Sex, Love, and What Else Matters - Southern Charm, IVF, and Baby Number 2 with Mercedes Javid (Part 2)

Episode Date: March 9, 2025

Episode 148.  In Part 2 of Kristen's chat with Mercedes "MJ" Javid, she gets real about her IVF journey, her pregnancy experience, and the unexpected events that led to her bed rest before her due date. MJ shares how maintaining a positive mindset played a crucial role throughout the process. The two dive into their future family plans, with MJ offering her perspective on why Kristen shouldn't wait for long to have her second baby. Plus, they dish on the drama from Southern Charm and MJ opens up about her new podcast, Heal to Feel! Sponsors: Thrive Market: Go to ThriveMarket.com/doute for 30% off your first order, plus a free $60 gift!   Acorns: Head to acorns.com/doute or download the Acorns app to get started   Laundry Sauce: Our listeners get 20% off your entire order when you use code DOUTE at laundrysauce.com   Magnetic Me: Go to MagneticMe.com today – new customers will get 15% off their first order!   Marley Spoon: Head to MarleySpoon.com/OFFER/DOUTE and use code DOUTE for up to 27 FREE meals!   Bilt: Start earning points on rent you’re already paying by going to joinbilt.com/DOUTE.   Follow us: @kristendoute @luke__broderick Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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That's T-H-R-I-V-E market dot com slash doty. Thrivemarket.com slash doty. Thrive market dot com slash doty. Imagine how it looks. Is there more? Yeah, big time. Nova K. Forming theaters, March 14. Hey, babes. Welcome back to another episode of Balancing Act. I just slurred over my words. That's OK. Um, hi, hi, hi. I just got back from the Bahamas and that was amazing. Luke and I went on our baby moon.

I think I'm, I thought I was going to be like the person who never fucking said baby moon, but whatever. It's a cute name and it's a reason to go on a vacation before the kiddo comes. So we had a blast. I had never been there before. I had to get my passport renewed because it was like a year and a half expired because I haven't been anywhere in a really long time and I'm just that kind of last minute gal. But it all worked out. We stayed at the Bahamar Grand Hyatt. So they have three hotels at

this resort and it was really fun. Got our steps in, super sunny, away from LA, really relaxing, got to feed some flamingos, mostly just get a tan, gambled a little bit, highly recommend if you guys want to go on a vacay to the Bahamas. And then if you haven't listened to my Bestie Brittany's podcast, I'm going to plug it here when reality hits. You guys know with Brittany Cartwright, I just guessed it on it. I was just a guest on Brittany's podcast. So listen to that because I'm very proud of her for very bravely speaking her truth. But today we have part two of my conversation with MJ. We're gonna talk about Southern Charm. MJ opens up to me about her fertility journey, as well as what happened leading up to her

due date. So you guys really need to listen. She also tells me why I should not wait long for baby number two. And she was adamant on this, you guys. So much more to come. I cannot wait for you to hear part two. Enjoy. Are you watching Southern Charm?

Hell yeah. What do you watch? Okay. Because I'm not, I don't watch a lot of Bravo. So obviously I used to watch Southern Charm. Religiously stopped, I don't even know what year, like 2018 or something, and just started this new season. So now I think I might be caught up on this season because we have the same showrunners, a lot of the same producers.

So I was like, okay, I'm going to get back into this. And I have so many opinions. Okay. So you want to talk about Southern Charm? Yeah. Like I want to punch JT in the face. Oh, poor JT. Like he's from the same small town.

Is it poor JT? No, no. Okay. Because I don't know what he was like on season nine. He was on season nine from what I recall. But like, I cannot take him. I can't stand anything that he says. Like, he said something like, I don't identify as rich or wealthy or something like that,

but it's kind of like, but I just am. And I'm like, oh my God, your face is so punchable. And I try to put myself in the position of like, it's on television, like he's kind of new. No, I don't fucking care. Like he is my zero of the season and my hero is Molly. Hardcore agree on Molly. Love her.

She put herself so out there for her very first season. And you know that she felt her literal worst ever because she said it. She was like, I am a model. I'm used to weighing this much and having that. Now I'm in this state and I'm just not feeling myself in that way. So relatable. So fucking relatable. Just so authentically herself, so honest in the moment, whether it's like the popular vote

maybe or what people want to see on TV. I'm just like, I'm obsessed with her. I started DMing with her just because I'm like, if girl crush. So true. You know, that's the thing, guys have so much ego, they're just get themselves so messed up. Tommy just scoffed at what we just said. Yes, you guys have the worst egos and your egos are the demise of you. Truth. Women on the other hand, we put our vulnerable selves, words and all, out there on front street. And that is it. And that is why we're amazing. I mean, okay, so obviously I'm invested in anything Madison LaCroix does.

I felt heartbroken that her and her beautiful young husband had to deal with these cancer scares. Oh, I know their family's so cute. They're a cute, adorable family. And now she's pregnant, which is amazing. So I don't know the other girls like Taylor and Sally. So I'm sure that I look at their cast the way a lot of people have looked at like my cast now, or your cast when you were...

I look at the cast and I'm like, so there's four blonde girls. There's four hot blondes and the guys that I've known for like the last, you know, 12 years or whatever, 13 years. However long I've known Shep, Austin and Craig in real life. The girls are newer to me because those aren't the girls that I filmed with or not filmed with, I'm sorry, that like I filmed my season while they were filming. So it's just new and different to me, but they are all hot blondes.

But other than Madison and Molly, it's in no offense to, I don't know the whole like Taylor with Shep and then Austin and then all of that. I'm still not like quite caught up on that. So I might have to go back a season. Here's what you need to know. We are all watching Shep Rose get his balls, dick and ass handed to him on a platter.

I really, really, really can't believe that he sent all of those texts. It was one of my favorite moments in reality TV history. Not gonna lie. And then he sent it again and then he sends it again. Just watching him read it, it was like poetic justice. Just really, he just... Every girl that he's ever wronged all come back and carmantly in one day of text messaging. But it's like he didn't, bless his fucking heart, he did not ever for one second think that, dude, what the fuck are you doing? He was like reading it just so like, like he was reciting Shakespeare.

Like Austin, you gotta hear this. All right, girls, can I read this to you? Like this is a fucking piece of poetry. What in the actual hell? So I actually, I text Shep real quick. I text Shep a few weeks ago before I saw any of this, obviously. And I'm like, oh, Luke and I, this is before I even knew that the cast like went to Bahamar and all that. And I was like, Luke and I are going to the Bahamas for our baby moon. Are you still with your girl?

And he's like, no, she broke my fucking heart. I was like, okay. And now I'm watching it happen on live television. I feel like any girl that's gotten her heart broken because of Chef and was like, God damn it, he was just a fuck boy and we didn't even realize it all this time. And now they're getting like all their full redemption in her. Her name is Bianca. Bianca.

Sienna. Sienna. Yeah. Everyone is probably sending flowers to Sienna? Sienna. Yeah. Everyone is probably sending flowers to Sienna, thanking her for being indifferent and dropping him like a bad habit. But maybe, if anything, people are probably going to be like, now it's going to happen to Shep. Now it's going to happen.

I mean, I'm dying to know. I'm purposefully not asking him in real life because I need to watch this play the fuck out. Yeah. Well, because like every other time that he claimed that he was in love, this time included, like Shep, Andy's going to ask him, like Andy, please, when you see this, please ask this question. What made you think Shep, that you were in love with this girl? It was clearly not real love. It was clearly an infatuation. Yeah, but how is this infatuation different from all the other infatuations,

which is basically every girl that he's been with? In no offense to the women, it's like he's not super capable of that. He's not proven to be capable of just loving unconditionally by any means. So what was it about this? I'm not even saying in no offense to Sienna, like she's beautiful, amazing. But what was it about your time with her that made you feel like this? She's the girl. I got to tell her I love her even though though she lives across the ocean. Or the sea.

And didn't care. Yeah. But he had long-term relationships with the other girls that were expecting a proposal. So I think that he has had more meaningful relationships with other girls. Oh, one million percent. But he didn't treat those girls

like they were the meaningful relationships that were actually happening. You know what I mean? That's been Shep's like fuck boy problem as a grown ass man is that those women didn't receive the same kind of respect and adoration that he's giving to his 26 year old hot girlfriend who lives not even in the United States. Somewhere else.

So like, why Shep, what was it? Now, what was it about her? What was it about this relationship? Because what is he gonna say about her? Well, she's beautiful and she, all of your girlfriends are beautiful. Every single one of them, how does fuck? Yep. Stunners.

We need to know. When are you coming back to my screen? Ugh, I miss Shaw so much. Well, definitely go back and watch season two of Traters. All the way to the end. Oh, I can't wait. I cannot wait. And my favorite part is I get to binge it,

so I don't have to wait week by week. Like I can watch like four episodes in a night and then be like waking up in the morning and here we go again, especially being pregnant. Oh, it's gonna be so good for my soul. I know. So it's true. So you can be laying on the bed, breastfeeding your baby and just having the time of your

life and watch anything that you want, which is like one of the best parts of like the next year of your life is going to be a lot of tummy time and just strolls and parks and yoga while holding baby. Yoga while holding baby. Yoga while holding baby. She's strapped to your back, but then you're also doing weights. It's going to be fun. Somehow I bet you will see each other more because when your lifestyles overlap, then you get to have more face time with each other.

I know. I'm really excited for that. I'm like, I'm part of the mom club now. I mean, it goes with my lifestyle anyway, but I just like actually have a baby. Not just like a tired person that doesn't go out. It's anti-social. Do you have any advice for my first year? Is there anything that sticks out to you to tell me? Your friends that really care about you will come over and just wash your dishes. That's it. Like they'll just come over with nothing but like food, fruit, veggies. And they'll just be like, pass out on the couch, bro. I got you. That's it.

Heaven. Did you have a night nurse? Night nanny? I don't know what they're called. We did have a night nurse. Because I really, yeah, I do. I would really love that. So I've been talking to some friends like, I don't know what they're called. We did have a night nurse. Absolutely. Yeah, I do. I would really love that. So I've been talking to some friends like, I don't even know how this vetting thing begins, but I just know we don't have family here. And even my friends who are lucky enough to have family in LA, it still was just such

a helpful, like if you can afford it and it works for your life. Like I have just so many friends who have really vouched for that as a part of their, you know, so. Also, because you're not you're when you're a first time mom and you're not like 20 years old, you're afraid to fall asleep. So it allows you to let somebody qualified watch your baby while because they don't think the night nurse is awake. Yeah, no, I it's like I need all the help. Like, yes, of course, like my niece and nephew are grown. Like I remember when they were newborns and blah, blah, blah. It's not my kid. Like I need help. I need reminders. I need assistance. I need to be taught things

and not just like before the baby's born and not the shit I read on Instagram. Like I want someone there with me that will make me feel like less anxious and more confident. Exactly. And you're going to be great. But anytime you have people that are just sobbing by just to be in the room with you, and just hand you something or let you doze off, it's really basic. No expectations. They're just sitting in. And if they are a mom, and they have their now older baby, and they know exactly how to help, it's just going to be very intuitive. So it's like, if you could, let's say, clone you yourself, that's all you need. You know? Yeah. And really, like motherhood teaches you to lean into your instincts.

Yeah. So how long before shams did you guys do? Did you do IVF and all? I mean, or did you like freeze your eggs and then do IVF? Or was that just was that part of like, your journey with Tommy? I don't remember. Oh, yeah. So my, I, my doctor was like, you're the last person I know who hasn't frozen their eggs. I was like, easy tiger, I don't need to freeze my eggs. I don't need this, I don't need that. Nobody's going to tell me what to do. And so we did it on the show. I froze them first. And then he was like, where's the daddy? And he knew Tommy. And he was like, please make some embryos while you're at it. So first I froze my eggs, then I made the embryos from the frozen eggs, I think.

And then now I still have some frozen eggs. That was my next question. Do you still have them on ice? Are you ever thinking about, did you wanna only have one? I guess that's my first question. I have so many questions. No, I wanna have more. I wanted to, and first question. I have so many questions. No, I want to have more. I

wanted to, and I still want to, I think, like, since I can't be Rihanna, I would like to, yeah, because that would have been perfect for me is just to like pop out to right behind each other. But now, since we have an embryo, and we don't know the the gender but we have it, we didn't ask like we didn't know that one. And so we would have to pop it into a surrogate and hope and pray like if it was going to survive, then we can have another biological child. So maybe that'll happen. It's still on the table. You guys are still on the table for you. It's still possible. You never know. Love.

But like, am I fulfilled with my beautiful baby? Absolutely. Yeah. You know, like, I am obsessed with him. And we can give him what you know, we can give them sibling. It's all good. You know, yeah, God is good. Yes. What about you? You're gonna have another one right away. Okay, so can we talk about something for a second? Laundry. Ugh, am I right? It's usually one of those things I just try to get over with as quickly as possible or make Luke do, but then I found laundry sauce. And now I'm like, wait, I actually look forward to doing laundry. What a wild transformation. Okay, seriously though, laundry sauce is everything. These laundry pods aren't just about getting your clothes

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I honestly did not think doing laundry could be fun, but with these scents, I actually find myself enjoying it. I swear, folding clothes, it's like a self-care moment now. And not only does laundry sauce smell incredible, but it's super concentrated, so you get more cleaning power with less detergent, no harsh chemicals, Just clean fresh soft clothes It's like I'm pampering myself with every load and get this they just launched a new scent Oregon mint

And I'm dying to try it. It's fresh clean totally uplifting Plus it's ethically sourced from one of the biggest mint farms on earth Talk about a win for the planet and for your laundry if you want to give laundry sauce a try and trust me you do win for the planet and for your laundry. If you want to give laundry sauce a try and trust me you do, for a limited time only our listeners get 20% off your entire order when you use code Dody at LaundrySauce.com. That's 20% off your order at LaundrySauce.com with promo code Dody. After you purchase they'll ask you where you heard about them so please support our show. Tell them we sent you. Smell good, look good, feel good with laundry sauce.

Okay, so I am seriously counting down the days until we meet our little one. Honestly, I'm also thinking about how to make life a little easier once the baby arrives. And one of the best things I have discovered is Magnetic Me. So I started looking for baby clothes that are as cute as they are functional and I heard about this brand. I am obsessed. First off, the fabric is so soft and everything has these amazing magnetic closures, like no more messing with zippers or snaps,

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need to get these for your baby too. So go to magneticme.com today. New customers will get 15% off their first order. Do not wait. Go to magneticme.com now. I mean, that's been like already the conversation because I always wanted to have two children. Like I've never, I'm one of three. I didn't want to have an only child.

Luke's one of three. I didn't want to have an only child. Luke's one of four. But not, I mean, not that it was like impossibly difficult for us. It was harder for me than I thought it was going to be. We're very lucky that IUI one time worked as well as it did. But I don't know if, you know, after my daughter's born in June, at number one, at what point am I gonna, I cannot fucking imagine being pregnant again. I'm only six months pregnant and I'm already like, I mean, ever since eight weeks, I was like, let's be done with this.

I'm not a good pregnant person. I have not enjoyed my pregnancy. I'm much better now than I was earlier, but I cannot imagine giving birth and getting pregnant and doing this all again for 10 months right away. But I also don't know if my body is going to be able to wait. If I can even do it again right away, I don't even, you know what I mean? I don't know what that looks like.

So I feel like it's just, it's in God's hands. It's like, whatever's meant to be will be. I'm not gonna be lazy about it and wait around for too long, but I just know like, for my mental health sake, I don't want to jump out of the fire into the frying pan. I would tell you just do it if your body can. And if it does, if it is possible, I would say that you should go for it and have them

right behind each other. And the reason is a very good one. Going through the sleeplessness and all of the deprivation and the diaper phase and the crib phase and those are things you don't want to do all over again when your one baby has graduated from that era. It is such a pain in the ass to then go backward. Like if me and my parents want to go somewhere, we just jump in the car, right? But back then it would have to be such a whole production. So the time when you have to be like all hands on deck, where you have to baby proof the house and you have to think about all of those things, you should knock those out as close to each other as possible so that then you can enjoy them. They can enjoy each other and they're going to be closer because the closer they are in age,

then every single thing that you need for the baby, the wipes, the games, the toy, keeping those things is actually going to save you all the money in the world to not have to save shit and buy it twice is like all phenomenal points. It's true. And I don't that if you're you're not going to change your mind about wanting more, you should have more. No, I mean, the fact that I haven't changed my mind thus far into this pregnancy that I have very publicly said, it's been really difficult in ways that I didn't know it was gonna be difficult, like just mentally on me. I had no one ever said, you might feel a lot of anxiety.

Sheena was very open about her postpartum OCD. I've been talking to her lately about her anxiety during her pregnancy and after, but she was the only person that I'd ever known my whole life to have those feelings during pregnancy, because I never thought to ask, right? Never thought to ask any of my pregnant friends, like the same way no one's ever asked me until I started talking about it.

So that was just something that was really new and fresh to me that I wasn't expecting that I started before I realized it was more normal that I was really afraid something was wrong with me. Like I wouldn't be a good mom, you know. You're going to be an amazing mom. That being said, I think you're gonna understand why Even if it's hard to be pregnant and it's you know, people have really bad pregnancies, but they slip but just Regardless if you say I can't imagine being a pregnant another 10 months

Well, you're definitely not gonna be want to be pregnant another two years in 10 months or three years from now I'm good or yes, you know, it's not gonna ever like be cuter or better want to be pregnant another two years in 10 months or three years from now. Good. It's not going to ever like be cuter or better. So the closest together is going to feel the actual best. Also a really good point though, because I'm like, if I'm going to, when I think about it in that realm, I even said to Luke today when I was like getting dressed, just like stare in my belly is not even as big as it will be. But I'm like, I can't imagine not having this now. Like I don't remember

what it was like to look down and see my vagina. Like I don't like it's very weird where it's only been six months not even really you know with you're not pregnant for the first month. So it's been five months that I've even been pregnant. It's only been about a month to two months since I've looked like this and I I'm like, it's strange to think about not being pregnant. I think now that I've overcome that hump. Like, were you, because I know that you had, very publicly, a really difficult end of your pregnancy. You were 30, 36?

39 and a half weeks? What were you, 36? 36 and a half. What were you 36? 36 and a half, yeah. Were you gave birth, which is I want to talk about if you don't mind. Yeah, I don't mind at all. What would you call an easy quote unquote pregnancy, a hard quote unquote pregnancy, a what pregnancy or just all of the above? So I was unbelievably optimistic.

You would think I'm Gandhi you would think I'm like some My attitude was a completely different place from the reality of what was going on So a I would tell people that I was having that baby Like it was a bus train coming to pick me up like at that exact time I was very definitive it. And then everything was fine for the first 20 weeks. And my amazing doctor, shout out Dr. C. Brad, he was doing some 20-week thing and he goes, your centimeters changed from a few days ago. So he sent me to the doctor that gave birth to Shamps and he had to give me a sir cloche at 20 weeks I think famously Courtney Kay just did that with her last baby Rocky. What is the sir cloche a

Sir cloche is when your cervix Measurement opens up and this and the cervix is like the door that keeps your baby in your body. Right? So, Yes, my cervix is closed. The cervix is closed and we want them to stay closed until we don't, we want, right. So there was a centimeter, it was like opening and so he was like oh fuck your like chance of miscarrying is like

god forbid it's high right so he like sees it and me and Tommy are on every single appointment he didn't miss ever any and Tommy's shaking and I'm just like yeah whatever just do whatever you gotta do like where do I gotta go you want me to go to the mezzanine and its heaters across there and like, we're going to do your stitch thing. So they have to do, they stitch you with one little stitch and like, cinch sack your cervix so that it stays closed. If you guys saw my fucking face right now. And so... Like I'm clenching so hard. Oh my God. And so-

Like I'm clenching so hard. So it didn't matter. I got an epidural. They fucking stuck that fucking needle in your back and they numbed me and they stitched me and it was like done, done, done. Now Tommy is preparing himself. You've got to prepare yourself for the worst. Yeah. And I was like, bro, chill the fuck out. Ain't nothing going to happen, baby. It's all going

to be good. And so that was my attitude. Oh my God. I wish I could have borrowed your attitude my whole pregnancy. Here I am, honey. Take me, use me, have all of me. And it was it was like a divine motherhood instinct. Okay. So then he was like, off to bed, you go for the rest of the pregnancy, you will be on bedrest until you're ready to give birth. And I was like, but what are you talking about? I want to be that cute pregnant girl that gets to like walk through the, you know, the mall and like they open doors for her when she walks in because she's pregnant. And you're a crop top. Oh, yeah.

Totally. So they're like, you're going to be in home and bed. So then we did that for Tommy. He was freaking out. I was like, no way. So then everything's fine. I'm in bread vest. I'm like, it's very calm. I have this really, really beautiful house that we were in at the very top of Laurel Canyon that looked out into heaven and it was a mid-century. So all the glass, all the walls were glass. We didn't have anything but that was like a glass house. So that is where I got to spend my bed rest, not too shabby. Right?

So I was very positive. And then I had this really funny night, we would sleep with our doors open. And I was like, I had something called choleostasis. I was like, and if you look it up in the diagram, like it'll literally show you a victor of a woman going like this, like itching, itch attacks, itch attack. like this, like itching, itch attacks, itch attack. So call Dr. Rad. Hey, Dr. Rad, am I allowed to take Tommy, what do you call that stuff? Benadryl. Am I allowed to take

Benadryl? He goes, yeah, why? By the way, mind you, I was the most healthiest pregnant person. Oh, you were like, I barely take Tylenol, don't take Benadryl. Like just, I used to take Benadryl for panic attacks my first trimester. Yeah, that's a really smart thing to do. That's a really, really smart thing to do, because it's safe. I would take so I the only thing I took was they're called Tum Smoothies. So they're for old people because they're not as harsh. So then if I had really bad heartburn the first trimester, I'd take smoothies. Otherwise,

I have oranges, carrots, and like cucumbers. That was like my whole pregnancy. I was like very clean and whatever. But when I called him to take the Benadryl, he was like, yeah, you're allowed to take the Benadryl, but why do you want to take the Benadryl? And I was like, well, I'm having these itch attacks. Mind you, my husband, thank you very much. You're being so dramatic. I was like, no, no, I don't feel like I'm being dramatic. So then Dr. Rad goes, you have choleostasis.

What is that, Dr. Rad? You're going to be induced about a month early. Why? He's like, well, your body is attacking your liver and if you don't induce, it's a risk of stillbirth. And I was like- And how far along were you when you were told this? I was told you have about two weeks.

That's okay. I was around, yeah, I think I was- 34, about two weeks. That's okay. I was around... 34, 33, something like that. Yeah, I think I was around 32 weeks. And then he was like, you're gonna have a baby in two weeks. And this all just because it stemmed from the itching. The itching was the first thing that you felt. And that's fucking wild.

I would literally be like, I don't know that I was outside or like the dogs or like, Yeah, he was like, and this is really so important because it's very, very important that people don't ignore any symptoms of anything because it goes away right after you give birth. It's like preeclampsia or gestational diabetes, shit happens to people when they are pregnant. And that was the thing. He was like, you can go get a blood test. You might get a negative, a false negative.

So we don't care. You're having this baby, you're high risk pregnancy. You're having the baby early now. So I just remember again, calling Tommy and being like, two weeks, not six weeks. And that was it. Like we went, yeah, then we went, I sat in labor for two days and then we couldn't,

it wasn't opening, I wasn't dilating, I wasn't, nothing was happening. They induced me after two days of not being able to do labor naturally. That's, see, this is the conversation I'm having with my doctor right now, very currently, because I have actually a lot of friends who are pregnant right now.

And I have a handful of friends who, like more than two, who have had children, who have been in labor for hours and hours and hours and hours, tens of hours, and then had to have a C-section. So now they're on baby two or baby three, knowing they're having a C-section. So talking to all these friends about their stories and being terrified of having my vagina split open,

like as I'm sure anyone would think about. I have talked to my doctor like early on and like I think the end of my first trimester about maybe scheduling a C-section. And so I'm still not sure yet, but the last conversation I had with him when he asked me, I said, now I feel like I'm playing God. And I think that I should just let it happen

the way it's going to happen. Even if, I mean, obviously if he wants to induce me, he's going to induce me. But I feel like I should try. And if I'm meant to have a C-section, then I will. But that is a huge fucking fear of mine. I feel like that will be my role. We'll be like, just kidding, two days, three days of labor, and we're going to end up in a C-section. So I'm a little nervous. Well, hold on. Let me not freak you out because I have to tell you, I totally agree with you, 100%. No doctor is going to allow you to have a C-section anyway. They're going to tell you and encourage you to push it out and try to push it out.

I mean, he said, I absolutely can. And he said, we can schedule it and you can cancel the morning of if you want to, like if it makes you feel better. But I asked him, truthfully, what do you kind of prefer? And he said, whatever I want is what he will do. Obviously, if you don't have to do surgery, it's better. Because then there's no surgery risk whatsoever. But he was fine with whatever I wanted. I've just been like, kind of in this battle where I was like, nope, that's it, scheduled C-section, get the baby out. I don't have to feel a bunch of pain, blah, blah, blah,

up until just recently. And I'm like, you know what, who the fuck am I to play God? Let's see what happens. Okay, babes, real talk. Meal planning used to be my downfall. For real. Every year I'd say, I'd get better at it and every year takeout would win. But then I found Marley Spoon and it has been a total game changer. Now if you're like me, you want healthy tasty meals but without the stress. This is the solution. This podcast is sponsored by Marley Spoon and I'm so excited because it's honestly helping me eat well without all the hassle. Plus, my code DOTY can get you up to 27 free meals. 27! So, what I love is that Marley Spoon offers over 100 recipes each week. There's a huge selection of delicious vegetarian meals for me.

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Joinbilt.com slash doty to start earning points on your rent payments today. Join Built.com slash Dodie to start earning points on your rent payments today. I would rather give birth vaginally. I psychically knew I was never going to give birth vaginally because I feared it all my life. But I also, when those two days that it wasn't happening, they're inducing. So they're giving you pitocin, they're giving you drugs to make your body and the baby calm and the heart rate dropped.

There's so many shitty things like you don't want to, like you said, you don't wanna play God and you don't wanna just, if like my doctor, I was like begging for a C-section, he was like, ha ha ha no. And so yeah, he's the best doctor in the world. And he was like, so you don't really feel that pain, but you do have to push, and it does feel counterintuitive

to push in an area that's been numbed, you know? So it's, but look, people do it, and I think you do it. And I don't, a lot of people, when they do have baby two and three, and then it has to Be the vac the the the C-section every time women are better off if you could push it out and you're gonna be in a hospital You're gonna be okay. If you can't doesn't work one way and they do it the other way That's what that you know what I mean? You're gonna be good. Yeah, what a wild fucking ride. Yeah, I know I'm excited for you very

What a wild fucking ride. Yeah, I know I'm excited for you very Well, you know what I like about us is that it's like having a long conversation with an old friend that you like I like on the phone in the kitchen doing this. It's so nice um I want to ask you about not ask but I want to talk about your new podcast because I'm Really really excited and I'm really, really excited. And I'm really curious about how you're feeling about it now that it's begun. I know it's your three episodes in as of right now, right?

Yes. But I like that you're like, this is a newer thing for you to dive into. So it's called, sorry,, I'm like jumping ahead. It's called Heal to Feel, which number one, that is the most genius fucking name because it hit me so hard. Swear to God, like God's truth. Like Heal to Feel, like, oh my God, you guys, yes.

Absolutely. You have to heal to feel. You fucking have to, To truthful, you know what I mean? So anyway, it just really like got to me and then I was like reading about it because I'm I don't know your co-host. So I was like kind of reading about her and like her take on it and then yours. So I'm just really excited. And you have to feel something in order to feel. Yeah. So instead of numbing through life and wanting to grab something to cock block us from feeling

our full life and our full range of emotions. I've been able to love more as a result of getting rid of some of this garbage. It's like basically heal to feel is like getting rid of plaque on your teeth. And it's like, you know, it's just such a better way. And we have all these incredible experts that come and talk to us about Reiki and past lives and how to deal with trauma and how to just make yourself vulnerable, hypnotherapy. Liyad is amazing because she's the person that spearheaded the whole project by her

passion of wanting to change the world and make it a better place. And like every person that we sit with, you just are covered with goosebumps from head to toe. They're all like these incredible intuitive healers and just crazy smart people. Like everything is metaphysical. And then talk about like understanding what's really important in life and wanting that when something great happens to you

and you want that for everyone around you. You're like, wait a minute, I'm so blessed and I'm so glad that I got to have this experience that I want to just like make sure that all the people in my circle have it too. Nicole Sarris I fucking love that. And I love what I read when I was like reading just about the podcast before I even talked to you. One of you guys said that like there's more to healing than traditional therapy suggests. And as a fucking huge loud and proud therapy advocate, fuck yes, preach. Oh my God. It, because it's so true. Like, yes, I think therapy is wonderful. I've said it all the time, but there

is, there is so much more to healing than just what traditional therapy suggests. Wrap that up in a bow. Hell yeah. Yeah. Our episodes drop every Wednesday and it is really, really fun and very earth-shattering moving and it just makes me so happy. I know this this is gonna sound so corny, but really blessed to be part of this journey. It's really intense good shit. And it's short cut, you know? Like it's like, instead of going 10 years of therapy, it's like, oh, I just saw this video

and or I had this experience that I just feel like it crammed in into like, you know, one session. Yeah. Which is what a lot of people want. It's what I want, you know? Like, I'm always reaching for the next thing that's gonna, like, help me grow or evolve in some way internally. That's exactly what it is. So each one of the people that we've had, I'm like,

oh, my God. Like, I feel like I'm laughing more. I'm appreciating like you're like, talk about high vibration. I was just about to say that I was like, your vibrations are so high. Yes. Laws of attraction, body language, all of the, like the, the little, the little girl in you all of the little girl in you that you're kind of like quipier with your people around you because you understand your inside. Yeah. It's like all the things I'm ready to like dive back into that I feel like I kind of got away from throughout most of my pregnancy because I wasn't doing positive self-talk and

I wasn't doing positive talk-talk and I wasn't doing positive talk pretty much at all, other than like, I love this baby no matter what and I'm excited, it'll be great. But I was like, everything's hard and everything sucks. And it was just a lot of negative talk that I couldn't get out of my own way. But now that I feel a lot more calm, I'm like, wait, where are those vibrations? Where's that manifestation? Where's the laws of attraction? Putting out into the universe what I want in return. I miss that part of myself. Nicole Sade I wish that I knew this for the last 24 weeks because I really didn't. You and I need to

be a little bit more looped in. Nicole Sade Yeah, I mean, it took me a while to like figure it out. And I think once I got off like the ledge, you know, that at the edge of the cliff where I was just like, oh my God, it's going to just be hard for the next, you know, X amount of months and then I'll be back to normal as soon as I got off of that ledge and I could like calm down. Now I'm able to like see it a little more clearly. Well, look, I mean, anxiety is a horrible

thing. All of our big thoughts and our big emotions are like some of the things that we address. There's a hypnotist named Joe Tapp that shares his story from like the streets of New York where he was like needed to manifest a miracle and he did. And so each person talks about how, well, what I've taken away is that we can take control over our negative thoughts and we can decide how we are going to be positive and we get to run this. We get to run what goes on in here and we get to also be in charge of like

leading with like our hearts and whenever Tommy says something fucked up to me now I can be like, are you hurt? Can I like so is this like I see through to the inside of his like little black heart and I'm like, I understand now it's like, I'm not a doctor but I'm starting to see into the inside of your head, and I can just say like, what's going on inside? And he's like, well, this, and then he's vulnerable with me, and I'm like, oh my God.

Whenever we're afraid, we're just allowing something that hasn't happened, the worst possible outcome to be just like, we decide is our reality. It's like Yes. Yep. Like what if it's not because what is it now? It isn't now right now. Everything's great Yeah, so it's all of these things I mean, I would like listen to these episodes not just once because they're that good and I'm not the expert

So I can actually flex because it's not me. You know? I'm not bragging about myself. You know, like I'm gassing up these people that have dedicated their whole lives to it. It's amazing. Yeah. I'm so fucking stoked for you.

Like in life and like in career, like it's such a good new venture, but it's like such a good new venture for like your soul and therefore the rest of us that get to listen to it and learn from it. Especially because like if you do have like a really stressful moment at work, you know, in real estate, like everybody has like every everything is so important to them, right? And a client can when they need something, they need it. No holds barred, no compromise, and they need it now.

And so I also have to manage like many other people's stress and I'm like totally able to do that because you can like just have this like 30,000 foot view where it's like everything everything is way more manageable. So, it works. Holy fucking loo-ya. You have a galore about you, my darling. I love you.

I love you so much. I love you more. This has been so much fun. I do love just talking shit with you. And I'm gonna start texting you right after I watch Southern Charm tonight. Okay. Because I'm pretty sure I got one episode in the queue. I still haven't seen Shep, like, go through all that stuff with the girls. So we'll be texting a lot tonight. Okay?

Oh, yeah. Off to the races. Oh, you're the best thing ever. You're the best thing ever. I want to see you soon. Okay. Kisses. Tell Tommy kiss the babes. Okay. Tell Luke to kiss the tummy for me. I will. Love you so much. I hope you guys enjoyed our little episode together. When you know, when two friends get talking, you just last forever. So we wanted to make it a little twofer. And I'm really excited to get started on Traitors Season 2, the MJ was in, because Traitors is over.

Season 3 is done. The finale has aired. Spoiler, if you haven't watched it, I mean, I don't know what you're waiting for, but it was a four-way tie between Faithfuls. It was Ivar, Heartthrob, Dylan Efron. It was hotness good old Gabby and housewife Dolores. Duh. That was actually kind of a fun thing about the reunion is that Andy was like, hell yeah, a housewife one. And he was also like, hey Tom, this is the most comfortable I've ever seen you on a reunion, which I probably would

be the same for me if I were on the show. So it was so good. I hope that I don't have to wait a year for traders to start again. But anyway, yeah, so I'm going to watch MJ on hers. I hope you guys enjoyed our little episode and I'll talk to you next week. Make sure to follow us on social media. You can follow me on all platforms at Kristen Doty and follow Luke on Instagram at Luke double underscore Broderick. Be sure to click the subscribe button so you can stay up to date with the new episodes.

Thanks for listening. See you next week. Okay, so growing up, I didn't get a lot of guidance when it came to money. I didn't understand the value of saving or setting goals. And now as I prepare to become a parent, I'm thinking a lot about how I can teach my kids the things I didn't learn early on. Today's episode is sponsored by Acorns Early.

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