Phoebe Saul (13:42)

To win up to $10,000 and double your tax refund.

Isaac Saul (13:45)

Your refund your rules requires upfront payment, taxes and fees. Extra terms and exclusions apply. Visit boostmobile.com for full offer terms and sweeps details.

Phoebe Saul (13:51)

Ever wonder just how good or bad your diet really is? The Mayo Clinic Diet has just launched its new Diet Score, a game change in tracking your health. Your Diet Score is personalized based on tracking key activities that deliver healthy habits, support weight loss and deliver long term sustainable success. The Mayo Clinic Diet was developed by doctors and dietitians from the world renowned Mayo Clinic. It's real foods, no gimmicks or fad diets. Just life changing healthy nutrition. Join today for access to customizable meal plans, tracking tools, group coaching and at home workouts. Everything you need for long term success. Get your free Diet score now@mayoclinicdiet.com go no sign up needed now. The Mayo Clinic Diet accepts the CareCredit credit card. The Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Loss for Life.

Isaac Saul (14:49)

Our baby's heart ended up being fine. It took the Children's Hospital Philadelphia, CHOP's best cardiologist to determine and deliver the reassuring news. But it's it was unambiguous. In fact, due to a mix up at the office, two cardiologists reviewed our files separately, both thinking we were their patients for the day, and both came to the same conclusion. His heart was not a malady, but merely generous in size, as one cardiologist put it. Words that made me collapse into the table and weep again, this time in relief. The 72 hours between our first appointment and the one at Chop were the longest three days of my life. The scare was a reminder in stark bold print of just how tenuous life really is. And that really is pregnancy in a nutshell. The most incredible thing is that any of this ever works at all. The truly mind boggling heart stopping miracle is the way a human just grows inside another human for 10 months. Phoebe cooked this thing up inside her body. One millimeter of a toe or an eyeball or a heart valve at a time. We understand how it works, yes, but only to a point. So much is still shrouded in mystery from the way her diet or hormones actually impact the baby to what allows him to survive each leap in development without complications. And the grand finale is labor and birth. So now, before I look at my pregnancy and parenthood through the tango lens and get into the politics of it all, I'd like to just tell you our story. And I'll say clearly and for the record, to preempt the questions that yes, I penned this piece with my wife's consent, though of course her perspective on all of this is different and distinct. If you want to hear that first person perspective, you should go listen to our third annual Valentine's Day podcast. Phoebe might be the most popular guest I've ever had on the show. In the movies, having a baby is pretty simple. A woman's water breaks in dramatic fashion, the husband snaps into action, they rush to the hospital, nurses storm the room, a baby pops out, dad cuts the cord and everyone starts crying and hugging. The real thing is a lot different. This was my first child, so Phoebe and I went to a birthing class for a crash course on what to expect. We I learned a lot in the class. We learn that labor is called labor because it is laborious and that it can sometimes last days or even weeks. We learned that the contractions can start and continue for hours or days around your due date and then mysteriously disappear or accelerate without warning. We learned that contractions are not all equal. We learned that labor does not always start with water breaking. In fact, that's rarely how labor starts for many women. Labor will go on for hours before the water breaks or the water never breaks at all or needs to be broken in the hospital. We also learned a lot about the hospital setting and the ways in which it can limit more natural elements of labor. Primarily, we learned about how movement during labor is critical and how giving birth on all fours or in a side lying position can limit tearing and trauma for the mother rather than giving birth on your back as is standard in the United States. Phoebe and I were wholly convinced by the evidence presented in our birthing class. And in part due to our desire to keep Phoebe moving through labor and Phoebe's fear of not being able to feel her body during labor, we committed to an unmedicated all fours birth at the hospital. We also hired a doula to guide us on the journey, a commitment I was slightly skeptical of in the beginning but cannot recommend strongly enough now to those fortunate enough to have the means or to those who live in one of the states that offer doula services through Medicaid or Medicare. Our baby boy, Omri Fuller Saul for Inquiring Minds, was due on January 12. We spent most of the week leading up to that due date sitting around staring at each other, convinced he was coming any moment, overreacting to every little cramp and kick and move movement. When his actual due date arrived and nothing had really changed besides the size of Phoebe's belly, we decided that sitting around and stressing about his arrival wasn't helping us. So we opened our house to friends, committed to getting outside a few times each day, and did all the tricks known to man to invite him into the world. Curb walking and red raspberry leaf tea, six dates a day, evening primrose oil and even a mason jar full of water under a frozen full moon. What can I say? We were desperate. On Saturday, January 18, Phoebe started getting contractions. They were light but consistent, and we thought maybe the party was starting. But in the afternoon, they started to subside. Coincidentally or unfortunately, or maybe hilariously, depending on who you are, my Washington Commanders were playing in a huge playoff game on Saturday night. My commander fandom is religious as well as torturous. After 33 years of watching them descend to the realms of the worst franchises in sports, they embarked on a miraculous turnaround over the last year, since their last super bowl win was the last year I was born. And the turnaround began with the drafting of our franchise quarterback the same month Phoebe became pregnant. I've used that coincidence to claim that Amri was the curse breaker, the prophet risen, the omen for a bright football future. So naturally, I was adamant about getting to witness the team's rise from the ashes. Phoebe, being the understanding person she is, consented to me watching the game, but banned football in the house watching, wanting to relax without my yelling and hollering. So my dad and I huddled up for the game at a bar next door to our apartment. In the first of the weekend's miracles, the Commanders pulled off a truly stunning upset of the Detroit Lions in Detroit, sending me into a manic tizzy of joy, a sporting fandom high I had never experienced. In between embraces with my dad and high fiving strangers in the bar, Eagles fans were quite happy, too. We just got them home field advantage in Philadelphia. Phoebe texted me to ask how the game was going, and we had the following exchange. This might be happening, I said. We just got another interception. I can't explain to you what's happening. Well, she said, this baby might be happening, too. We'll be right back after this quick break. Hi, it's Eugenio Derbez. Did you know that with Boost Mobile you can cut your phone bill in half this tax season? Yes, half. Buy six months of service and get six months free. That's a full year of service paying half. That sounds good, doesn't it? And all on the boost network with 99% nationwide coverage. Don't wait. Visit your Boost Network store today. Requires upfront payment, taxes and fees. Extra terms and exclusions apply. Visit boostmobile.com for full terms.

Mark Bittman (21:09)

Hi folks, it's Mark from the podcast Food with Mark Bittman. As the weather gets warmer, it's time for lighter meals and Whole Foods Market has just what you're looking for with great everyday prices. Look for the yellow low price signs that help you save money without compromising the quality you expect. Nothing, absolutely nothing in the store has any high fructose corn syrup, for example. Just shop with confidence. Save on the best of spring with great everyday prices at Whole Foods Market.

Isaac Saul (21:48)

I said goodbye to my dad and ran home, finding her on the couch counting the minutes between contractions. She was listening to her body and told me calmly that this was about to get real. I was a few drinks deep, had just witnessed my all time favorite sports team, defy all the doubters and odds, and was now hearing my wife tell me our baby boy was on his way. So naturally I started to cry again. Phoebe held my head and laughed at my absurdity. The contractions were about 20 minutes apart and still bearable. The advice we had gotten for this part of labor was to relax, rest, drink water, prepare for the marathon sleep if you can. So we followed everyone's advice and went to bed. The contractions continued through the night and started getting a little more intense and then they lasted the entire day. On Sunday, Phoebe stayed calm, doing her exercises and breathing through each wave of contractions. But it felt to me like things were speeding up. That night while we were watching tv, Phoebe, lying on the couch, yelped and shot up like she'd been electrocuted. Oh my God, she said. I think my water just broke. Sure enough, as she turned to run to the bathroom, I saw wet stains appearing on her sweatpants. Water breaking is one of the first tests of pregnancy that can determine the route of your birth plan. It's a good thing if this happens on its own because it reduces the odds. You might need a form of induction at the hospital, but specific cases of water breaks are alarming. We got one of those cases. Phoebe's amniotic fluid was a greenish brown color, which means there is something called meconium in the fluid. Meconium is the first kind of poop that babies make typically once they are born. When it is in the amniotic fluid, it means the baby might have already pooped in the womb, which is one of the early signs of baby distress we were taught to look out for. We exchanged a now calm and nervous look and texted our doula. She said she was packing her bags to head over and suggested we Hang tight and not worry too much. We could discuss options together. When she arrived at our house not long after Phoebe's water broke, the contractions intensified for a few hours. Every time a contraction came, she'd let out a deep breath and start a timer. Now, though, she let out a deep moan or grumble, breathing through them, talking to the baby, just as she was taught in our birthing class. This continued into the night, past midnight as our doula and I looked on. Phoebe spent much of the evening on a yoga mat in our room or in our bed, and I stayed by her side most of the night, with the exception of a brief nap, holding her hands and bringing her water after each contraction. Around 2am our doula came downstairs to wake me up and take a nap of her own, and I watched as Phoebe seemed to move from early labor to active labor before my eyes. The contractions, in effect, became more and more difficult to bear, and the sounds Phoebe was making each time they came on changed too. There were times she went from controlled breaths and groaning to outright yelling or sometimes whimpering in pain. She broke into a sweat and needed to take off her shirt, then would get cold and needed to be wrapped in a blanket. She started the night with total confidence, but as 3am approached, she began questioning aloud whether she could do this or not. I assured her that she could. She believed that she could, and deep in my stomach I wanted to make it stop for her. But all I could do was sit there, hopelessly trying to apply counter pressure on her hips or rub her back or give her water like I'd been taught in our birthing class. There were moments where her pain seemed intolerable, and then she'd regain control, will the baby forward and steady herself through it. After some time downstairs, our doula came back into the bedroom where Phoebe had been laboring. By now it was around 4am in the morning, nearly eight hours since her water broke. Eight hours of contractions every few minutes, each wave enough to stop someone in their tracks, and each time, the baby's body descending another imperceptible fraction of an inch downward. Like me, the doula sensed a change in Phoebe, and she suspected things were progressing. We could check her cervix here at home, she explained, and decide whether we need to start preparing for a home birth. Or we could go get the car and head to the hospital. At the words home birth, I quickly left the room, began packing our bags and searching for the keys, then frantically ran out to our car, scraped all the ice and snow off it that I could and pulled it around to the front of the house. When I opened the front door, Phoebe was squatting in the hallway in the middle of a contraction, trying to bear through it. We put her in the car and drove a few minutes to Pennsylvania Hospital. Phoebe was walking to the entrance when a contraction hit, and she had to pause in the street for a minute as it passed through her. A security guard looking on suggested we name the baby after him. As she waddled up to the fifth floor, she went through the intake and was told she was 6cm dilated, a number we wish was higher. And as the contractions kept coming, we were moved into a labor and delivery room. The transition from home to hospital is tough, but Pence, as it's known colloquially here in Philly, is about as good as it can get. We were under the care of a midwife in a room with a large bathroom shower, birth ball and even handlebars hanging from the ceiling that Phoebe could use to hang onto and stretch out with during contractions. The midwife on call came in and looked at Phoebe sitting on a birth ball, cussing, screaming, and seemingly trying to break my hands. And she said, she looks like she's got this under control. I'll see you guys in a little bit. It's hard to capture the way time unfolded during this period. Some combination of the sleep deprivation, the surreal nature of what was happening, the fear, the excitement, the. The adrenaline, and made it all feel like a fever dream. But that's how it went for the next four hours. Every few minutes, a new contraction, a new sound, a new position. Phoebe moved around a lot. She sat on the birth ball and laid on the bed and squatted on all fours in the bed and straddled the toilet and hung from the ceiling and squatted on the floor and rode the wave relentlessly. The contractions kept coming, minute after minute, and each time Phoebe closed her eyes, positioned herself to let the baby inch his way down, breathe through the pain, and. And invited him closer and closer to us with the intention and focus unlike anything I'd ever mustered in my own life. She labored. And with each breath, with each contraction, with each scream, our baby shifted ever so slightly down her belly, through the birth canal toward the world. All right, that is it for the free preview of today's podcast. If you want to hear the full thing, the rest of the bad section and my unclear section and the abhorrent section section, you can subscribe to the Tango podcast by going to retangle.comforward/membership and find those subscriptions on our website. I hope you do that because I think it's worth a listen. Peace. Our podcast is written by me, Isaac Saul and edited and engineered by Duke Thomas. Our script is edited by Ari Weitzman, Will K Back daily Saul and Sean Brady. The logo for our podcast was made by Magdalena Bova who is also our social media Manager. The music for the podcast was produced by Diet75 and if you are looking for more from Tangle, please go check out our website@readtangle.com that's readtangle.com.

Phoebe Saul (28:32)

Hey, you know what would make your customer service help desk way better? Dumping it and then switching to intercom. But you're not quite ready to make that change. We get it. That's why fin, the world's leading AI customer service agent is now available on every help desk. Fin can instantly resolve up to 80% of your tickets, which makes your customers happier and gets you off the customer service rep hiring Treadmill Finned by Intercon, the leading customer service AI agent now available on every help desk Ever wondered just how good or bad your diet really is? The Mayo Clinic Diet has just launched its new Diet Score, a game changer in tracking your health. Your Diet Score is personalized based on tracking key activities that deliver healthy habits, support weight loss and deliver long term sustainable success. The Mayo Clinic Diet was developed by doctors and dietitians from the world renowned Mayo Clinic. It's real foods, no gimmicks or foods, bad diets, just life changing healthy nutrition. Join today for access to customizable meal plans, tracking tools, group coaching and at home workouts. Everything you need for long term success. Get your free Diet score now@mayoclinicdiet.com go no sign up needed now. The Mayo Clinic Diet accepts the CareCredit credit card. The Mayo Clinic Diet Healthy Weight Loss for Life if you wear glasses, you know how hard it is to find the perfect pair. But step into a Warby Parker store and you'll see it doesn't have to be. Not only will you find a great selection of frames, you'll also meet helpful advisors and friendly optometrists. Yep, many Warby Parker locations also offer eye exams. So the next time you need glasses, sunglasses, contact lenses or a new prescription, you know where to look. To find a Warby Parker store near you or to book an eye exam, head over to warbyparker.com retail.