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The New Mom Podcast is a Christian motherhood podcast for women navigating pregnancy, postpartum, and early motherhood.
Whether you're a first-time mom, expecting, or in the middle of sleepless nights, this show offers real, honest conversations about motherhood, marriage, identity, and faith. We talk about birth stories, postpartum recovery, relationships, mental health, and trusting God through every stage of motherhood. If you're looking for encouragement, practical advice, and a reminder that you're not alone—this podcast is for you.
Our prayer is that New Mom leaves you feeling seen, strengthened, and a little more equipped for the beautiful calling of motherhood!
New episodes weekly.
Hey, welcome back to New Mom. Today's episode, I got to sit down with my sweet friend, Varvel. She is a pediatric nurse turned mom of two. And this episode is really for moms that are in the thick of postpartum, really the first eighteen to twenty four months. We just talk about the hormones that are involved, the the shift on our nervous systems and the the stress and the hormones changes and the even postpartum rage that can come up.
Carrie:Brooke touches on these topics in in really beautiful and life giving ways. So if you're a mom and you're feeling any of those things, just the overwhelm and the change of season that that motherhood brings, you're not alone. I hope that this episode leaves you feeling encouraged. I know I certainly enjoyed it. So without further ado, here is my convo with the amazing Brook.
Carrie:If you are loving New Mom, take a moment to rate and subscribe to the show and maybe even leave a review. It helps us to get the word out to more moms like you. Thank you for listening. Okay. One more thing about this episode.
Carrie:I'm coming at you from my car. Sorry for all the interruptions. But after we recorded, we realized that there was a little bit of an audio issue with this one, and so you're gonna hear a glitch here and there. And we apologize, but honestly, the episode with Brooke is so good and the conversation was so rich that I felt like it was still worth putting out. So I hope you all enjoy.
Carrie:I apologize. We'll be back next week with an episode that's glitch free. But in the meantime, I hope this episode with Brooke blesses you. Thanks for listening.
Brooke:Hi. Welcome. Thank you.
Carrie:Thank you for being here. Absolutely. So you're my first guest in studio. Connor and I did one, but that doesn't really count, so you're the first one my home Honored. Yeah.
Brooke:Honored.
Carrie:I'm so happy to
Brooke:have you Happy to here.
Carrie:I know. My first Nashville in person. Perfect. This is awesome. So I kinda wanna start by you giving a little intro about yourself, who you are, and then also it'd be fun to talk about how we met, because you're my first Varvel that I've had on.
Carrie:Which is crazy honestly.
Brooke:I haven't
Carrie:had Kenna or George yet. I don't know if I'll be able to get George. She's a little hard to get.
Brooke:We'll talk
Carrie:right now. But we'll yeah, we'll we'll see. But I'm so happy to have you. But yeah, like share about yourself and
Brooke:Okay. Yeah. Okay. Well, my name is Brooke and I am from here from
Carrie:Here being Nashville. Nashville.
Brooke:Yes. The North Side Of Nashville. I grew up here. And gosh, I really don't know where to start, but I guess it kind of makes sense to maybe share now how I know you. Yeah.
Brooke:So met my husband when I was 18, the second week of college, and my husband and his family are Like some
Carrie:of our best friends? Yeah, of our best tips and
Brooke:So I met you when I was
Carrie:Gosh, you guys. Yeah, that's so crazy. We've known each other so
Brooke:long. Yes.
Carrie:Yeah. So I met you right after we Marvel life before you honestly. We've been
Brooke:there for That so feels good. Yeah, I do.
Carrie:That's sweet. Yeah, you're an OG. Oh, an OG? Oh yes. Yes.
Brooke:Yeah, been around for a long time, yeah, but grew up here. Am the eldest sibling, which I feel like
Carrie:That's a personality trait.
Brooke:It is a personality trait.
Carrie:Especially as a mom.
Brooke:Yes, I think that that varies,
Carrie:but yes, it does. The oldest daughter becoming a mom, it matters. I am too.
Brooke:It's specific. So that's a personality trait. Grew up on the lake and loving all things, lake water skiing, playing in the mud, Playing in the mud? Had so much fun. Growing up doing that, I have a huge heart for missions and spent a lot of my teenage years doing that.
Brooke:Got me into deciding to go to nursing school. Did not have a clue what a nurse does, but went to nursing school. Did you
Carrie:know early admissions, when you were really young, or did you figure that out more like high schoolers? No, I figured that
Brooke:out later. I think I got to come alongside of some medical missions in Kenya, and just kind of saw the need and thought, If I can have the ability to care for moms, really, it was mothers, young children, then what a way to serve moms and connect with them. So I actually went to nursing school thinking that I was gonna go to midwifery school, but Really? I did
Carrie:Okay, that makes sense. Decided to turn and
Brooke:Lord definitely turned my direction, still have a love for all of those things. Like had a home birth for a second, love all things midwifery, but not for me as a career and the Lord made that known later. So I did everything I
Carrie:said I wasn't gonna do. I said I wasn't gonna work in a hospital, did do that.
Brooke:Said I wasn't gonna work pediatrics, did Said do I would never work ICU or things that involved just a lot of the hard side of nursing. Pediatrics did that, worked in the pediatric ICU. Yeah, like I said, went to nursing school. My husband and I got married two weeks after we graduated from college. Great wedding,
Carrie:loved That
Brooke:was my first time in
Carrie:Nashville I think. Yeah. Honestly, don't think we did Nashville properly because you were a little bit was a little bit outside of Nashville, but like we flew in here and Yes, it was like Your venue was stunning. Was like It was so pretty. In the Yes, gorgeous.
Carrie:It was very Nashville. And And you and that's
Brooke:your mom like saved the day with the flowers from
Carrie:her little Oh my gosh. Flowers. I remember that. Everybody's gotta have one on that with flowers for you and not like the groom. Somewhat unaware, but then the only
Brooke:thing I knew was Carrie and There
Carrie:was a Trader Joe's run.
Brooke:Yeah. Taking care of it. Yeah.
Carrie:Everybody Everybody dove in, all the moms, your mom I think everybody was just like, Brooke doesn't need to know, we gotta figure it out. Figured Figured it it out.
Brooke:So you took care
Carrie:of the flower
Brooke:situation and then moved to Cincinnati and was there for seven years. Worked in the of the step down med surg part of Cincinnati Children's and then moved to the pediatric ICU And did that had our first in Cincinnati, kind of shifted what I was doing nursing wise, dropped my hours a little bit, worked some weird hours that did not suit us well in the sleep department, that's for sure. I feel like being a new mom with a small baby, one in particular that didn't sleep very well, and then working all the weird hours is interesting. I can imagine
Carrie:your poor body clock was probably just
Brooke:Oh, I didn't know No. No. And it did not serve me well. And then after we had our second, then decided to come home for several reasons. I think I'm really stubborn, but I think the Lord was gonna close that door for me working in the pediatric ICU and I'm glad he did.
Brooke:So now I feel like on the other side,
Carrie:I'm thankful for the time
Brooke:that I had. I'm also thankful that I'm in another and phase of now I get to do other things. So I'm home with the kids and I enjoy that. It's taken me a long time, which I think we're gonna dive into to kind of reset my self towards being at home and having that rhythm. But then after some time at home, kind of had some dreams come with that too.
Brooke:So started Nest and Rest Mama, which we'll probably also
Carrie:do So
Brooke:cool. Oh
Carrie:yeah, we definitely will.
Brooke:Yes, but educating moms on taking care of their small baby to small child, any kind of sicknesses at home, just trying to create a space for moms to feel confident in how to do that at home because I realized that that was something that was lacking, I think, amongst moms that I met inpatient in the hospital. And then now I do mobile IV wellness Too and so cool,
Carrie:you still get to do your thing.
Brooke:You I just love do in
Carrie:a way that suits your family.
Brooke:Yes, and I also said I would never do anything that was remotely close to home health type things. I'm like, Here I am.
Carrie:Okay, you just I literally will do the things that I say I'll never do.
Brooke:Yeah. There's so many
Carrie:things. There's so many things.
Brooke:I love
Carrie:it. So now you're and you guys moved here. And
Brooke:we moved here almost a year ago. Okay. Oh, wow.
Carrie:That went so fast. I know.
Brooke:Feel like
Carrie:you guys just got here. Okay. Same. So almost a year ago Almost a year ago. We transitioned to rest, and now you're doing you're doing the IV Yes.
Carrie:Mobile care too. Yes. So So, yeah. I I think I did a nest and rest class with you online. Yes.
Carrie:Of your first ones. Yes. Was You so helpful. And I will say, particularly your your postpartum tips for moms, like you had so many nuggets of wisdom for obvious obviously as a But for moms, I felt I I like all of your tips just got coming back to me in those first weeks. Good.
Carrie:From the snacks to the find something when you're nursing at night that you're looking forward to. Like just the even the practicals. I kept texting her and being I'm very practical. Thank you. I really appreciate
Brooke:that. Practical.
Carrie:Practical. And I and I love that.
Brooke:But Yes.
Carrie:Yeah. Thank you for sharing all of that. I'm so grateful to Like like you said, we've known each other for a while. A long time. And and I mean, literally, your husband I grew up with your husband and whole family and like they literally feel like siblings and cousins and all And so, yeah, I've known you forever and I loved I just I love watching you be my mom.
Carrie:I love watching you be a wife. You're inspiring and you go before me. You're a little bit ahead of me with with the mom game, which is so cool. So I knew I had to have you on, like, for all for all the reasons. But So fun.
Carrie:I think the reason I specifically want you to be in this because like because like, honestly, you need to come back and do a home birth one, like, we'll we'll cover other things. You'll be back.
Brooke:You're local. We'll be back.
Carrie:But today, I wanted to talk about it was actually just like a month ago that
Brooke:I was
Carrie:at your
Brooke:house Mhmm.
Carrie:And you kinda asked me about Postpartum and I opened up a little bit and immediately and I I it was actually the Lord's timing because we were on a road trip back from Atlanta and I had just had a what I was calling a hormonal day of baby screaming in the back seat, all the things and you're like, how's it going? And I was like, I can't lie to her. I'm like, like, you're looking me in the eye, like, how's mother met?
Brooke:I've known you too
Carrie:long. Yeah. So I'm looking straight Well, and the truth of it is, and I know moms are gonna get this, I love being a mom. And sometimes it's really hard on your body and your mind. And and I think just the the physicality of just feel feeling overwhelmed
Brooke:Yes.
Carrie:And and not knowing why. And so what I talked to you about that day was, I feel some some shame about that because I I've wanted to be a mom my whole life. I love it so much. And I thought I was so chill before I had kids. Maybe we all did.
Carrie:Maybe we're all delusional. The eldest daughter thought that they were chill. Exactly. An eldest daughter, they used chill. What what's happening?
Carrie:No. But I really didn't. And I I just remember being like, oh my gosh. Like, when I'm a mom, like, it's I'm gonna go with the flow. If they're crying, they're crying.
Carrie:Like, whatever. And the reality has just been so different. And and obviously, like, I'm I'm ten, eleven months in, I'm I'm new at it. But it was deeply discouraging to me to feel like, woah, I said my whole life, like, I pray I'll feel hard for this. I desired this, I love him, why do I feel like I'm in many ways, I can't handle it or I'm not cut out for it the way I thought I was when it comes to just my physical response to stress, him screaming, logistics, all of it.
Carrie:And so obviously, we talk about a lot of positives on this show, but I also just wanted to get into like the reality of feeling in postpartum, like you're overwhelmed anyway, I want you to take it from there, but you kinda started bringing up my nervous system and postpartum and the health behind it and what I'm actually going through. And immediately I was like, okay, we need talk about this on the podcast because I just wasn't aware. I just thought it was just me. And so not only your experience, I want you to share, but also we'll get into like just, I mean, just all of it. Yeah, share what you want to, wherever you wanna start.
Carrie:But yeah, thank you for being open to having this conversation because it really helped me.
Brooke:It's so important and I know we've said this five times now, but it's also a personality trait. I feel like a lot of us, and even if you aren't the old starter or maybe you aren't a type A perfectionist to begin with, this still
Carrie:Probably applies. This
Brooke:still applies. But I'm just thinking of where to start because there's so many angles to take this out. Okay, so first think we recognize that as people made in the image of God, we are physical, we have a physical being, we have a mental emotional side to us, we have a soul, and we're all of those things, and they're all very connected. So when we're kind of looking at us as a person, as a mom transitioning into this whole new season of life, then we have to be able to see ourselves from all of these different angles. But to start, this has been such a, man, just such a journey for me.
Brooke:And I thank God for the sanctification that this has all brought me, right? It has been such a learning curve for me, something that I was very confident and should be. We were made for this. But also, like you said, just these background voices or feelings in my head of what you said where you're just like, Woah. I don't feel like I'm handling this well.
Brooke:Maybe on the outside I look like, but on the inside, like you said
Carrie:I'm feeling like I'm crumbling.
Brooke:I'm crumbling on the inside or like I mean, I think the crying in the car situation is probably the The great picture. Yes. It's the perfect picture. I mean, the when I have babies crying in the car, I mean, it's over. Like, everyone better get out of my way.
Brooke:Like, I'm talking through my window. Like, yeah. Immediately just shut shut off. Yes. We're, you know
Carrie:we have a different response than our I will speak for myself, I have a different response than my husband like me.
Brooke:A 100%.
Carrie:He does a better job. I'm not saying he doesn't get overwhelmed sometimes. Our nervous systems just feel different. Totally different.
Brooke:Yes. But you're Yes. That's part of it too. It's like our husbands will always respond differently and even maybe just more calm by design. Which honestly, praise God, but it
Carrie:also can make you feel like, what am I doing wrong? What am I doing? They're okay. They're not having a hand to lash, they're not crying.
Brooke:They're not sweating through their clothes
Carrie:and screaming at everyone through No, the windshield like, yeah, we
Brooke:exactly. And I think we start to, maybe in the background when things get hard, tell ourselves things like that or wonder. I think it's okay to wonder, what is happening? I've been a patient person all my life.
Carrie:I've been
Brooke:chill, I'm chill.
Carrie:Why am I responding this way? Why am not sure yet?
Brooke:Yet. Like it about anything right now.
Carrie:Yeah. It's especially hard when you continue to I think for a while I just was trying to self correct by discipline or by action where I'm like, okay, I'm feeling this way, stop it. Next time just handle it better. And then that just makes That does
Brooke:not work. It does not work. It does not work.
Carrie:I can tell you firsthand doesn't work. That just makes you feel like I've lost control. Who am I?
Brooke:Who am I? I can't control this. That's another question that comes, I was just like, woah, everything has changed, who am I? Okay. So I have, I guess, backing up.
Brooke:And I think everyone listening can kind of put themselves into you gotta start by looking backwards. Okay. So what was life before? Or what are things that have shaped me or just different things, childhood or what your career is like? So my first thing I started to realize is I'm home.
Brooke:Even before I resigned from my job in the ICU, I was mostly home working all these different hours, and then obviously had transitioned home. But I transitioned home, and I'm at home and I'm with my kids and I'm like, my brain is firing on cylinders and every noise is overstimulating and I'm waiting for something to happen and I just, what is happening? We get in the car, someone starts crying, my brain is firing all cylinders. It's spider. It's fight or flight, but I'm in my home and I'm like, nothing is happening.
Brooke:We are okay. We are safe. But Woah, my brain is frightened.
Carrie:So your body does not feel safe.
Brooke:Your body
Carrie:is But your brain knows Yes. We're
Brooke:And our lives completely changed. What I realized is I don't think my nervous system, my body has caught up really with what I'm doing, because my life has just completely changed. Because my life is totally different. What it took to keep our household going, and my husband and I working and doing all these things, now is almost completely obsolete. They're just None of that has really translated into this
Carrie:It's a phase whole different season,
Brooke:and I'm a whole different person. Brain chemistry actually changes, our brain change when we are pregnant and go through pregnancy and become moms. Our brains are different, so I am a totally different person. Me that used to love to be silly and run around, or didn't care if my husband came up and tickled me or whatever, now I'm like, Do not press You this
Carrie:know what I mean?
Brooke:What happened?
Carrie:Am I just not fun? It's am I just not fun and I just wanna be ready for
Brooke:you now?
Carrie:And I'm just like, No.
Brooke:And so what happened? Well, one, yes, our brains changed. Our bodies just went through having a human, a little baby grow. No small thing has happened. But then all of a sudden our life has changed.
Brooke:So I'm at home with my kids, but my brain is still stuck in what it was before. So I had to go backwards and I feel like this apply to anyone coming out of a different thing, but specifically with people coming from the medical field, nursing specifically, it's like I came from a job where being on and taking care of things was to listen to thousands of beeps and tones and respond to them, and crying and screaming was not a good thing, and taking care of all these things, and everything is high stakes. Everything is make no mistake.
Carrie:It literally is.
Brooke:High stakes.
Carrie:Peds ICU
Brooke:is People about as intense alive, I yes. Just intense tones, sounds, beeps, talking, my nurse phone, everything. Everything is keep it going. And I had a nervous system that was used to that. And what would I do?
Brooke:Well, you know, about ten hours into a shift, I would, like anyone else, start to be like, I'm tired. I'm shut down. I'm gonna count I'm gonna count down. The hours the hours till leave it because I'm when this is done, I'm out of here. I'm resting in kind of That's a very normal thing to do after a high stress thing to retreat, retreat, retreat.
Brooke:Totally. Finish well, retreat. And in motherhood, you can't do that. You can't retreat. And if you try, all it does is make you resentful and burn And I realized I was trying to approach motherhood with a nervous system that was a peds ICU nurse, eldest daughter perfectionist, did every hard thing I could do, like run marathons and ultramarathons, ultramarathons and just do it all.
Brooke:And do it well and have that expectation and have a nervous system that was addicted to the adrenaline of all these things. And what's funny is, shout out to McKenna, my sister-in-law of Varvel, who looked at me one time and asked me because she was like, I think that this was well under motherhood, but she was like, What you if did something else with nursing? And I'm like, because it would be boring, anything out of the ICU would be wearing whatever. And she looked at me and she's like, Are you addicted to the stress? And it made me start to realize that again, my nervous system was wired to be on high, high, high alert, to constantly have one step ahead of what could happen next and do something to prevent it.
Brooke:But then in motherhood that makes you On edge at all times probably. On edge, it's very normal for new moms to watch their newborns breathe, not the point of just, I'm not gonna sleep, I'm just gonna stare. Or I'm driving in the car and I'm on every side, Is that car about to hit me? Is that car about to hit the car? It never stopped.
Brooke:And I feel like my brain just jumped from one would you call
Carrie:this postpartum anxiety? I'm curious.
Brooke:I think so.
Carrie:Like a level of it?
Brooke:A level of it. And I didn't have all the terms for that. I think also another thing that I learned later after I had been nursing for thirteen months with my first was DMER, you can look it up, it's when you have that doom and panic around your letdown while you're nursing.
Carrie:I've heard about that,
Brooke:yes, Did friends not have know that that was a thing until thirteen months into nursing my first, someone mentioned it in a conversation and I heard them say it and I thought, Oh my goodness, that's it. That's also what's happening. And it was just, I think my nervous system was wired away, and then I hit motherhood and
Carrie:that totally changed everything, but I'm like you, I've waited for this my whole life.
Brooke:Why am I sitting at home? Well, think also ready to I don't know. And then I realized I'm ready for this and always, but I have to help my brain rewire a bit and redo this a little bit.
Carrie:Yeah. I was gonna say also, I think you're very accomplished. You're very I'm not I mean, am speaking to just you, also a lot of moms that are listening probably feel like you're type a, you're accomplished. Goodness, you're in the medical field. So it's like, I'm sure you had so many people speak over you.
Carrie:Oh my gosh, you're so meant to be a mom. You're gonna be the best mom. I feel like all of us in those different ways, the more that you hear that encouragement, which is amazing, it added an extra layer when I would feel this way of, what? If I can't, like how are any of us how are we doing it? Like I thought that I'm I would be so care a caretaker, you're a nurse, you're a caretaker by nature.
Carrie:And then it feels like, am I not Like, why am I not responding in this loving way? Why am I responding in this stressful way? Like, I think it just made me It made me question my maternal instincts, I think. Yes. And it made me feel like they were off.
Carrie:So anyway, though I was not a nurse, I just I feel like people spoke about Yes. You're so care, such a good mom. And I was like, what's gonna be easy? What is this stressful thing? Yeah.
Carrie:That I wasn't expecting to feel. So when you and I had this conversation, you sort of shared with me that maybe you're not fully to the other side of this. I mean, your kids are still relatively young, like, is a journey, not a destination Yes.
Brooke:It's a journey.
Carrie:But you did feel I mean, you definitely poured into me some very helpful takeaways, reflections, all of that. And I and I kinda wanna get into that and there's no rush on any
Brooke:of this, but I
Carrie:just wanna like throw out, I feel like some different areas that you touched on were the physical like things, the emotional, and the spiritual, like I think just inviting the Lord into it. And then also just practical. Like you gave me some really great tips. So let's start with the physical. Okay.
Carrie:What are some things that you have noticed that that are helpful when you're feeling this stress, rage Yes. Overwhelm, whatever you wanna call it.
Brooke:Yes. And and and I wanna point out too because I feel like for a lot of us, you included, me included, moms because all of us are doing this, we can be wonderful. You're a wonderful mom. I would never know looking at you that in the back of your head, you're thinking, oh my gosh. I'm just Like that day when you were like, I could see it in your eyes because I know you and I also knew that you had
Carrie:just gotten off the road with me.
Brooke:That's true. Knew. Literally knew. But more so just I think when we look around,
Carrie:us as moms it's like,
Brooke:I'm I'm responding to my children at all. Yes. I'm loving them. All their needs are met. Absolutely.
Brooke:No one looking at me, looking at you would maybe suspect what the battle is going on behind. Yes, that's scary. So I think there's maybe a lot of moms who are like, oh yeah, there are those things that circle. And I wanna say the Lord is very near that He sees and He knows. And where is he?
Brooke:He is right in the middle, he's not surprised by all of those things. And I think I had to tell myself that, he's not surprised that these are the things that behind, in my mind, I'm kind of working through. He was never surprised by any of this. So physical. So one, I think just starting with the most obvious thing is that our hormones change drastically we are, obviously when we're pregnant.
Brooke:For nine months we have hormones that change to sustain life and all the things that are happening, and we know those things. It's very easy when you're pregnant to be like, oh my gosh, I know for me I sweat all the time.
Carrie:Oh yeah, you feel it.
Brooke:You feel it, or I was like, my face, my nose grew.
Carrie:Yeah, oh so did mine,
Brooke:yeah. My nose was so big, or You all these have fluid and you have hormones, and I feel like we talk about that a lot. And then initially postpartum, those first couple weeks, I mean It's a lot. It's a lot. Your hormones really change.
Brooke:You cry, you You don't even want look
Carrie:at your baby like, I love you so, I'm so sad. I'm also so happy.
Brooke:Yes, I'm so happy, but then you're I'm crying. For work for the first time and you're like, no. Yeah. There's so many things happening. Mhmm.
Brooke:And then you're sweating through your pajamas and your sheets because your hormones are changing. You're, am menopausal? You're doing all these things. And I would get shaky and my Totally. Heart would All of those things are hormones.
Brooke:We talked about that in the first couple weeks. But then, okay, for literally eighteen to twenty four months, your hormones are different.
Carrie:Because people don't really talk about that. No. I did not know that.
Brooke:Your cycle might come back at different points or whatever, but your body is still transitioning. Then I think I told you this, I hit a point at three months, six months, nine months, and I'm kind of a researcher. But I started looking through it and just reading, there's so much you can do. Read about the hormone changes around that time for your body postpartum. There's different things changing, they're moving.
Brooke:And so there's that part. Your hormones have to, they are going to change. If you're breastfeeding they stay a certain way and then they change throughout, and then they'll all
Carrie:the I think rest that's a misconception I had, I stopped breastfeeding at four or five months, and I think four months, and I I thought that that was it. Like, thought it was normal after that. Yeah. Like, oh, I'm breastfeeding. No.
Carrie:Guess I'm back because I started my period, you know. Right. So thanks for clarifying that.
Brooke:Good. You have a lot of things that your body will do and of reset.
Carrie:Then
Brooke:there's the fact that there's something called postnatal depletion and it's something that I didn't know too much about, and then looking backwards when I was like, oh, I ran marathon, ultra marathon, did not have a circadian rhythm, did not eat while I was on shift a lot of the times because it would be so busy, And then that's the body, night, day, all the things, that's the body that I had going into pregnancy. It shouldn't be a surprise that by the end of it, I'm depleted of B vitamins, which I think
Carrie:we talked about.
Brooke:Yes, B vitamins, specifically magnesium. Different things that our body will give or just really burn through while our bodies change and need different things. You start producing milk, well, there's so much nutrients involved with that. So there's a postnatal depletion that can happen if we just aren't getting enough back of what we need. And that can really contribute to that rage feeling and just some of the nervous system overdrive.
Brooke:Yes.
Carrie:I definitely have dealt with that.
Brooke:From postnatal depletion. And I think when you notice these things about yourself, it's okay to just call it what it is and take yourself seriously and then take care of yourself. Eat the red meat, eat the high protein, high nutrient based foods. You need to reverse that postnatal depletion. One thing that is really helpful is really increasing magnesium intake.
Brooke:And just trying to give back those things to your body while it, one, heals, two can ride out all of the postpartum changes, but also can help you ride out this new season of life. Because just in any season where you change or even the demand on your body changes, you don't sleep a ton, you don't have all this extra rest time or anything like that. So anytime there's stress on your body, we should
Carrie:be paying attention to like, is there something more that I need? So paying attention to those things is really helpful.
Brooke:And then also allow yourself to learn about it. I wish that I would have said out loud sooner, when I nurse and my milk comes down, especially at night, I have panicky feelings.
Carrie:Did you just ignore that for a while?
Brooke:I internalized all of it. I thought something was wrong with me because I was panicking at night. I didn't really know what to do about it, but I was kind of that way all the time a little bit, but it would just get really heavy then. And I felt like maybe it's just because I'm sitting still, and so I'm sitting, and so I couldn't put it all together. And I think that's what makes some of this season difficult too, is that there's not a lot of time to just sit down and think about what's happening, just do it.
Brooke:Yes, And at the time I was still working in the pigs, so there was a lot of anxiety around what I did and all of a sudden not really being able to separate that much between work and home. So I'd sit there and I would think about what happened in the Trauma Bay the night before. Well, that's not really helpful, but in a way I probably needed to process that at some point, I didn't have time anymore so now I'm sitting in my nursing chair processing. It's not a great time to do that when
Carrie:Trying to be nerds
Brooke:or You turn that to have this let down reaction. I think there was kind of over one things. And I would just say take yourself seriously and care about yourself because when you do that, then your children and your home and your husband are then taken care of too. If mama goes down, we hold up so many things. So take the physical side seriously, know that your hormones are shifting.
Brooke:And I just had to say it out loud because I think relationally with my husband, I would just have to say it out loud. When you walked into the house and you were like, Honestly, the car ride was probably the worst.
Carrie:And I was like,
Brooke:Okay, I could see it, whatever, but I think I had to start saying those things kind of out loud too. It doesn't give me the license to rage and do all those things, but I feel like I need to tell somebody or I'm gonna be lonely, so I would just tell my husband, Okay, we're in the car, we gotta just take a lap. Yes. We're on the surgery, just take a lap. Yes.
Brooke:Momma's sweating, we just gotta be done, so that you're not lonely or
Carrie:Well, they're not tension building, because I felt like, especially on the road trips, but really when there's a time when he could see as tensions are rising, maybe Archie's like getting louder or louder or something Mhmm. That my body's responding with the sweaty and the tense and the snappy. If we don't acknowledge it, then it's just gonna get worse. The tension is just looming like
Brooke:you're Or it's up to snappy our husbands. Yes. It goes right
Carrie:And that to Exactly. Oh, 100%. And that's super unfair. So I think you're right. It's not about complaining and about saying all the time, oh, this is the worst.
Carrie:This is the worst. Right. It's just But like what I did with you, just acknowledging it and saying, oh, that was really hard. Think just even being like, we just need a moment to come down from that, that was really intense. Didn't we make
Brooke:tea I or think so.
Carrie:I think sat on the back porch and we were
Brooke:like, take a minute. Woo. Yeah. Because my body literally needs to relax
Carrie:and yeah. Yes. I think that's so good. Like the physical side of it even just And I was gonna ask you was gonna ask you after, who cares and just throw it in. Mhmm.
Carrie:But what has been helpful between you and Holden? With your spouse Yes. What can be helpful because like is there is there a tool you found that's helpful to just communication? Like share with me a little bit about how you guys because I think I think tension in the marriage is probably number one. They're the person that live with you
Brooke:and
Carrie:they're seeing it and they wanna help you and they don't feel the same way that you feel but they wanna understand.
Brooke:Yes,
Carrie:So what they wanna understand is how have you guys worked through that?
Brooke:Yeah, I think it really comes down to, and my husband and I are good communicators, we're good at it. It's something that we've always said, like, we just of, I don't know, we just talk it out all the But I think, like we said, I'm trying to put this into words. Like we said, you change some in this process of becoming a mother physically. Our brains change, all of these things. So one thing that is beautiful about marriage is that you get to love someone in all of their stages of life and get to know who they are in all those stages of life, right?
Brooke:So when I frame it like that, I get to know now my husband is dad and that is really sweet. And his needs have changed, will change. We love to go to the gym. We don't get to go out the door to go to the gym. Right.
Brooke:So we built one in our garage and that's really fun. His needs don't just revolve around a gym, sometimes he Yes, needs to
Carrie:of course.
Brooke:And he'll be like, I just need to move. And we used to not have to talk about that because we could just go
Carrie:do it. Go do it. Yeah.
Brooke:But I think in terms of practicality, there was a season where, and again, like you said, I feel like this is a journey and I'm surely still on it and will be, but I do feel like I can look with some hindsight and gather some things. But one thing that we started doing in a season where we had just had our second and mama was overwhelmed. It felt like if I tried to communicate in every moment that I was feeling that way or was overwhelmed, it was a lot.
Carrie:It
Brooke:was all the time.
Carrie:And
Brooke:sometimes because of that, it would just come out hot. Well, all the time, that's a lot. So one thing that we started doing, and this is probably my number one thing, we started making a time every week, and for us it was Sunday afternoons after church when both of our kids were sleeping. Just there's quietness in the house, we're both home. It's not Saturday, so we're not in the mood to Do stuff.
Brooke:Go do stuff. Yeah, more it was Sunday after church, two small kids, you're like Yeah, oh, exactly.
Carrie:So you need a Sunday nap, yeah. You just need
Brooke:that Sunday break. So he would make good coffees and we would sit down and he had a notebook and we would go through a question. What went well this past week? And then we would be like, Yeah, good job. Celebrate, celebrate what goes well.
Brooke:So what went well? Why did it go well? Did we do something different that made that work better?
Carrie:So
Brooke:for example, one of those things during that season was we were trying to figure out in the mornings, oh the mornings. I was tired, I had been up whenever my husband needed to go to work, but then my very, very small baby at the time need to be fed my other one that wanted to run around the house and jump off of things was all over the place. I was hungry, this whole thing is happening. And we would be like, okay, what went well this week? And it would be like, okay, morning's time actually went better, what did we do?
Brooke:My husband would wake up and make the eggs and make the breakfast first thing, was just sitting on the stove. Then he goes and gets ready, because when everybody starts rolling, mama's hungry, toddler's hungry.
Carrie:Too much.
Brooke:Baby needs to be fed, there's too many things, but food is there, done. So okay, when we figured that one out, you get up to your alarm, you go make the eggs and I'll get the baby. It's like the eggs might be kind of cold by the time I
Carrie:get there, but they're there. But they're there, I need to
Brooke:turn it on low. So we would celebrate
Carrie:those things.
Brooke:That's really good. Yeah, just those things. But how do you get there? You have to actually have a time where you're talking about it because what A happens time. A set time.
Brooke:Because what happens the morning is just going terribly, and now I'm sweating through my clothes and it's not even
Carrie:And eight the worst time to do it is when you're in the thick of the stress, like you just said.
Brooke:I'm like, this is terrible. This
Carrie:is terrible. It's not going right.
Brooke:Have figure this out right now.
Carrie:It's like, no, we're all gonna have to just sit down and get Pin on it for Sunday afternoon. Sunday afternoon. Like that
Brooke:a Pin it for Sunday afternoon. And maybe if it's Tuesday morning,
Carrie:got a lot
Brooke:of days till Sunday afternoon you make
Carrie:straight modifications the week. Let's go for dinner. Kids go down.
Brooke:But on Sunday afternoon, it's the, what went well? What did we do to make that go well? Let's do that again. Okay, what didn't go well this week? And it gave us both time to share those And what can we do?
Brooke:What do we need to do differently? And it was not overwhelming because we just pick a very couple of things. I would say, I feel like I'm very sleep deprived, and I want time together, or our house is really messy so it's taking us a long time. We have to figure out that, when are we gonna go
Carrie:to bed in this phase
Brooke:of life? Or how do we make that even happen? I have to dishes the next day, our house can't be a total wreck when you leave. So how are we gonna make that happen? And you have to start working practically as a team.
Brooke:This is a whole new thing. Again, when he was working, and I was working, and we had no kids in the house, we would maybe just be like, Hey, let's make this for breakfast. Okay. I got up at 5AM, he didn't, I wanted eggs, he didn't, I'd make them.
Carrie:In a totally different
Brooke:phase of life, you don't have to tag team the Kind of same really do these things, but now it's all hands on deck, and we're a team, and we have to act like it. What do teams do? They go to practice, they have team meetings, they have locker room huddles, they have full on plans, they have a marker board for what they're doing. Why don't we do that as a team? That's so bad.
Carrie:We need
Brooke:to sit down and look at our lives. So practically, those meetings
Carrie:That's
Brooke:so went really well because it also helped me in those moments where I would just be like, I am so overwhelmed. Be like, I'm gonna pin this moment for Sunday afternoon because I'm kinda spiraling in my mind about it, I need a little bit of help. So we'd go to Sunday afternoon and be like, okay, I feel like I did it all, but in my mind, I didn't handle that very well. So one of those conversations was we went and did this whole thing. We said yes to going out to eat.
Brooke:I made it. I am so tired and I'm so stressed by that with two little kids, and trying to nurse in a restaurant, and having a toddler all these things. I'm gonna call it, I don't wanna do that anymore. So on Sunday afternoon, we decided that we weren't going out to eat ever again, until we decided that we were You back were ready.
Carrie:Hey, I've been there.
Brooke:Those are the decisions where it's like on the car drive home from trying to accomplish going out to eat was probably not the time to yell like, not doing that again!
Carrie:That's when you Probably all said it.
Brooke:It was more of conversation a later. Was like, you know what? This is just not our phase for that because now there's me in this place, I don't wanna do it again. Let's just wait.
Carrie:I've been there. I've shared this on the podcast, we've done so much traveling and so many meals on the road and so many meals just popping into whatever coffee shop and get a high chair and do the thing. I did When we moved here and we settled, that was one of the first things I said to him was I was like, okay, no more meals out just for the time. It could even be a
Brooke:week, I
Carrie:don't Right. It's off the table. You could switch Yes. It next Sunday But there's just that's so good. Yes.
Carrie:Okay. Getting into because we're talking practical with your spouse. Mhmm. I wanna take it back to us as moms. Mhmm.
Carrie:What are practical things, this is great, in a similar way, what are practical things that help you when you're alone with your kids at home and these things are coming up? What are some things that you've done
Brooke:Yes, for this is something
Carrie:that the Lord has really been teaching me
Brooke:lately because I really have asked Him, I need help because I want to settle. And part of that nervous system, he cares, he built us, right? He knows.
Carrie:He knows, yeah.
Brooke:I'm like, Lord, can you help me? When I'm home, I don't wanna act like I'm in the pediatric ICU. I don't want my body to act like that. Wanna just, I wanna be You wanna
Carrie:be present. Yeah, I'm like, okay, wanna gonna do call motherhood, yes.
Brooke:Yes. Part of that, can you help me? He took me on a journey of figuring out some of the physical things because those things matter and those things, you can't tell a postpartum depleted burnout nervous system rewired thing to just calm down and stop it. It's not gonna work. You have to take care of the
Carrie:physical That's a piece of the puzzle for sure. You need to be aware and educated, take care of the physical stuff for sure.
Brooke:Go get help if you need to. Change your diet. Change your Get your hormone levels tested. You feel like something's not happening, do those things. I get to do that for women now.
Carrie:Get to
Brooke:test their hormone levels. So fun. But spinning, like you said, that practical piece, because I've asked the Lord for help with this, and I told you, this has been kind of a recent thing where I just felt like the Holy Spirit would say to my heart and mind in those moments, lean in, lean in. So like I told you before, it's like when I would get in high stress situations, especially at work or whatever, you can count the clock, you can chart, you can give report, and you can get out of there. You can go home and sit in silence for five hours in your bed, which is kind of what I would do.
Brooke:And in motherhood you don't get to do that, So I had to remake that pattern. I don't get to just like with a clicker put pause on everything so I can sit down for a second and calm myself down. Neither do I want to go hide somewhere and scroll because I can't. Because that's the easy tempting thing to do
Carrie:if your husband gives you ten minutes, I'm gonna go numb out and just I'm numb out.
Brooke:Yes. And okay, let's be real, sometimes it's okay to just go
Carrie:Have grace for yourself. Have grace for yourself. Yeah, we're
Brooke:not saying don't go numb out, but I'm like, but okay, but in
Carrie:the But maybe middle isn't the most actually helpful to actually
Brooke:That, but maybe you can't do it. My husband's at work, my kids are in a very needy stage of life.
Carrie:You can't just go to the other room and I like, I need
Brooke:can't go lock myself in the pantry
Carrie:and eat some chocolate. Choke on a screw in two seconds,
Brooke:that's not gonna Something's gonna end up in the mouth, somebody's gonna fall off, something stays. No, you can't. And so I've felt And I've asked him for this, meet me there, meet me there in those moments. I have two kids crying and I'm hungry, which means I'm hangry. And all of those things like, help Lord, come to this moment.
Brooke:And I've heard him say lean in. And what that has done for me is it has reversed that part of my brain that wants to retreat and be like And I think it's a very natural thing. We're humans, right? We get overwhelmed and we're like, Okay,
Carrie:I need a minute.
Brooke:And do take those minutes. But in those moments, lean in. Okay, lean in, I'm leaning in, Lord. And I can be creative when I lean in. I can get really creative in those moments because parts of my brain aren't gonna shut down and shrivel up.
Brooke:They're gonna kind of, okay, I'm leaning in. Okay, it got really crazy. And here my kids are, I'm trying to make dinner. It always is around dinner, let's be honest. I'm trying to make dinner and everyone's hungry and I know this, so I'm making the dinner.
Carrie:Please let me make it. And I'm not gonna make four other snacks.
Brooke:But I'm gonna get really creative here. And I'm leaning in, I'm not shutting down in the back of my mind. I'm leaning in and I'm like, Okay, you know what? When I feel this way, I'm looking at my kids who are hangry and getting emotional too or whatever it is. And I'm like, What do I want in this moment?
Brooke:What would make me feel loved if I'm this way? Because I do this to my husband where I'm like, I'm hungry.
Carrie:You know? Like, do
Brooke:I want when he is at? And like, you know what, everyone? Go get a blankie, wrap up on the couch, let's play this song or let's do this or grab your Magna Tiles, build my castle, and I'm gonna I don't know. I'm gonna bring you part of the little dinner. I'm gonna let you taste it if you on floor and build a magnet tile.
Brooke:But in that moment, I'm leaning I'm asking the Holy Spirit to remind me to lean in.
Carrie:That's so good.
Brooke:And it happens at bedtime. Oh yeah. That's what I'm we're supposed to starting to I'm physically tired. I'm all of those things. And it's like, okay, bedtime.
Brooke:And one of them is like, I need my water. And I'm like, I am so tired. Part of my brain just starts like, No, no, no, no, no, no, But Holy Spirit, lean in, lean in. And I'm able to sing a song while I'm doing that, or it opens up that more creative part of your brain to lean into those moments. Which is so Because that's motherhood, right?
Brooke:We have to lean into all of those things. And the Lord has done that for us. He leans into all of those things with us. He says He's near to the brokenhearted. He comes in, he comes clutter.
Brooke:And as a mom I want to reflect him to my kids, and I'm not him so I'm not going to be perfect and I can't hold myself to that standard. And mommies need breaks and we need to go out, and we need to go on that 8PM run through the neighborhood because we just need to take the minute. And those things are all okay. Sometimes if your kids or your baby is really crying and screaming, I tell this to people as a nurse all the time, it's okay to put them down safely in their crib and walk away for a second. You need to do that sometimes.
Carrie:We've all
Brooke:been there. Yes. You just have to I'm not saying don't do that because those are very real moments. Or park the car and take a second. But in the moments of just those day in, day out, I don't wanna retreat my mind.
Carrie:I don't wanna shut down. I don't want
Brooke:my nervous system to always be firing all out and, okay, Lord, help me lean in.
Carrie:Do you find that when you lean in, you feel more peace I and joy you
Brooke:can generally get the situation under control to begin with because my brain say, I'm still here and those creative parts of my brain can start working to, okay, what do we need to do to turn this around, to make it fun, to get everyone smiling, okay honestly I need to just pause and they are not gonna make it another thirty minutes before this dinner is done. We're whipping out something silly. Mom has eaten the kid's snack with them, whatever. Those moments of lean in, how could I take care of this? How can I lean in and help so that I don't?
Carrie:I love that, Brooke, because I think that the thing is, and I think it's so good that you're touching on, yeah, there is a time to take a break. There is a time to just get through it. There is a time. The fact is, if every time we were tempted to do that, we did it and we were treated and we just got through it, then we'd miss our kid's childhood.
Brooke:Exactly. The thing. Because we're talking the day in, day out. I don't wanna miss this. I I'm wanna also human.
Brooke:Mhmm. And I also maybe need to address some of the way maybe I've been wired because of before motherhood whatever, addressing all those things. The physical response. Talk to your husband, be a team, go get that physical help if you need extra. Take more magnesium.
Brooke:Yes. Do those things. Get in the word. But in those moments, it says day in, day out. Yes.
Brooke:I want
Carrie:to I
Brooke:don't want to miss it.
Carrie:I don't wanna go to bed at night thinking, oof, got through another day. Yes. You know, just just kinda just retreated my way through. Just mentally, just its own doubt, got through Yes. Put my head down, did it, you know, made the food, did this, got through the crying.
Carrie:No. Like, I think it's such I think that's such a beautiful piece of advice Mhmm. And a beautiful word, honestly, just just to embrace leaning in and to try it. I wanna do that as an exercise this week. Yeah.
Carrie:Because, like, I had a migraine last week. Okay. That was a time where I actually did just need to put my head
Brooke:back There are times you
Carrie:just But have to make Yep. On the day in and day out, I can just be tempted to do that when I when the body gets the hot flashes, the sweaty overwhelm. Yes. And I think that's just that's so good. Want other moms to do that.
Carrie:I wanna try to do that.
Brooke:Yes. Clean it.
Carrie:And just do it with inviting him into it. That's that's really beautiful.
Brooke:And you can ask him to bring that to mind when you need it. Like, Lord, can you remind me to Talini? Can you bring that to mind? Can you help me be creative?
Carrie:And he will. And he will. He will. That's so good. That's so good, Brooke.
Carrie:This conversation has been so great. Mean, we could keep going. I know we can go. We could definitely keep going. I want to just ask you a couple more Yes.
Carrie:A couple more things. One is, what is the Lord teaching you right now in this season of motherhood, your your littles?
Brooke:So many things. To laugh, to remember to laugh because again, I'm not like, just, I wanna, I don't know, do everything, whatever, but just to stop like Yesterday, we laughed so hard. I took a pacifier and stuck it
Carrie:in my oldest kid's mouth and not the But younger
Brooke:I meant to because
Carrie:I cleaned it, was giving it back to the younger one. I stuck it in her mouth and then I'm And she fell over laughing, and I did too.
Brooke:That's so sad. So we laid on the floor and laughed, and I just I wanna laugh. And that's also part of that healing of just Lord, rewire me for motherhood and let me be laughing. It says that in scripture, she laughs at the days to come. She laughs.
Brooke:I I wanna be found laughing. And so trying to sometimes make that decision That's so to laugh. But honestly, And this really the leaning in part where I have really asked the Lord to bring that to me, like, all the time. Bring it to my end and really getting practicing that. Practicing, I wanna be creative in this moment, not shut down.
Brooke:I want to be so in tuned or switch directions that I can laugh about this later. Or my youngest is so fussy around bedtime, and I'm so tired, but I'm gonna lean in. And you know what, we're just gonna go sit in the rocker for a while and just snuggle because I'm just we're just gonna lean into this. I'm not gonna we're not gonna fight this. And so that those That's so things good.
Brooke:Those things are what I'm I love that. I'm learning.
Carrie:And last the last thing that I wanna ask is just what would be your first thing that comes to mind is totally fine. What is one of your best piece of advice for a new mom? It's bringing home a baby like this week.
Brooke:Oh my goodness. Gosh. This is hard because I like
Carrie:I know. There's so many things.
Brooke:There's so so many many things.
Carrie:I'm like, there's many moments of rain, but it anything. Could It can also be a few, I don't care.
Brooke:If it was a mom bringing home a baby this week or a year and their first weeks, I would say you're never, and I hesitate saying this because I feel like these kind of quotes are so of roll your eyes as a mom kind of thing.
Carrie:No, but hey. Because you're like, Oh,
Brooke:I know. You're never gonna get your first weeks back. And so I do encourage this to new moms, and I think I said this a lot in the classes that you've attended was, you're never gonna get these little newborn snuggle lay on the couch, you resting time back, and so don't give it away. And I'm all about inviting people into your life. I mean, you and I both are like community people and all of those things, but if you fill your first days and weeks up with, Well, so and so wants to come meet the baby, and so and so wants to do this, and they're dropping off food, but they wanna stay and they wanna x y z or whatever.
Brooke:Posting. Posting and people pleasing.
Carrie:People
Brooke:pleasing and all those things. You're never gonna be the Your baby and you, this is the first time they are seeing you when they look up while You they're don't have to let everyone else hold your baby for hours and hours. Now of course
Carrie:There's time. There's no whole year baby.
Brooke:Of course, like, I'm saying, like, I say this is such a caveat of, like, don't isolate yourself and, like, have people, you know, come help me. But when somebody comes to love on you postpartum, let them love on your family by, meeting your sweet little baby and helping you be mommy for the first
Carrie:That's really good. And don't
Brooke:give it all away. Don't give it all away. Hold your baby close and don't feel bad about it at all.
Carrie:I love that so much. I look back at pictures of Arch when he was so little now. I'm like, snuggles. I do just say And I think about had My postpartum was, I think I did a decent job. I'm similar to you.
Carrie:I'm social. I love community. I love my family. I wanted everybody around. Like, we had a pizza party the night he was born at the hospital.
Carrie:I was like, I want pizza.
Brooke:And everybody's coming. And everybody can go.
Carrie:And it was so fun. And the first days were filled with family and I loved it. But I do my friends my friends is pregnant right now and we've been with her second, and so we've been talking a lot about her second postpartum. Mhmm. And I've I've almost been finding myself daydreaming about my second postpartum, like, when I do have another baby What would you do?
Carrie:Because I I think that I'm going to give myself full permission to soak it in full permission to just be our little family. Yes. Family family and friends are amazing, but I'm I'm gonna give myself full permission because I think it was it's just easy with the first to give it away. I love that. Don't give it away.
Carrie:Just don't give it away. These are is it.
Brooke:And yeah, let your moments with family and meal would be so good, so special. And you do need someone to mean, I had Feed you, My Google on mom would come sit in the rocker at 5AM and hold our first so that my husband and I could get the morning stretch of two and a
Carrie:half yes, thank the Lord for the grandmas, yes.
Brooke:Do that, do that. But when you're up in a day, it's like your days do not have to be given away. Don't give away those days. Man. Let them be you and baby.
Brooke:There's a lifetime of love and family and community.
Carrie:That's so good. Brooke, thank you so much for being here. It's Before we finish, I want you to replug Nest and Rest and does your IV company have a specific name? Just plug all your stuff. I'll put it in the show notes for anybody in the Nashville area.
Carrie:Although is Nest and Rest, is that online?
Brooke:It's online.
Carrie:So it could be anywhere. It can be anywhere because Guys, classes are very helpful. I'm serious. I'm serious.
Brooke:And I think in full honesty, in this phase of life, I've been reorganizing how to do this, but yes, I need to post some spring class dates because they are all online. Oh, okay, good. And I've been able to turn them ministry wise to do this in more of a ministry ways for moms who are, you know, need that support. So that's been really cool, kind of been able to open that door as well. And then yes, I'm a mobile IV wellness nurse with Salt Hydration and Wellness, and so I take the Nashville area, the greater Nashville area, kind of North Nashville is my deal.
Brooke:But of course, I love to help even if mom is far away, I think I do need help or how do I do that? I love people messaging on my Instagram account and I love helping but with it's been so fun to being kind of the way the with the wellness space.
Carrie:Oh, you're so cut out for it. It's totally my thing. It is.
Brooke:I wanna give you an IV of B vitamins. Yeah. Think you
Carrie:and Connor talked in the kitchen for like forty five minutes about these sitcom holding everything in the room. We're like, I don't know. They're talking, like, health. It's not our forte, but you guys go for it. Yeah.
Brooke:I know. It's been so much fun. Aw. I love it.
Carrie:Yeah. Sounds great. Awesome. Okay. Well, thank you for being here.
Carrie:Love you very much. Oh, and I'll have you back for sure. I appreciate this conversation is gonna bless a lot of moms. I think so. Yeah.
Carrie:Absolutely. Thank you.