The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Michelle Wolf Dissects the Childbirth Industrial Complex | Dr. Stuart Fischbein

Episode Date: December 28, 2023

Michelle Wolf dives into how modern-day childbirth serves as a cash cow for hospitals at the expense of folks who want to have a baby. Michelle also sits with Dr. Stuart Fischbein, obstetrician and co-host of the "Birthing Instincts" podcast, to discuss how hospital birthing practices go against natural childbirth functions. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday? Listen to the Weekly Show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. You're listening to Comedy Central. Let's talk about childbirth. It's hopefully the last time you touch your mom's vagina. And I learned about child birth firsthand because I recently had a baby. I don't know. She was right here. I don't know. You can't have it all, can you? Now I chose to have a home birth because I wanted to ruin my couch. And it turns out I was pretty lucky because when ever I talked to a woman home birth because I wanted to ruin my couch.

And it turns out I was pretty lucky because whenever I talked to a woman who has given birth in a hospital, it's almost always a horror story. The labor was painful, the doctors were rude, the nurse pooped on the table and blamed it on me. But there's a reason why a hospital childbirth leads to all these horror stories. And it's something I want to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the to the the the the the the the the the the the the told told their told the the the their the hoa. I was a the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the wo. I was. I was the woom. I was thoom. I was. I was toomorrow. Ia. Ia. Ia. Ia. Ia.u. Ia. Ia. Ia. Ia. Ia. Ia. Ia. Ia. I was. I'm. I'm tod. horror stories and it's something I want to talk about so lay back and put your feet in the stirrups for tonight's long-story short. Childbirth is the number one reason why people go to the hospital in the US. It sends more Americans to the hospital than allergic reactions and I don't know how this got stuck in my butt.

That's a light bulb, just so you know. And every year the health care system makes $50 billion from childbirth. And yeah, half of that is just from Nick Cannon, but it's still a booming industry. And why is childbirth so expensive? Because like everything in America, health care is a business, and hospitals look at our uterus like it's an ATM. Delivering moms are increasingly being charged sky high prices for absolutely every service or supply provided to them and the baby.

And those bills aren't just high. In many cases, they're bloated. Every time you walk into the hospital, they look at everything that happens to you and say, can I bill for that? It's because they can. They can charge more, nobody's asking questions, and so they do and they get away with it. Dr. Marguerite Dwayne delivered naturally just 12 minutes after arriving at the hospital and only stayed one night. I noticed that I have been charged for two hospital nights. I was charged for medications I didn't receive such as oxytocin, $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $.00.00. I th. I th. I they they they they they they they can can can't they they they can they can they can can can can can can can they can. I they can. I can can. I can. I can can they can. I can can they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can't they th. I can't th. I can't th. I th. I th. I th. I can't toge. I can't th. I can't th. I can't th. I can't th. I can't th. I can't they they they can't they nights. I was charged for medications I didn't receive, such as oxytocin, $958 for his nursery stay. And he didn't spend one minute in the nursery. One woman says she was charged $400 for Motrin and a stool softener.

$400 for a stool softener, what is this? the hotel mini bar? If you don't have stool softener in your hotel mini bar, you got to go to a better hotel. And all that money doesn't even equal better care because like I said, health care is a business and a business wants to be efficient but child birth isn't efficient. Labor could happen at any moment or it could take over 18 hours. It's kind of like orgasms. Is this going to be a quickie, or is someone leaving here with carpal tunnel? Nobody knows.

Childbirth is messy and unique and complicated. And it needs the mother to walk around and stretch and bounce on a yoga ball and go to the bathroom, because maybe you're going to take a dump, or maybe that's where you're going to have the baby. I'm serious, it th th serious, th serious, th serious, I th serious, I th serious, I th serious, I'm serious, I'm serious, I'm serious, I'm serious, I'm serious, I'm serious, I'm serious, I'm serious, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, the the th, th, th, th, th, th, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thea, thean, tean, tean, tean, tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, tean, or maybe that's where you're going to have the baby. I'm serious, that happens a lot and it's beautiful. But the hospital would rather have us laying down with sensors attached to our bodies because it's more efficient to monitor all of it at once from a computer screen, even though screens should be for raising our children, not birthing them. So here's what happens.

Now you're lying in a bed and your labor slows Not birthing them. So here's what happens. Now you're lying in a bed and your labor slows down, so the hospital speeds up the process by pressure you to take the drugs that induce labor, even though those drugs affect the heart rate of your baby and increase your pain. So then they suggest an epidural where they jam a needle of fentanyl into your spine to your lower body, so the contractions and now you're slowing down your labor again your baby's heartbeat is going up and down it's like a little ravenside your uterus and the doctor comes and say you're not progressing enough the baby's heartbeat is erratic all the shit we made you do it made everything worse why would you make us do all that shit to you and it doesn't

throwns to the biggest medical intervention of all C-sections. Americans have them at an a their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their. their. the the the th. th. th. th. thi. thi. the the thi. thi. tho. tho. their their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their their their their their their their their their their their their the. the. t. tm. tm. tm. tm. tm. tm. tm. ttttttttttttte. ttte. te it doesn't always have to do with the health of the mother or the baby. An alarming number, one in three women giving birth in America today, having a C-section, but too often C-sections are not needed. Sometimes doctors or hospitals may rush a C-section simply because they think labor has gone on long enough or because the maternity ward is especially busy. Another reason for the major increase, just for the sake of convenience.

Doctors are rushed. I mean, when someone's giving birth vaginally, it can take a long time. They're in labor. It can take days. C-section, very quick. You're in the t surgery. If you have a C-section, in 2018 you have a 90% chance of having a C-section the second time. But the second time, it's a more complicated surgery and the third time it can be like

operating on a melted box of crayons. Milted box of crayons? Jesus! What happens the fourth time? We don't even need to do surgery. It just pops out like the thia. thia. It just like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like to to to to the to to to to to to do surgery. It just pops out like an alien. And C-sections aren't just risky for the mother. They're also risky for the baby. Children born via C-sections are four times more likely to develop breathing problems. And if my kid is going to have trouble breathing, I want it to be because I raised a dushbag who vapes. Is that cotton candy? There's got to be a better way to do this and thankfi their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their. their. I their candy? There's got to be a better way to do this and thankfully there is. And it's not some newfangled Silicon Valley birthing pod.

It's one of the oldest child birth technologies there is. Midwives. If midwife is a clinician who helps you either birth inside of a hospital or outside of a hospital and for women with uncomplicated pregnancies, midwives are a great idea. Mostly because they don't do unnecessary interventions and they're all about patient autonomy. Can you imagine that? Woman having autonomy?

Not in my America. Let's go Brandon. In fact, midwives used to be the Norman delivery until they got pushed out in favor of male doctors. In the early 1900s, physicians went on a very effective smear campaign against midwives. They would make posters showing a black-branny midwife and a very poor home delivering a baby and saying, would you want this kind of person to deliver your baby? Joseph DeLea of Chicago called midwives' relics of barbarism. To me, it appears brutal. Midwifery, not obstetrics.

It is not the forcips, but it is the man behind the forcips that counts. The man behind the forcips is what counts. No, you idiot. We don't need you, your forcips, your racism, or that weird landing strip goatee you got going on. But that's really the point I want to make here. The hospital doesn't just emphasize efficiency and speed over the mother's health and comfort. It emphasizes the doctor's role over the mothers, particularly when obstetrics was being created by men. And it's such a male thing to think that pulling the baby out is the entirety of labor. When all mothers

know, that's the easiest part of the whole thing. It's like pulling a piece of toast out of the toaster and saying, I'm the toaster! So long story short, for women thinking about having a child, know and understand what your options are, and that this is your birth, not the hospitals and not the doctors. And look, don't get me wrong. There are pregnancies that need medical interventions. But when the hospital needs don't align with yours, remember, you have choices. Just because you're in a hospital

doesn't mean you're sick. Childbirth isn't a disease. It's powerful and natural, and we should give women the chance to to to to to, it'll free up all the hospital to figure out how this got up my butt. When we come back, I'll talk to an expert on childbirth, Dr. Stuart Fishbine. So don't go away. Finding great candidates to hire can be like try and to find a needle in a haystack. You might get a lot of resumes, but not enough candidates with the right skills or experience.

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within the first day. Try it for free at this exclusive web address, Zip Recruiter.com slash zip. Again, that's Zip Recruiter.com. Sip Recruit, the smartest way to hire. Hey, everybody John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast, The Weekly Show, it's going to be coming out every Thursday. So exciting, you'll be saying to yourself, TGID. Thank God it's Thursday. We're going to be talking about. All the things that hopefully obsess you in the same way that they obsess me. The election. Economics. Earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. And I know that I

listed that fourth, but in importance it's probably second. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday? I mean, talk about innovative. Listen to the Daily Show. My guest tonight is a community-based practicing obstetrician and advocate for the midwifery model of care and human rights and childbirth. He also co-hosts the Burthing Instincts podcast and teaches seminars on Breach and Twin Vaginal Birth around the globe.

Please welcome Dr. Stewart, Fishbine. Dr. Stewart, Fishbine. It's so great to have you here. It's so great to have you here. It's an honor to be here and I just have to say the last segment was you covered so much that's so true and I as a male physician feel a little embarrassed but I walk in the footsteps of all the midwives that came before me and taught me what I didn't necessarily learn in residency. I see look listen men can give credit to women it's great. Thank you. You know you've been you've been in this field for so long why do you think there's so much fear around childbirth? Because fear is the strongest emotion that you can try that that that that that th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th that that tho tho tho th that that th that that that that that that that that that's th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th that that that that that that that that that th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th that that that that that that that that that that that so so that that to to that that to that that that that that that that that that so long. Why do you think there's so much fear around childbirth?

Because fear is the strongest emotion that you can control people with. And I think the reason that we have so much fear in the Western medical world is because the people that are practicing the doctors are taught to fear birth. They're taught birth is a medical condition, that it needs treatment, that it's chaotic, and that we have to control that chaos.

And so they're fearful, and if you talk to most birth workers, they have that sense of fear, and then they project it onward to the women of America and other countries. And so, and it's all you see I mean not that the media is always bad but sometimes there's a lot you know when you see birth and it's very dramatic and it's you know it's very and there's a lot of fear and so it's propagated that way and then you can control people when you have fear yeah yeah it's a very good tool and you know and childbirth can be such like a lovely thing and it should be a lovely thing because you know we are all

you know we're all born at some point and it's just it your entrance into the world is I think significant and and if I could say if we just take a step back for a second and we look at how other mammals do it. this can give us a tho tho thi th. th th. And th. And th. And it thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi. And it. And it. And it. And it and it and it thi thi th. And it th. And it and it and it thi thi th. And it th. And it and it and it and it and it and it and it and it and it and it and it and it and it and it and it and it th. And it th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th. And it their their their their their their their their their thi. And it's thi thi thi thi thi thi the. And it's the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. that the. thi the. And it's the. And it's the. And it I can say if we just take a step back for a second and we look at how other mammals do it, this can give us a vision into why what we're doing is not working so well. Because when a mammal goes into labor, where does she go? She goes off by herself. Who does she go with? Nobody. And when she's hungry she does this amazing thing she eats. And when she's hungry, she does this amazing thing, she eats. And if she's thirsty, she drinks.

And if she's uncomfortable, she moves. And when she, if she's interrupted in labor, through the predator approaches or the little kids run into the bedroom, the mammal will put out hormones like adrenaline, which will stop their contractions. And only when it's safe, will nature, will labor return that, that, thure, the best, the best. the best. the best. the best. the best. the best. the best. the best. the best. the best. their, their, their, their, their, their, their, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thia's thia's is is is is thixthomorrow, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's is is is is. thiii. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thiauuiauiauiauiauia. thiauia. thiauia. thia. thia's is thia. and only when it's safe will nature will labor return. And this way nature ensures that the best chance of success. So what we do in the medical model is essentially antithetical to nature's design. From the moment a woman gets in her car to drive to the hospital, and actually I would say all through the prenatal care period too, to the moment she puts her baby in the car seat to drive home. Pretty much everything that's done to the woman is opposite of what nature has designed. And it's not surprising that labor then

doesn't go as well as it should, that we have such high intervention rates, 30%, 40% C-section rates, some countries at 70% and 80% percent. We have, we're inducing women. 30, 50, 80 percent of women in certain hospitals are being induced. I mean how many cows get induced? You know, that's it. It's just we, the medical model sees birth as a problem. The midwifery model sees birth as a normal function of a woman's body. That they trust that nature has a design and every time you intervene in that design you you, you will call the, you, you, the the the the hospitals, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the thus the thus, I thus, I thus, I thus, I thus, I thus thus thus thi thi is thi is thi is thi is thi is thi is thi is thi is thus thususususususususususususususususususususus thusus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus thus they trust that nature has a design and every time you intervene in that design you you will cause some ripple effect downstream

whether immediate or later. Yeah and it's interesting because I think we forget that we are animals because and particularly in birth in my case it's like it was the most animal you feel you know you're you end up you're in these positions where you're like I don't I never pictured I that. I didn't know how th. th th th th th th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the they. I they. I you you you you you're you you. I you. I you. I their their their. I their. I the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the. I the. I the. I the. I the. I the. I the. I the. I te. I te. I te. I te. te. I te. I te. I te. I te. I te. I te. I te. the. I the. I the. animal you feel. You know, you're in these positions where you're like, I never pictured, I didn't know how my birth would go and I never pictured what actually happened, but it was like, you do, you get in these, whatever positions most comfortable,

you're making these guttural sounds you've never made before, and all of it's just happening to you. And I was lucky enough to experience in it in a way that where where, you, I was like, I, I, I, I was, and I was, and I, and I was to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, I to, I to, I to, I to, I to, I to, I to, I to, I to, I to, I to, I to, I to, I to, I to, I to, I to, I th........................... th. th. th. th. th. th. th th th th to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to th to th thi. th th th experience in a way that, you know, where I was at home and it was comfortable and I was allowed to do all those things. Yeah, if you let a mammal do or a woman do what she wants to do, it's amazing to watch how they will move, they'll do something. The baby's not sitting right in the pelvis, instead of laying on their back with an epidural, and they can't help the baby, they'll they. You'll watch them. They'll put a leg up on the side of the bed. They'll squat. They'll get on all fours. They'll do certain things. The medical model has taken all that away. And now we're stuck with 80% of women getting

induced and in some hospitals 90% of women getting epidurals. And that breaks that connection that women and their babies have. It's a beautiful symphony of hormones that's been going on from the moment of conception. And once that gets interrupted, the baby's sort of left on its own. To fend, when a woman gets an epidural, its mom is no longer being able to help it. And so you see that, like you described in your last segment, you see that change in the the the the the the the the their, and their, and their, and their, their, their, their, their, their, their, th., and thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thoomomomomomome, and threatha, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and thiaube, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, thae, thae, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, tha, thin, tha, thin, tha, threatea, tha, tha, tha, threatea, threaten, thin, tha, thin, thea, threatea, you see that, like you described in your last segment, you see that change in the fetal heart rate, and then we've got to do something,

and then they get a baby that's perfectly fine from a C-section, and they say, great, we saved your baby. And actually it was all the iatrogenic stuff that happened in they accept uncertainty. And I can tell you from experience and I've been doing this for like 40 years. The first 28 of them I was in the hospital, the last 12 or 13 I was in the home birth world. We don't see that sudden deterioration of fetal status that you see in the hospital when you don't meddle with Mother Nature. Yeah and you know I think we really undersell. How you how how how how how how how how the the the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the th. th. they they they they they they they they they they're they're their they they to to to to to their their their, th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I their, th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I their their their their th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I thee. I the. I the. I the. I'm the. I the. I'm the. I'm the. I'm the. I'm the. I. Yeah. And you know, I think we really undersell, like how you come into the world is important.

And I just, I wish more women knew that this was an option even. Because a lot of women, they would never even, you know, it's become like a, it feels like people are like, oh, this kind of alternative, like woo, you know, like, oh, you're very odd, you had a home birth. And I was like, I don't know, I just, maybe I'm lazy. No, I mean, people, people, well, often, this is an interesting thing, when we talk on the podcast, we talk about the C-saturate being too high or epidural rate being too high.

We'll get letters or direct messages or whatever that tell us that we're shaming somebody. We're not we're not shaming anybody. But but they're they're starting to project a little bit of their own guilt on the fact that maybe things didn't go the way they wanted to. All we want to do is let people know that they have these choices and these options. And that's not something you're getting in the You can't do in a five minute, six minute prenatal visit what a midwife does in an hour prenatal visit. You just can't. And I feel for my colleagues that are sort of in the hamster wheel of the medical model that they can't get out. Because the one thing that's really happened that in my lifetime that I saw there was really bad was doctors became employees of hospitals and hospital systems. And then their loyalty and their fiduciary duty duty duty duty duty duty duty toy. toy. toy. tod-a tod-a-a-a-up. toy. tioned to to to to to to to to to to to th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I to-n. I to-n. I's to-n. I's to-n. I's ttttttod-n. I's to-n. I's toda. I'm toda. And toda. And today today today today today thi. I thi. I then their loyalty and their fiduciary duty became compromised.

Because as a solo practitioner, my responsibility is the woman that I'm caring for. As a doctor working in a hospital setting, if they don't want you to do VBAQs, Vagil Birth After Cesarian, or they don't want you to let anyone go past 41 weeks, then you'll have to skew to skew to skew to skew, to skew, to skew, to skew, to skew, to to to skew, to to to to to to to to to to the woman, the woman, the woman, to to the the the the the the the the, the the. the the the, the the, the the, the the, the the, the the, the the, the the, the the, the the the the the the the the the the the the.................... the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the the the, the, the the the. the the. the the. the the. too, some, some, some, some, some, somea, somea, somea, somea, somea, somea, somea, somea, some. too, some. too, so to skew your counseling to get the woman to do what your system wants to do, not what the doctor wants to do. And you know, I don't know that there's a lot of happy obstetricians out there.

I don't think that a lot of them really like what they do. And that's why a lot of they come out and they just don't want to do it anymore. A lot of nurses leave nursing, they leave OB nursing because they just can't watch what goes on there. And my experience with a midwife is that I got a lot of prenatal care but which is very important but I also got a lot of post natal care which is also very important. Now my midwife came to my house to the today after the birth, and the birth birth birth birth birth birth and then and then the birth and then the birth and then the birth and then and then the birth and then the birth and then the birth and then and then the birth and then the birth and then the birth, and then, and then, and then, and then, the the the the the their, th, th, th, th. thiwi, th, th, th, their, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th. th. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, theyyyy, their, their, theyyyyr-I. their, my their, my experience, their, their, was very involved in the after-birth process and I think that's also something that's missing. It's almost like you have the baby and then you're pushed out of the hospital like literally in a wheelchair and then it's like, good luck. See you see you in six weeks. Yeah.

When I was a resident when I was a resident you never see a normal birth as a resident. Because you're not watching a woman in labor. You're called to the delivery room or to the labor room when the nurses need you to do something. So they never watched like the sounds that you make or the things that you're saying, the guttural sounds or the movements that a woman wants to make. You never know what the normal progress of labor is.

So nothing is nothing is moving is moving is moving is moving is moving is moving is moving the the the the the the n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n, their their their their their their their their their their you're called to the room, you're asked to do something. You put on a glove, you do a vaginal exam, you order pitoson, you rupture membranes, you do these things, and this is how young doctors are being trained to look at childbirth when they really should back off. Maybe 15% of women need medicalized hospital-based care. The other 85%, if the hospitals would leave them alone, could do it without much intervention at all. The problem is that hospitals don't make money doing nothing. They make money doing something. And so there isn't, there is, they won't do that. And they just, they will not leave a woman alone.

And they can't make a hospital more home like, adding curtains and a hardwood floor to a labor room doesn't make it more like home. They just don't know how to leave a patient alone. They just don't know how to do it. And even calling them patients, I just made an error. We call them clients in our world because they're not sick. It's like breathing or it's like digestion. These are innate functions of our body,

they're primitive brain functions. Fortunately, most of us don't have to think about breathing or digestion. Can you imagine thinking, breathe in, breathe out, or breathe out. You can't do that. But when you have pneumonia or when you have colitis, you need a doctor, but you don't need a doctor to breathe or to digest food or to get pregnant or to go through your

prenatal care or to deliver a baby. These are all natural functions that nature has designed and again I want to reiterate every time you intervene in mother nature's design there is going to be consequences. Even my co-host Bliss likes to say even if when you walk in the room when a woman is in labor and you quietly ask them can I get you anything or how you're doing you're actually bringing them out of their primitive brain into their cognitive brain and you're slowing down the labor process. Yeah it would be nice if we could just believe you know women can do it. I'm living proof that they can.

I'm living proof that they can't. And I'm living proof and I'm living proof that somebody who went through the medical model, you know, I was trained in a very academic program. I was actually very lucky because the program I worked at was affiliated with a very, very busy hospital. It's actually the busiest hospital in the country back in the early 80s. And so I learned the breach and twin, but I also learned that it was a medicalized process and only coming out and being open to the fact that I was approached by midwives to take their homebirth transports.

And I didn't do it because I thought midwifery was smart or homebirth was smart. I probably thought it was stupid like most doctors do. But I did it because I wanted to make money in those days. But I was prescient enough to listen to what the midwife had to say and to learn from the women who were in labor that they didn't have all the things that I thought they needed and they still did fine. Right, right. Right, yeah.

Yeah, it really is amazing. It really is amazing. Thank you so much to wish my daughter Madel in a very happy birthday. Happy birthday, Madeline! Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by searching the Daily Show, wherever you get your podcast. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and stream full episodes

anytime on Fairmount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast. Hey everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast, the weekly show. It's going to be coming out every Thursday. So exciting. You'll be saying to yourself, TGID. Thank God it's Thursday. We're going to be talking about all the things that hopefully obsess you in the same way that they obsess me. The election. Economics. Earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. And I know that I listed that fourth, but in importance it's probably second. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday?

I mean, talk about innovative. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast.