agents, yes, absolutely now. Their services range from people who just need help obtaining hearing aids to people who need more assistance

just moving physically through our very ablest world. You could say, yeah. Uh. WSB local news station here reported that Robin was a quote top communications officer with a salary of about hundred thousand dollars per year. In October forty two years old, Robin delighted her co workers when she announced her pregnancy. This would be her second child, as she had just given birth a few months earlier in July pandemic babies, like, what else are we doing? She let the HR department know.

She gave her due date as May one, and over the months, of course, she started to show and co workers congratulate her, talk about how excited for her they were. Then, as expected, on May Robin Folsom gave birth at Piedmont Hospital. Everything seen be going okay, but a few days later, on May six, Robin's boss has got an email from

Robin's baby's father. His name was bran Ottomanbebwe, and he reported that Robin's doctor had mandated several weeks of rest following her delivery, and the g b r A exacts, you know, probably were like, well, and it was kind of our job to make sure people keep their jobs when they're met with hardships. Guess we got to respond well to this um So they gave her an extended leave, which included two hundred and sixty five hours or nearly seven weeks of paid time off. It's pretty good, pretty good,

that's pretty good. Previously, the state of Georgia allowed government employees to take up to twelve weeks of unpaid parent to leave. That was established in the Family and Medical League Act was actually a federal thing. This was putting a place during Bill Clinton's first term, and it protected people from getting fired if they had a new child, or if they had to take care of a sick family member, or if they themselves had a major injury or illness. It was like, you know, I have to

stay home. You don't have to pay me, but I can't come to work. Please don't fire me. Okay, we'll give you three months get back. Exactly, it must have been really important. I mean, I can't imagine before that just getting fired because you had to stay home because you broke your leg or something. You know, many women could probably tell you how many times they have jobs for getting pregnant. Yeah, definitely, definitely, but yeah, that's very true.

But you can imagine a lot of people didn't take advantage of this because twelve weeks away from your job, unpaid and exactly something you can afford to do. Yeah, don't have of expenses? Hell no, just hanging out then the old bank account. Yeah. But then Georgia legislators put forth House Bill one four six, which would grant state government employees who either birth, adopt, or foster a child

paide for a period of up to three weeks. Three weeks, three weeks, and oh well, you know it makes sense because at three weeks an infant is fully able to take care of itself should be down to the factory already threatened needles with those little hands. Interestingly, the bill says that you don't have to use all one, D and twenty hours at once. You can use them as needed quote, provided that such leave usage does not unduly

disrupt the operations of the applicable employing entity. Which it's like, that's such a dumb thing to say, because if my absence was not unduly disrupted, I probably wouldn't have a job, Like they wouldn't need me, so there would be no need for me to work. As long as your company doesn't realize you're gone, you can take up to three weeks off. I just don't see, I don't know. That is so crazy, you know. So anyway, retail workers don't adopt a child near Christmas time. They don't want your

calling out. Absolutely, who wouldn't look at that bill? You know? What? What boss? You know, surely the kind hearted bosses out there, But how many have I had that would have looked at that and said, yeah, well, I can't give you this time now busy, it's the busiest time of the year, New Year's Eve, right, you're coming in, bring the baby with you if you have to strap it onto your

back and get in here now. Interestingly, the Governor's office signed this bill into state law on May five, just a day before the g v R A got that email from brand Oatman Babewe. So lucky for her, this was just signed into law. So it seemed like she was about to get at least three weeks of pt O that was state mandated. Now, incredible timing, and she managed to get seven weeks out at them. So g v R a very generous you know, compared to what they had to give her. Robin was set for the

next six and a half weeks. She was able to continue to collect your salary without having to leave her babies at home and going to work. But something wasn't adding up here. We don't know exactly what was seen or how, but WSP reported that a colleague quote witnessed what appeared to be a portion of fulsome stomach come away from her body. Come away, horrifying part of your stomach came off, like did it flap up like a shirt? Might?

You know, like a flap? Oh? Yeah, Like she reached up for a couple, like for a mug from one of the break room cabinets up high, and they're like, why your stomach came off? There's stomach attached. What is happening? She's like, Oh, that baby be kicking. I don't know, I'd like a David Cronenberg movie. What is happening? Got jesus?

So that was a weird thing to see, obviously, And whispers started going around the office, and so they started kind of comparing notes with each other and realized that when they compared pictures that Robin had sent her coworkers of her baby, they all looked different. They were just like random baby pictures with totally different skin tones weird,

which is very odd. Yeah, now, somebody must have gotten this back to HR or at least rumors eventually circulated back there, because there was definitely something baby about these fishies. They excuse me, there, I told you I love baby about these fishes. There was something fishy about these babies. Excuse me. Um, we should just move on from that one. We do have a fish and I think there's something

baby about there is something baby about our fish. Anyway, HR had to bring this issue to the State Inspector General Scott McAfee. His office interviewed employees, they evaluated the pictures that she had sent them, and they eventually reached out directly to Piedmont Hospital and they learned that there was no record of Robin giving birth at the hospital.

There were no birth certificates on file. And not only that, but after reaching out to the Georgia Office of Vital Records, they learned that there was quote no indication that Robin Folsom had ever delivered a child, even her first child was alive. He had no babies. All this must have taken a while, which I get if you've ever asked

for a record from anywhere, it takes a fucking forever. Um. So it probably took a while because Robin herself was not interviewed by investigators until October, and she was asked about her other children. She claimed to have three in total at this point, and brand outman Bebewe was a real person, and she insisted, they're my children. Of course they're real. The dad's real. I mean, come on, I have a whole family here that I go home to every night. But of course nobody could find any evidence

that Mr Oatman Babewe existed. And I gotta say, I feel like she gave herself away here. And if I was the investigator, the first thing I would have said was Oatman Babewe. That sounds an awful lot like not my baby, So I'd feel like that was just planted there, she added herself. Right, I would have just chosen a name harder to to run down. It's a very unique name, like his name is to be like John Smith. You know, they could have been looking for years, right, I'm trying

to find that guy. So it wasn't long before Robin Folsom was indicted on three felony counts of false statements and one felony count of identity fraud. Shortly after this interview with the State Inspector General, she resigned from her position, and at the g v R a WSB estimated that, based on her salary, she had received between ten and fifteen thousand dollars in maternity pay, which she was obviously

not entitled to. She was given a court date of April four two, where she faced a maximum of twenty five years in prison and up to a hundred and three thousand dollars in fines. McAfee said that in all, she faked three pregnancies, but her inventing the father with a fake email address is really why she got hit

with the identity for all. But in court, her lawyer said that she wanted Quote to accept responsibility for the crimes and move forward with her life in the most private way that she can, and she pled guilty to all four counts. She managed to only be sentenced to five years of probation, a psychiatric evaluation, followed by any treatment deemed necessary, and she had to pay a little

over twelve thousand dollars in restitute into the state. I think that sounds really reasonable to me, actually, because it's like, if she gives the money back, you know, I'm not gonna say no harm because obviously there was like a lot of time where she was away from work. Were like, I don't know if other people had to pick up her work, or if there was stuff not getting done.

You know, she'sn't a public assistance program. I feel like somebody missed out on something there probably um, but you know, also twenty five years in prison, A hundred thousand dollars, fine, you know, more vindictive than it's been approportionately punitive. But but it sounds like this twelve grand was what she was given and she had to pay it back, and like, yeah, let's go make sure that you're not a compulsive liar who needs some treatment. Right, we should probably get you

checked out. That's a weird thing to do, especially, I mean going into the office. You know, people can see your belly. Like I could see this being like a good remote work scamp. You like, you know you're faking it, but like, who's seeing it? No one. You had a little soundboard next year zoom with baby sound effects. You're like, oh, he's crying again. I gotta go everybody. Um, But yeah, she had to, like legit put a fake I guess different stages of pregnancy bellies. I mean, this is some

real commitment to the bit. Yeah. Seriously. Now I have some thoughts because interestingly, though this was supposedly her third fake pregnancy, there's no evidence that she ever collected any unemployment from the first two, so speculation station. I think that originally she was just looking for time off. I

think she just wanted. I mean, she had a hundred grand of years just probably like you know what, I just I know that nine months from now, I'm gonna want like a month vacation, so I'll take the unpaid twelve weeks or whatever. Yeah, I'm having a baby, everybody next August, right when I booked my cruise, you know

or something. But then, you know, coincidentally, very conveniently, right after she you know, fake delivered this baby and Governor Kemp signed bill in law, she was like, oh, ship, maybe i'll press my luck a little and see if I can get some of that money too. And that, of course was her undoing exactly. That was that was her downfall. But I do remember this is very very reminiscent of when I had my first restaurant job, and I was like, I think I should be allowed to

take a non smoker's break. I deserved five minutes outside. Just because I don't smoke does not mean that I should not also get a little break. Well, speaking of a little break, yes, yes, so yes, that's the woman who faked having three babies. But after our non smoking break, we're going to talk about a woman who had three very real babies. Even though everyone's older that she would never survive it, and we'll get to that right after this.

Welcome back, everybody. Well enough fake babies. Yeah, now we're going to talk about a very real woman who had some very real babies. Her name was Stacy Harold. And I don't want to spoil anything up front here, but look, this is kind of a sweet story, and it's a more recent story, so I feel like I should tell you now and not hit you with a big sad note at the end that Stacy is no longer with us,

but her story is very worth telling. I just I don't know, I just feel like, you know, we often tell stories that are like from hundreds of years ago, so you know that person is gone, but you know this was from the twos So I don't want to tell this very uplifting story and then be like whomp, whomp, now be sad. So just get that out of the

way now, Yeah, yeah, yeah. Stacy was born in dry Ridge, Kentucky, and she was working as a cashier at a local grocery store in the year two thousand when she met Will Harold in the checkoutline. The two immediately hit it off. They started dating, not long after I would watch a Hallmark movie about cashier meeting her soul made at the checkout line. Of course, I could totally see the cover and everything. We don't watch enough Hallmark movies. I'm sure

it's happened. I feel right. Actually, you're right that it does. It probably exists. I think I just got hit with the copyright lawsuit while sitting here. So Will was nine years younger than Stacy, but that was not their biggest difference. He was also three and a half feet taller. Now Will not a freakishly tall man. He's an average American male height of five ft nine, but Stacy was only

two ft four. Stacy is only two ft four because she was born with a condition called osteo genesis imperfecta, and this is also known as brittle bone disease. The oh I Foundation at o i f dot org says that the major feature of oh I is an extremely fragile skeleton, and this can include symptoms such as bone deformity and pain, brittle teeth, respiratory problems, cardiac issues, and short stature. Basically, your body can't grow taller to support

itself well. The oh I Foundation says that quote with good medical management and supportive care. The majority of people who have oh I will lead healthy, productive lives and can expect an average lifespan. And two thousand four, Stacy and Will got married and they started to talk about

whether they would have children. But as Stacy had known for most of her life, pregnancies are very difficult and risky for people with oh I. A study on the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology says that women with oh I have higher rates of gestational diabetes and much higher needs for blood transfusions and cesarean deliveries than the general population, and they also face a higher likelihood of

postpartum fractures and hospitalization. And baby is born to people with oh I have a fifty fifty chance of inheriting the genetic disorder and over a four times higher mortality rate within their first month of life. Whether not the condition with past to them, so lots of reasons not to yeah, a lot of complications present right, risk is

much higher, many risks. Doctors warned Stacy that if she were to get pregnant, the baby could grow so large inside of her that it could crush her lungs and heart because you imagine a developing baby is going to reach its average side, and that only two ft four that's tall. I know, I mean average women get all crowded down there right now. It's it must be. I can't even imagine it, really, And that's not to mention the risks of her breaking bones like her ribs and

her pelvis and her spine um. So Stacy said, but you know what, I'm not going to let a couple of crushed lungs get in my way. I'm doing it. She said, quote all my life, my parents had told me that I could do anything. So she wasn't gonna hear it when these doctors told her that she couldn't have a baby. And Mary Beth hugh Or, who's the director of programs for the o i F, said, quote, we believe it's a personal decision. Many who have bone

deformity to the pelvis can carry a child and give birth. So, with the risks fully acknowledged, she and Will got pregnant in two thousand and four, and she said, friends, family, their doctors all begged them to reconsider, but she told them, quote, it's a miracle that I'm here, that I have life. Why couldn't this be a miracle too? Totally fair but very scary. It must every day must have just felt very like, who kay, how are we today? You know?

But she went through with the pregnancy, and of course it did have its complications, but she carried the child for twenty eight weeks before needing a cesarean section. That's early. It is early. I think that's right. We should know, we know, we shouldn't have to know that. We don't have babies, and we're not doctors who in something like that. Nine months is thirty six weeks? I know it's not exactly right. It's something like it's it's like forty We'll

get an answering machine. Somebody tell us the very easy to answer question that I could google right now. We'll get like corrections corner Google at jeez. Well, she got to twenty eight weeks. They gave her a C section, and her daughter could Terry was born at only two pounds and one that is very small. The family soon learned that her daughter had indeed inherited her mother's condition, so they knew that it would be a challenge, but all three of them were healthy and safe. Then a

year later, Stacy became pregnant again. She said, the same old run around. This time around. Everyone said, you know you pressed your luck the first time, Please don't go through this again. Stacy and Will very religious people. Will was even in training to be a vicar at the time. So they threw it all to God. They said they were going to pray their way through it. And Stacy said to ABC News that, you know, her parents told

that she wouldn't make it, but she did. And Will her husband had once fallen off the back of a truck and they said that he wasn't going to survive, but he did. So they felt like they had already gotten through a few miracles. You know, what's a few more? I think? I feel like I feel like I've used up. Yeah, we're going to stay with what we got. I've got nine lives. I'm not going to start, you know, throwing around. So this time, Stacy was pregnant for thirty four weeks

before they needed to get that baby out. Her second daughter was born in two eight. She was eighteen inches long, which is more than half of Stacy's entire her body. There are pictures of Stacy, you know, thirty weeks pregnant in some of the interviews with her, and it's it's fascinating to see you see the challenges that she would have to have gone through. So much of her physical

body was taken up by baby by the belly. Yeah. Absolutely, Now, this new baby girl, Makaya did not inherit the genetic disorder. There goes that right there. And by the time she was two years old, both of Stacy's daughters were more than a foot taller than her. That must be really

tough and be like eat your crackers whatever. Now, obviously raising two toddlers was complicated at times, but she said that with her husband Will being so supportive and helpful, they didn't have any trouble getting through the rough patches. She had a custom built wheelchair and platform that allowed her to bathe and change the kids, which Will was more than happy to do when she was too tired.

Nice Will Way to be a dad, and their whole household was arranged so that Stacy could reach everything she would need when she was home alone with the kids. She's kind of reminded me of Alan Geenie. Too many have been thinking of them. I love them. If you haven't heard our Alan Genie. Too many story. It's we did in the first year. Uh, they were circus performers back in the Blood I mean early and he was the world's tallest man and she was the world's smallest woman.

And uh, incredible difference between them, and they're they're the sweetest, most loving couple if we've ever done on the show. I love them so much. They're so cute. And also, yeah, I had made a very custom house for her so she could be really independent. Then in two thousand and ten, guess what, Stacy became pregnant again. At this point, you got to imagine people are just like, hey, you know, you've proven it over and over again. You clearly got

this down right. I mean, her doctors were still concerned. A geneticist named Dr Tinkle, which I'm gonna need a minute with just excuse me because I'm ten years old,

a urologist or that's all I have to say. Anyway, this well respected man, Doctor Tinkle, had treated Stacy as well, and he told ABC News that they usually issue strong recommendations against pregnancy due to the risks of both mother and child, and Stacy did have more trouble with this pregnancy, and not just because she had two toddlers to deal

with already, you know. She said that she physically couldn't help her daughter Macayah if she was upset, so Will would have to take care of any like tantrums or anything like that. They also at this time opened a small business called Terry's Corner, which dealt in second hand baby items, and that helped pale their medical bills. They said, they just did that part time, you know, they weren't trying to overwhelm themselves, but it gave them, you know,

a little extra income that they needed. And the third pregnancy was difficult. Stacy was having a hard time moving around. She couldn't hold her youngest daughter, Macaiah because her belly was in the way. So eight weeks early, they had

to deliver her new son through a cesarean section. His name was Malachi, and like her first daughter, he did inherit his mother's condition, but he was born with no broken bones, which Stacy described as a miracle because quote, people with our condition are often born with broken arms or legs. I guess as you're gettings squeezed out or pulled out, it's so easy to break, they said, Babies with this condition just changing a diaper can cause bone fractures.

Oh my god. Yeah, very delicate, like really really delicate, Stacy added quote finding out he had my condition was hard, but we knew we would be the best support possible for him because Terry and I have both been there already. Oh experts, I mean, who better? Absolutely now. In addition to having oh I, of course, Maliki was also very premature, so he faced a lot of challenges. He was only

five inches long two pounds ten ounces. He had to be immediately placed in an incubator, and he caught a virus very early, only seventeen days old, and he had to have an emergency hernia surgery. Oh my god. Too many challenges, Stacy told Daily Mail quote. At one point they told us his heart had stopped and we thought he might not survive, but thankfully the doctors managed to save him. It felt like another miracle, and then after few more weeks, he was finally able to come home.

Despite the risks, the danger, the ongoing difficulties, Stacy was so glad to have birthed three children and considered both herself and her baby's miracles. Despite the troubles that she faced, she and her husband will raised the babies into children with care, love and support. The Guinness World Records certified that she was the smallest mother in the world, and she said she hopes her story gives hope to other

women who are told they could not have children. She told ABC News quote, I would tell those women, don't put limits on yourself, don't let people put limits on you, and for the grace of God, don't let anything stop you, which is a lovely sentiment. And also I would say, you know, listen to your doctors and don't put yourself in unnecessarily harm's way. But you know, I guess she's She said, it's true she had that choice right, and that Scott matters is that she was able to say,

you know, I'm willing to risk it. You know, I'd rather do this than not. And it's not untrue that doctors are wrong sometimes. I mean, they'll be the first stay. Absolutely. Um. I know that. My aunt, who was an ob g way in she said she always said doctors were the very worst patience. They would never listen to their own doctor. So they're like, you're wrong. I know it's not you know, which I was like, Oh, I would hate to have

a doctor at the base. No, they did say, quote, we listened to doctors and respect them, but they don't always get it right, so we end up doing what we feel is best. Right. They also kind of acknowledged similarly, like, you know, yes, doctors are smart, they are spent years studying. Yeah, and but we're just going to do our thing. The next year, Stacy won the Miss Kentucky Wheelchair beauty pageants. I love it. There's a whole video of her winning.

It's beautiful. It's wonderful, little ceremony. That it was her third time participating, she said she always had so much fun doing it, and she said in her acceptance speech, quote, I guess after every thing I've achieved, all my accomplishments, I just wanted to come and encourage other people to get involved with this and just kind of do something fun. Yeah, why not love it. They spent the next seven years living a fairly normal life as far as we can tell.

She said in Daily Mail that she believed that parenthood brought her and her husband even closer together than ever before, saying quote, I didn't think it was possible to love him more, But since we've had our son, I think

I fall for Will a bit more each day. It sounds like Will really contributed and that that can really help my goodness that I think it's probably not that I would know, because again we don't have kids, but I would imagine it to be a very big turn off to have a kid with a guy who's like, I ain't touch on that thing until it's six years old,

and like, you know, I got it. That would be like, Okay, I don't understand why you think I'm suddenly so amazing cleaning up ship and vomit and stuff like anyone can do it. Get over here, all right now, I told you all this at the beginning, Okay, I'll warned you, so keep those eyes dry if you're out there listening to this while you're driving. August thirty one, Will Harold announced that his wife Stacy had passed away in her sleep. And we don't know the details, but she defied the odds.

She found love, She brought life into the world. She spread joy to others. You know what a life? Hell yeah, ask her better than that, and you know, yeah she did. You know. She was like, this is important to me, and I know that it's hard, it's going to be it might even kill me, but that I need it, you know, that's what I want to do with myself. And so she did it, and I think that's awesome. It really is awesome. She got there. So good for you, Stacy. Good job, Stacy, way to be happy to tell your

story here. Well, uh, that should bring us to a break. In the end of that story, we come back. We're gonna tell an ancient story about babies from beyond, Babies from the Bell, Mommies and babies. That's what we're getting to next. Stay tuned after the break and we will be right back. Welcome back to the show, everybody. So yeah, our third story about little bit of babies is from a long time ago, and it has a triple twist.

It's like a cool ice skating trip. So in a mummy and it's sarcophagus was donated to the University of Warsaw, Poland, and soon went on display in the National Museum in Warsaw, and it was quickly and simply labeled mummy of a lady. All right, Sure, I hope one day I'm into somewhere in a museum and it just says a guy, some guy,

some guy, tell my story. My story. Now. Allegedly, this sarcophagus was found buried in the Royal Tombs of Thebes in Egypt, but according to The New York Times, scientists were not comfortable listing that as the definite place of origin because the apparently in the eighteen hundreds people were a little loose with the truth when they said where they had found archaeological artifacts, which kind of makes sense

in so many ways. Yeah, right, because it might have been like, oh, yeah, I found this in a hidden tomb under the sad when they infect us, like stolen off the back of a truck, okay for real, or or or it's like I found it that I was somewhere I was supposed to be in. So I said, I got it from the place where I am supposed

to be. So. Miss Mummy was on display in Warsaw for over a hundred and fifty years before in the nineteen nineties, year one thousand, nine hundred ninety, radiological exams led some scientists to believe that this wasn't a woman at all. Translations of hybrid glyphs on the sarcophagus revealed that this was actually the coffin of a high priest. His name was Hardt. So finally, after all this time, this hard working man finally got the recognition he deserved

ever being completely misidentified for fifty years. All right, say it well in a new study got started. This time teams of archaeologists were studying mummies to learn about causes of death and like ancient diseases. So they looked all over the mummy of poor Jehuti and threw dozens of scans, kind of learned what they could, and when they figured out what they needed to know, they got ready to, you know, wrap things up and move on to the

next mummy. Mummy jokes, they're so easy. But before they did, they're Archaeologist Marzina Ozarek decided to take another look at the mummies pelvic scans, and that's when she noticed quote a familiar image to a parent of three children, a tiny foot. Yes. On further investigation, they discovered that this tiny foot belonged to a tiny feet of and just to confirm, they ran some more tests and found out that this mummy was indeed a woman. But no, they

were right the first time. Likely this woman was between twenty and thirty years old when she died, and after a scan revealed the shape of a fetus inside. They measured its head and determined it to be between twenty six and thirty weeks old. All this interesting dot Com says that while archaeologists have found many burials of pregnant women from ancient Egypt, this was the first time anyone had discovered a pregnant mummy. WHOA what a find. So, yeah,

it turns out they were right the first time. The mummy was a woman. After all, Miss Mummy is back. But how did that happen? I mean, the sarcophagus clearly stated that this was a male priest. Mr Horge Hootie Well. Dr Voichick Eisman, who's the co director of the Warsaw Mummy Project, says that it's a rare but complicated problem that sometimes comes up with it option archaeology. In the

eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, tomb raiders would come in. They'd grab a bunch of starf cough guy, bust them open, you know, pull out the mummies lose all their jewels and treasures that they were buried with. Sometimes they had like unwrapped part of the mummy to get to a necklace or something that they want. Probably, yeah, I'm sure because they don't know why they had no respect for

that stuff? Why not? So, yeah, they would just take all their ship and then just kind of toss them back into whichever sarcopa guy was nearest and throw them back in the tomb. So Dr Eisman estimates that about ten per cent of mummies are actually found in the wrong coffin. So miss Mummy got put into hard jehoities coffin. But what was going on on the inside? You know, they say it's not what's outside matters, it's what's inside

that counts okay. So scans showed that there were mummified bundles in her chest cavity, which they understand to be her lungs, liver, stomach, intestines, and heart, which had been separately embalmed and reinserted before she was wrapped. This is standard mummification stuff. But why hadn't they embombed the fetus and why didn't it show up on any scans? Well,

this created a big discussion, right Uh. Theories that Dr Eisman proposed included that maybe the Egyptians thought that the unborn child did not yet have a soul, or maybe they thought that removing it would be too damaging to the mummification process. Researchers suggested that ancient Egyptians may have seen the unborn baby as quote still an integral part of the body of its mother. So it's actually still you know, it's like an organ that she has until

it's born. All that's interesting. Dot Com points out that names are very important to ancient Egyptians, and if the baby had not had a name yet, they might have thought that it couldn't get into the afterlife except as still part of its mother, and just like, let's just

leave it there intact, just and not touch it. Interestingly enough, Smithsonian Magazine said in January of this year that the fetus was so well preserved due to a very similar process that happens in European bog Bodies Body Recryptulous episode. We learned in that episode that bodies that were thrown into these uh Peat bogs in Ireland and England, Scotland all over there would would get preserved better than better than mummies, sometimes for hundreds of years, thousands of years.

But it was like extremely specific and distance. It had to be certain temperatures, certain wetness, certain um. So in this case, the corpses blood pH levels dropped over time, and that created a very acidic environment for the fetus, which would have dissolved is bones. But the salting process they use in mummification to dry out the corps and preserve its bones actually would have shrunk the uterus, forming a hermetic seal around the fetus and preserving its soft tissues. Interesting.

So that's why when they were scanning the mummy for bones with X rays, they didn't see the fetus. It didn't have bones. So now they know how to look for pregnant mummies in the future. They're looking for a bad body in there. That's so interesting, they said. They likened it to when you soak an egg in vinegar and the hard shell around it dissolves, but the soft stuff remains intact. Yeah, they said, it's basically like that.

So when they did like a three D scan, they could see the shape of the fetus even though the X rays didn't show anything there. Yeah, So there you have it. First pregnant mummy finally recorded, identified, confirmed. Pretty cool. That wraps up the mystery of this mummy mummy. So don't forget if you liked this episode to wait a minute,

what this justin. In July of two, just a few months ago, mummy expert and radiology professor at the University of Cairo, Sahar Salim said that miss mummies pregnancy was quote a bunch of bullship. Okay, she didn't say that, but she said it was false. I wish he was

a bunch of bulls. She said that this alleged baby bump was actually just three bundles placed into the woman's pelvis, either other mummified organs or maybe even just basically stuffing to help the body keep its shape, which was not uncommon. One of the reasons the organs are removed separately mummified and then replaced is because if organs are left in the body intact, they actually speed up decomposition, which undoes the entire point of mummification. And these guys knew what

they were doing, Sure did they? Sure did. I guess they had a lot of time to experiment. They were around for like thousands of thousands of years, right, and a lot of dead people experiment on constantly. Die. One of the most interesting things I ever. I think it was two tank common, but it might have been a different mummy. But they were like, oh, they've kind of figured out that this mummy had died because of problems with its teeth, like they had like so many bad

teeth that it had led to infections. And I was like, man like, dental work is so important. It's kind of like it should be bubbled with your Anyway, that's a different, different thing. People died of all kinds of crazy. Shi Selim says that a pregnant uterus is quote very fertile material for bacteria, so a pregnant uterus inside a mummified body would actually lead the whole mummy to completely decompose. She said, they never would have left a fetus inside

someone they were mommifying. And the hypothesis that embalming salts shrink wrap a fetus inside the womb is just wrong. So the bog body thing not true. I should say, not that the bog bodies is false. The bog body thing is true, but the idea that the mummy's body acted as a bog was totally inaccurate. Now, Hya Karima points out on Egypt Today dot com that while the Polish studies said it had measured the fetus's head determines

its age. Remember the head, the bones aren't fused, and the head itself could not exist without bones, because there's no way the fetle head would have maintained its spherical shape if the bones had dissolved. So if you x rate it and didn't see bones, and then scanned it and saw the shape of a fetle head, that's not what you're seeing. There's no way it could have been. Well, yeah,

that feels obvious now you say it. Said it. Plus Egyptologists alba Atia said that pH changes in the blood after death would never be strong enough to dissolve the bones of a fetus anyway. So all in all, none of this would have been possible. Oh man, science, you guys do be wild. And now now, on the advice of Sahara Salim, the Polish research team, they did reevaluate.

They came back and said, LIPSI a me dam. They got a bunch of researchers together just to be sure, and they found out, yes, indeed, it was just a few bundles of linen inside the mummies pelvis, no fetus whatsoever. Co founder of the Warsaw Mummy Project, Camilla Brolinska, said that the researchers quote failed to consult a radiology expert prior to publication. It's so weird to me to be in Poland with an Egyptian mummy and be like, yeah, you know, who knows about this Egypt? But I'm not

gonna ask them what do they have to offer. I would immediately be like, yo, Egypt, tell me about this. Would y'all not rap? Would y'all not embalm a fetus? Or what would you do with it? Like surely there's some good history. Yeah, there were some questions left unasked. Now. The scan itself did look remarkably like the shape of a boneless fetus, which these researchers say was caused by a phenomenon called paradolia, which is the natural human tendency

to see familiar objects in random occurrences. I think that's the thing where we see faces in stuff where there's no face, like a tree bark, you'd see some face or the moon or you you you know that one time I saw Tilda's win in on my toast. You know, it's just what a day for you as a good day. Unfortunately, Bralynskis said quote this phenomenon, combined with the lack of consultation of theories with a radiology expert only brought the

effect of a global sensation and not a reliable scientific study. Right, So there you have it. We now we know the truth of this mummy until next year when this mummy crawls up out of its sarcophagus and gives birth to a cursed mummy baby right there in the Polish Museum's floor. Mummy Part four. We're gonna have to assume that this one is false. The body was a woman, not a male priest. She was in the wrong coffin, but her

baby was not any more real than Robin Folsoms. So to fake baby stories in this episode, totally fake baby is although the mummy I guess, didn't really get any perks out of it. No, she she she deserves fourteen thousand years in back pay of unemployment, of of of maternity leave, but the baby's bake. Well yeah, then she'll have to pay it back, okay, right right, She's like, y'all already took all my treasures, pay my rest intitution. Maybe, oh,

maybe that's her cosmic karma. Maybe she did take a baby and got ancient Egyptian maternity leave for it and then die and then's almost like I'm taking these jewels back. You don't deserve these. Some tomb raater was like, surely this lady is lying. I think that's so crazy that, I mean, the the story that's this mummy has gone through and no one knows who she was, you know, some some importance. If she was mummified, you don't give anyone, just anyone a right but but no talent. She could

have been anybody, you know, but she wasn't pregnant. We're pretty sure that, and I think it's interesting too. They basically went on to say, um. Professor Selim was like, we you will not find a pregnant mummy because if, like she said, if you left a fetus inside someone and mummified them, the mummy would dissolve, it would decompose. W Yeah, because if you leave any organs, you know, just in there to rot, you undo the whole momification process.

That's why they took out each organ and embalmed it separately and then put it back in. Right. I was going to say, when we were talking about that, it was like, it feels like a pretty natural progression to say, well, then you take the uterus out whatever is in it. Who cares that the organ goes um so it does seem weird too. Well, again, they should have freaking asked some Egyptians. I guess they should have. They should have they should have asked me. I would have said that

sounds cool. Um. I would have said, did you ask any Egyptians have gone to a radiologist? This is interest. This woman, uh Sahara Salim is an Egyptologist, a mummy expert, and she like invented a type of m r I that scans fetle tissue. So she's like the perfect person to comment this. Like they should have gotten heard involved from day one. You should have picked up the phone and warsaw Man I speak to Dr Selene Piece. I have a very quick question for her that she could

immediately answer for me. I think they're in the same time zone. It wouldn't even been hard. So somebody y'all have the same lunch hour. I would love to hear from you all in this episode. Tell us your crazy baby stories. We'd love to hear them. What's the wildest thing you've accused your coworker up. That's what I want to know, because seriously, I need to understand the day that Robbin's coworker was like, I can't take it anymore. This baby ain't real. I'm going to HR. That is

a very awkward conversation to have to have. I feel like you would have to have bullet proof evidence before you you accuse someone of that. You would have to have dynamite evident receipts, you know, and to receive that too. As person be like, I'm sorry you think that, Robbin's what. It's no wonder it took them so long to get to her because they were like, we gotta we have to be one trillion percent before we even bring it up. They were like, I'm not even doing this. I'm going

to the State Inspector General. We need to take this out of house. Yes, yeah, I ain't touching this one. I need to know though, what y'all if you've ever gone to HR with some wild ship, yes, please tell us that. Tell us, uh, you know, if you've ever faked a pregnancy or found a pregnant mummy, we'd love to hear from you, and we don't have to read your name. Yeah. Well, if you want to keep your ill gotten gain, just reach out. Find us at ridic Romance at gmail dot com right, or we're on Twitter

and Instagram. I'm at Dynamite Boom, I'm at Oh great, it's Eli and the show is at Riddic Romance. And thanks again to Josh Green for a great correction last answering machine about hanky code. Thank you so much, Josh. Appreciate that we'd love hearing from you all. Send us your corrections and information that we'd love to hear it. Don't forget to rate U on Apple Podcasts and we'll catch you all the next episode. We love you father so long. Friends, it's time to go. Thanks for listening

to our show. Tell your friends neighbor's uncle in dance to listen to a show Ridiculous Well Dance