Turning Recurrent Pregnancy Loss Into Radical Advocacy - Rachell's Story

In this powerhouse episode, Chelsea sits down with Rachell Dumas—a registered nurse, maternal health advocate, and the founder of the nonprofit A Light After Nine. 

Rachell shares her "tumultuous" four-year journey to motherhood, which was marked by five pregnancy losses and a constant battle against a healthcare system that dismissed her pain.

Rachell recounts the devastating experience of losing a baby at 15 weeks during her own gender reveal and the subsequent diagnosis of cervical insufficiency. From flying to Texas for life-saving surgery while "a baby was falling out" of her to navigating two recent brain surgeries for a neurological medical mystery, Rachell describes her life as "Jumanji"—never knowing what the next level will bring. 

Now, she is using her "nurse jargon" to code an app called HEARD, designed to help patients bridge the communication gap with providers and save lives through better advocacy. 

• A Light After Nine (Nonprofit): alightafternine.org
• HEARD App: https://myheardapp.com/
• Instagram: @alightafternine 

🔑Key Takeaways

• The Power of Advocacy: Even as an experienced critical care nurse, Rachell found herself dismissed by providers during life-threatening pregnancy complications.
• Cervical Insufficiency: Rachell explains this condition where the cervix is too weak to carry a baby full-term, requiring surgical interventions like a cerclage.
• Intentional Presence: During her final successful pregnancy, Rachell used therapy and mindfulness to "exercise the muscle" of staying present, despite intense PTSD from previous losses.
• "Jumanji" Resilience: Rachell describes the feeling of surviving one trauma only for another—like a neurological crisis and brain surgery—to be "released," requiring constant movement and perseverance.
• HEARD: Rachell is developing an app to teach patients "healthcare jargon," ensuring meaningful interactions with providers during increasingly short appointment windows. 

HEARD is currently looking for beta users. Sign up and you will be entered into a raffle for $100.

✅ Beta App Link: theheardapp.com📝 Beta Evaluation Form: https://forms.gle/gZpfsbsEAFrdw3zB6

💬Sound Bites

• "I was all critical care saving lives... Maternal health was not even remotely on my radar at all."
• "What y'all are saying is normal, but losing three babies now is not normal."
• "I was told, it's normal, it's normal, go home... And then I lose the baby. So how was it normal?"
• "This is Jumanji, honey... the monkeys are about to be released. I don't know what's next, but I gotta keep moving."
• "We're not only suffering in silence, we're dying in silence because we're not able to advocate for ourselves."

This episode discusses topics that may be triggering for some individuals. Please check the show notes for more information and be mindful of your own mental health and comfort levels.

Visit our Patreon to help support our mission to normalize the conversation and end the stigma surrounding PMADs!

Transcript

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Chelsea Myers (00:00)
Hello! Today I'm here with Rachelle. Rachelle, how are you?

Rachell (00:05)
I am doing great. Glad to be here.

Chelsea Myers (00:08)
I am so excited to have you here. Rachelle is ⁓ another connection that this has been a long time coming. I feel like I say that a lot lately, but life has been lifing for both of us. ⁓ my gosh. ⁓ Rachelle, you do so many incredible things, but I love to let my guests speak for themselves. So it would be amazing if you could introduce yourself and

Rachell (00:19)
You

It has. Yes.

Thank you.

Chelsea Myers (00:37)
Also, let us know who you were before you became a parent.

Rachell (00:42)
Oh, yes. Goodness, I have to go way back. But my name is Rachelle Dumas. I am from New Orleans. I am also registered nurse. I'm a maternal health advocate. I was kind of catapulted into that after a tumultuous pregnancy journey that lasted four years. I am a mom of a two-year-old pot-bellied toddler who completely runs my life and barely speaks English.

Chelsea Myers (00:45)
Hahaha!

You ⁓

Rachell (01:09)
I am a doctoral student. studying for nursing informatics and I am also a woman in tech and I'm coding an app that will change the face of patient provider interactions. So I a lot of hats, a lot of hats.

Chelsea Myers (01:24)
Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. And

I wasn't even aware of the app. And I mean, I follow you religiously. So like, this is this is exciting. I'm excited about this.

Rachell (01:33)
Yeah, it's rolling out.

It's a lot going on with that. ⁓ We're in a research and development phase and I'm coding it myself. So it's a lot. It is a lot. Yeah.

Chelsea Myers (01:42)
Whoa. Yeah. Yeah. And you're

like a forever student. Like you're constantly learning, constantly trying to like up your game, which I respect. my gosh.

Rachell (01:49)
I am.

⁓ I am. Chelsea, if you see

me in law school, like when my child is out the house, just don't be surprised. I feel like nobody would be surprised at this point. Nobody would be surprised. ⁓ Before all of this, ⁓ I was still a nurse. I was working ⁓ in critical care. Never maternal health. That wasn't even remotely on my radar at all.

Chelsea Myers (01:58)
No. I wouldn't at all.

Rachell (02:23)
⁓ I was all critical care saving lives, trauma, like yes, we got him back, know, all the action is. And ⁓ I was ⁓ really working in my purpose at that time as well as a trauma and critical care nurse. And ⁓ I didn't have kids and I was a travel nurse and entrepreneurship and motherhood and maternal health was not on my radar at all. Matter of fact that we had a maternal health patient.

I would call OB so quick and say, are we doing? It's a patient and another patient inside of a patient. Like, I don't know. I don't know. Please come down here. Right. Come down here. That's how far removed I was from maternal health.

Chelsea Myers (03:00)
to do with this person? my god.

We're gonna get into it, but I feel like a lot of us in this space, and I'm not a healthcare worker, but I am a maternal health and maternal mental health advocate. I feel like a lot of us, this was not in our realm at all until we were kind of thrust into it.

Rachell (03:19)
Yeah, it wasn't. It was a calling.

Yes, it was definitely a calling for us. Where I am now, if you would have told me this early 2018 before my pregnancy journey or before then, I would have cackled. I wouldn't even laugh. A cackle is different than a laugh. I would have cackled.

Chelsea Myers (03:40)
You

Yeah, yeah. But and it's and it's so funny to me because I can't see you doing anything else like with that, right? Right?

Rachell (03:51)
Right. Me either. Me

either. I'm like now, like since I've been telling my story, I've been on Essence Magazine, Women's Health, The Bump, like all these publications, so many podcasts. I've been on over 50 podcasts at this point. And I've spoken at over 40 speaking engagements and I started this whole nonprofit and it's just been crazy. Like it's, I can't see myself doing anything else either.

Chelsea Myers (04:00)
Yeah!

Rachell (04:21)
This is like my life now.

Chelsea Myers (04:21)
No,

it's crazy. But it's also like, it's awe inspiring. I know. Sometimes that hits a little funny. ⁓ Like when because you're like, well, what I went through isn't really inspirational. It kind of sucked. But like, right. But like, what you're doing and what I see you doing, see the passion behind it. ⁓ it is inspiring for me. It's like it. This is just me fan.

Rachell (04:30)
Mm-hmm.

Right. Horribly.

Chelsea Myers (04:51)
fangirling a little bit, but like, I see what you're able to accomplish. And I see all of these incredible things that you're doing. And I'm like, my god, like, we can do this, we can make a difference. Richelle is making a difference. We can make a difference. So anyway, we're gonna we're gonna get into your story rather than me just like pouring praise on you. Because I could do that the whole time if you want. ⁓ ooh, there you go. There you go. I'm an Aquarius. And I also

Rachell (04:52)
hahahahah

I'm a Leo so I love the words of affirmation. ⁓

Chelsea Myers (05:21)
I am and I just learned that I'm an I don't know how you say it. I'm an engram to which means yeah, I just learned it. It means that I'm I'm like a servant or a caregiver. like see like I'll feed your I'll feed your ego all day if you want me to. ⁓ But let's let's do that. Let's go back in time like you said like before ⁓ before you got into this whole journey.

Rachell (05:26)
I have no

Okay.

Ha ha!

Chelsea Myers (05:50)
Did you always envision yourself as a mother?

Rachell (05:54)
I didn't envision myself as a mother until I got with my husband. I saw myself as a rich auntie. That's what I saw. Yeah, traveling all the time, travelers traveling. Every time I came home and visited my nieces and nephews and my friends' kids, gifts. They love me. We FaceTime on the phone all the time. Where are you now?

Chelsea Myers (06:05)
Mmm. The fun aunts.

Yeah!

Rachell (06:25)
Maldives, you know. That's what I thought. Right, that's what I thought.

Chelsea Myers (06:26)
my god, I'm living my life. my god,

I love that. What changed? Just meeting your husband?

Rachell (06:36)
Literally, I was just like, maybe I can do it. Because just to give you some context, I had a very traumatic childhood, like ⁓ an extremely traumatic childhood. And I just grew up like I didn't want to be, I didn't want my child to experience what I did. And then it just took a lot of therapy.

which I've been in since I was a child to like really come to terms with that I'm responsible for that outcome. Not all of it, you you could be a great parent and your child end up however they end up, but they don't have to go through what I would do. Like I could be a great parent, you know. So it wasn't until I started really paying attention to other people's

Chelsea Myers (07:19)
Mm-hmm.

Rachell (07:26)
family dynamics and things like that where I was like, ⁓ it is possible. Like people have good relationships with their parents. Like, you know, so I was like, I could come and this. You know, I actually do want a child. Like I want to leave that legacy and pour into somebody ⁓ and they grow up to be whoever they grow up to be, but this great person at the end of the day. So that's when it kind of switched when I met him.

Chelsea Myers (07:52)
Yeah. Yeah. I kind of, love that too that I mean, and again, I'm lumping you into, I'm assuming a lot of the parents that I talked to were in that millennial, like age bracket-ish. And we seem to be the generation of cycle breakers. So it's not uncommon for me to hear like, I did not have the greatest childhood and I didn't think I wanted to do that, but I learned.

Rachell (07:57)
Ahem.

Mm-hmm.

Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Chelsea Myers (08:20)
I don't have to do that. I can have, right? Yeah. So, I mean, I know, I know the journey, but my listeners don't. So, you met your partner, obviously. I mean, they have to be a fantastic person because you married them. So, like, I mean, and you, and you are just like joy and, and amazingness. So, I'm already assuming that they're amazing. ⁓

Rachell (08:22)
Right.

Yeah.

you

Chelsea Myers (08:51)
You decided you wanted to have a family. You start that journey. Walk me through that a little bit. It's a big question I know for you.

Rachell (08:58)
It is.

So that was 2018. I got a positive pregnancy test and I was bleeding. So I went to an OB and did a vaginal ultrasound. He told me I was having a miscarriage. So my first pregnancy that I was aware of and the first pregnancy that I wasn't actually planning for ended in a miscarriage.

Chelsea Myers (09:26)
No!

Rachell (09:28)
I'm like, okay. And he was so nonchalant about saying, you know, you're going to have a healthy baby. This is just part of the journey. Don't worry about it. So me being a critical care nurse and not anything in maternal health, I'm like, is this like what women are out here experiencing? Like, is everybody having a miscarriage? And it's just like, okay, cool. You know, I'll have another one. So I'm like, ⁓ okay. Well, I guess when like we start to try, it'll be fine.

Chelsea Myers (09:50)
Yeah.

Rachell (09:57)
I guess, right? So, right. I was like, the doctor's fine with it, you know, so I guess, I guess I'm fine with it. So I went on, continued doing travel nursing. I actually in 2020 went to New York to help out with COVID and yeah, I caught COVID and I was like fighting for my life between my hotel room and the ER where I was working. I wasn't working in the ER, but

Chelsea Myers (09:57)
Yeah, yeah, right, yeah, you didn't have any context to go with.

Yeah.

Wow.

Ugh.

Rachell (10:26)
in the hospital that I worked at. And once I got better, which took weeks, I came back home to Atlanta and not too long after that, I felt pregnant. I was at work, did a pregnancy test, my boobs were hurting and things didn't feel like they usually felt. So I went to the ER this time because I was bleeding. I'm like, okay, here, it might have another miscarriage.

Chelsea Myers (10:51)
Mm-hmm.

Rachell (10:55)
and they did a vaginal ultrasound. They cleared me and they were like, yeah, you're fine. You may have what's called a subchorionic hemorrhage, which is a sac of blood that's ⁓ often formed during the implantation period when the babies are digging into your uterus to implant. Sometimes they'll use that sac of blood. Oftentimes it's reabsorbed by the body.

Chelsea Myers (11:07)
Mmm.

Rachell (11:23)
you do go on to have a healthy pregnancy, it's fine. There's a small amount of times where it's not fine. So he said babies are fine. It was twins. I know. I was like, what did this other child come from? Like, what do you mean twins? First of all, follow up with your OB. And by the time I got to the OB, the bleeding got worse. I had 10 out of 10 pain like

clamping so so bad and I started feeling nauseous and vomiting. I was really sick Chelsea, like I was sick. I'm like, it's hard for me to drive to this appointment. Like I'm hunched over in the ER, I mean in the waiting room at the OB. She did the ultrasound, baby circle. She said, yes, there's ⁓ sub-chorionic hemorrhage but

Chelsea Myers (12:02)
Yeah.

Rachell (12:20)
⁓ everything looks fine. She did like the just a standard blood test to check my ⁓ hemoglobin to make sure my I'm not bleeding out too much and she put me on iron just to help ⁓ bring that back up but I can't be in sin home and I'm calling after hours because my pain is getting worse like I can't sleep I can't lay down I can't stand up I can't walk

The bleeding is bad. I'm like, this doesn't just seem like a regular, like a normal thing. Like they're telling me that it's, so I'm going to the ER, I'm getting sent home, you know, and at 13 weeks and three days, I lost the first baby.

Chelsea Myers (12:55)
Yeah.

Mm.

Rachell (13:05)
and all my symptoms went away. So I'm like, okay, I feel better. I still am pregnant. I'm gonna be okay.

Chelsea Myers (13:15)
Mm.

Rachell (13:15)
So at a little over 13 weeks, I went back to the OP. They confirmed that the baby was gone, like the first baby was gone, and that everything looks fine. So I was comfortable enough to allow my friends to do a gender reveal, which is 2020. It was virtual, but they came to my house to set up. I go to the bathroom, like at the start of the gender reveal.

and the baby just falls out.

Chelsea Myers (13:42)
UGH

Rachell (13:43)
and just falls out and I'm like devastated. I'm like, what could I have done differently? Like what could I have said to make this not happen? And I felt like so guilty for some reason, despite of this happening to me. It's such a weird feeling.

Chelsea Myers (13:48)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Well, and how were you still 13 weeks? Are you over 13 weeks at that point?

Rachell (14:10)
No,

at this point, we were two weeks later. So we're 15 weeks in two days, like literally two weeks later.

Chelsea Myers (14:13)
15 weeks. my gosh.

And so something that is striking me when you're talking about this too is that it feels like you were just dismissed over and over and over again.

Rachell (14:25)
⁓

100%. 100%. I was sent away so many times. Well, the ultrasound looks fine. There was no full evaluation or deeper digging to see if there were any genetic components to the loss, ⁓ any thyroid issues at play, any autoimmune diseases. All those things could contribute to losses.

I was never sent to a specialist to monitor me. know, later on I found out about reproductive endocrinologists and maternal fetal medicine doctors, you know, all these specialists. And I just felt robbed of that opportunity. So yeah, it was just weird.

Chelsea Myers (14:58)
Mm-hmm.

What I mean weird is putting it lightly like yeah, you were experiencing even with even with no context like yes, you're a nurse, but like you said, like if it had to do with OB, you were like someone else take this. You knew you knew your body, you knew something was wrong. And that's not even tapping into the mental.

aspect of all of this. You've lost a pregnancy that wasn't planned. That one you kind of were like, okay, all right, well, everything's gonna be fine. This one was planned, not twins necessarily, but and then you lose one and are kind of told like, yep, the other one's fine. It's like, okay, but what about this first one's not. And then you lose your second one. at that point in time,

Rachell (15:43)
All right. ⁓

Right.

Chelsea Myers (16:08)
Did you feel like you were able to grieve or was that even a point? Like were you even at that point?

Rachell (16:15)
So it was, grieving was like not my main priority. My main priority began to be figuring out what was wrong with me. I went into a nurse mode, fix it mode, like what is going on? Y'all are saying all these things are normal, but losing three babies now is not normal. And also there was like this era of distrust between me and my providers because I...

Chelsea Myers (16:20)
Yeah.

Mmm.

Rachell (16:44)
I'm told, it's normal, it's normal, go home, go home, rest, it's normal. And then I lose the baby. So how was it normal? It was just a lot. So now I'm like, okay, should I switch providers? I do further investigation somehow? Is there like a third opinion I should get? Because this is a different OBGYN than the one in 2018.

Chelsea Myers (16:54)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Rachell (17:14)
So I went to the ER after the loss just to make sure like all the placenta could be removed and I don't get an infection and then substance and die. So ⁓ I go to the ER, it's 2020, granted I don't wanna be there, especially under the circumstances. The doctor is like, what brings you in? Well, I just lost my second baby. ⁓ I'm 15 weeks and three days. I went to the bathroom and...

Chelsea Myers (17:22)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Rachell (17:43)
⁓ I... The baby just fell out. And she said, how did you know you were pregnant?

Chelsea Myers (17:50)
What?

Rachell (17:52)
Literally her response.

Chelsea Myers (17:53)
Are you kidding me? You were... I'm like flabbergasted right now. Like what?

Rachell (18:01)
I said, well, do you want to see a picture of the baby in the toilet? She's like, yeah. So I show her and she's like, that's a baby.

Chelsea Myers (18:08)
Y-yeah.

Rachell (18:10)
Yeah, so I'm already at a point where like, I'm thinking, man, I can trust these doctors. And then I go to the ER and it's just like, you're questioning, like I want to be in the ER in 2020. Like anybody wants to be in the ER in 2020. Like nobody wants to be here, ma'am. Like this is not something I will make up, you know.

Chelsea Myers (18:23)
Yeah!

my god.

Well, and I mean, she obviously doesn't know maybe at the time that you're a nurse, but you're a human and you were over 15 weeks pregnant. How do you know you were pregnant? Because I was pregnant.

Rachell (18:47)
Because I was pregnant. Like, I don't know how

to answer your question. That's why I was like, do you need proof? Like, because I just told you I was pregnant. So, and this is the same year I've been to numerous times throughout this pregnancy because I was sick the whole time ⁓ before the loss of the first baby. And I'm like, ⁓ wow. Like, is this gonna be my journey? Like, is this, is this what patients are going through? Like, I've been on the other side so long.

Chelsea Myers (18:52)
Yeah!

Yeah.

Rachell (19:16)
that I didn't realize just how bad it was for other patients. I would never treat a patient like that. would never, it has never, I don't care how bad I'm doing going into work. I've had miscarriages taking care of patients at work. And it's just like, like, where are you right now? Is it the COVID compassion fatigue? Like what?

Chelsea Myers (19:24)
No.

Mm.

I don't, I still don't think that's an excuse to, especially for a question like that. Like I can understand COVID fatigue and like maybe being a little cranky or burnt out, but asking a woman who has just lost their 15 plus week baby in the way that you did, are you sure you were pregnant? That blows my mind. That absolutely blows my mind.

Rachell (19:56)
Yeah.

That was my reality. Yeah. Yeah.

Chelsea Myers (20:17)
Yeah,

I mean, how do you how do you move forward from there? How do you even?

Rachell (20:23)
I don't,

like, you just, at the same time, like, I'm like bleeding my guts out. So it's just like literally like, all right, moving forward, can we like get me to the back? Like, I, this diaper is not lasting, you know, that I'm in. I need to, like, press into it's coming out. I don't know, like, what else you need to do? Do an ultrasound.

Chelsea Myers (20:30)
my god!

Yeah.

Yeah, like you're giving her order. You're like, I'm not supposed to be the nurse in this situation. I'm the patient.

Rachell (20:51)
Right.

But I always find myself being a nurse all the time. Even recently, I was telling you with my brain surgeries that I had like the amount of advocacy and nurse jargon and neuro ICU experience that I had to throw around and use in order to get two surgeries that I needed that the team already declared that I needed, which is

Chelsea Myers (20:59)
Mmm.

Mm.

Rachell (21:17)
insane and I was going blind at this time. Couldn't walk. You know, like when do I get a chance to just be a patient?

Chelsea Myers (21:25)
Yeah! What?

Rachell (21:27)
I got sick

like I can't even see it. I can't even see you. Like it's crazy.

Chelsea Myers (21:30)
No, that's the state

of our healthcare system right now in this country. And that's a whole other podcast, which I also host. ⁓ yeah, we could talk about, listen, we'll have to chat after this because man, I'd love your take on that. yeah, like the amount of advocacy work that you had to do and

Rachell (21:36)
Mm-hmm.

But we can definitely talk about my other neural issue after that.

Chelsea Myers (21:56)
Thankfully, you do have that background and you do have that knowledge, but that is the reality for not only birthing people, ⁓ especially for birthing people of color who are being dismissed over and over and over again, but just in general, even in like, so this is not my time or my story, but in the disabled community, like advocating for continuity of care and for doctors to communicate with each other and

Rachell (22:22)
Yes.

Chelsea Myers (22:26)
Like you have to become an expert in healthcare jargon and stuff because it's not happening. ⁓ so yeah, I'm here. I'm all fired up for you. And I even like, know, I know most of your story, but I don't know the details and I'm still getting fired up right now. Like, how, how do you make the decision after an experience like that to continue trying?

Rachell (22:32)
You know.

Yeah, so after that I was actually diagnosed with cervical insufficiency. So now we have a diagnosis, right? So the cervix is too weak to care a baby full term. So when they get heavy enough to run it, in the first trimester, beginning of the second, cervix quietly opens and the baby comes out. Okay, so what do we do about that? Well, you need a sirclage. You need a suture, a stitch around your cervix to keep the baby in.

Chelsea Myers (23:04)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Rachell (23:26)
And that happens at 13 weeks. So I'm told by the OB after only being told about one type of sacro-cloche. So I'm like, okay, the issue is moving forward, I had early miscarriages, six weeks, seven weeks, five weeks and things like this. I'm like, okay. And I'm telling her I'm having these early miscarriages and she's aware and I'm never referred to a specialist.

Like I said, I'm not a maternal health nurse, so I don't know about a reproductive endocrinologist at the time and maternal fetal medicine and the reproductive geneticists. It wasn't until a friend of mine brought me into her sister's clinic and she's like, hey, you need to take progesterone suppositories to try to strengthen your cervix to make it to 13 weeks if that's what your doctor is telling you to do. I'm gonna prescribe it for you. She didn't even prescribe that. Like, okay, thank you.

Chelsea Myers (24:23)
Yeah.

Rachell (24:23)
And

then a manager of mine was like, you need to see a reproductive endocrinologist and geneticist. You need to see somebody. They need to do some testing on your uterus, genetic testing for you and your husband. You know, we need to get to the bottom of all these losses as well because you're having early losses. The cervical insufficiency justifies the later ones, but not the earlier ones. So, ask your OB for a referral.

went to the OB-Ex for a referral for both of those doctors and she happily wrote one. I'm like, well, why do you recommend this? Like five losses, like three losses ago, two losses ago, you know? So I went to the reproductive geneticists and so did my husband. There was no genetic component to it. I went to the reproductive endocrinologist and she did a a thorough, thorough ⁓ evaluation.

Chelsea Myers (25:01)
Yeah. Yeah. ⁓

Rachell (25:20)
She checks the thyroid issues, autoimmune diseases that could cause loss, pregnancy loss. And then she scheduled me for a procedure to check the anatomy of my uterus to see if there was an issue with the shape that was causing loss and also to see if there was an underlying inflammation that could have been causing the loss. On the day of the procedure, I found out I was pregnant. So things change. No, Chelsea, I'm very fertile. I promise you.

Chelsea Myers (25:43)
Whoa. Yeah. Yeah, you are! ⁓

Rachell (25:47)
My husband even touched me at this time. I don't know how I was pregnant. I don't know. It just happened. I don't know. He looked at me too long at this point. It don't take much at this time. It don't take much. yep. So I can't get the procedure. ⁓ So she said instead we're going to change plans. You're going to do the progesterone suppository.

Chelsea Myers (25:57)
so Shia.

No, clearly.

Okay, so you're pregnant, so you can't get the procedure?

Rachell (26:16)
I was like, yeah, my friend's sister, just prescribed me that. She was like, yes, take it immediately. Which she would take it from the time you did a positive pregnancy test anytime you were pregnant. And then I'm going to follow you for the first trimester. You'll graduate to a maternal fetal medicine doctor at 13 weeks, they'll put in a sacroiliac and then ⁓ they'll follow you the rest of the way. In addition to your OB following you throughout the pregnancy. I'm like, okay, we have a plan. I really like her. She's like, yeah, we're going to fight for this.

This is the plan. It was very reassuring. I love the reproductive endocrinologist and other people typically like them too that I've talked to. Like that's where you like really get a plan of action. When you're like going through the trenches of infertility, your reproductive endocrinologist is the person who's like, this is what we're gonna do. This is what we can do. This is what wouldn't work for you all. It's a very reassuring appointment and I needed that after the...

Chelsea Myers (27:09)
Mm-hmm.

Rachell (27:15)
experiences with my providers. yeah. So, I took the progesterone suppositories, made it to 13 weeks, made it to the operating room. She put in the sacro-cloche and that's 13 weeks, right? She said, come back at 20 weeks. And I'm like, absolutely not. I need to be seen earlier. I had five losses. Like that's seven weeks of not seeing you. Anything can happen during that time.

Chelsea Myers (27:17)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Rachell (27:45)
I just don't feel comfortable. Can I be seen sooner?" And she's like, no, I've never seen one fail. If it was to fail, you'll have excruciating pain, it'll be bleeding like fireworks, like you would know. I'm like, okay, well, at least I'll see the OB during this time, you know. So I'm like, okay. So I left seven weeks later, I came back, I felt great, no symptoms. I'm like, okay, write a passage, ⁓ 3D ultrasound.

Chelsea Myers (28:15)
Yeah.

Rachell (28:15)
this

appointment, you know. So mid ultrasound, the tech leaves and the surgeon comes in and she's like, here's your clash bill.

Chelsea Myers (28:23)
my god.

Rachell (28:25)
And I'm like, what do you mean it failed? Like I feel great. You told me it would be like fireworks. What are you talking about? It failed. Like I don't have bleeding. Like the baby is kicking and moving around. Like I don't have pain. Like what are you talking about? And she was like, yeah, it failed. I was like, well, what are we going to do? So can you like revise it? Can we put in another sacroiliac? Can we put me on bed rest? And she was like, well, you can go and deliver your baby. Very nonchalantly.

Chelsea Myers (28:39)
Yeah.

What?

Rachell (28:55)
so nonchalantly that I questioned if the baby would survive. I'm like, like when the baby died, like at 20 weeks? And she's like, yes.

Chelsea Myers (29:04)
What? ⁓ my god, just literally like nonchalantly. Yeah.

Rachell (29:08)
Yeah, like, I was like, why? Like, the baby is like, fine. He's like, great. Like, why would I do that? Like, I feel like I would be committing a homicide at this point. I'm just going to deliver the baby. We know the baby is fine. And like, we didn't try anything. Like, you just casually like, she's like, yeah, I could call the maternity triage to let them know you're on the way. Like, what?

Chelsea Myers (29:15)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Like she made the decision for you. She's like, yeah, this is happening.

Rachell (29:36)
Yeah,

like I couldn't even digest the information. Like I just came in for an appointment and felt fine. You told me I would feel horrible if it failed. Don't feel horrible. You're telling me it failed. And now minutes later you're like, yeah, I could call ahead so you could go and deliver your healthy baby. Who's going to die?

Chelsea Myers (29:55)
⁓ my god.

Rachell (29:58)
I'm like, ⁓ yeah, I'm not going to do that. Please get out of my way. And I left. Like, I left the office and I'm doing research. I'm calling the village. I'm calling everybody I know. This is the scenario. We need a doctor. I found a peer-to-peer review article from this study that showed pregnant persons around 20 weeks or greater with transvaginal

Chelsea Myers (30:02)
Yeah! Yeah!

Rachell (30:28)
Psychologists received trans-abdominal wounds and they did great. I'm like, okay, this is promising. Not getting my hopes too high, but now we have to find a doctor who'll do it. We found three doctors, one in Atlanta, but he wasn't doing it at the time. We found another doctor in Fort Lauderdale. She wasn't answering the phone. Then we found Dr. Fogwell at Texas Health. And he calls me on his cell phone and was like, if you want to fight, I'm going to fight with you.

Chelsea Myers (30:32)
Mm-hmm.

Rachell (30:58)
This is risky. Do you understand the risks? I'm like, yes. He was like, I need you to fly here. I'm like, well, doc, there's like, there's like a baby falling out of my vagina. He was like, here, if you drive, like so much can happen during that time. I don't trust the drive. I need you to fly here. It's like less than two hours. I'm like, okay. All right. Should I let American Airlines know we might deliver a baby on a plane? Like, should I just go incognito?

Chelsea Myers (31:07)
Yeah, yeah.

Yeah!

Rachell (31:27)
make a big deal. So I was like, no, I'm gonna tell the story. Listen, there's a baby falling on my vagina. I need to get to Dallas, Texas. Don't let nobody get off the plane before me. I need to get off the plane first. I didn't say it where it's not threatening, like you think I'm about to do something with the plane. No, there's something in me. Like we gotta keep it in me. So I made it there. They rolled out the red carpet. I mean, phenomenal experience. ⁓

Chelsea Myers (31:36)
Yes!

Yeah.

Rachell (31:53)
He was texting me at different times of the night. He was at my bedside at 3 a.m. I mean, I'm pretty sure Dr. Farwell is a vampire because he doesn't sleep.

There's like no other, he's just always there. There's like no other like justification for this man to always be there the way he is. Like he has to be a vampire. You can't convince me otherwise. But um, so I used to joke with him like, Dr. Fogel, was like, go to sleep. He was like, not until you're fine. I was like, well, we know I won't be fine for a while. Like I won't really be fine until I see a baby. And like.

Chelsea Myers (32:04)
He was just always there.

Rachell (32:32)
and the baby is healthy, but he was like, no, we got to get you the surgery. That three hour surgery took eight hours. And I woke up, it was successful. Everybody was cheering. He's still pregnant, we did it. That was what Dr. Foggwell did. He flew in women, did high risk surgeries. This was his thing. And he saved so many lives and he's done so much.

for women, for families, for babies, for everybody. ⁓ But the issue was when the anesthesia wore off, the contraction set in because it took too long and then it irritated my cervix and I was in labor for 30 hours.

I was in labor for 30 hours and then my water broke and that was it. We had to go back to the operating room and get both of the circlogists out because he left the other one in. And I delivered our baby boy on the 18th of July, 2021. And Dr. Fogwell was like, if that was to happen.

I'm going to bring you back no charge and we're going to put in a trans abdominal sacroiliac, which you should have had anyway. And you're going to be a mom. And I believe them. In spite of all the craziness, I believe that. So this was the last ditch effort, right? Trans abdominal sacroiliac, which is like, that's the greatest success rate outside of pregnancy. You know, it's not emerging. And

Chelsea Myers (33:56)
Yeah.

Rachell (34:08)
I just felt like, you I just had to try. So I had some early miscarriages in between that time, but still went to Texas in November, got the trans-abdominal sacroiliac. March of 2022, got a positive pregnancy test, followed by the reproductive endocrinologist again, ⁓ did the progesterone, mostly throughout the pregnancy this time, graduated to a different maternal fetal medicine doctor. I was seen by the OB.

And then on December 30th, 2022, I gave birth to a four pound 16 ounce baby boy who spent about three days in a NICU who is like I said, my now pot-bellied two year old toddler.

Chelsea Myers (34:49)
Yeah, yeah. ⁓ my gosh. What a freaking ride. What a ride to get to that little boy and honoring every single one of those babies that made you a mom before him. my goodness. And just so I'm understanding, like you still you worked with this doctor in Texas throughout

Rachell (35:08)
Mm-hmm. All right. All right.

Chelsea Myers (35:18)
the pregnancy with your son too or...

Rachell (35:20)
So no, he really, like I'll text him updates and stuff like that, but really after he put in that trans abdominal sacroiliac outside of pregnancy, that's where he ended. I don't live in Texas, I live in Atlanta. So it's like, I would do some calls, like some checkups, like virtually with him and his nurse practitioner, but because I had some issues too during that time, like I developed a sperm allergy.

Chelsea Myers (35:32)
Right.

Yeah.

sperm allergy. Yeah, just add that to the mix. Let's just throw that in there.

Rachell (35:50)
⁓ yes, did feel a first-prime reaction. And they helped me through that.

at it

all, at it all. yeah. But they were really like, oh my God, give us updates, know. They were really involved with my baby in the process, just emotionally and just keeping up with us throughout that pregnancy.

Chelsea Myers (36:02)
my god. Yeah.

Yeah.

So these questions, I always hate asking these questions because it's so huge, but the questions are so small. But like, were you even able to enjoy any of your preg- especially like, I mean, the final pregnancy that brought you your living son, were you able to enjoy any of that or were you constantly on edge?

Rachell (36:50)
think there were moments of like, I don't know if I would say enjoyment, but there were moments where I allowed myself to like be, like just be in the moment. I was still going to through therapy this whole time. Like I started therapy again after the loss in Texas, like a few weeks after that. And

I really had to be mindful and intentional about like saying, okay, staying in the present. I'm pregnant right now. We can't control what happens in an hour or even 30 minutes or five minutes from now, but I'm pregnant right now. He's kicking. I'm going to enjoy this kick. going to really like I had all of that had to be intentional. And I feel like enjoyment is more effortless. And I had to put forth an effort to do all that. And even though I had like a baby shower,

Chelsea Myers (37:39)
Yeah. Yeah.

Rachell (37:45)
I was a nervous wreck the whole time because I had that horrible loss in my gender reveal. I planned so many baby showers and canceled them all. I was just like, man, I went into it telling my friends and everybody like, don't ask me what's wrong with me during this day. We just need to get through this day. I'm fine. Do not question how I'm doing all day. That's going to irritate me. I just want to get through this day.

Chelsea Myers (37:55)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm. ⁓

Rachell (38:14)
So once we made it through the baby shower, I had the best time in the parking lot chatting with my friends. Like literally, like we were chatting, joking, all this. That was, that was, it was like, my God. Right. It was an after party. I was just like, my God, it's over. We did it. We made it through. I sent out invitations. It happened and nothing happened with the baby. Like we made it through. So they were.

Chelsea Myers (38:24)
It was the after party.

Yeah.

Rachell (38:43)
periods of enjoyment, but it was still an undertone of denial that I would have a baby throughout the whole time. It was fear that something would still happen, that the clutch would break. It was like so much anxiety, PTSD. It was so much. It was so much. I can't really throw in enjoyment in the midst of that. Yeah.

Chelsea Myers (39:07)
Yeah, that's

what I mean. so asking that question is such a loaded question because it's like, what is enjoyment? And I love that you mentioned that you were being intentional and being present. That's a skill. That's a skill. Yes, yes. And it's, it's also a muscle you have to exercise beyond I'm sure you're still doing it to this day, because it leaves lasting effects.

Rachell (39:13)
Yeah.

Yeah.

It is. It's a muscle you have to exercise.

Yeah.

It does, it does. And now I'm better. But like when I had him, even rolling back, like the anesthesiologist, because I have a C-section, the anesthesiologist and I were joking about working at a hospital and COVID and all these things. And I was like, listen.

Chelsea Myers (39:46)
Mm-hmm.

Rachell (39:56)
You can, it's okay if like it's an alien that comes out and not a baby. Like I'm already preparing for it to not be a baby. Like I wasn't there now even until he cried and they showed me the baby. I was just like, my God, it's a child. Like when did this happen? You know, everybody was crying in OR because I had told everybody my story. Just like I'm telling you now. Like that's, that was the soundtrack to the delivery. It me telling this story.

Chelsea Myers (40:14)
Yeah.

Was everybody just,

yeah, and everybody bawling.

Rachell (40:26)
They were bawling.

Everybody's like bawling. And then he went to the NICU and I'm like, did I really have a baby? He's not even here. I don't even see a child. Like I don't even hear a baby or nothing like. So it interrupted the bonding for sure. And I treated him like a patient and I was his nurse for like that first month until like I got to the point to give myself permission to be like, okay, you.

Chelsea Myers (40:33)
Mmm.

Yeah.

Rachell (40:56)
or his mom, he is not going anywhere. And then after that, was just like, that's me and my baby. Anywhere he go, I wear him. Like I wore him everywhere. Like I didn't even know how to use the stroller at this point. Like it was just me and him, you know? And it's just been us since then.

Chelsea Myers (40:59)
Mm-hmm.

You

Yeah, and that speaks to as well, like, there are so many families that go through like NICU journeys, or that go through multiple losses and things like that. And they, like you said, like that bonding doesn't come instantly. And it's so important to hear. It doesn't have to come instantly. And if it doesn't, there's nothing wrong with you. You're a human that just went through something really, really crazy. And

Rachell (41:32)
Mm-hmm.

Chelsea Myers (41:45)
It'll come and it'll come in whatever form it comes in for you. You developed it from, okay, I'm his nurse to one day, okay, no, I'm his mom. I'm his mom. Yeah, there's so many different avenues that we could explore and dive into. We'd be here all day and I wouldn't...

Rachell (42:09)
Right?

Chelsea Myers (42:12)
I wouldn't mind it, but ⁓

we'd have to do a whole season of Just Rachel, right? Like, which you know what, I'm open to, but like, my gosh. ⁓ But let's pivot a little bit and not to at all take away from your experience because, but your, what you experienced launched you into where

Rachell (42:16)
You're right.

Right! So much, like, I have so much material,

Chelsea Myers (42:41)
you are now and where you were going to a late after nine and which is, my God, what you're doing for maternal mental health and maternal health care and for BIPOC maternal health care is phenomenal. I love watching you speak. I love seeing the passion behind what you're doing.

Talk to me about when you started to feel that calling.

Rachell (43:12)
Yeah, so I took a year and a half off, a year and eight months off of just not working and not ⁓ worrying and really checking in with my mental health and bonding with my baby and doing all these things and resting and not being pregnant. ⁓ That was the big thing. Just like to...

Chelsea Myers (43:37)
Yeah!

Rachell (43:41)
really horn in on it, that grief and coping and all the things that happened during this time. It was just so much, so much that had happened. My neurological issue started six months postpartum too. So I had to really like sit down and like figure out what was wrong with me neurologically. right, let's do another trauma.

Chelsea Myers (43:55)
Mm.

Yeah, right. Let's again, let's throw something else in the mix.

Rachell (44:06)
⁓ so

Chelsea Myers (44:06)
Yeah.

Rachell (44:08)
and another medical mystery. So Chelsea, the thing about me, when I, so I'm rarely sick, but when I'm sick, like I'm dying. It's like the worst. It's like the worst.

Chelsea Myers (44:15)
Yeah!

this'll res- I call myself the Murphy's Law of like patience. It's like if it's gonna happen and it's rare it's gonna happen to me it sounds like you're the same way. Yeah.

Rachell (44:27)
Yep, it is. It's like, it's going

to be like, man, you're hard to figure out, man. This is not traditional, man. Like it is just always that I really have to work with my provider team. I really have to strategically choose them and make sure they listen to me and believe me. I really have to choose a team who is like not threatened by what I know, but it's like, okay, like she knows what she's talking about and we trust her.

Whatever she asks to be ordered, we are ordered. you know, like with the neurological issues, I was like, no, can we do a CT venegram? no, I need a lumbar puncture. We need to check what the ICP is. Can we like, really, can you put an order in for that? Okay, cool.

Chelsea Myers (44:57)
Yeah!

You were

like ⁓ an episode of the pit from the hospital bed, right? Like you were like, this is what I need, Yeah.

Rachell (45:16)
Yeah.

All right, I need this stat

please. Like, can we do this like this week or tomorrow? No, this needs to be done today. Like my vision is pretty bad. We need to see where I'm at and then we can start maybe IV or C to solomide, post to the PO one so we could get that quicker. All right. All right. Yes. So imagine like the people who like are dying because they can't do this.

Chelsea Myers (45:37)
It's like you're speaking Greek. have no idea.

Yeah.

Rachell (45:49)
You know, so, but I did take a hiatus and then on my birthday last year, I was like, I really would hate for anyone to go through what I went through remotely. Remotely. And I was like, I'm going to start a nonprofit. I'm going to help people. can speak the language. I know advocacy. ⁓ I'm going to give other, not just the women who are

Chelsea Myers (46:02)
Mm-hmm.

Rachell (46:17)
caring about people, their village, the tools that they need to navigate difficult privacy journey. ⁓ I'm going to turn my story into an interactive case study. So when I speak, just like I spoke yesterday ⁓ at a conference, I presented as a case study. And yeah, I love it. And the audience loves it. I always get like rave reviews and innovations. They use a QR code.

Chelsea Myers (46:36)
love that you do that.

Rachell (46:44)
We go through each scenario, which is each pregnancy. They choose what should have been the best care option. Of course, that wasn't what happened. It was the worst. And at the end, I reveal it's me. So in real time, you're seeing what happens. What the plight of not just black women, but definitely black women and other women, just pregnant women in the United States right now. It's hard and it's scary to be pregnant.

Chelsea Myers (46:51)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Absolutely. ⁓ Especially right now. I, again, we won't even go down this path. But like, I can't imagine with the amount of times you were disregarded, and the amount of interventions that you ended up needing, having to navigate that in today's ⁓ America. I, it scares me to even think about. And it's not like it was that much better.

Rachell (47:37)
Mm-hmm.

Chelsea Myers (47:40)
then. regardless, ⁓ you're doing these incredible things. You are creating villages. I want to know about your village. When you were going through all this, who had your back? It sounds like you had awesome medical team friends that you could fall back on.

Rachell (47:55)
Ciao.

Yeah, I did have like really like co-workers. I had friends. My family all lived in New Orleans. I didn't really have like familial support in that way. So it was really me doing all the advocacy and infertility isn't something like you want to shout from the mountaintops either. So a lot of times I just went through it alone.

Chelsea Myers (48:21)
Mm-hmm.

Rachell (48:24)
I don't want to say embarrassing, but just I do not want to traumatize people because I didn't prepare for the trauma, the secondhand trauma that people who were along this journey with me experienced. I didn't realize that until this year when we talked about it, how traumatized they were. Like I have friends who just haven't tried for babies and they're like, you know, the one when the ⁓

Chelsea Myers (48:50)
Yeah.

Rachell (48:53)
Pregnancy when the baby's been on the toilet was too much. Like I'm still trying to process that. And here I am. Well, that happened. We got to go on to the next one. We got to keep moving. You know, we got to keep moving. We can't harp on now and they're still stuck on the October 31st, 2020 loss. You know, it's 2025. Like, right. We're in a new, and we're in my brain surgery era. I can't think about.

Chelsea Myers (48:59)
Yeah.

Right?

Yeah. We're in a new era.

Yes!

Rachell (49:23)
I can't think about that error right now. Like, this is Jumanji, honey. I don't know. The monkeys are about to be released. Like, I can't think about that right now.

Chelsea Myers (49:28)
Yes! Yeah!

God this is Jumanji. I think that's my new catchphrase. I love that it is

Rachell (49:40)
It is, this is my life Chelsea.

Like I've been telling people, the monkeys are about to be released. I don't know what's next. Is it the stampede with the elephants? I don't know, but I have to, right. I gotta keep moving. I gotta keep moving.

Chelsea Myers (49:49)
We're going to start falling through the floor. Oh my God.

Oh my God. That really speaks to your character though. You are a fixer. You're a fixer and a doer and you want a problem solve and you're doing that not only for yourself, but you're doing that for others now and you're, you're, um, yeah, building those villages and making those resources known and available. Um,

Rachell (49:58)
Yeah.

Chelsea Myers (50:18)
I just had this happens at least once an episode where all the tabs in my brain shut down. I'm sure that as a as a fellow, I did not have to have surgery, but I had a brain tumor. And so now, like my brain just shuts down sometimes. So I'm editing this part out, obviously. But yeah. Yes.

Rachell (50:24)
Hahaha

Yeah, I understand. It's like this fault. I ⁓ was doing my

presentation yesterday and it caught me. And I was like, God damn. Like, what was I about to say? Like, I hate that. I'm used to like seamless presentation. It's my story. So I never like mess up. now I'm just like, I gotta give myself grace during this time. I had two brain surgeries in the past three months. Like nobody's like expecting perfection but me.

Chelsea Myers (50:44)
Like, you kidding me? Yes! Yes. ⁓

Yes.

No. No, I mean, yes, and I'm the same way. But yeah, it's like we're deep in it. And I'm like, oh, I know exactly where I want to go with this. And then all the tabs shut down. It's like, OK, all right, reboot. I'm going to start. I think I'm to start winding us around just because it feels like a natural place to do that. But OK, now I just have to figure out how I want to do it.

Rachell (51:09)
Yep.

Okay.

Chelsea Myers (51:25)
I'm glad you can understand. can be like, oh yeah, right? Like, I'm glad I can be like, okay, yeah, my brain doesn't work the way it used to. I know. When you reached out to me and told me what was going on, A, I was like, holy shit, like stop everything. Like, please, like stop everything. Like you were like, I'm so sorry. I'm like, do not apologize to me. And two.

Rachell (51:27)
I understand.

I was going blind like two months ago. Like I'm very understanding.

you

I'll be genuinely

apologetic to like, my God, I am so sorry. ⁓

Chelsea Myers (51:55)
I was the

same way when I was in the neuro ICU. I had my husband, because I couldn't see, I had my husband emailing my guests as me, being like, I'm so sorry, I'm in the ICU. So I get it, I get it. ⁓ Okay, so we talked about advocating for yourself, not having a village, building a village for others. Okay, let's wrap it around a little bit.

Rachell (52:05)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. Right.

Chelsea Myers (52:24)
Again, I've spent a lot of this episode talking about how much I admire about you. And it's true. It's true. really do. You, life has dealt you hand after hand that should have knocked you down and you, you for sheer willpower, just keep getting up and you're not even getting up for yourself every day. You're getting up for your son. You're getting up for the other moms that this is happening to even other patients that, that

may not be birthing people, but like you're advocating for quality of care, continuity of care, especially mental health care and maternal care. Talk to me about where you see a late after nine going from here. What's your like, like home run, hit it out of the park goal for your nonprofit?

Rachell (52:57)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, so we want to continue to get sponsors so we can do more and that will look like a lot of things, more events, bigger events. We really want to host a conference next year in October during pregnancy and infant loss awareness month. That's a major month for me. ⁓ I even lost a baby during that month on Halloween. So.

Chelsea Myers (53:39)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Rachell (53:44)
We want to offer more and give more free resources because the last thing that we will want to do is charge other people for things that we know they need when healthcare is so expensive. Like I'm still paying for bills from losses I had. It's been years. It's been years. It's been years. So it's just, it's so much. we just want to support these moms.

Chelsea Myers (54:02)
Which is insane. Which is insane. Yeah.

Rachell (54:14)
whichever way possible, but definitely ⁓ being booked for even more conferences. I've done a lot of speaking engagements and have a lot planned, but I would love to be the spokesperson for different ⁓ healthcare organizations, Johnson & Johnson, Huggies, and all these bigger... ⁓

Chelsea Myers (54:36)
Mmm.

Rachell (54:41)
organizations so we can shine a light on pregnancy loss. So it's such a hard and tumultuous journey, but we need the support and there needs to be a light shined on it because so many of us go through it and a lot of us go through it silently and we shouldn't, we should have support. ⁓ We're also, like I was saying,

Chelsea Myers (54:45)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Rachell (55:10)
Earlier when we were talking, we were doing research to study how comfortable people are with advocating for themselves, which most are not. And speaking of jargon, in order to get the things that they need in a healthcare setting and a treatment, they need medications and their questions answered and comparing it to their healthcare outcomes, which typically are poor because of the lack of the ability to advocate. And I'm building an app to fix that.

Chelsea Myers (55:20)
Mm-mm.

Rachell (55:40)
to make others more comfortable because throughout my pregnancy journey and throughout my neurological journey where I needed to have brain surgeries, I had to use a lot of nurse jargon, healthcare jargon. I literally was in there talking about acidosone and my left transverse sinus stenosis. ⁓

my idiopathic intracranial hypertension and my intracranial pressure, you know, things that, the things that, right, that the lay person would not be able to communicate and or sometimes understand if told to them. So we're not only suffering in silence, we're dying in silence because we're not able to advocate for ourselves. And with the quote unquote big, beautiful bill that

Chelsea Myers (56:11)
Things I would never know. Things I would never know what to say.

Rachell (56:35)
has passed, it's projected that over 300 rural hospitals are closing, which is going to cause over saturation of other hospitals and clinics and providers. So that's even less time that they're going to be able to spend with patients. So we need to make that time meaningful, both in clinics, you know, the appointments and in the hospital in all healthcare settings. So that is what I'm working on right now to hopefully change.

Chelsea Myers (56:52)
Mm-hmm.

Rachell (57:03)
how patient-provider interaction occurs.

Chelsea Myers (57:08)
I love it so much. I know that you're gonna do these things. Like I know it's gonna happen. I just know it is. And I'm so excited to be able to watch this unfold for you. ⁓ This is gonna, these will all be linked in the show notes. You have a website, your website's also beautiful. I have website envy. ⁓ But.

Rachell (57:14)
Thank you so much.

You

Mm-hmm. thank you.

I actually build

that in 16 hours.

Chelsea Myers (57:37)
⁓ my god, okay. I'm just on Wix trying to like, trying my best to do what I can do with my website. Yours is gorgeous. ⁓ That will be linked in the show notes. But ⁓ before I go any further for listeners that really want to follow along, which they should, where, where can they find you? Where would you like them to look for you?

Rachell (57:59)
Yeah,

so on social media for my nonprofit ⁓ and for infertility, fertility, ⁓ pregnancy laws, and just pregnancy resources, we're a Light After 9. So at a Light After 9 on Instagram, ⁓ threads, a Light After 9 on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can search on TikTok. am R. DuVon RN. And we have a website like Chelsea mentioned. It's alightafter9.com.

Those are all words, not the number nine, alightafternine.org. And then if you want to be on the list or a beta tester or investor for the app or even be involved in research, that is SpeakRx. That is the name of the app, is SpeakRx. And you can go to our website, it's speakrxapp.com. And by the time this episode airs, it should be out.

Chelsea Myers (58:58)
That is so exciting. ⁓ I'm for sure going to be looking more into that. think that it's incredible. ⁓ Like I said, there are so many things that we could talk about and I'd love to have you back if you ever wanted to come back. ⁓ I'd love it so much. ⁓ But I'm going to I've started doing things a little differently with the way I end my episodes. And it's it's.

Rachell (59:04)
Yeah.

I would love to.

Chelsea Myers (59:25)
Again, I've mentioned it before, but it's like hearkening back to our millennial childhoods where none of us really had cell phones. We had to use the landline and we had to leave a message if no one was home. So you don't know who my next guest is going to be. You don't know their story, but you're giving them a call and you're leaving them a message. ⁓ And I know that that can be a little daunting because like I said, you don't know them. You don't know their story.

Rachell (59:31)
Mm-hmm.

Chelsea Myers (59:55)
But you're leaving them a message, you're leaving them a voicemail that they can hopefully take with them moving forward. What message would you leave for them?

Rachell (1:00:05)
To give yourself grace, whatever it is that you're going through during this period. This is a transitional season for a lot of people, for Chelsea, for myself, and just for other colleagues and those who have commented under my numerous posts about being able to graduate while being sick and getting surgery. There's a lot of us going through these seasons and throughout it all.

Chelsea Myers (1:00:28)
Yeah!

Rachell (1:00:35)
We have never-ending to-do lists. We have children. We have partners. We have friends and work and all these things and wear all these hats. But give yourself grace. That's my message.

Chelsea Myers (1:00:50)
I love it. The fun part about this, I hope it's gonna be fun. I don't know, like I said, it's new, ⁓ is that you'll have to listen to the episode before yours to get your message. I know what your message is, but ⁓ actually I don't off the top of my head. I'd have to go back and listen to it, but I love it. I just think it's a really cool way to form a connection. Yeah. And so we'll see, we're trying it out. We'll see how it goes. ⁓ Rachel, I am...

Rachell (1:01:00)
Yeah.

Hehehehehe

Yes, I love it.

Chelsea Myers (1:01:19)
So thankful that you chose to spend some of your time with me today. ⁓ And I, I for sure hope that we can stay connected. I'm going to be following along. I know that you're going to do incredible things because you are doing incredible things and just, yeah, thank you. Thank you for being here with me.

Rachell (1:01:28)
You're gonna...

You

Thank you for having me and believing in me and being so supportive all the time. Thank you so much. You will do, you really do.

Chelsea Myers (1:01:43)
I will always hype you up if you need. my God, I will. I

will always be there to hype you up. But yeah, thank you.

Rachell (1:01:54)
Thank so much. Thank you.