Episode 31

full
Published on:

11th May 2023

One mama, three dads, and a baby (eventually)!

This year's Mother's Day special is EXTRA SPECIAL thanks to our guests! Caite's friend Hannah Jungling has been carrying a baby as a surrogate for José and Chris, but the kiddo decided it would be a lot more fun if they got to do the interview from a hospital birthing suite. So we've got Hannah, her husband Bryce, and new dads Chris and José on to talk about surrogacy, becoming parents, farming, and a whole lot more. Baby Emma made her appearance shortly after our interview, so you can see all the happy families on our social media!

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This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Transcript
[Hannah Jungling]:

I'm sorry.

[Hannah Jungling]:

You're fine. Jungling. J-U-M-G-G.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Jungling.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Yep.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Okay got it. Today we are very excited to be talking to Hannah Jungling and

[Arlene Hunter]:

a few guests who will be popping in and out of the interview. So currently she's

[Arlene Hunter]:

in Georgia but we're gonna get more context on where she is and what's

[Arlene Hunter]:

happening. So before we even get into our usual first question I'm gonna

[Arlene Hunter]:

ask where you are and what you're up to at this very moment.

[Hannah Jungling]:

So we're hanging out in Georgia at the university hospital waiting on a cute

[Hannah Jungling]:

little baby to show up.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Very exciting. So we're gonna get more info on that, but we'll start with

[Arlene Hunter]:

our inner usual way so that people don't get confused. So we always start

[Arlene Hunter]:

out with our first question, which is what are you growing? So we know a

[Arlene Hunter]:

baby, but that can also cover crops, livestock, careers, businesses, all

[Arlene Hunter]:

kinds of other stuff. So Hannah, what else are you growing?

[Hannah Jungling]:

So we have a horse farm here in Aiken, South Carolina. And so we breed a

[Hannah Jungling]:

few horses a year. We do a little bit of selling, a little bit of training,

[Hannah Jungling]:

lots of showing. We also are currently growing a couple baby goats.

[Hannah Jungling]:

And there's a bunch of turkeys in the incubator and a couple of eggs sitting

[Hannah Jungling]:

under a hen. So we're just all sorts of things.

[Arlene Hunter]:

That's a lot of stuff. What kinds of horses and what kinds of showing?

[Arlene Hunter]:

I'm not a horse person, but I'm sure there are people out there who are

[Arlene Hunter]:

curious.

[Hannah Jungling]:

No, you're fine. So we do mostly Connemara Crosses. So they're an Irish

[Hannah Jungling]:

bred, smaller horse. And we cross those with warm bloods and sport horses

[Hannah Jungling]:

at home to do three day eventing and dressage is our main competing style. So

[Arlene Hunter]:

Very

[Hannah Jungling]:

it's a lot of

[Arlene Hunter]:

cool.

[Hannah Jungling]:

fun.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Yeah. And so are the turkeys and chickens for your own use? You're selling

[Arlene Hunter]:

them? Are you, what's?

[Hannah Jungling]:

The turkey we normally name sometime in the summer, Thanksgiving, Christmas

[Hannah Jungling]:

and New Year's.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Yeah.

[Hannah Jungling]:

And then the chickens are, we have all laying hens right now. At some

[Hannah Jungling]:

point we'd like to get doing some meat hens. And then we just got into,

[Hannah Jungling]:

we got two baby goats and the female will be a dairy goat and the male

[Hannah Jungling]:

is her little companion. He loses his nut nuts here next month.

[Caite]:

And Hannah, you have one other child, right?

[Hannah Jungling]:

We do, we have a six year old, almost seven, Tempe.

[Caite]:

So, I was wondering, I put this in here. I figured out that we've known each other

[Caite]:

for 23 years.

[Hannah Jungling]:

That's insane.

[Caite]:

Were you younger than Tempy when we met?

[Hannah Jungling]:

No, I probably would have been about the same age. I would probably have

[Hannah Jungling]:

been seven or eight. So about the same age. Isn't that crazy?

[Caite]:

For like our super scandalous moment for the week, my mom dated Hannah's dad for

[Caite]:

a while and that's how we know each other. So Hannah, other question, are you any

[Caite]:

taller than you were

[Hannah Jungling]:

Nope.

[Caite]:

at seven?

[Hannah Jungling]:

Yeah, nope.

[Caite]:

No, I didn't think

[Hannah Jungling]:

It

[Caite]:

so.

[Hannah Jungling]:

just all stopped, Katie, I'm telling you.

[Caite]:

You can't tell from the video, but Hannah is, I don't know, like a foot shorter

[Caite]:

than I am.

[Hannah Jungling]:

I barely hit five foot and all my brothers are over six. I'm not sure

[Hannah Jungling]:

where the bullshit happened, but it did.

[Caite]:

I think they knew that that much attitude in a bigger body would be dangerous.

[Hannah Jungling]:

that,

[Caite]:

So

[Hannah Jungling]:

I'll

[Caite]:

they,

[Hannah Jungling]:

leave out.

[Caite]:

you know, like a golf handicap or a racing handicap, you know, handicapper a little

[Caite]:

for everybody's safety.

[Hannah Jungling]:

I love it.

[Arlene Hunter]:

So Hannah, did you grow up on a farm or do you have a background in egg?

[Arlene Hunter]:

What's your farm story?

[Hannah Jungling]:

We grew up in town, but I grew up on the horse like I was on the horse

[Hannah Jungling]:

farm all the time. So I grew up at a farm out in Stone City, Iowa, that

[Hannah Jungling]:

I was at daily, constantly. I mean, I've always been just completely horse

[Hannah Jungling]:

obsessed. So starting the time I was about six, I was out there constantly.

[Hannah Jungling]:

But now I

[Caite]:

So, Hannah.

[Hannah Jungling]:

grew up in town.

[Caite]:

that leads in real well to how did you manage to make being a horse girl, like,

[Caite]:

a real job? You know, for anyone else who's wondering how to make

[Hannah Jungling]:

Oh,

[Caite]:

this

[Hannah Jungling]:

that's

[Caite]:

transition.

[Hannah Jungling]:

good. That's good. You don't make money on horses. So you make money other

[Hannah Jungling]:

ways. So I was a massage therapist for 15 years and then I taught riding

[Hannah Jungling]:

lessons on the side for 15 years and trained horses. And you had a great

[Hannah Jungling]:

time doing it. And when we moved to South Carolina, we just decided we

[Hannah Jungling]:

wanted to take a step back and have more family time. And so we built

[Hannah Jungling]:

out our farm ourselves. And like I said, we breed a little bit on the side.

[Hannah Jungling]:

We sell a little bit. Do a tiny bit of training, but I actually do a

[Hannah Jungling]:

lot more braiding now So I braid horses at night for the hunter jumper

[Hannah Jungling]:

shows which is extraordinarily lucrative like embarrassingly lucrative and

[Hannah Jungling]:

You know you're in the with the horses at night and they're quiet and they're

[Hannah Jungling]:

happy and they know the job and it's just it's really nice and then I have

[Hannah Jungling]:

my whole week to do my normal life at home with my family and The barn is

[Hannah Jungling]:

you know our farm is just lovely and quiet and serene. It's just it's

[Hannah Jungling]:

perfect. So I mean, do I make a living necessarily off the horses? No,

[Hannah Jungling]:

because that's impossible. They're way too expensive. But we incorporate

[Caite]:

So,

[Hannah Jungling]:

life.

[Caite]:

you're like really living the horse girl dream by getting paid to play with your

[Caite]:

horse's hair.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Literally, Katie, it's ridiculous. We finished

[Caite]:

That's

[Hannah Jungling]:

the weekend.

[Caite]:

amazing.

[Hannah Jungling]:

I finished the weekend, and it's just ridiculous. I mean, it's wild. So

[Hannah Jungling]:

it's super fun. We absolutely love it.

[Caite]:

That's bonkers.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Yeah,

[Caite]:

I love it.

[Hannah Jungling]:

right.

[Caite]:

I'm so here for this.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Right.

[Arlene Hunter]:

And

[Hannah Jungling]:

And

[Arlene Hunter]:

Hannah.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Tempe practices braiding all the time.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Does she have the best hairstyles for crazy hair day?

[Hannah Jungling]:

No, because I'm terrible at doing human hair. Like terrible.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Oh

[Hannah Jungling]:

So

[Arlene Hunter]:

yeah?

[Hannah Jungling]:

mine's short, can't

[Arlene Hunter]:

Yeah.

[Hannah Jungling]:

cut all that pass together. And so I'm terrible at doing hair. So I can

[Hannah Jungling]:

braid hers a little bit and stuff, but not a whole lot.

[Arlene Hunter]:

There's just not quite enough of it. Like there needs to, she

[Hannah Jungling]:

No,

[Arlene Hunter]:

needs to grow it for

[Hannah Jungling]:

so,

[Arlene Hunter]:

years.

[Hannah Jungling]:

you know, the funny things to complain about, you know, hers is so soft

[Hannah Jungling]:

and silky and horses are much more horse

[Arlene Hunter]:

Yeah.

[Hannah Jungling]:

and they don't complain.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Yeah, that's true. And your husband's in the room with you as well. Does

[Arlene Hunter]:

he work on farm or in egg or what's your story?

[Hannah Jungling]:

So I have a normal job, project manager for a consumer firm. Normal.

[Arlene Hunter]:

A normal

[Hannah Jungling]:

And then

[Arlene Hunter]:

job.

[Hannah Jungling]:

I come home and I get to work to the bone fixing all the things that

[Hannah Jungling]:

the horse girls break through today. So yeah, that's what we do.

[Arlene Hunter]:

That sounds about right. So, yeah. So Hannah, we talk a lot on this podcast

[Arlene Hunter]:

about, I mean, Katie and I end up going back to this a lot about becoming

[Arlene Hunter]:

parents for the first time and that transition from

[Hannah Jungling]:

Absolutely.

[Arlene Hunter]:

being a human unto yourself and then, you know, the transition to being

[Arlene Hunter]:

a parent. What was that like for you with your daughter?

[Hannah Jungling]:

It was, a lot of it was good and a lot of it was challenging. I think it's,

[Hannah Jungling]:

I think the evolution of becoming a parent is challenging in every fact

[Hannah Jungling]:

of the matter. We had, we had complications with our, not complications,

[Hannah Jungling]:

but just things we had to adapt to. Bryce was working full time and going

[Hannah Jungling]:

to school full time and I'm self-employed. So Tempe was with me 24 seven

[Hannah Jungling]:

and, you know, we just had to work through figuring those things out.

[Hannah Jungling]:

And I was so fortunate that I was able to, I was a very good milk cow.

[Hannah Jungling]:

And so I produced a lot of milk. It was very simple to just have her attach

[Hannah Jungling]:

to me all the time. She lived, I mean, she literally lived attached to my

[Hannah Jungling]:

body for the first two years and was with us at the barn all the time. I

[Hannah Jungling]:

taught with her constantly. She traveled. She was 10 days old at her first

[Hannah Jungling]:

tour show, three states away. You know, she just she had to kind of jump

[Hannah Jungling]:

and just roll with the punches like the rest of us. But it definitely was

[Hannah Jungling]:

an adaptation. to figure out and then moving down here and figuring

[Hannah Jungling]:

out school and everything. Our schools aren't as exceptional. And so just

[Hannah Jungling]:

figuring out the processes of everything. And I think as moms, parents

[Hannah Jungling]:

in general, we take on the role of you want to produce a kind and gentle

[Hannah Jungling]:

human to give back to the world because we have to give them back to

[Hannah Jungling]:

the world. And so Bryce and I have really taken a lot of responsibility

[Hannah Jungling]:

over that, that we want to make sure we're producing a good little human.

[Hannah Jungling]:

that will hopefully go on and do good little human things someday in

[Hannah Jungling]:

the world. But it's, yeah, it's a challenge. I think people that don't

[Hannah Jungling]:

think it's a challenge are definitely toying with themselves.

[Caite]:

And Hannah, before we get any further, how many horses does Tempe have now?

[Hannah Jungling]:

Oh, well, let's see. So she's got her hot sauce pony, who is the cutest pony

[Hannah Jungling]:

in the entire world that's ever existed. Arlene, Katie will have to send

[Hannah Jungling]:

you pictures on Facebook. It is like literally cutest pony. And then

[Hannah Jungling]:

she recently hijacked my husband's horse. And then she's got her eyes

[Hannah Jungling]:

set on one of my yearlings that she seems to think is going to be hers.

[Hannah Jungling]:

So, but she's, you know, going back to that, you know, raising children,

[Hannah Jungling]:

I think it's so important to raise them around animals. And I always

[Hannah Jungling]:

tell Bryce, my favorite thing in the whole world is when she doesn't hear

[Hannah Jungling]:

me behind her or see me and you hear her talking to the animals. She's

[Hannah Jungling]:

so sweet and gentle and she's at the fence and the babies have their head

[Hannah Jungling]:

over the fence and she's smooching them and telling them how beautiful

[Hannah Jungling]:

they are and talking in baby voices to them and snuggling the cats and all

[Hannah Jungling]:

of that. It's really special to see that relationship growing.

[Caite]:

So part of why we're talking to so many of you today and in the hospital, do you

[Caite]:

wanna just tell us why there are so many people in this room with you, Hannah?

[Hannah Jungling]:

So we've got a bit of a party going on right now. We only ever wanted one

[Hannah Jungling]:

child, and we felt very fortunate that we had a very healthy pregnancy and a

[Hannah Jungling]:

very healthy birth, and we have a wonderful little girl. And we always

[Hannah Jungling]:

talked about being surrogates and that it would be a really cool experience,

[Hannah Jungling]:

and it just kinda never panned out for us, and we've talked about it for about

[Hannah Jungling]:

six years. And so then we just, life was a bit crazy and busy, and we

[Hannah Jungling]:

thought maybe it just wasn't in the cards. And I don't know, it was over

[Hannah Jungling]:

a year ago now, about a year and a half ago, I started thinking about it

[Hannah Jungling]:

again, but I didn't really wanna say anything to Bryce until I'd sat with

[Hannah Jungling]:

it for a bit. So I kinda sat with it for like three or four months.

[Hannah Jungling]:

And then poor Bryce, I like just dumped it on him one day. I was like,

[Hannah Jungling]:

so I really wanna be a surrogate. And I, if you're in for this, then let's do

[Hannah Jungling]:

it. If you don't, then like we won't. But like, I really wanna do this.

[Hannah Jungling]:

And being the ever supportive guy that he is, he was like, well, hell yeah,

[Hannah Jungling]:

let's do it. So. we found an agency, which is a bit of a challenge. I

[Hannah Jungling]:

live a very active life, obviously, and a lot of the agencies want you

[Hannah Jungling]:

to be very, yeah, very sedentary. I mean, it's crazy. They just, they don't want

[Hannah Jungling]:

you doing anything. And so I finally found an agency that was okay with

[Hannah Jungling]:

me riding through the pregnancy and living our normal active life, running

[Hannah Jungling]:

a busy farm. And they immediately set us up with a couple from Australia. and

[Hannah Jungling]:

they didn't realize our parameters and our parameters were that we weren't gonna

[Hannah Jungling]:

carry for anyone that was straight. So they set us up with this lovely

[Hannah Jungling]:

couple from Australia and I wish I could have been a fly on the wall

[Hannah Jungling]:

when they had to call them back and say, actually the surrogate won't

[Hannah Jungling]:

carry for you because you're not gay. But the very next couple they paired

[Hannah Jungling]:

us with was Chris and Jose who were here with us and we absolutely fell

[Hannah Jungling]:

in love with them the moment we talked to them on the phone and immediately

[Hannah Jungling]:

became friends on Facebook and got each other's numbers. It's a very long

[Hannah Jungling]:

process. We met in January last year, and the transfer actually wasn't

[Hannah Jungling]:

until September? September. And so through that time, you know, I had to

[Hannah Jungling]:

make lots of trips up to Indianapolis, and we got to spend a lot of

[Hannah Jungling]:

time together and get to know each other really well. And it was like

[Hannah Jungling]:

icing on the cake when we first met them, and we, Bryce immediately started

[Hannah Jungling]:

stalking them, and they had an Airdale on their website, their dog groomers.

[Hannah Jungling]:

And as Katie knows, we love Airdales. We lost our beloved Airedale two

[Hannah Jungling]:

years ago. And so Bryce called me the moment he saw it on their website and

[Hannah Jungling]:

he was like, it's them, it's gotta be them. Like it's meant to be, we need

[Hannah Jungling]:

to stick with them. So it's just been, it's been really fun. We've had

[Hannah Jungling]:

a blast. They've become some of our very best friends. We talk every day.

[Hannah Jungling]:

And now we're at the point where little Emma has decided to come a week

[Hannah Jungling]:

or two early, but she's good and cooked and she's ready. So we're just hanging

[Hannah Jungling]:

out in the hospital.

[Caite]:

Yeah, for our listeners, we did not schedule this interview anticipating quite

[Caite]:

this level of excitement. But, you know, Hannah's a... She's a trooper, and she

[Caite]:

makes me look really low-key and calm. So, you know, she said, well, I'm, you know,

[Caite]:

I'm at the hospital, but we can still do the interview. And I was like, hey, are

[Caite]:

you sure? Yeah, fine. That's really cool, though, that you got to have this...

[Caite]:

love it for sight connection with the parents of your child in such a different way

[Caite]:

than we normally think of.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Yeah, it's been super awesome and it's been really exciting. It's been really

[Hannah Jungling]:

exciting and we were thrilled. They only had Chris' biological to this child

[Hannah Jungling]:

and he only had one little girl embryo. And so it was very exciting that

[Hannah Jungling]:

little Emma took because they really wanted a little girl. So it's been

[Hannah Jungling]:

super fun.

[Arlene Hunter]:

That is really neat. How have you explained it to your daughter and how does

[Arlene Hunter]:

she understand the process of what's been going on?

[Hannah Jungling]:

So that's actually hysterical. We, depending on how much people do with breeding,

[Hannah Jungling]:

they're familiar or not with the term, but we do a lot of breeding with

[Hannah Jungling]:

horses, right? And we had three Ixie babies last year. Well, Ixie is

[Hannah Jungling]:

the exact same process. So although my daughter has zero idea about natural

[Hannah Jungling]:

birds and the bees, artificial insemination and Ixie and embryos are like

[Hannah Jungling]:

right up her alley. So she has been fortunate enough to be at the vet

[Hannah Jungling]:

clinic when we've done a lot of the processes. And so she's gotten to

[Hannah Jungling]:

see the eggs, the sperm, all of it under the microscope, and then see

[Hannah Jungling]:

the embryos before we insert them into the mares and then follow the ultrasounds

[Hannah Jungling]:

in the process. And eventually she's there when we birth out the foals. So

[Hannah Jungling]:

for her, it was a no brainer. I mean, I just told her, we talked about with

[Hannah Jungling]:

her with her to make sure she was comfortable with it. And we just told

[Hannah Jungling]:

her that it's the exact same process, that we're caring for some very dear

[Hannah Jungling]:

friends that aren't able to carry for themselves. And our family's gonna

[Hannah Jungling]:

help make another family. And as soon as we said icksy, she was like,

[Hannah Jungling]:

oh, so we're making petri dish babies. I was like, yup, that's what we're

[Hannah Jungling]:

doing. So it was easy peasy explaining it to her.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Yeah, that's a good point. We live on a dairy farm and so, you know, one

[Arlene Hunter]:

of my kids' first jobs when they're out in the barn with my husband is,

[Arlene Hunter]:

you know, like carrying the lube for him to do artificial insemination

[Arlene Hunter]:

on cows. So, yeah, breeding and talking about semen and all those kinds

[Arlene Hunter]:

of things are, you know, pretty typical for our kids. So, it probably is easier

[Arlene Hunter]:

for them to understand than kids who aren't in agriculture or used to dealing

[Arlene Hunter]:

with livestock.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Absolutely. Well, now that being said, there has been a time or two where

[Hannah Jungling]:

she's asked like, so is this how I was made? And Bryce and I very politely

[Hannah Jungling]:

are like,

[Arlene Hunter]:

It's a little different.

[Hannah Jungling]:

conversation for a bit.

[Caite]:

So... I just totally lost track of where I was, sorry. What's the going forward,

[Caite]:

what are you anticipating your relationship being like with this family? Because I mean,

[Caite]:

obviously, rather than like an open adoption or something, like, you came at this

[Caite]:

whole situation very differently than a lot of families who end up... mixing two

[Caite]:

families together like this.

[Hannah Jungling]:

I don't think we anticipated, I don't think Chris and Jose or Bryce and I

[Hannah Jungling]:

anticipated having such a close relationship. I think this was a hope.

[Hannah Jungling]:

I had told Chris when we initially talked that I thought it'd be really

[Hannah Jungling]:

cool if maybe like, we'd get a picture once a year of her as she grows,

[Hannah Jungling]:

because she's not biologically related to me at all. She's a donor egg and

[Hannah Jungling]:

Chris is sperm. But, you know, we've... just we've become so close and

[Hannah Jungling]:

they're literally a part of our family. After Emma's born we'll actually

[Hannah Jungling]:

all go back to the farm for a week, a few days to a week to settle and

[Hannah Jungling]:

get milk supply up and in so we should milk off to them and help them

[Hannah Jungling]:

get their feed under them with a newborn baby and just spend time together

[Hannah Jungling]:

and enjoy time together. But no, I know it's definitely not the norm

[Hannah Jungling]:

and I'm still not quite sure how we got so fortunate to. have the relationship

[Hannah Jungling]:

that we do, but I'm incredibly thankful for it because we definitely want

[Hannah Jungling]:

to watch Emma grow up. And Tempe calls her her little cousin and she's

[Hannah Jungling]:

been sleeping with a little stuffy for the past month because she wants

[Hannah Jungling]:

the stuffy to smell like her so that Emma can take it home and remember

[Hannah Jungling]:

her smell. So it's been really sweet. It's been really, really sweet.

[Arlene Hunter]:

That is so cute.

[Caite]:

I love talking to families that come together more intentionally or with more luck

[Caite]:

and less.

[Caite]:

normal, I guess. I don't know

[Hannah Jungling]:

Yeah.

[Caite]:

what to... You know, there's a lot of folks who do things kind of the boy meets

[Caite]:

girl, boy and girl get drunk, boy and girl have a baby kind of way. You know, but

[Caite]:

it's so cool to think about all the ways that families are made and how many people

[Caite]:

that can involve and

[Hannah Jungling]:

Absolutely.

[Caite]:

what a gift to be able to give someone.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Absolutely, and they've waited far, I mean, how old were these embryos? Four

[Hannah Jungling]:

years? Well, we started this process, sorry to talk about it. Talk loud.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Hi, this is Jose.

[Caite]:

I was gonna say I can only see the ceiling, but

[Arlene Hunter]:

Hahaha

[Caite]:

okay. Hahahaha.

[Hannah Jungling]:

So, technically we started this whole process like around four years ago.

[Hannah Jungling]:

And it wasn't until the end of the, I would say probably 2018, beginning

[Hannah Jungling]:

2019, that we decided to go forward cause we weren't really sure if

[Hannah Jungling]:

this is what we really wanted to do. We were not sure if we were ready for

[Hannah Jungling]:

kids, but then like most of our close friends started having kids throughout

[Hannah Jungling]:

COVID and then we were like, we looked at each other and they were like,

[Hannah Jungling]:

yep. This is the path. I mean, all of our friends are having babies.

[Hannah Jungling]:

So I think it's just, I don't know what it is, the universe. whatever you

[Hannah Jungling]:

want to call it. But I think it doesn't. And then, so yeah, we started the

[Hannah Jungling]:

whole process at Midwest Fertility. We called our, an agency close to

[Hannah Jungling]:

where we live by, and which by the way, we still on their waiting list,

[Hannah Jungling]:

waiting for a surrogate. They don't even know that we're actually having

[Hannah Jungling]:

a baby. But we, we created embryos and we, like Hannah mentioned, that

[Hannah Jungling]:

we, they were frozen for a while. because we were still looking for

[Hannah Jungling]:

a surrogate. And then Chris called Andrea, a wonderful person from Midwest

[Hannah Jungling]:

that was helping us throughout the process and desperately called her and

[Hannah Jungling]:

asked if she knew anything or of any agencies that we can call. So she

[Hannah Jungling]:

mentioned one from Texas, that's based in Texas. And what's it called

[Hannah Jungling]:

Chris? Newborn. Newborn. Newborn, yeah. Newborn advantage. Newborn advantage.

[Hannah Jungling]:

And then we called to... Mindy who is

[Hannah Jungling]:

the coordinator. Yeah, you call it. And then we talked to her and that

[Hannah Jungling]:

was like in around 20 towards the end of 2021, November around that time.

[Hannah Jungling]:

We talked to them and we're just like, pretty much we're just like looking

[Hannah Jungling]:

for someone that can help us and guide us the right way. And then January

[Hannah Jungling]:

of 2022, that's when She was like, I think I found the right person.

[Hannah Jungling]:

And that's when we met Hannah. We had a phone interview with them. No, a video

[Hannah Jungling]:

call. We met on a video call. And then it was kind of like, it was kind of

[Hannah Jungling]:

like meant to be. And then, yeah, everything just went great since then.

[Arlene Hunter]:

That's really neat.

[Caite]:

I think. Sorry, you're never ready for babies. Like, it seems a little rude to

[Caite]:

tell you that now, like a little, you know, closing the door after the horses are

[Caite]:

out, but you'll never be ready. But it's the best thing I've ever done.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Yeah,

[Caite]:

And

[Hannah Jungling]:

we have

[Caite]:

hopefully

[Hannah Jungling]:

a,

[Caite]:

it'll.

[Hannah Jungling]:

I mean, I can, that is true because we're not really ready, but I think

[Hannah Jungling]:

we have a lot. Well, we're really not ready for her to come yet.

[Caite]:

I'm

[Hannah Jungling]:

But

[Caite]:

sorry.

[Hannah Jungling]:

I mean, we have a lot of help back at home and a lot of help. I mean,

[Hannah Jungling]:

Bryce and Hannah and even Hannah's family have been just wonderful and

[Hannah Jungling]:

we know we'll be okay. We'll make it through.

[Caite]:

I think it's really cool, too, that you can start your time with this baby without

[Caite]:

one of you being, um, dealing with the physical after effects of having just produced

[Caite]:

another human too,

[Hannah Jungling]:

this.

[Caite]:

because

[Hannah Jungling]:

Yeah.

[Caite]:

that was, I think, the hardest part is trying to heal and deal with the new baby

[Caite]:

who doesn't sleep. I

[Hannah Jungling]:

That

[Caite]:

mean,

[Hannah Jungling]:

is

[Caite]:

your

[Hannah Jungling]:

so.

[Caite]:

baby will totally sleep and cause absolutely no problems ever, but...

[Hannah Jungling]:

Katie, I made it. Feral. It is feral.

[Caite]:

Yeah, I feel okay about saying this because my kids are totally feral and I've

[Caite]:

known you for a long time, Hannah. Feral is an accurate description.

[Hannah Jungling]:

I have told them from the beginning. I was like, I don't know what it

[Hannah Jungling]:

is. It's me, it's me. It's something I do. This thing is wild all the

[Hannah Jungling]:

time. I, I'm sorry guys.

[Caite]:

My daughter asked last night if she ever kicked me while I was pregnant with her.

[Hannah Jungling]:

No,

[Caite]:

And this

[Hannah Jungling]:

never

[Caite]:

is,

[Hannah Jungling]:

honey.

[Caite]:

I have five hernias down the middle of my abdomen from her kicking me.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Oh my

[Caite]:

Like

[Hannah Jungling]:

god.

[Caite]:

literally destroyed my body. And she's like, I never kicked him. Okay, kid, okay.

[Caite]:

So I'm just gonna add a question in here. Hannah, since you are braiding horses

[Caite]:

and you said that. Chris and Jose are dog groomers. Have you thought about like combining

[Caite]:

forces and then perhaps like a reality show

[Hannah Jungling]:

I

[Caite]:

or?

[Hannah Jungling]:

mean, we're trying to convince them to move down to South Carolina, but I

[Hannah Jungling]:

don't think it's going to happen. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able

[Hannah Jungling]:

to do that.

[Caite]:

I'm just picturing the show that you could create from this. And

[Hannah Jungling]:

Ed-

[Caite]:

I mean, I would totally watch that, so.

[Hannah Jungling]:

It would be epic. It would be epic. They run, so not only do they run

[Hannah Jungling]:

a dog grooming business, they do doggy daycare too and dog boarding.

[Hannah Jungling]:

And one of the first times I went to their house, the, so the whole basement

[Hannah Jungling]:

is set up as their dog grooming and boarding area. And one of the first times

[Hannah Jungling]:

I went to their house, they opened up the basement door and there had to

[Hannah Jungling]:

have been, there had to have been 30 dogs all just like coming and peering

[Hannah Jungling]:

around the corner and they're like, Oh, hello. And that's

[Caite]:

That

[Hannah Jungling]:

the reason.

[Caite]:

is GOLES.

[Hannah Jungling]:

It is hysterical, but people love boarding with them because the dogs are

[Hannah Jungling]:

treated like family, and they're not left in kennels, and you know,

[Hannah Jungling]:

they're out and about and hanging out with everybody, and it's really

[Hannah Jungling]:

cool. It's a really cool situation.

[Caite]:

Do you think that dog grooming leaves them better prepared for dealing with little

[Caite]:

girl hair than horse grooming does?

[Hannah Jungling]:

Definitely. What do you think? Oh yeah. Yeah? Yeah? Okay. I've been practicing

[Hannah Jungling]:

with, so whenever we groom dogs, mainly girl dogs, like females, and they

[Hannah Jungling]:

like poodles, they're like, oh, they're long hair and stuff like that.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Are you putting bows in? Yeah. I

[Arlene Hunter]:

Hehehehe

[Hannah Jungling]:

put bows in. So I specifically, like, we specifically order like, like, like

[Hannah Jungling]:

cute bows. And then I think I got the hang of it. So I'm all set

[Arlene Hunter]:

Yeah,

[Hannah Jungling]:

for that. Jose's.

[Arlene Hunter]:

yeah, perfect. Watch this baby be

[Caite]:

I

[Arlene Hunter]:

the

[Caite]:

have

[Arlene Hunter]:

baldest

[Caite]:

to say it's...

[Arlene Hunter]:

child ever. Like, you know those babies that don't have hair till they're

[Arlene Hunter]:

like two.

[Hannah Jungling]:

We did an ultrasound, a 3D ultrasound. We had the best, they did a big

[Hannah Jungling]:

baby shower, what was that, two weeks ago? It wasn't that long ago. April

[Hannah Jungling]:

1st. They did this huge baby shower back in Indianapolis. And it was amazing.

[Hannah Jungling]:

It was so much fun. Jose's family is obviously Hispanic and cooked up

[Hannah Jungling]:

the most incredible food. And they have so much family and everybody's

[Hannah Jungling]:

so excited. And we had such a great stinking time. And I can't remember

[Hannah Jungling]:

where I was going with this.

[Arlene Hunter]:

something about hair. Bows.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Oh, and that's right, we did a 3D ultrasound while we were there. And,

[Hannah Jungling]:

um,

[Hannah Jungling]:

it was, oh my god, the food was so good. Sorry, the food got... Oh, Katie,

[Hannah Jungling]:

it was lamb. And it was amazing.

[Caite]:

Oh my god.

[Hannah Jungling]:

It was

[Caite]:

Yom.

[Hannah Jungling]:

so good. It was so good. But, um, they did a 3D ultrasound. We had so

[Hannah Jungling]:

much fun. But she has so much hair on the ultrasound already. And I

[Hannah Jungling]:

was like, well, that's where all the heartburn came from. So hopefully,

[Hannah Jungling]:

hopefully there'll be some good hair for Jose to play with.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Yeah, that's right.

[Caite]:

I love Hannah as the mom of a pretty girly child myself, and she's like, why can't

[Caite]:

you do hair better? And I'm like, kid, look at me. Like, my hair is real short too.

[Caite]:

Like,

[Hannah Jungling]:

Mm-hmm.

[Caite]:

you know why my hair is short? Because I am not the one you want for this baby.

[Hannah Jungling]:

No! And who's got time for that? I'm sorry, I do not have time for that.

[Caite]:

Yeah. I'm trying to find one of the moms at daycare that I can like legit just

[Caite]:

pay off to deal with my kids hair because

[Hannah Jungling]:

That's amazing.

[Caite]:

I am not, I am not here for this.

[Hannah Jungling]:

That's

[Caite]:

Just

[Hannah Jungling]:

amazing.

[Caite]:

not.

[Arlene Hunter]:

So I know that probably every, oh, Katie's got more, go.

[Caite]:

Arlene, I forgot the second half of my question because I

[Arlene Hunter]:

Okay,

[Caite]:

got

[Arlene Hunter]:

sorry.

[Caite]:

all distracted by Jose's family's food.

[Hannah Jungling]:

So you would

[Caite]:

So

[Hannah Jungling]:

have been kidding,

[Caite]:

you-

[Hannah Jungling]:

trust me.

[Caite]:

You said you were a total milk cow for the first kid, and I think you already

[Caite]:

partly answered this, but What's the plan for feeding this baby? Let's talk about

[Caite]:

food, Hannah. Let's just circle back to food

[Hannah Jungling]:

So we've got a really cool situation with Chris and Jose that they've

[Hannah Jungling]:

been very open about breastfeeding and birth and everything and just figuring

[Hannah Jungling]:

out what is going to A, be best for Emma and B, what's going to be feasible

[Hannah Jungling]:

for all of us. So that was kind of how we came to, you know, let's...

[Hannah Jungling]:

get Emma here and safely and then go back to the farm and settle and

[Hannah Jungling]:

we can all kind of help each other. I mean, forehands are far better than

[Hannah Jungling]:

two and all kind of help

[Caite]:

I think

[Hannah Jungling]:

each

[Caite]:

you

[Hannah Jungling]:

other.

[Caite]:

have eight hands between the four of you, right?

[Hannah Jungling]:

Yeah,

[Caite]:

Okay, good. I

[Hannah Jungling]:

yeah,

[Caite]:

just thought

[Hannah Jungling]:

you're

[Caite]:

I'd

[Hannah Jungling]:

right.

[Caite]:

check.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Yeah. I can't, I don't know. Hard. But just kind of get everybody settled

[Hannah Jungling]:

and that'll give me time to get my milk in. And I was very fortunate

[Hannah Jungling]:

that I was an absolute cow last time. So hopefully if they're here for

[Hannah Jungling]:

about a week, we can get a bunch of milk frozen up for them to send

[Hannah Jungling]:

off with and then we'll be shipping milk up north for them weekly. So

[Hannah Jungling]:

that should be a pretty good situation. And last time I produced, I fed

[Hannah Jungling]:

Tempe, obviously, and then I also pumped, I had a girlfriend who did not

[Hannah Jungling]:

nurse well. And so I pumped and fed her baby half of his milk as well.

[Hannah Jungling]:

And then I also donated about 600 ounces. So it was, I was very... Good milk

[Hannah Jungling]:

cow. Yeah.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Yeah Good supply for sure.

[Hannah Jungling]:

So, yeah, fingers crossed that happens again. I know it's not always

[Hannah Jungling]:

the same and pumping will be different obviously than having a baby on

[Hannah Jungling]:

the breast all the time. So we'll see, we'll see, but that's the hope.

[Hannah Jungling]:

That's the hope.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Mm-hmm.

[Caite]:

I like that you're setting up a meal train now. You know,

[Hannah Jungling]:

Right? Right?

[Caite]:

for the baby.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Why not? I'm sorry.

[Caite]:

Can you call?

[Arlene Hunter]:

So I'm sure that every surrogacy experience is different, but can you talk a

[Arlene Hunter]:

little bit about the steps like medically that you go through? Like say

[Arlene Hunter]:

someone else was interested or curious about how it works. So what did

[Arlene Hunter]:

it look like for you? And you've talked a lot about kind of the delays and how

[Arlene Hunter]:

long everything takes. So I'm also kind of curious about what happens along

[Arlene Hunter]:

the way.

[Hannah Jungling]:

I think the longest process was probably legal, wouldn't you say? The attorneys?

[Hannah Jungling]:

Yeah, it was a long, because I don't think it was, I think it was like April

[Hannah Jungling]:

before, or May even, before we started on the actual process, a physical

[Hannah Jungling]:

process. So the attorney portion took a really long time. And I feel

[Hannah Jungling]:

like we were all very simple on the contracts. Like we were like, we were

[Hannah Jungling]:

pretty easy. Like whatever you guys say, I just think it takes a long

[Hannah Jungling]:

time to. get everything squared away. And we have the challenge too, that you're

[Hannah Jungling]:

dealing with all these different states, right? So they're from Indianapolis,

[Hannah Jungling]:

but and we're from South Carolina, but the laws in Georgia are actually

[Hannah Jungling]:

more agreeable for surrogacy. And we're thankfully about 15 minutes from

[Hannah Jungling]:

the border of Georgia. So that's why we're in Georgia to have the baby.

[Hannah Jungling]:

So that was kind of the longest process. And then after that, it was. I mean,

[Hannah Jungling]:

blood draws and lots of ultrasounds to kind of start tracking cycles and seeing

[Hannah Jungling]:

where everything's sitting. Very similar to an IVF process. And then we

[Hannah Jungling]:

did, I would go up to Indianapolis and they would do scans up there and check

[Hannah Jungling]:

everything. And then we did a mock trial, which was super interesting because

[Hannah Jungling]:

we had to time when we needed to do implantation. And so most women you implant,

[Hannah Jungling]:

I believe it was seven days, and they did a mock trial where they actually

[Hannah Jungling]:

scraped some of the uterine lining and they test the cells to see when

[Hannah Jungling]:

you're gonna be most fertile to accept an egg or an embryo. And they said,

[Hannah Jungling]:

you know, there's just, there's a few women that are a little before or a little

[Hannah Jungling]:

after, and thankfully they did that because my day was actually day nine,

[Hannah Jungling]:

not seven. So if we had just gone for the first one, we probably wouldn't

[Hannah Jungling]:

have had little Emma. We'd probably have a little boy instead. So it was

[Hannah Jungling]:

great that we did the mock trial and kind of knew. what day they need

[Hannah Jungling]:

to do the transfer on and then The next cycle I went back up for the

[Hannah Jungling]:

transfer and then same as IVF It's tons of tons of shots and I don't

[Hannah Jungling]:

do needles. So that was kind of a struggle, but we got through it But it

[Hannah Jungling]:

was actually really amazing. We had a We had a mare last year lose a foal

[Hannah Jungling]:

tragically she was having a canter with the herd and she Ran into a fence

[Hannah Jungling]:

post and broke her neck And so it was absolutely heart-wrenching. And we

[Hannah Jungling]:

were with the foal, obviously, until the vet got there and had her sedated

[Hannah Jungling]:

and quiet and everything. And the mare, the mom of the foal, is one of

[Hannah Jungling]:

my homebreds. So I had pulled her from her dam. And so her and I are obviously

[Hannah Jungling]:

very close. And so the situation was very challenging and heartbreaking for

[Hannah Jungling]:

all of us to go through. And when the transfer happened, it was about

[Hannah Jungling]:

two months after we had lost the baby. And she actually came up into the

[Hannah Jungling]:

field. When I got home, I was out doing some stuff. and she came up and

[Hannah Jungling]:

it was still three days before I could take a positive pregnancy test. And

[Hannah Jungling]:

she put her head on my chest and put her nose on my stomach and just stood

[Hannah Jungling]:

there. And you know, I was just loving on her. I didn't really think anything

[Hannah Jungling]:

of it. And then mom kind of, I think it was, I don't know if it was

[Hannah Jungling]:

mom or Bryce was like, you know, do you think, do you think she knows

[Hannah Jungling]:

something? And I was like, you know, I didn't even think about that. She's

[Hannah Jungling]:

a very affectionate animal anyway, but it was just interesting how she

[Hannah Jungling]:

came over and really just rested on my stomach. And then that night,

[Hannah Jungling]:

one of our cats who we've had for forever, who was also, with me during

[Hannah Jungling]:

my last pregnancy and is obsessed with incubating babies, obsessed with

[Hannah Jungling]:

it, immediately started incubating my stomach. And so I texted Chris and Jose

[Hannah Jungling]:

and I was like, I think we're pregnant. And they were like, really? There's

[Hannah Jungling]:

no way we can know yet. And we knew long before we took the pregnancy test

[Hannah Jungling]:

that we were pregnant. It was really cool. But it was so fun to have

[Hannah Jungling]:

the animals being the one to tell you, you know, that they were all like,

[Hannah Jungling]:

oh yeah, there's a bun in the oven. Let's get this thing going. So, but

[Hannah Jungling]:

yeah, the process was. Other than that, it was pretty smooth. I went back

[Hannah Jungling]:

up for an eight week ultrasound in Indianapolis. And at that point I was released

[Hannah Jungling]:

from Midwest Fertility. And then I started with a midwife here in Aiken,

[Hannah Jungling]:

who actually kind of counseled us into not doing a hospital birth, because

[Hannah Jungling]:

our first birth was a home birth. And so then we went to Savannah and

[Hannah Jungling]:

got in with a birthing center there, which we absolutely loved. And then

[Hannah Jungling]:

Emma decided that, you know, it's not really anybody's decision other than

[Hannah Jungling]:

hers anyway. So here we are at the hospital.

[Caite]:

Chris and Jose, I know you know Hannah well enough by now, but y'all are screwed if

[Caite]:

she comes out with even like half of her attitude. You're just up a creek.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Oh,

[Caite]:

I mean,

[Hannah Jungling]:

love it. Yeah, I will.

[Caite]:

you're lucky, cause... Hmm.

[Caite]:

Sorry, we totally missed that.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Oh, you're fine. We were saying that if Emma, it's just like, we will

[Hannah Jungling]:

love it. What's not to love about Emma? I don't know about that, but they're

[Hannah Jungling]:

pretty great guys.

[Caite]:

I mean, my daughter's a sassy little critter too, so I fully... I love it.

[Hannah Jungling]:

You wouldn't want it any other way though. I mean, the stuff that comes

[Hannah Jungling]:

out of Tempe's mouth most of the time leaves me like peeing my pants.

[Hannah Jungling]:

So like, I'm game.

[Caite]:

figure it's got to be easier to try and get them to chill a little bit than it

[Caite]:

is to deal with a kid who is just, you know, can be told anything and will go

[Caite]:

along with it. So,

[Hannah Jungling]:

Well...

[Caite]:

at least that's what I tell myself to deal with the

[Hannah Jungling]:

Absolutely.

[Caite]:

tremendous amount of attitude. Um, what...

[Caite]:

I know you said there are other embryos remaining. I was about to say on file, but

[Caite]:

I don't think that's really what I meant.

[Hannah Jungling]:

They're in a-

[Caite]:

Have you guys talked about doing this again?

[Hannah Jungling]:

So we have.

[Caite]:

Not... It's like... Go ahead.

[Hannah Jungling]:

We have, and I mean, we don't have any details or anything. It's just a thought,

[Hannah Jungling]:

I think, right now. And Hannah and Bryce are, I think, agreeable to it. And

[Hannah Jungling]:

we're on board with another one. So, you know, obviously, this is a little

[Hannah Jungling]:

girl, and we'd like to have a little boy. But we just want to have success.

[Hannah Jungling]:

We want Emma to come and get... We want to get through this one before

[Hannah Jungling]:

we start really venturing down another path. Planning the second one.

[Hannah Jungling]:

So yeah, that's where I'm with that. I had no desire to do another surrogacy

[Hannah Jungling]:

until they brought it up. I don't think I would. I wanted to do this

[Hannah Jungling]:

once. If it was for another couple, I would not be interested. But we've

[Hannah Jungling]:

had so much fun. And It's been great and it's been so fun to get to know

[Hannah Jungling]:

them. They're going to be the best daddies in the world. This little

[Hannah Jungling]:

girl is so lucky. So I think we're, we're game to do it again.

[Caite]:

So how has this pregnancy been different, physically and emotionally, than the last one?

[Hannah Jungling]:

Honestly, not at all. The only frustration I had with this one in the

[Hannah Jungling]:

beginning was they had me on restricted activity, which I understand

[Hannah Jungling]:

why. But that was challenging. Again, Katie and I have known each other for

[Hannah Jungling]:

years. Sitting is not a common part of my life, nor is sleeping.

[Caite]:

I don't know that I've ever seen you seated,

[Hannah Jungling]:

Yeah,

[Caite]:

and

[Hannah Jungling]:

I

[Caite]:

I don't

[Hannah Jungling]:

don't

[Caite]:

think you actually do sleep, so...

[Hannah Jungling]:

know. Really not a cup of tea of mine. So. So that part was a little

[Hannah Jungling]:

challenging in the beginning. It wasn't bed rest or anything, but it was

[Hannah Jungling]:

the simple things of like, I couldn't go out and throw 15 bales of hay,

[Hannah Jungling]:

which, you know, I'm taking care of your farm. And so Bryce and my parents

[Hannah Jungling]:

were very accommodating and helpful to do the heavy lifting on the farm

[Hannah Jungling]:

that I couldn't do for a few weeks. But after that, I was back to my

[Hannah Jungling]:

normal activity level. I've been riding three horses four to five days

[Hannah Jungling]:

a week still, running the farm, throwing, you know, a bunch of hay. And...

[Hannah Jungling]:

Um, it's honestly, physically, it's been exactly the same up until this little

[Hannah Jungling]:

entertaining blip on Saturday morning. Um, but, uh, and emotionally, it's,

[Hannah Jungling]:

emotionally, it's been absolutely fine. Um, I really, like I said, I really sat

[Hannah Jungling]:

with this for a long time before I even talked to Bryce about it, um,

[Hannah Jungling]:

and made sure that I felt like I was, uh, emotionally and mentally capable

[Hannah Jungling]:

of carrying someone else's child and being comfortable, you know, knowing

[Hannah Jungling]:

that this was not my baby. even though your body thinks it is when it

[Hannah Jungling]:

comes out, it's not my baby. And so we've all talked about it. It's so funny

[Hannah Jungling]:

because people bring up the comment a lot, like how do you make a baby

[Hannah Jungling]:

and then give it up? And I'm like, it was never mine to give up. It's

[Hannah Jungling]:

always been Chris and Jose's little girl. So it's just my job to incubate

[Hannah Jungling]:

the little cutie and bring her into the world. So I feel like rationally,

[Hannah Jungling]:

I've been very good on that level. That being said, one of the reasons

[Hannah Jungling]:

we went with this agency is they have a really good counseling program

[Hannah Jungling]:

afterwards. because we're all moms and we all know the hormones that

[Hannah Jungling]:

come in after you give birth. And I want to be prepared for that. I definitely

[Hannah Jungling]:

want to be. And we had, we unfortunately had a lot of heartache the first

[Hannah Jungling]:

half of the pregnancy with some dear friends passing. And just a, it was

[Hannah Jungling]:

a hard, hard fall. And so I'm very aware that that's probably gonna hit

[Hannah Jungling]:

me as well. And so we're gonna be prepared for that. But at the same

[Hannah Jungling]:

time, you know, rationally, like I said, I'm sitting with it very well

[Hannah Jungling]:

rationally. I just. I know hormones are a beast, so I want to make sure

[Hannah Jungling]:

I'm prepared for that when it comes around.

[Caite]:

Do you think it helped the mental part of the process, that it started as an embryo

[Caite]:

and not with your, I mean, not with your egg, but also not with your immediate

[Caite]:

biological involvement in the actually making an embryo, if that makes sense.

[Hannah Jungling]:

I think yes and no. I don't know. I'm pretty good at compartmentalizing.

[Hannah Jungling]:

I feel like from the get-go I just emotionally and mentally understood

[Hannah Jungling]:

it's not my child. And I feel like that part sat, that part sits well

[Hannah Jungling]:

with me. We have no desire to have another child. We feel like we have

[Hannah Jungling]:

a jackpot. I mean she is beautiful and wonderful and she's smart and

[Hannah Jungling]:

she's kind and she's gentle. she's giving, you know, she's just everything

[Hannah Jungling]:

we ever could have wanted for a child. And so we always knew we only

[Hannah Jungling]:

ever wanted one, and I'm sure the next one will be a demon. And so we

[Hannah Jungling]:

just, we sat tight with that. And that was actually the really funny part.

[Hannah Jungling]:

We were going through some of this paperwork and stuff, you know, Bryce

[Hannah Jungling]:

was very adamant as we were talking with our attorney, he's like, but how

[Hannah Jungling]:

do we make sure that this child does not accidentally come to us? Because

[Hannah Jungling]:

we don't want another one.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Don't make us guardians of any kind.

[Hannah Jungling]:

It was so funny, I mean, he was like, no seriously, what if something

[Hannah Jungling]:

goes wrong with our birth certificate and they try to give us the baby?

[Arlene Hunter]:

Thanks for watching!

[Caite]:

Just like, return policy, there is not one. No

[Hannah Jungling]:

Right.

[Caite]:

returns without a receipt, no returns with a receipt. It's your

[Arlene Hunter]:

Yeah.

[Caite]:

problem now, guys.

[Hannah Jungling]:

So it was pretty funny, but no, it's been a really cool process. It's been

[Hannah Jungling]:

super cool. And for the most part, it's gone very smoothly other than this

[Hannah Jungling]:

little hiccup. And I think this was kind of one of the ways the universe

[Hannah Jungling]:

does sometimes, you need to accept how things are going to go and you

[Hannah Jungling]:

need to be willing to adapt and evolve. And so this was definitely not

[Hannah Jungling]:

the plan, but we have been willing to adapt and evolve. And at the same

[Hannah Jungling]:

time, we're going to spend all this time with Chris and Jose. They've

[Hannah Jungling]:

been here since Sunday. and we get to spend every day together and we're

[Hannah Jungling]:

all just hanging out. We've got dominoes on the floor and Tempe's been

[Hannah Jungling]:

ripping up some uno with everybody and we've just been having a good

[Hannah Jungling]:

time.

[Arlene Hunter]:

That's great.

[Caite]:

It feels like a good introduction to parenthood, too. This is kinda...

[Hannah Jungling]:

I think so.

[Caite]:

you know.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Yeah, I really

[Caite]:

About

[Hannah Jungling]:

do

[Caite]:

what

[Hannah Jungling]:

think

[Caite]:

it's gonna

[Hannah Jungling]:

so.

[Caite]:

be like.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Right?

[Arlene Hunter]:

So I know you've said that Emma's dictating how things are gonna go in

[Arlene Hunter]:

terms of the birth, but you know, in like detail wise, is everyone going

[Arlene Hunter]:

to be in the room when she's born, or what are your plans for kind of those

[Arlene Hunter]:

final

[Hannah Jungling]:

Well,

[Arlene Hunter]:

moments?

[Hannah Jungling]:

that's the plan. We're not quite sure about Chris. He doesn't do, we've

[Hannah Jungling]:

been very honest that it's loud and it's messy.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Yep.

[Hannah Jungling]:

And he doesn't mess bodily fluids very well. So Tempe might be holding

[Hannah Jungling]:

his hand in the corner. You know, that's fine.

[Arlene Hunter]:

She's seen birth before,

[Hannah Jungling]:

But

[Arlene Hunter]:

right?

[Hannah Jungling]:

I've seen her plenty of times. She's very, they've been very kind. they were

[Hannah Jungling]:

more than willing to have her in the room with us. Obviously if it's

[Hannah Jungling]:

in the middle of the night and she's not here, you know, we're not gonna

[Hannah Jungling]:

scramble to try to get her here, but hopefully she'll get to be here for

[Hannah Jungling]:

it too. But for now we're planning in the room will be Chris and Jose

[Hannah Jungling]:

and Bryce and me obviously, and Tempe and my mom. So it'll be kind of a

[Hannah Jungling]:

roomful and we're kind of just gauging who, you know, it's ebb and flow

[Hannah Jungling]:

of hopefully one of us are gonna catch her. I think it'd be cool to have

[Hannah Jungling]:

someone in the family catch her rather than, you know, the doctors or the

[Hannah Jungling]:

nurses. But it should be really fun. Yeah, the only one we're a little

[Hannah Jungling]:

concerned about is Chris over there. We might have him sitting in a

[Hannah Jungling]:

chair.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Yeah, you don't

[Hannah Jungling]:

We just

[Arlene Hunter]:

want

[Hannah Jungling]:

don't want him to hit the floor.

[Arlene Hunter]:

to, yeah, don't let the baby or Chris at the floor. Maybe he shouldn't be

[Arlene Hunter]:

catching either. Take him off the list.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Right, right,

[Arlene Hunter]:

Yeah.

[Hannah Jungling]:

right. I think, I think he's going for.

[Arlene Hunter]:

So if this is too personal, then you can skip it or tell me that you're

[Arlene Hunter]:

not going to answer this question. But as a Canadian, I know that here you're

[Arlene Hunter]:

not allowed to pay someone to be a surrogate. And I don't know if money

[Arlene Hunter]:

is part of the arrangement that you guys have, but I'm just curious about

[Arlene Hunter]:

the money side of things, I guess even in terms of, you know, like paying

[Arlene Hunter]:

for medical expenses and all that kind of stuff. How does how does

[Hannah Jungling]:

Yeah.

[Arlene Hunter]:

the financial side work?

[Hannah Jungling]:

So there is a financial side to it. I'll be the first one to say that wasn't

[Hannah Jungling]:

what brought us that direction. It's something we've always wanted to do. It

[Hannah Jungling]:

was something we were actually going to do for some very close gay friends

[Hannah Jungling]:

of ours growing up, or not growing up, but like initially. And they found

[Hannah Jungling]:

out that one of them was infertile and he was the one that wanted to

[Hannah Jungling]:

be biological and they had selected a donor egg and everything. So the

[Hannah Jungling]:

financial part wasn't as big for us as it was. just is something we

[Hannah Jungling]:

want it to do. The financial part definitely helps and like the agency said

[Hannah Jungling]:

Mindy was like the most beautiful balance you find between a surrogate woman

[Hannah Jungling]:

that appreciates the money and uses the money obviously to improve things

[Hannah Jungling]:

that they need to improve in their lives and all that but also is just

[Hannah Jungling]:

compassionate and caring and really just wants to do this. So there's

[Hannah Jungling]:

definitely, yes the monetary side is helpful for sure but... And then they

[Hannah Jungling]:

do cover all the medical expenses and all of that. But that's not terribly

[Hannah Jungling]:

what it's about, if that makes sense.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Yeah, that totally makes sense. Yeah, and just being from somewhere where you're

[Arlene Hunter]:

not allowed to pay someone, it just, you know, I understand the ethics

[Arlene Hunter]:

of that, but you know, as someone who has born children, I also can appreciate,

[Arlene Hunter]:

you know, like, there are something,

[Hannah Jungling]:

Yes.

[Arlene Hunter]:

you are doing something with your body that has value, right? And you know,

[Arlene Hunter]:

that can't be done in any other way. So.

[Hannah Jungling]:

No, and it does definitely take a physical toll. I hadn't thought about

[Hannah Jungling]:

what Katie said earlier, which is such honestly a brilliant statement.

[Hannah Jungling]:

The beauty of, we have three completely healthy individuals after a baby

[Hannah Jungling]:

is born, where normally you have one. And the mother is a bit, it's a process.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Giving birth, it's a big process. And it's strenuous on your body and

[Hannah Jungling]:

it's hard. whether it's natural, whether it's C-section, it doesn't matter,

[Hannah Jungling]:

it is a hard process and your body goes through the wringer. And to

[Hannah Jungling]:

have able-bodied individuals when you're recovering is huge. And I honestly

[Hannah Jungling]:

hadn't even thought about how helpful that will be for all of us as we

[Hannah Jungling]:

kind of get going and get settled with little Emma.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Mm-hmm. I was wondering if the dads wanted to chime in again about what

[Arlene Hunter]:

the plan is. Are they both self-employed? Like, are we both taking some

[Arlene Hunter]:

time off? What does your paternity leave look like in the next

[Hannah Jungling]:

They're

[Arlene Hunter]:

little

[Hannah Jungling]:

getting closer

[Arlene Hunter]:

while?

[Hannah Jungling]:

so you can talk.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Sure.

[Caite]:

I say, Arlene, I want to interject too that Hannah, a large part of my thought

[Caite]:

with that was actually that as new parents, they will have experienced parents

[Caite]:

who are not their parents helping with the baby.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Absolutely. Well,

[Caite]:

Because

[Hannah Jungling]:

and

[Caite]:

that, that being

[Hannah Jungling]:

that

[Caite]:

a

[Hannah Jungling]:

helps.

[Caite]:

first-time parent is a mindfuck, to be

[Hannah Jungling]:

It's

[Caite]:

sure.

[Hannah Jungling]:

a challenge. Yeah, it is. It's a total mind-boggling. It's a challenge.

[Hannah Jungling]:

And they're very fortunate, too, where they're at. Jose has a beautiful

[Hannah Jungling]:

extended family with cousins and sisters and family that are so excited

[Hannah Jungling]:

to help. And Chris does, too. And the amount of support they have is

[Hannah Jungling]:

really incredibly beautiful. It was so touching to be—their baby shower

[Hannah Jungling]:

had like 150 people, I swear to God. There were so many people. And it was

[Hannah Jungling]:

a majority that was family. And it was just so touching to see how much

[Hannah Jungling]:

support they have. It's gonna be a really beautiful experience for them.

[Hannah Jungling]:

But I'm passing it over to them.

[Caite]:

And I feel like I'm scaring them. I hope I'm not. I'm an only child and didn't

[Caite]:

grow up with babies, so being sent home from the hospital, we're like, somebody

[Caite]:

else is in charge and knows what the fuck they're doing, and then they just let

[Caite]:

you take this thing home, and they just assumed that you know what you're gonna,

[Caite]:

like... They assume you'll figure it out, which you will. It'll be fine. But it

[Caite]:

would have been awesome to start out with somebody who'd already done this. That's

[Hannah Jungling]:

Yeah.

[Caite]:

all I'm gonna say about that.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Yeah, so I guess my question was for you guys, what are the next weeks and

[Arlene Hunter]:

months look like? What are you most excited about and what are your plans

[Arlene Hunter]:

with your new little one?

[Hannah Jungling]:

You know, I don't know. I don't know. So like Hannah said, we have tons

[Hannah Jungling]:

of support. We have tons of family. We have so many friends and everybody's

[Hannah Jungling]:

so supportive. And we have Jose's sister, one of the sisters works for

[Hannah Jungling]:

us full time. So she's with us, you know, five out of seven days a week.

[Hannah Jungling]:

And another sister works with us one day. So we always have. We're always

[Hannah Jungling]:

gonna have so much support. I always think back to what Hannah has told

[Hannah Jungling]:

us several times that when they had Tempe, when Tempe was born, they had

[Hannah Jungling]:

all this support at their home. And then at a certain point, everybody

[Hannah Jungling]:

kind of left and they were home alone with a baby. They're like, oh shit,

[Hannah Jungling]:

what do we do now?

[Arlene Hunter]:

Yep, that sounds familiar.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Yeah. And you know what? They made it through and they just took it.

[Hannah Jungling]:

They figured it out and took it day by day. And I think we're going to do

[Hannah Jungling]:

the same thing, you know? So we're just so damn excited and just over

[Hannah Jungling]:

the moon and can't believe this is happening. And I have to pinch myself

[Hannah Jungling]:

to. I just don't.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Yeah.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Yeah, I would. I just I would just add like as far as the. how the next weeks

[Hannah Jungling]:

will look for us. Definitely we'll take in some time off from work. We'll

[Hannah Jungling]:

still be taking some dogs here and there. The main reason we're doing

[Hannah Jungling]:

that is because I want Emma to start feel comfortable with dogs being around

[Hannah Jungling]:

her. Like as far as like barking or crying, whatever it is. Cause even

[Hannah Jungling]:

Hannah agrees, and probably every mom will agree with that. with it is

[Hannah Jungling]:

that your home, you have to make it feel comfortable for her. So whatever

[Hannah Jungling]:

noise, whether it is loud or not too loud, it will be eventually become

[Hannah Jungling]:

like comfort for her. So that's what the next week will look for us.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Busy but not too busy. Enough busy to make some money but not too busy to

[Hannah Jungling]:

make her. feel comfortable if that makes any sense.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Yeah. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

[Caite]:

Sorry, I was just thinking about what a lucky kiddo this is to be born into so many

[Caite]:

families and so many people that love her and worked this hard to make this happen.

[Caite]:

I mean, it's really... The best possible thing a kiddo can have is to have more people

[Caite]:

who love them. And that's...

[Hannah Jungling]:

Yeah.

[Caite]:

What a wonderful thing. So I'd really like

[Arlene Hunter]:

Katie,

[Caite]:

to hear from all...

[Arlene Hunter]:

just one more question, Katie, before we go on. I know that you guys have

[Arlene Hunter]:

probably told Hannah these things lots of times, but what do you feel

[Arlene Hunter]:

about her and the gift that she's giving you? Are there words to put behind

[Arlene Hunter]:

what she's doing for you guys?

[Hannah Jungling]:

You know, for me, I try to wrap my head around this whole, from the very

[Hannah Jungling]:

beginning, how we ended up so damn lucky. Hannah and Bryce and Tempe,

[Hannah Jungling]:

they're all just angels to me. I just can't. I just still don't understand

[Hannah Jungling]:

how we managed to be so lucky. And

[Hannah Jungling]:

we just, we're like, me and Jose and Hannah and Bryce and Tempe, we're

[Hannah Jungling]:

like peanut butter and jelly. I mean, I just, yeah. And I think it, you know,

[Hannah Jungling]:

yet to be seen, but I think it's going to be lasting. I think. And I think

[Hannah Jungling]:

they're gonna be in our lives for a very long time, so. Yeah, I couldn't

[Hannah Jungling]:

agree more. I think we talked every day, so. We're getting a little bushed

[Hannah Jungling]:

up. But.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Sorry.

[Arlene Hunter]:

That's okay. I'm tearing

[Caite]:

I just feel

[Arlene Hunter]:

up too.

[Caite]:

bad that Hannah volunteered for this podcast and then we've just roped all of you

[Caite]:

into it.

[Hannah Jungling]:

I mean, I texted them, I don't know how many times I told them, like,

[Hannah Jungling]:

I cannot find words of how to explain to be thankful to her, to Bryce,

[Hannah Jungling]:

Tempe, you know, it's just like, we're just so happy. There will never

[Hannah Jungling]:

be enough words for me to explain how thankful I am for them. And like

[Hannah Jungling]:

Chris mentioned, they... By now, they're family. They're not even considered

[Hannah Jungling]:

friends or any people that we just met. But they're definitely part of

[Hannah Jungling]:

our family now. And I know it will last forever. We'll eventually come

[Hannah Jungling]:

visit them, or they can go up north and visit us, vice versa. So we're

[Hannah Jungling]:

here. Yeah, we'll keep it up. Where? But we know Hannah hates the cold,

[Hannah Jungling]:

so that's why she ran away from Iowa. So more than that, Google I like

[Hannah Jungling]:

last time we were here towards the end of March, was it? Yeah, I think it

[Hannah Jungling]:

was sometime in March, the fifth week. Yeah, and I just love that because

[Hannah Jungling]:

it was, you know, like we live in the city and it's loud all the time.

[Hannah Jungling]:

We're fortunate that we don't live close enough to where there's too many

[Hannah Jungling]:

cars, but there is enough cars to you can still hear it. traffic all

[Hannah Jungling]:

that and when we're at their farm it was just like peaceful you don't hear

[Hannah Jungling]:

anything but the horses the chickens and but yeah i enjoyed it so i'm looking

[Hannah Jungling]:

forward for more of those days like that and of course sharing it with

[Hannah Jungling]:

Emma and all of them too.

[Caite]:

So, we ask all of our guests, and I'd love to hear from all four of you, if you were

[Caite]:

going to dominate a category at the county fair, what would it be? Any categories

[Caite]:

can be real or made up to ensure that you win. And maybe we should start with Hannah,

[Caite]:

since I think she's the only one who saw these questions ahead of time.

[Hannah Jungling]:

I didn't look at him.

[Caite]:

I never look at him and I'm a co-host of the show.

[Hannah Jungling]:

dominate? What would you dominate? What would I dominate?

[Hannah Jungling]:

I mean, lack of sleep, I could definitely dominate that one. I could

[Hannah Jungling]:

slice that one up.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Well, your horses must

[Hannah Jungling]:

I don't

[Arlene Hunter]:

have

[Hannah Jungling]:

know.

[Arlene Hunter]:

the best hair, so I mean, a certain kind of braid

[Hannah Jungling]:

day.

[Arlene Hunter]:

are you the best at?

[Hannah Jungling]:

Pretty luxurious. It's pretty luxurious. Yeah, I have no idea. I have no

[Hannah Jungling]:

idea. Something with animals, obviously. What do you have Bryce? I think

[Hannah Jungling]:

I would dominate the pie eating contest.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Sweet. Quantity

[Hannah Jungling]:

Yeah,

[Arlene Hunter]:

or speed?

[Hannah Jungling]:

I think. Um, quantity. Yeah, I would wanna enjoy it. Yeah. Definitely.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Yeah.

[Caite]:

What kind

[Arlene Hunter]:

Nice.

[Caite]:

of pie are we talking there, Bryce?

[Hannah Jungling]:

Oh, I knew you were gonna ask that.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Hahaha

[Hannah Jungling]:

Um, probably lemon pie or lemon meringue. I really want a lemon meringue

[Hannah Jungling]:

pie. I, we were thinking about this and nobody will make me one. So

[Hannah Jungling]:

maybe they'll have some in the cafeteria.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Oh, hospital

[Caite]:

If I could

[Arlene Hunter]:

cafeteria

[Caite]:

think of a way

[Arlene Hunter]:

pie

[Caite]:

to ship

[Arlene Hunter]:

is probably

[Caite]:

one,

[Arlene Hunter]:

pretty

[Caite]:

I'd

[Arlene Hunter]:

bad.

[Caite]:

do it, because I love lemon meringue.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Or they have it here in the hospital. So maybe I'll have to go down there

[Hannah Jungling]:

and look. All right, Chris, what do you got? I'm gonna piggyback on what

[Hannah Jungling]:

Bryce said and it's the eating part of it because I just love all the food

[Hannah Jungling]:

at the fair. Whatever it is, fried. Funnel

[Arlene Hunter]:

Yeah,

[Hannah Jungling]:

cakes. I'll eat it. Yeah.

[Arlene Hunter]:

all the fried stuff.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Yeah. Yeah, probably me too, because I love to eat. I

[Arlene Hunter]:

Hehehe

[Hannah Jungling]:

love food. We're very. Yeah, we're very fluid motivated.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Very food focused.

[Hannah Jungling]:

This is why we all get a lot of help. So,

[Arlene Hunter]:

Yeah, that's right. So

[Hannah Jungling]:

anything from you.

[Arlene Hunter]:

are you eating from the cafeteria or are we Uber eating into the hospital tonight?

[Hannah Jungling]:

We- They brought, what, what, last- two nights ago they brought us steaks

[Hannah Jungling]:

and mashed potatoes and all sorts of yummy stuff. Last night we had- Last

[Hannah Jungling]:

night we had Thai, that was fantastic.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Oh delicious.

[Hannah Jungling]:

So, yeah, we've been having a good time.

[Arlene Hunter]:

That's great. So we're gonna go ahead and move into our cussing and discussing

[Arlene Hunter]:

segment. So this is anything goes, it can be from a minor pet peeve to major

[Arlene Hunter]:

societal issues, whatever you want to talk about. And listeners, if they

[Arlene Hunter]:

want to submit their cussing and discussing, you can go to our speak pipe

[Arlene Hunter]:

or our email, they're both in the show notes. You can leave us a voice

[Arlene Hunter]:

memo or send us an email and we'll read it out. Katie, what are you cussing

[Arlene Hunter]:

and discussing this week?

[Caite]:

I hadn't prepared anything, but I'm just gonna wing it. I am not the most emotionally

[Caite]:

adept person. I'm not good at deep feelings. And so when I had my kids, you know,

[Caite]:

people say things like, "'A child is your heart walking around outside of your body.'"

[Caite]:

And I was like, the fuck's the matter with you people? You know, like... It is. You

[Caite]:

guys, I'm... I'm... I love that Hannah's snorting

[Hannah Jungling]:

I'm sorry.

[Caite]:

over here.

[Caite]:

Chris and Jose, I'm so excited for you guys,

[Hannah Jungling]:

it.

[Caite]:

I've never met, so I can't even imagine how excited you guys are. To get to experience

[Caite]:

that, because it's unlike anything else, the

[Hannah Jungling]:

Yeah.

[Caite]:

love that you will feel for your child. And

[Hannah Jungling]:

Thank you.

[Caite]:

now that I've done it for a while, I wish I could go back and experience that

[Caite]:

first. that first experience of it, again, because it's, for me at least, being

[Caite]:

the emotionally stunted little weirdo that I am, I frequently try really hard not

[Caite]:

to think about how much I love my children, because it sends me into a very uncomfortable

[Caite]:

place very quickly. And I'm just so excited for all of you

[Hannah Jungling]:

Thank you.

[Caite]:

to get that. And if it's overwhelming, just don't think about it because it'll just

[Caite]:

break your heart real quick. Because it's... Yeah. Anyway. Um, are- Well, now, how

[Caite]:

are we gonna do this with all four of them, Arlene?

[Arlene Hunter]:

We'll just ask if anyone wants to cuss or discuss anything and they can jump

[Arlene Hunter]:

in. They're pretty good at that. Anybody have anything you want to talk

[Arlene Hunter]:

about? Cussing? Discussing? Hannah, you've got something.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Yeah

[Arlene Hunter]:

You

[Hannah Jungling]:

discussed

[Arlene Hunter]:

must have

[Hannah Jungling]:

plenty.

[Arlene Hunter]:

something

[Caite]:

Hannah,

[Arlene Hunter]:

to

[Caite]:

can

[Arlene Hunter]:

complain

[Caite]:

we see this

[Arlene Hunter]:

about.

[Caite]:

belly real quick before we get off here too?

[Hannah Jungling]:

Ugh!

[Arlene Hunter]:

Oh yeah,

[Hannah Jungling]:

It-it-it-

[Arlene Hunter]:

this is great

[Hannah Jungling]:

Honestly,

[Arlene Hunter]:

for an

[Hannah Jungling]:

it's

[Arlene Hunter]:

audio

[Hannah Jungling]:

like- I don't

[Arlene Hunter]:

medium,

[Hannah Jungling]:

know. It is

[Arlene Hunter]:

Katie. Our listeners are gonna

[Hannah Jungling]:

a little-

[Arlene Hunter]:

love

[Caite]:

Yeah,

[Arlene Hunter]:

this.

[Caite]:

well,

[Arlene Hunter]:

Ha ha.

[Caite]:

awww. Baby.

[Hannah Jungling]:

No, she's a good girl, she's just chugging along.

[Hannah Jungling]:

No.

[Caite]:

Alright, anybody got anything?

[Hannah Jungling]:

I just was gonna go off of what Katie said about that first love and I

[Hannah Jungling]:

was gonna say I've already warned him about the first meconium poop. That's

[Hannah Jungling]:

what I've been hitting him hard for.

[Arlene Hunter]:

All the firsts.

[Caite]:

I will

[Hannah Jungling]:

I

[Caite]:

save

[Hannah Jungling]:

had nothing

[Caite]:

in

[Hannah Jungling]:

to burn.

[Caite]:

the-

[Hannah Jungling]:

Good old tar.

[Caite]:

When the girl child was like ten days old, we took her to a young farmers meeting

[Caite]:

in a church that for some unholy reason did not have changing tables.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Oh god.

[Caite]:

And so I was like ten days post C-section and trying to change a baby who was... It was

[Caite]:

like the first poop after the meconium where it just looks like they've exploded.

[Caite]:

I assume this is a common thing. And I had to change her like in a sink in this

[Caite]:

church

[Arlene Hunter]:

No.

[Caite]:

bathroom. And I... I have never questioned... whether I should have had children before or

[Caite]:

after like I did that night. Um, yeah. So, there's that poop. So much poop.

[Caite]:

That's a lot of poop. Arlene, what do you have to custom discuss?

[Arlene Hunter]:

So since we decided to move this up and have it be our Mother's Day episode,

[Arlene Hunter]:

I am going to cuss and discuss or mostly cuss the fact that Mother's Day and

[Arlene Hunter]:

planting line up so perfectly so that there's unless it rains and then people

[Arlene Hunter]:

are grumpy about the fact that it rains. There's never any chance that Mother's

[Arlene Hunter]:

Day is going to be like the relaxing, like go to brunch and get flowers

[Arlene Hunter]:

situation that non-farm families apparently get. So I wanna say happy Mother's

[Arlene Hunter]:

Day to any of the moms out there who are maybe, you know, making meals

[Arlene Hunter]:

for people out in tractors or looking after kids by yourself or on a tractor

[Arlene Hunter]:

with your kids, or maybe you could put the kids on the tractor with your

[Arlene Hunter]:

partner. You could drive the tractor by yourself and listen to a podcast

[Arlene Hunter]:

instead of listening to people ask when planting is done or whatever. Anyway,

[Arlene Hunter]:

it's just, we could move Mother's Day to like January or something and then we

[Arlene Hunter]:

might actually get a day off.

[Hannah Jungling]:

And Ray, those are the best, unfortunately.

[Caite]:

I'll say to that if it's someone who is not a mother listening to this, chances

[Caite]:

are that you know a mother and you should go do something nice for that person,

[Caite]:

even

[Arlene Hunter]:

Yeah,

[Caite]:

if they're not your mother or the mother

[Arlene Hunter]:

do

[Caite]:

of your

[Arlene Hunter]:

that.

[Caite]:

children. It's rarely a bad idea to do something nice for someone.

[Arlene Hunter]:

There you go. So.

[Hannah Jungling]:

conversation here. I just have a funny little note that I found out about

[Hannah Jungling]:

the other day that I think you will find entertaining. So we grow roses

[Hannah Jungling]:

beautifully down here which we did not we're not able to grow up north

[Hannah Jungling]:

and so I was chatting with I've planted a few and they really just grow

[Hannah Jungling]:

beautifully down here but I was chatting with a gal at the flower shop

[Hannah Jungling]:

a couple of weeks ago and I was asking her like I need to learn more

[Hannah Jungling]:

about how to prune them and keep them beautiful here and all of these things

[Hannah Jungling]:

right and I said do you cut them back like in the fall or something and

[Hannah Jungling]:

She looked at me and she goes, we're talking about roses, right? And

[Hannah Jungling]:

I said, yeah, like roses. And she's like, yeah, so Valentine's Day is

[Hannah Jungling]:

the perfect day to cut them down to the ground. And I was like, Valentine's

[Hannah Jungling]:

Day?

[Arlene Hunter]:

That's a good way

[Hannah Jungling]:

Really?

[Arlene Hunter]:

to remember.

[Hannah Jungling]:

I know, I was like, that's kind of savage.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Not highly.

[Caite]:

I like that.

[Arlene Hunter]:

It's a date you can remember. That's good.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Seriously.

[Arlene Hunter]:

So yeah, I want to thank everybody in the room for talking to us today. And we

[Arlene Hunter]:

I know Katie has already said it and we're both going to say it again. We're

[Arlene Hunter]:

so excited for all of you. And by the time this episode comes out, there's

[Arlene Hunter]:

gonna be an Emma in the world and we will hopefully be able to share some

[Arlene Hunter]:

pictures or whatever you guys are comfortable with sharing with us and our

[Arlene Hunter]:

listeners after she makes her appearance. But good luck in the next few hours

[Arlene Hunter]:

and days and weeks. And yeah, we're just so thankful that you came on with

[Arlene Hunter]:

us today and we're so open to sharing with us. So thank you.

[Hannah Jungling]:

Thank you for having

[Caite]:

Yeah,

[Hannah Jungling]:

me.

[Caite]:

thank you guys so much. And I, Hannah, I know I said, but I hope that this is the

[Caite]:

most uneventful and boring delivery that could possibly happen, because

[Hannah Jungling]:

My last.

[Caite]:

I feel like that's really the like, you

[Hannah Jungling]:

I'm

[Caite]:

know.

[Hannah Jungling]:

really hoping so. My last one totally was, but this is just a whole hiccup.

[Hannah Jungling]:

I don't know. I don't see. But thank you. We appreciate it. Thank you.

[Arlene Hunter]:

Thanks

[Hannah Jungling]:

It was

[Arlene Hunter]:

everybody.

[Hannah Jungling]:

nice

[Caite]:

Thanks.

[Hannah Jungling]:

meeting you.

[Caite]:

Thank you guys so much for coming on.

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About the Podcast

Barnyard Language
Real talk about running farms and raising families.
Real talk about running farms and raising families. Whether your farm is a raised bed in your backyard or 10,000 acres and whether your family is in the planning stages or you've got 12 kids, we're glad you found us!

No sales, no religious conversion, no drama. Just honest talk from two mamas who know what it's like when everyone is telling you to just get all your meals delivered and do all your shopping online, but your internet is too slow and you've got cows to feed.

About your host

Profile picture for Caithlin Palmer

Caithlin Palmer