Podcasts about Nicu

For this last episode of 2025, we wanted to emphasize just how unique all VBAC journeys really are, and Amanda's story does just that! Women of Strength, VBACs are possible in sooo many different scenarios, even the ones that weren't planned or prepped for. Amanda thought she was having a planned C-section, but with a little gentle encouragement from her care team, she ended up with an unplanned, completely intervention-free VBAC. The way Amanda's team communicated with her every step of the way is SO COOL to hear about.Her first birth was a traumatic crash C-section with NICU time and postpartum anxiety/OCD, but her second was healing and empowering. Amanda wants other moms to know that while you don't have to do all the “things” to have a VBAC, prep can make a big difference.We're so grateful to our podcast guests, listeners, and support this year!Andddd…..We are excited to share some BIG news for the podcast in 2026. Stay tuned for next week's HUGE announcement! Any guesses on what it might be??Needed Website: Code VBAC for 20% OffThe Ultimate VBAC Prep Course for ParentsOnline VBAC Doula TrainingSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-vbac-link/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Send us a textIn this episode of Beyond the Beeps, Leah MG Jayanetti discusses the unique challenges faced by families in the NICU during the holiday season. Joined by Alena Costume, a two-time NICU mother, they explore the emotional rollercoaster of having a baby in the NICU, the importance of community support, and strategies for coping with stress. Alena shares her personal experiences, highlighting the significance of parental presence and the impact of healthcare staff on the NICU journey. The conversation emphasizes resilience, hope, and the need for better support systems for NICU families. In this conversation, Leah MG Jayanetti and Alena discuss the profound experiences of families in the NICU, emphasizing the importance of nourishment, community support, and the unexpected connections that can arise during challenging times. They share personal stories about creating the Touching Tiny Hands organization, the emotional toll of having a child in the NICU, and the significance of hope and belonging in the journey of parenthood, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.Support the showAs always, feel free to send us questions, comments, or suggestions to our email: nicupodcast@gmail.com. You can also contact the show through Instagram or Twitter, @nicupodcast. Or contact Ben and Daphna directly via their Twitter profiles: @drnicu and @doctordaphnamd. The papers discussed in today's episode are listed and timestamped on the webpage linked below. Enjoy!

In this episode, HeHe is joined by Dr. O'Daniel to break down the real tools and procedures used in labor and delivery, the ones no one explains until they're suddenly happening to your body. Together, they unpack what tests like the ROM actually tell us about water breaking, when internal monitors like an IUPC are used, and what patients deserve to know before anything is placed inside their body. They also dive into operative vaginal deliveries, including vacuums and forceps, how clinical decision-making works in those moments, and why true informed consent matters so much when things move quickly. Dr. O'Daniel explains newer innovations like the Traxi for safer C-sections in larger bodies and the Life Bubble, a game-changing tool for supporting NICU babies. This conversation is evidence-based, honest, and incredibly empowering, especially if you want to walk into birth understanding the tools, not fearing them. Knowledge is advocacy, and this episode gives you plenty of both.   Guest Bio: Dr. Tori O'Daniel is a Board-Certified OB/GYN whom has been practicing for 14 years. For the past 11 years she has been an OB/GYN Hospitalist at Mercy Medical Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Dr. O'Daniel is the Medical Director of the OB/GYN Hospitalist program and the Department Chair of the OB/GYN Department in her facility. She also instructs educational classes and facilitates the OB Emergency Simulations for the nurses and physicians within her department.   She has been actively involved in the Society of OB/GYN Hospitalists (SOGH) for the past several years. She currently sits on the SOGH Board of Directors.   Dr. O'Daniel is passionate about education, and she actively teaches in multiple venues. She is a master trainer for Kiwi vacuum assisted deliveries; she travels across the globe to train residents and attending physicians in the 5-Step Vacca Method.   laborie.com   Check out the tools Dr. O'Daniel shared about here: https://www.laborie.com/products/obstetrics-gynecology/   SOCIAL MEDIA: Connect with HeHe on Instagram  Connect with Laborie on IG    BIRTH EDUCATION: Join The Birth Lounge for judgment-free, evidence-based childbirth education that shows you exactly how to navigate hospital policies, avoid unnecessary interventions, and have a trauma-free labor experience, all while feeling wildly supported every step of the way Want prep delivered straight to your phone? Download The Birth Lounge App for bite-sized birth and postpartum tools you can use anytime, anywhere. And if you haven't grabbed it yet… Snag my free Pitocin Guide to understand the risks, benefits, and red flags your provider may not be telling you about, so you can make informed, powerful decisions in labor.

This week, Kaleb and I sat down and recapped the highlights and lowlights of 2025—from the terrifying lows (law school denial and NICU stay

Send us a textAs 2025 comes to a close, Ben and Daphna reflect on a year of growth, community, and evolution for The Incubator Podcast. In this end-of-year wrap-up, they preview major changes coming in 2026, including new standalone podcast feeds, expanded journal club content, CME opportunities, and exciting partnerships with organizations like the Vermont Oxford Network and PAS. They also share what's ahead for the Delphi Conference and offer a candid look at their personal and professional goals for the year ahead. Thank you for being part of this extraordinary neonatal community. Support the showAs always, feel free to send us questions, comments, or suggestions to our email: nicupodcast@gmail.com. You can also contact the show through Instagram or Twitter, @nicupodcast. Or contact Ben and Daphna directly via their Twitter profiles: @drnicu and @doctordaphnamd. The papers discussed in today's episode are listed and timestamped on the webpage linked below. Enjoy!

Recorded during Men's Mental Health Week, this episode features two fathers sharing their experiences with NICU stays, ADHD, burnout, and emotional overload. It's an honest conversation about the realities of fatherhood and why vulnerability is strength.= Reshared to support the whole parenting village.

No better way to celebrate your son's first birthday than to release a podcast episode!Today, we chat with Daniel Dyer-Smith, who walks us through the shock of being on a beach one minute, then 60min later having a son at 30 weeks. As a Lawyer, skilled in articulating precise messages and information, Daniel found it very difficult to find the right words to describe to friends and family what had transpired, and what help he and his partner needed in the first few weeks.Daniel's insights will help shape the NICU Dads project at the Kids, and the pearls of wisdom he shared focused on the message to "advocate and communicate", both internally within your immediate family and the NICU, and externally with your wider family and friendship group. 

Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes during pregnancy, Brooke discusses the shock, her baby's NICU journey, and the overwhelming reality of managing a chronic illness while raising a newborn. Free Juicebox Community (non Facebook) Type 1 Diabetes Pro Tips - THE PODCAST Eversense CGM Medtronic Diabetes Tandem Mobi ** twiist AID System Drink AG1.com/Juicebox Use code JUICEBOX to save 40% at Cozy Earth  CONTOUR NextGen smart meter and CONTOUR DIABETES app Dexcom G7 Go tubeless with Omnipod 5 or Omnipod DASH * Get your supplies from US MED  or call 888-721-1514 Touched By Type 1 Take the T1DExchange survey Apple Podcasts> Subscribe to the podcast today! The podcast is available on Spotify, Google Play, iHeartRadio, Radio Public, Amazon Music and all Android devices The Juicebox Podcast is a free show, but if you'd like to support the podcast directly, you can make a gift here or buy me a coffee. Thank you! *The Pod has an IP28 rating for up to 25 feet for 60 minutes. The Omnipod 5 Controller is not waterproof.  ** t:slim X2 or Tandem Mobi w/ Control-IQ+ technology (7.9 or newer). RX ONLY. Indicated for patients with type 1 diabetes, 2 years and older. BOXED WARNING:Control-IQ+ technology should not be used by people under age 2, or who use less than 5 units of insulin/day, or who weigh less than 20 lbs. Safety info: tandemdiabetes.com/safetyinfo Disclaimer - Nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast or read on Arden's Day is intended as medical advice. You should always consult a physician before making changes to your health plan.  If the podcast has helped you to live better with type 1 please tell someone else how to find it!

On today's episode, you'll hear Dr. Mark Costes in his first-ever recording from the brand-new DSI studio—joined by none other than Dr. Cody Boals, who shares his journey from small-town Illinois to co-owning a thriving 10-operatory dental practice in Colorado Springs. Dr. Boals opens up about launching Kissing Camels Family Dentistry with his wife Alexa, their approach to grassroots marketing, and how they scaled from seeing 40 new patients a month to over 150—all while maintaining a strong family-first philosophy.  Cody reflects on his early leadership missteps, how COVID and a NICU stay changed their practice vision, and the systems that helped them grow to nearly $5 million in collections. He also dives into his passion for endurance racing and what led him to complete the legendary Leadville 100 ultra-marathon just weeks after welcoming their second child. This episode is packed with insight on intentional scheduling, team culture, giving back to the community, and how to grow a practice without sacrificing your values. Be sure to check out the full episode from the Dentalpreneur Podcast! EPISODE RESOURCES https://www.truedentalsuccess.com Dental Success Network Subscribe to The Dentalpreneur Podcast

Toby Tabak is a mother and nonprofit leader whose work is shaped by lived experience and deep community engagement. She serves as a director at Yad Rachel / Project Ima, supporting maternal mental health through education, advocacy, and compassionate care. She is a co-founder of WeeCare Preemies and WILLPOWER, a coalition of women in leadership roles in Lakewood.   CONNECT WITH DVORA ENTIN: Website: https://www.dvoraentin.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dvoraentin YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@misconceptionspodcast      

para ayudar a familias con bebés enfermos. El próximo año, van a tener tiempo libre extra con pago del trabajo. Ahora, Colorado da a padres nuevos 12 semanas de tiempo libre con pago cuando tienen un bebé. Pero en 2026, familias con bebés en NICU (una parte especial del hospital para bebés muy enfermos) . Colorado da tiempo libre especial para familias with bebés en NICU Read More » Read the full Article: Colorado da tiempo libre especial para familias with bebés en NICU

Send us a textTransitioning from fellowship to your first attending job? You're probably not prepared for the business side of medicine—and that's exactly the problem Dr. Tung Giep addresses in this episode. Dr. Giep, a neonatologist with over 30 years of experience, shares hard-earned lessons from building and selling a private practice in Houston, navigating toxic work environments, and eventually finding his place in telemedicine. His new book, The Business of Medicine: The Definitive Guide to Help New Physicians Start Their Career on the Right Path and Avoid Costly Mistakes, tackles what medical training ignores: contract negotiation, non-competes, choosing the right CPA and attorney, and understanding your self-worth.Ben and Dr. Giep discuss why new physicians get blindsided by job offers, how to vet a practice properly, and the reality of community neonatology versus academic medicine. They also explore the growing role of AI in healthcare and what it means for the next generation of physicians. Whether you're finishing fellowship or reconsidering your current position, this conversation offers practical guidance on taking control of your career—and avoiding costly mistakes along the way. Support the showAs always, feel free to send us questions, comments, or suggestions to our email: nicupodcast@gmail.com. You can also contact the show through Instagram or Twitter, @nicupodcast. Or contact Ben and Daphna directly via their Twitter profiles: @drnicu and @doctordaphnamd. The papers discussed in today's episode are listed and timestamped on the webpage linked below. Enjoy!

O soluție pentru „referendumul” președintelui Nicușor Dan: cum poate fi securizată participarea la vot a magistraților (G4Media) - Mesaj pentru Ilie Bolojan din Parlamentul European: „La conferințele de presă, premierul nu este gazda, ci musafirul într-un spațiu care aparține cetățenilor” (Libertatea) - De ce pleacă ministrul care a întors pe dos Educația? (DW) Suspendarea lui Nicuşor Dan şi reforma Justiţiei (G4Media) Faptul că AUR discută în parlament o procedură de suspendare a Nicuşor Dan demonstrează că strategia de o jumătate de an a preşedintelui de a se aşeza la mijloc, echidistant, între bine şi rău, că vorba aia, toţi suntem popor şi trebuie să fim reprezentaţi, nu funcţionează.  Nu mi-e clar deloc cu cine se consultă preşedintele Nicuşor Dan când ia deciziile pe care le ia, însă cel puţin din ce vedem pe teme de stat de drept şi justiţie, nu-i a bună, comentează Sorin Ioniță, de la Expert Forum, pentru G4Media. Încăpăţânarea de a da cu capul în zid în privinţa legii de combatere a fascismului şi antisemitismului, pe care a contestat-o de la bun început mult mai consecvent decât s-a ocupat de numirile suspecte din justiţie, poate fi a lui 100%. Probabil că demersul AUR de suspendare a preşedintelui nu se va concretiza acum, deoarece nu au voturile în parlament. Dar ei au pornit tărăboiul ăsta cu alt scop: să scuture bine coaliţia de guvernare, să frăgezească poziţia preşedintelui şi să dea aparatului corupt al statului profund – bazat pe caracatiţa din justiţie – un semn de solidaritate şi încredere. Cum ar veni, dragi magistraţi şi generali din servicii, nu mai fiţi aşa îngrijoraţi, vă puteţi baza pe noi pentru continuitate. Iar data viitoare să nu mai faceţi cum aţi făcut cu Georgescu, că n-are rost, suntem de-ai voştri. EXCLUSIV O soluție pentru „referendumul” președintelui Nicușor Dan: cum poate fi securizată participarea la vot a magistraților (G4Media) Un judecător activ, care lucrează la o Curte de Apel din țară, a explicat pentru G4Media că există o soluție pentru ca magistrații care vor să participe la „refendumul” anunțat de președintele Nicușor Dan să aibă asigurat secretul participării la consultare și să nu riște represalii din partea celor care actualmente controlează sistemul de Justiție: comunicarea directă între președinte și magistrați. Potrivit judecătorului, dacă scopul mecanismului de consultare propus de președinte este de a câștiga încrederea magistraților și de a le asigura secretul participării la „referendum”, sub nicio formă nu ar trebui utilizat sistemul informatic al CSM. Soluția este o cale de comunicare directă între magistrați și Adminsitrația Prezidențială, prin intermediul e-mailurilor de serviciu personalizate. Mesaj pentru Ilie Bolojan din Parlamentul European: „La conferințele de presă, premierul nu este gazda, ci musafirul într-un spațiu care aparține cetățenilor” (Libertatea) Europarlamentarul italian Sandro Ruotolo, cunoscut în Europa pentru implicarea în apărarea libertății presei și aflat sub protecția Poliției după ce a fost amenințat de Mafie pentru investigațiile din vremea când era jurnalist, a acordat un interviu pentru Libertatea, în Parlamentul European de la Strasbourg, despre situația din București. Mai exact, despre decizia premierului Ilie Bolojan de a interzice accesul jurnaliștilor la începutul ședințelor de guvern și de a limita conferințele de presă la o singură întrebare per jurnalist. Ruotolo consideră aceste măsuri un regres democratic și o atingere adusă principiilor transparenței, din care pierzători nu sunt jurnaliștii, ci cetățenii. De ce pleacă ministrul care a întors pe dos Educația? (DW) Se înțelege din surse bine informate că nici premierul nu era foarte mulțumit de ministrul Educației, Daniel David, și nici ministrul de complicațiile funcției, cărora nu a știut mereu să le răspundă adecvat. Daniel David susține că s-a retras din funcția de ministru al Educației fiindcă nu-și dorește o carieră politică, fiindcă acum un an sub guvernul Ciolacu a acceptat funcția doar temporar „pentru a ajuta țara” și sistemul de educație-cercetare „în situațiile de criză pe care le-au traversat”. În plus, se teme că dacă mai rămâne la minister ar putea să nu se mai poată „reconecta cu profesia”, pentru că se consideră „în primul rând un psiholog”. Anunțul demisiei, motivele plecării din funcție și un succint raport al rezultatelor sale în fruntea Educației au apărut pe blogul său personal. Poate și fiindcă s-a temut să vină în fața jurnaliștilor să-și explice poziția, mai ales că în ultimele șase luni nu a mai făcut nicio conferință de presă, iar așa zisele sale reforme au fost contestate nu doar de sindicate, ci și de specialiști.  Plecarea ministrului David a fost aplaudată de profesori pe rețelele sociale. Sindicatele de profil sunt la rândul lor ușurate, dar consideră că deocamdată e vorba doar despre „un eveniment politic” nu despre o „rezolvare a crizei”. Profesorul Daniel David a fost primul ministru al Educației care a propus de bună voie reducerea bugetului instituției pe care o conduce. Educația face parte din Strategia de Securitate a României, iar legea de bază a învățământului prevede o alocare anuală de 6% din PIB. În 2005, un alt profesor, tot de la Cluj, Mircea Miclea a renunțat la fotoliul Educației pentru că nu a primit pentru învățământ banii promiși prin lege. După 20 de ani, Daniel David pleacă din fruntea aceluiași minister după ce a încâlcit, birocratizat și sărăcit cel mai important și mai de viitor domeniu.  Integral, pe pagina DW.

Uncle Si calls Miss Kay to check in on her, only to catch her mid–procedure with zero patience to spare. She's back to her fiery, unfiltered self, retelling the infamous story of the Christmas Eve house fire that Phil “fixed” with a chainsaw before heading straight to the duck blind. John Luke gives an update on expecting twins and jokes about big-family chaos, Martin tries to talk him into a vasectomy, and John-David gives a shoutout to baby Oakley, a NICU miracle. Si offers a heartfelt prayer for listeners walking through both joy and hardship this season. Duck Call Room episode #511 is sponsored by: https://preborn.com/duck or dial #250 and say the keyword BABY — Just $28 can help save a life! https://puretalk.com/duck — Through your generosity, PureTalk was able to donate over half a million dollars to America's Warrior Partnership! https://www.mypillow.com/duck — Get the standard size MyPillow for only $14.98 with promo code DUCK at checkout and give the gift of MyPillow this Christmas! - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this emotional Mussar Masterclass (Day 108), Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe begins with a heartfelt plea for prayers for his newborn preemie grandson (Tinoch ben Mi'ira bat Zahava) in the NICU in Jerusalem, dedicating the session to their speedy recovery. The class concludes the Gate of Remembrance in Orchos Tzaddikim with the final three remembrances:Always investigate and ask questions deeply—never rely solely on childhood understanding of Torah; as intellect matures, revisit and enrich knowledge (illustrated by stories of Rav Moshe Feinstein's meticulousness and sensitivity).Remove excessive love of this world and intensify love for Olam Haba—physical pleasures and spiritual growth cannot coexist; this world is solely a tool to invest in the next (via mitzvot, teshuvah, and using possessions for holiness), as fire and water cannot share a vessel.Remember accountability before Hashem—we will be judged not against others, but on whether we maximized our unique potential ("Why weren't you you?").Accept afflictions with joy—they are merciful "slap on the wrist" instead of the death penalty we deserve; teshuvah and small sufferings are gifts of divine kindness.Rabbi Wolbe weaves in awe-inspiring modern miracles (e.g., the May 4, 2025, missile landing harmlessly near Tel Aviv airport) as open reminders that Hashem alone controls everything—not technology, military, or human effort—urging constant gratitude and recognition of divine protection.Recorded at TORCH Centre in the Levin Family Studios (B) to a live audience on May 5, 2025, in Houston, Texas.Released as Podcast on December 23, 2025_____________This series on Orchos Tzadikim/Ways of the Righteous is produced in partnership with Hachzek.Join the revolution of daily Mussar study at hachzek.com.We are using the Treasure of Life edition of the Orchos Tzadikkim (Published by Feldheim)_____________Listen, Subscribe & Share: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jewish-inspiration-podcast-rabbi-aryeh-wolbe/id1476610783Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4r0KfjMzmCNQbiNaZBCSU7) to stay inspired! Share your questions at aw@torchweb.org or visit torchweb.org for more Torah content.  _____________About the Host:Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe, Director of TORCH in Houston, brings decades of Torah scholarship to guide listeners in applying Jewish wisdom to daily life.  To directly send your questions, comments, and feedback, please email: awolbe@torchweb.org_____________Support Our Mission:Our Mission is Connecting Jews & Judaism. Help us spread Judaism globally by sponsoring an episode at torchweb.org.Your support makes a HUGE difference!_____________Listen MoreOther podcasts by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe: NEW!! Prayer Podcast: https://prayerpodcast.transistor.fm/episodesJewish Inspiration Podcast: https://inspiration.transistor.fm/episodesParsha Review Podcast: https://parsha.transistor.fm/episodesLiving Jewishly Podcast: https://jewishly.transistor.fm/episodesThinking Talmudist Podcast: https://talmud.transistor.fm/episodesUnboxing Judaism Podcast: https://unboxing.transistor.fm/episodesRabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection: https://collection.transistor.fm/episodesFor a full listing of podcasts available by TORCH at http://podcast.torchweb.org_____________Keywords:#JewishInspiration, #Mussar, #MasterClass, #Remembrance, #OlamHaba, #Accountability, #DivineMiracles, #Teshuvah ★ Support this podcast ★

In this emotional Mussar Masterclass (Day 108), Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe begins with a heartfelt plea for prayers for his newborn preemie grandson (Tinoch ben Mi'ira bat Zahava) in the NICU in Jerusalem, dedicating the session to their speedy recovery. The class concludes the Gate of Remembrance in Orchos Tzaddikim with the final three remembrances:Always investigate and ask questions deeply—never rely solely on childhood understanding of Torah; as intellect matures, revisit and enrich knowledge (illustrated by stories of Rav Moshe Feinstein's meticulousness and sensitivity).Remove excessive love of this world and intensify love for Olam Haba—physical pleasures and spiritual growth cannot coexist; this world is solely a tool to invest in the next (via mitzvot, teshuvah, and using possessions for holiness), as fire and water cannot share a vessel.Remember accountability before Hashem—we will be judged not against others, but on whether we maximized our unique potential ("Why weren't you you?").Accept afflictions with joy—they are merciful "slap on the wrist" instead of the death penalty we deserve; teshuvah and small sufferings are gifts of divine kindness.Rabbi Wolbe weaves in awe-inspiring modern miracles (e.g., the May 4, 2025, missile landing harmlessly near Tel Aviv airport) as open reminders that Hashem alone controls everything—not technology, military, or human effort—urging constant gratitude and recognition of divine protection.Recorded at TORCH Centre in the Levin Family Studios (B) to a live audience on May 5, 2025, in Houston, Texas.Released as Podcast on December 23, 2025_____________This series on Orchos Tzadikim/Ways of the Righteous is produced in partnership with Hachzek.Join the revolution of daily Mussar study at hachzek.com.We are using the Treasure of Life edition of the Orchos Tzadikkim (Published by Feldheim)_____________Listen, Subscribe & Share: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jewish-inspiration-podcast-rabbi-aryeh-wolbe/id1476610783Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4r0KfjMzmCNQbiNaZBCSU7) to stay inspired! Share your questions at aw@torchweb.org or visit torchweb.org for more Torah content.  _____________About the Host:Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe, Director of TORCH in Houston, brings decades of Torah scholarship to guide listeners in applying Jewish wisdom to daily life.  To directly send your questions, comments, and feedback, please email: awolbe@torchweb.org_____________Support Our Mission:Our Mission is Connecting Jews & Judaism. Help us spread Judaism globally by sponsoring an episode at torchweb.org.Your support makes a HUGE difference!_____________Listen MoreOther podcasts by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe: NEW!! Prayer Podcast: https://prayerpodcast.transistor.fm/episodesJewish Inspiration Podcast: https://inspiration.transistor.fm/episodesParsha Review Podcast: https://parsha.transistor.fm/episodesLiving Jewishly Podcast: https://jewishly.transistor.fm/episodesThinking Talmudist Podcast: https://talmud.transistor.fm/episodesUnboxing Judaism Podcast: https://unboxing.transistor.fm/episodesRabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection: https://collection.transistor.fm/episodesFor a full listing of podcasts available by TORCH at http://podcast.torchweb.org_____________Keywords:#JewishInspiration, #Mussar, #MasterClass, #Remembrance, #OlamHaba, #Accountability, #DivineMiracles, #Teshuvah ★ Support this podcast ★

Serviciile secrete nu i-au trimis președintelui Nicușor Dan informații despre probleme de corupție din justiție. Cum vrea el să organizeze „referendumul” (HotNews) - Daniel David, ministrul care a livrat austeritate și a aruncat școala și profesorii în cea mai mare criză de încredere (Edupedu) - Legăturile lui Ion Iliescu cu generalii din rețeaua „Corbii” racolați de Moscova. Cum a reușit URSS să-și mențină influența în Armata Română (Libertatea) 7 probleme ale Justiției de (ne)rezolvat pentru Nicușor Dan (DW) Doar 11 magistrați au avut curajul să meargă la Cotroceni și să-și spună public nemulțumirile. Întâlnirea lor cu președintele a fost transmisă direct de Președinție prin rețelele sociale. Dar, în vreme ce Nicușor Dan asculta mărturisirile procurorilor și magistraților despre cum a fost depusă justiția în mâinile unei grupări cu legături politice, Inspecția Judiciară a dat publicității un raport din care rezultă că derapajele care apar în investigația Recorder au fost deja verificate și n-ar mai fi mare lucru de făcut.  Iată câteva dintre problemele prezentate de procurori şi judecători la Cotroceni: Președinții de instanțe au prea multă putere; Modalitatea de promovare în posturi nu este obiectivă și poate afecta independența și imparțialitatea, iar meritocrația contează prea puțin; Inspecția Judiciară ar trebui desființată și ar merita regândit întreg sistemul disciplinar prin crearea unui corp național al inspectorilor pentru că „Există clar un dublu standard al Inspecției Judiciare”; Justiția nu se mai poate autoregla, cum a sugerat președintele Nicușor Dan: fiindcă cele mai importante instituții din sistemul juridic, Înalta Curte de Casație și Justiție și Curtea de Apel București,  „sunt controlate” de oameni care „au fost ajutați să ajungă acolo prin diferite mecanisme”, „toate pârghiile sunt deținute în puncte cheie din sistem”; E nevoie de schimbarea legilor justiției prin intervenția parlamentului, „dar clasa politică vrea această intervenție legislativă, care este principala beneficiară a sistemului?  Sunt greu de găsit soluții concrete câtă vreme în parlament există grupuri de interese strâns legate de magistrații aflați în fruntea instanțelor și parchetelor. Un pact politic pentru Justiție al partidelor din arcul de guvernământ ar fi un prim pas. Totuși destul de (im)posibil de pus în practică, consideră jurnalista Sabina Fati, corespondentă DW la București. Serviciile secrete nu i-au trimis președintelui Nicușor Dan informații despre probleme de corupție din justiție. Cum vrea el să organizeze „referendumul” (HotNews) Președintele Nicușor Dan vrea vot prin corespondență pentru consultarea magistraților privind Consiliul Superior al Magistraturii (CSM) au declarat surse din Administrația Prezidențială pentru HotNews, care au vorbit și despre rolul serviciilor secrete. Discuțiile de luni cu magistrații veniți la Cotroceni au avut loc nu doar cu tabăra „anti CSM”, ci și cu cea „pro CSM”, au explicat doi oameni din adminstrația prezidențială, pentru HotNews. Datorită sensibilității subiectului, aceștia au vorbit sub condiția confidențialității.  În privința „referendumului”, cum l-a numit șeful statului, se evaluează un vot prin corespondență, au precizat cele două surse din Administrația Prezidențială. Mai exact, întrebarea ar putea să fie trimisă printr-un buletin care ajunge la instanța din care fac parte magistrații, iar apoi la aceștia. Ei ar returna buletinul prin corespondență. Se discută despre un vot nenominal, neidentificabil. În această variantă, Administrația Prezidențială va trimite direct prin instanțe această consultare și nu prin Consiliul Superior al Magistraturii. Daniel David, ministrul care a livrat austeritate și a aruncat școala și profesorii în cea mai mare criză de încredere (Edupedu) După un an de ministeriat, Daniel David și-a prezentat demisia premierului Bolojan. A fost numit în guvernul Ciolacu 2 pe 23 decembrie 2024 – a ieșit din guvernul Bolojan pe 22 decembrie 2025. Un an în funcția de ministru al Educației și Cercetării, două mandate în două guverne. De 150 de zile nu mai făcuse o conferință de presă la ministerul pe care-l conducea. În primul mandat, în Guvernul Ciolacu, Daniel David a fost prezentat și s-a prezentat drept ministrul reformei bazate pe dovezi.  Profilul său academic – profesor universitar de psihologie, cercetător recunoscut internațional, fost rector al Universității Babeș-Bolyai, expert evaluator pentru instituții academice de prestigiu din SUA și Europa – i-a oferit un capital de credibilitate fără precedent pentru un ministru al Educației. Tocmai acest profil a creat așteptări uriașe în sistem. Primele fisuri au apărut prin lipsa de onestitate, scrie jurnalistul Mihai Peticilă de la Edupedu. Consiliul Fiscal a arătat că economia pe care o va face ministerul în acest an prin toate măsurile din legea Bolojan, care dau peste cap școlile, profesorii și elevii, este de 0,6% din bugetul MEC sau 0,02% din PIB. Reacția ministrului David la analiza făcută de Consiliul Fiscal, analiză obligatorie prin lege pentru Guvern: „Nu ei sunt experții. Eu vă spun câți bani mi-ar fi trebuit.” În ședința în care au fost propuse măsurile, în Coaliția de Guvernare și cu reprezentanții ministerelor, conform surselor Edupedu.ro, ministrul Daniel David a fost singurul care a ridicat mâna și și-a asumat că va lua măsurile propuse, fără să comenteze. Tot ce a decis politicul, David a aplicat fără reacție. Motivul său declarat celor din minister și din cabinet: „dacă noi aplicăm în educație primii, atunci toți vor vedea exemplul nostru și ne vor urma”. Era în iunie 2025. Până în final de noiembrie 2025, niciunul dintre colegii săi miniștri nu aplicaseră și în domeniilor lor măsuri de austeritate. Legăturile lui Ion Iliescu cu generalii din rețeaua „Corbii” racolați de Moscova. Cum a reușit URSS să-și mențină influența în Armata Română (Libertatea) După numirea în fruntea Armatei de către Ion Iliescu, generalul Nicolae Militaru a reactivat o serie de militari care fuseseră marginalizați de Ceaușescu pentru apartenența lor la serviciile secrete sovietice. Iar noua putere coagulată în jurul lui Ion Iliescu era organizată încă din anii ‘80 cu sprijinul serviciilor secrete sovietice. Aceste legături cu Moscova au încetinit apropierea noastră de Occident și ne bântuie chiar și acum. Continuarea, în Libertatea.

Vicepremierul Tanczos Barna spune într-un interviu la RFI că ”Ordonanța trenuleț” pe care o are în vedere Guvernul pregătește terenul pentru legea bugetului pe 2026. Demnitarul declară pe de altă parte că unii directori de companii de stat, mai ales în domeniul feroviar, nu-și merită banii. Tanczos Barna crede de asemenea că protocolul coaliției nu poate fi renegociat acum. Tanczos Barna, despre reforme: ”Sunt în continuare, din păcate, câteva companii unde nu-și merită banii directorii, mai ales companiile din domeniul feroviar, unde sunt foarte mari pierderile, pe de o parte, iar pe partea cealaltă, sunt în continuare mari salariile directorilor (...). Au contracte care nu pot fi desfăcute”. Despre o renegociere a protocolului coaliției: ”Eu nu cred că este posibil acum. Partidele au un comportament neadecvat, nu vreau să folosesc alt termen, în Parlament, am văzut și ieri, când USR a scos cartelele de vot în momentul în care ar fi trebuit coaliția să-l apere practic pe domnul ministru Predoiu. Din punctul meu de vedere, acest comportament este de neacceptat, la fel cum a fost de neacceptat comportamentul PSD când a fost vorba de o moțiune simplă la adresa doamnei Buzoianu (...). Nu cred astăzi că se poate renegocia protocolul, nu există intenție din partea partidelor”. Despre eventuale demersuri de suspendare a președintelui Nicușor Dan, pe fondul problemelor din Justiție: ”Aberante, n-au nici o șansă. Nu se va întâmpla. Trebuie să ne uităm la cine spune, nu la ce spune și o să ne dăm seama că este doar o flacără de paie. Este imposibil, nu există nici o intenție serioasă din partea nimănui de suspendare a președintelui Nicușor Dan”.

Karl Ihfe continues Broadway's Advent series "Holy Night" by examining joy through the lens of Luke 2 and the shepherds' encounter with the newborn Jesus. Using a clip from The Chosen to illustrate the scene, Karl distinguishes between surface-level happiness and the deeper contentedness that characterizes true joy. He points out that the first Advent joy came amid difficult circumstances - Mary and Joseph alone in a barn, shepherds who were social outcasts - yet joy was found in trusting God's faithfulness. Karl shares personal stories that illustrate joy in unexpected places, including his mother's battle with cancer where she held onto the truth "I don't know what the day holds, but I know who holds the day," and his son Gabe's 11-day stay in the NICU where they experienced profound joy even in a place no parent wants to be. He connects these experiences to Jesus' teaching in John 15 about remaining in God's love so that "my joy may be in you and your joy would be complete." Karl emphasizes that when certainty isn't possible, faithfulness is still on the table, and that joy comes from staying connected to God's love even through trials. He concludes by challenging the congregation to choose joy this holiday season - to be God's joyful people who engage the world with hope rather than despair, contentment rather than complaint, trusting that God is doing something bigger and inviting us to be part of it. https://bwaychurch.org  

In today's episode, we hear from two-time NICU Dad, Kabe Redfern. Kabe walks us through the difficulties in processing the first 24 hours of NICU life, as well as the thoughts of trying again for a second child following such a traumatic first experience. Kabe is passionate about helping other Dad's going through their NICU journey, and he opens up and shares his insights on how Dad's can support each other, as well as sharing some personal tips and tricks on how to care for yourself in some very difficult situations - as well as what journey #2 looks like, implementing learnings from journey #1. Kabe has continued his passion for helping others, and now champions support for NICU Dad's as a member of several advisory boards, advisory groups, as well as being a Consumer Academic at the Kids Research Institute Australia - a far cry from his normal 9-5 career in emergency services. 

Colleen Gilroy tells the story of her mother, Mary Pat—a woman who stayed up deep into the night knitting Christmas stockings, thinking about each recipient as her needles clicked in the stillness while everyone else slept. Mary Pat was a night shift NICU nurse who cared for thousands of fragile babies and their frightened parents, a leprechaun of a woman who never let the truth interfere with a good tale, someone who poured 30 hours of attention into every stocking she made—holding each person in her heart as she worked. Colleen shares what unfolded at the funeral when the family lined the church pews with their stockings, then processed out to the sound of thousands of tiny bells ringing at once, each one marking a life Mary Pat had touched. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A daughter remembers the rodeo comment. Amanda was nine when classmates, teachers, and even other parents struggled to understand why her mom was carrying a baby for someone else. That early clash with stigma sent her searching for answers—how embryos work, why genetics matter, and what safety really looks like—while her family navigated emergency deliveries, NICU visits, and a community learning on the fly.Years later, the roles flipped. After a lifetime of “easy” pregnancies around her, Amanda faced irregular cycles and a PCOS diagnosis. She takes us inside the real cadence of IUI: dawn ultrasounds, letrozole and menopur, trigger timing, and the quiet choice to keep it private. You'll feel the weight of a Black Friday clinic visit before hosting Thanksgiving, a Christmas Day beta drawn into the wrong vial, and the constant tug between hope and self-protection. Her second pregnancy arrived spontaneously eleven months postpartum—proof that fertility doesn't follow neat rules—and it came with ER scares, a toddler at home, and the kind of fatigue most people don't see.We compare surrogacy then and now, from four-embryo transfers to today's standards, and talk about how intended parents can transform the experience by acknowledging the surrogate's kids. We also dig into what real support looks like when a sibling becomes a surrogate: legal caution, money anxiety, and the emotional work of staying steady in a tough delivery room. Amanda shares grounded advice for families, intended parents, and anyone facing infertility: seek facts, set boundaries, and let your plan fit your life, not the internet's timeline.If this conversation moved you, follow the show, share it with someone who needs it, and leave a review so more families can find clear, compassionate guidance on surrogacy and fertility.Send us a texthttps://stopsitsurrogate.com

Send us a textIn this inspiring episode of The Savvy Scribe Podcast, Janine welcomes Alyssa, a fellow nurse and member of the Savvy Nurse Writer community. Alyssa shares how she transitioned from bedside nursing and teaching to becoming a successful freelance writer—all while raising a toddler and growing her family.Her story is full of honest reflection, real-life challenges, and powerful mindset shifts. Whether you're just getting started or wondering if freelancing is really possible for you, Alyssa's journey proves it's more than possible—it's worth it.What You'll Learn in This Episode About Building a Freelance Writing BusinessThe transition from nurse to writer: Alyssa shares how she discovered freelance writing after years in OB, NICU, and nursing education.Treating it like a business: She explains how shifting her mindset from “side gig” to “business” helped her replace her teaching income.Real-life balance: Alyssa gives us a look at her daily life as a part-time stay-at-home mom and full-time writer—complete with nap-time writing sessions and toddler cameos.The power of tracking income: Once she started tracking her projects and income, Alyssa realized she was making real money—and that gave her the confidence to keep going.Letting go of the wrong clients: Alyssa shares how dropping one draining client opened the door for better ones and gave her business new energy.Membership insights: She highlights how the Plan, Produce, Profit membership gave her clarity, support, and confidence through resources like templates, the writing skills course, and coaching calls.Advice for new writers: Just start. Reach out. Take the first step. The worst they can say is no.Looking ahead to 2026: Alyssa plans to finish the PPP course, revamp her website, and continue growing intentionally whilWelcome to the Savvy Scribe Podcast, I'm so glad you're here! Before we start the show, if you're interested, we have a free Facebook group called "Savvy Nurse Writer Community"I appreciate you following me and listening today. I would LOVE for you to subscribe: ITUNESAnd if you love it, can I ask for a

What's up, dudes? It was the show that taught us how the 1% lived! Bob Baker from Festive Foreign Film Fans and William Bruce West from Remember That Show? and West Week Ever join me to talk Dynasty “That Holiday Spirit!”Blake and Crystal visit their premie in the NICU and see that their prize horse up for sale. Meanwhile, Alexis and Dex fly to London for their wedding, along with Amanda. Things are awkward due to Dex and Amanda's intimate encounter. Jeff is pining over Fallon and refuses to engage in a treasure hunt.During all this, Daniel Reece offers Blake the prize horse (his ulterior motive still hidden). Claudia reveals her infidelity to Steven who takes it poorly. Also, Dominique lays claim to the Carrington bloodline despite Blake's refusal to believe. Subsequently, at the Christmas party, she storms out as Blake shares that he is Amanda's father. Alexis barges in and demands Amanda back.Poofy dresses? Check. Melodrama? Of course! Slaps? Only one?!?! So grab your tux, listen to the carolers, and live like the Carringtons with this episode on Dynasty “That Holiday Spirit!”Festive Foreign Film FansFB: @ForeignFestiveFilmFansTwitter: @FestiveFilmFans Give us a buzz! Send a text, dudes!Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Totally Rad Christmas Mall & Arcade, Teepublic.com, or TotallyRadChristmas.com! Later, dudes!

Analyze That 49. Cătălin Striblea a fost live cu principalele subiecte politice și sociale al momentului. Nicușor sau Bolojan, cine va rezolva criza din justiție? Va accepta Rusia pacea în 2026? De ce Putin vrea mai mult război? Q&A

Episode OverviewIn this solo episode, Ann wraps up 2025 by looking back on a year filled with growth, change, and plenty of new experiences. Her word for the year, "embrace," set the tone for everything she did—good, bad, or in between. From going back to her favorite travel nursing assignment to making new friends and tackling the ups and downs of adulting, Ann shares what she learned along the way. This episode is all about finding the good, holding onto meaningful connections, and focusing on the little wins.About the HostAnn is a NICU travel nurse and the voice behind Nursing Uncharted. With more than six years on the road, she brings real stories and straight talk to nurses everywhere. Ann loves connecting with the nursing community and sharing both the highs and the challenges of the job.Key Topics & Timestamps[00:00:00] Looking Back and Picking a WordAnn kicks things off by sharing her tradition of picking a word for the year. For 2025, “embrace” led the way and shaped how she tackled new situations.[00:02:40] Trips, Memories, and Happy MomentsAnn tells us about her “ski trip” (where she didn't actually ski!) with friends, and how flipping through old photos helped her remember all the good times that might have slipped her mind.[00:06:05] Going Back to a Favorite AssignmentA call out of the blue brings Ann back to a hospital she loves. She talks about what it's like to be remembered after years away, and how the place and people have changed and grown.[00:11:00] Travel Nursing: Lonely but RewardingAnn gets real about how travel nursing can feel isolating, but explains how the friendships and warm welcomes make it all worthwhile.[00:13:08] Working Holidays as a NurseAnn shares her thoughts on holiday shifts—why she doesn't mind working if it means coworkers with families can be home, and how important it is to be there for patients and their loved ones.[00:17:15] Podcasting as TherapyAnn talks about how hosting her podcast helps her work through tough moments, connect with others, and keep growing personally and professionally.[00:22:20] Focusing on the Good StuffLooking through photos, Ann realizes that this year had a lot of fun, even if it was hard. She encourages everyone to spot and appreciate the highs, no matter how tough things get.[00:25:05] Making Friends and Embracing AdultingShe tells the story of meeting a new friend at the gym and shares some honest takes about moving, budgeting, and all the random challenges that come with getting older.[00:27:54] Wrapping Up and Looking AheadAnn thanks everyone for being part of her journey. She invites listeners to check out the next episode for her 2026 plans, and welcomes anyone interested in being a guest to reach out.Notable Quotes"My journey in 2025 was about embracing everything—good, bad, and ugly.""The way people welcomed me back was the most fulfilling feeling I've had in a long time.""Sometimes you just have to step back and remember why you do what you do.""We capture smiles and fun in our photos—rarely the rough days—and that's a good reminder to choose positivity.""Even when half the year was rough, there were still positives that made it better." About AnnAnn King, a seasoned travel nurse with a remarkable 14-year track record, has dedicated the past 13+ years to specializing in Neonatal ICU. Ann has been traveling with AMN Healthcare for 5+ years, enriching her expertise with diverse experiences. Currently residing in San Diego, Ann not only thrives in her nursing career but also serves as the host of the Nursing Uncharted podcast, where she shares invaluable insights and stories from the world of nursing. Connect with Ann on Instagram: @annifer05 Are you interested in coming on as a guest? Send us a message at podcasts@amnhealthcare.com Episode Sponsor:We're proudly sponsored by AMN Healthcare, the leader in healthcare staffing and workforce solutions. Explore their services at AMN Healthcare. Discover job opportunities and manage your assignments with ease using AMN Passport. Download the AMN Passport App today! Do you know a nurse looking to get into travel? Refer a friend to AMN today! Learn more about AMN Healthcare's Employee Assistance Program. Join Our Other Nursing Communities: YouTubeInstagramApple PodcastsSpotifyLinkedInFacebookPowered by AMN Healthcare Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this Listener Series episode, Kayleigh is joined by Bella, who courageously shares her journey through infertility, a high-risk twin pregnancy, perinatal depression, placenta previa, repeated hospitalizations, and an emergency C-section at just under 33 weeks.Bella walks us through the shock of conceiving triplets after one round of Clomid, the grief of losing one baby early in pregnancy, and the fear and uncertainty that followed as complications continued to stack. From significant bleeding episodes and preterm labor to an emergency birth that separated her from her babies, Bella's story sheds light on the physical and emotional toll of high-risk pregnancy and NICU life.Together, Kayleigh and Bella explore not only what happened medically, but the lasting emotional impact, including grief over missed milestones, infertility due to medical necessity, and learning how to cope when the birth and motherhood journey looks nothing like what you imagined.This episode is a powerful reminder that survival does not erase trauma, and that community can be a lifeline.In this episode, we discuss:

Guests: New Blue Jays pitcher Cody Ponce, former Blue Jays pitcher Jay Jackson     This week in Deep Left Field, we meet Cody Ponce, the right-hander the Jays signed earlier this month who is coming off the greatest season ever pitched in the Korea Baseball Organization. Ponce was introduced to the Toronto media this week, and we have highlights from that conversation, including what drew him to the Jays, his relationship with Hyun-Jin Ryu, what's changed since he was drummed out of the big leagues in 2021 and his deep and abiding love for all things Star Wars. Also, Jay Jackson joins us to give us an update on baby JR, who spent the first few months of his life in the NICU while his dad was pitching for the Blue Jays and is now a healthy, happy 2 1/2-year-old. Jackson also fills us in on new Jays acquisition Tyler Rogers, with whom he pitched for the San Francisco Giants in 2021, and gives some straight talk on how he believes the Jays have handled Bo Bichette's free agency so far. Plus, we open the mailbag at deepleftfield@thestar.ca - keep those cards and letters coming!

As 2026 approaches, workplace regulations are shaking up the scene – and Maureen Lavery from Littler's Knowledge Management team joins Claire Deason and Nicole LeFave to help employers stay ahead of the curve. The trio dives into new legislation and regulatory trends set to impact organizations in the coming year. From Connecticut's paid sick leave expansion (spoiler: almost everyone's invited), Colorado's first-in-the-nation NICU leave, and Minnesota's meal and rest break overhaul, the team tackles compliance changes with the energy of people who've had one too many krumkake. Plus, a round of predictions for what's next in anti-TRAP laws, AI in hiring, menopause accommodations, and immigration protections – helping employers prepare for what could be ahead. https://www.littler.com/news-analysis/podcast/littler-lounge-ahead-bill-curve-2026-legislative-look-ahead

Guest Bios: Episode Details: In this powerful episode of the LIFTS Podcast, host Emily Freeman sits down with Callie Trier and Jake Maher to share Ryan's Journey Home — a story of foster care, recovery, and the power of community.When Callie and her family welcomed baby Ryan into their home straight from the NICU, they knew he would need love, stability, and a strong village to help him thrive. What they didn't expect was the friendship that would grow between their family and Ryan's biological father, Jake — who was working hard to rebuild his life through treatment and recovery.Together, Callie and Jake share their perspectives on what it means to show up for a child — and for one another — within Montana's foster care system. Their story is one of grace, second chances, and how systems can work when people lead with empathy, communication, and hope.Topics in this episode include:Navigating the foster care system in MontanaThe power of collaboration between foster and biological parentsHow programs like Medicaid, WIC, and Best Beginnings support children in foster careThe role of treatment, recovery, and community support in family reunificationWhy believing in the possibility of change mattersResources mentioned:LIFTS Online Resource Guide: hmhb-lifts.org Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services – Foster Care: https://dphhs.mt.gov/CFSD/Fosterparent/indexRead their original story in LIFTS Magazine: https://hmhb-mt.org/magazine/Enjoying the podcast? We'd love your feedback and ideas for future episodes! Take our LIFTS Podcast Listener Survey at hmhb-mt.org/survey. Connect with Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Website Facebook Instagram For statewide resources to support Montana families in the 0-3 years of parenting, check out the LIFTS online resource guide athttps://hmhb-lifts.org/

What does it really look like to raise a child when doctors say he won't survive?In this episode of Your Biggest Breakthrough, Ken and Mary Sue Grein share the deeply personal story of raising their son, Jacob Grein, over the course of 37 years. Born six weeks premature, Jacob faced severe medical complications, physical disabilities, deafness, and ongoing health challenges that required constant care from the day he entered the world.Ken and Mary Sue open up about the realities of parenting a medically fragile child—the fear, exhaustion, faith struggles, marriage pressures, and the daily decisions to keep going when answers didn't come easily. They reflect on the moments when they had to surrender outcomes to God, redefine what healing and success truly meant, and learn to live with hope amidst long-term caregiving.This episode isn't about a quick miracle. It's about faith lived out over decades, love that never wavers, and a son whose life profoundly shaped his family in lasting ways.If you're a parent walking a difficult road, a caregiver feeling unseen, or someone wrestling with unanswered prayers, Jacob's story—and his parents' journey—will encourage you to keep going, one day at a time.Chapters:[00:00] Podcast Preview[01:30] Topic and Guest Introduction[03:25] Jacob Grein's Traumatic Premature Birth[04:35] Surrendering Jacob's Life to God[06:54] Doctors Give Jacob Six Months to Live[09:50] Learning to Live Moment by Moment[11:40] Bringing Jacob Home After 137 Days in NICU[13:50] Discovering That Jacob is Deaf[15:14] How Jacob's Illness Tested Their Marriage[18:21] Years of Surgeries and Setbacks[20:32] Raising Other Children While Caring for Jacob[22:00] Accepting Jacob's Disabilities[23:53] Caregiving as a Lifelong Calling[26:14] How Jacob Became Their Greatest Teacher[27:53] New Definition of Success and Purpose[28:30] Jacob's Joy Despite Suffering[33:04] Losing Jacob After 37 Years[36:44] Healing After Caregiving Ends[39:13] Why Jacob's Story Brings Hope to Others[40:50] Where to Find Jacob's Story BookResources mentioned:Get Your Copy of Jacob's StoryWebsiteYouTubeInstagramFacebookGuest's bio and social handles:Kenneth and Mary Sue Grein have been married for over four decades and are the parents of four children: Jacob, Hannah, Luke, and Grace. Their love story began at Rockmont College in Denver, Colorado, where they met during freshman orientation in 1977.
Ken, a former college basketball player and lifelong contractor, grew up on his family's farm in Brighton, Colorado, where he learned the values of hard work and perseverance that would serve him throughout Jacob's medical journey. Mary Sue, a gifted pianist and devoted mother, became Jacob's primary caregiver and fiercest advocate, developing an expertise in medical terminology and special needs care that few parents possess.Together, they navigated 37 years of medical challenges, hospital stays, and daily caregiving while raising three other children and maintaining their faith through the darkest moments. Their experience as parents of a child with multiple disabilities taught them profound lessons about love, resilience, and finding joy in the smallest victories. The...

What does real leadership at home actually look like — and why do our daughters expose the gaps faster than anyone else? In this powerful episode of The Daughtered Podcast, Oscar sits down with Albert Butler for an honest, deeply personal conversation about fatherhood, marriage, emotional intelligence, and what it truly means to lead your family well. Albert Butler is a CPA, MBA, national accounting firm partner, published author, and a devoted father of four (three daughters and one son). With decades of leadership experience in business, Albert brings a rare perspective on how professional leadership principles must be refined — not replicated — at home. His work has been featured in outlets such as Forbes, Business Insider, and Yahoo Finance, but he proudly identifies first and foremost as a husband and girl dad. He shares how becoming a girl dad — starting with a life-altering NICU experience — reshaped the way he views responsibility, leadership, and presence. Together, they unpack why many fathers excel at leadership at work but struggle to translate those same principles at home, especially with their daughters. Albert also opens up about marriage, humility, and the mindset that has guided his life and fatherhood journey: “I can because I will.” Albert is the author of Life: Truth, Love, Loss, Success & Failure, a book inspired by fatherhood and legacy, written to pass wisdom down to future generations. If you’re a dad raising daughters, navigating marriage, or trying to become a more present and emotionally grounded leader at home, this conversation will challenge you — and equip you — to do better.

Carter's mama, Amy and I, first recorded 3.5 years ago, not long after we both lost our sons. At the time, we were still deep in survival mode—learning how to breathe, how to exist, how to live in a world that had permanently changed.In this episode, we come back together to talk about life now.We talk honestly about:Parenting after lossWhat grief looks like years later (spoiler: it doesn't disappear)Expanding our families while still carrying our first babies with usThe tension of joy and sorrow coexistingHow motherhood after loss reshapes who you are, how you parent, and how you move through the worldThis isn't a “look how far we've come” conversation. It's just a real one. Two moms with 2 on earth and one in the sky. Grief didn't end. It evolved. Love didn't shrink. It expanded. And our sons are still very much part of our everyday lives.If you're navigating parenting after loss, considering growing your family again, or wondering what life can look like years down the road—this conversation is for you.Find Amy on Instagram:@amyycampisiHer Charity Org Carters Classic WebsiteFind your Loss Posse at LOSSLINK.COM*************************************NOTE: I am not a doctor or a therapist. This podcast is not in place of therapy. The views of my guests are not always reflective of my own.  I am just a real life loss mom describing her experiences with life after loss. These are my experiences, and I'm putting it out there so you feel less alone. Always do your own research and make informed decisions!For more REAL TALK about baby loss and grief, hit subscribe to be notified when another episode drops!Instagram @thekatherinelazarYoutube: @thekatherinelazarEmail: thekatherinelazar@gmail.comWebsite: www.katherinelazar.com Some helpful resources:https://countthekicks.org/https://www.measuretheplacenta.org/https://www.pushpregnancy.org/https://www.tommys.org/ Local to Atlanta:https://www.northsidepnl.com/ 

On this episode of Moony Birth Stories, Ali sits down to chat with Brittani from St.Walburg, Sk. Brittani was under the care of an OB in North Battleford, Sk as her original plan was to deliver there. She had a pretty uneventful pregnancy until 30 weeks when she experienced preterm prelabour rupture of membranes (PPROM). Brittani was transferred to JPCH in Saskatoon where she was admitted to await the arrival of her baby. Labour began spontaneously where she goes on to have a vaginal delivery with an epidural. As her son was premature, they spent 28 days in the NICU. Brittani was delighted when they brought their son home. Find us on Instagram: @moonybirthstoriespodcast @alivitrihShop 15% off with code DOULAALI at Everydae Health prenatal & postnatal supplement: https://www.everydaehealth.com/DOULAALISupport the show

Baricade 44 Radu Naum și Cătălin Striblea intră într-o discuție fără menajamente despre tema care aprinde toate taberele: „Mai poate fi salvată România?" Discuția pornește de la investigații recente și momente-cheie din spațiul public și ajunge rapid la miezul problemelor structurale: justiția și relația ei cu politicul, frica magistraților de a ieși în față, dosare tergiversate, diferențe de tratament, reforme începute și abandonate. Sunt analizate momente-cheie din ultimii 20 de ani, de la pierderea controlului politic asupra justiției până la încercările de reformă și reculurile evidente ale sistemului. O conversație tensionată, fără lozinci și fără ocolișuri, despre un stat care pare prins între reformă și regres. Împărțim lumea în două, ca de obicei Justiția servește politicul Plecăm de la investigația Recorder și discursul lui Nicușor Dan de 1 decembrie Teama magistraților de a ieși în față Conferința de presă CAB, un proces de anii 50 Probleme și în curțile altora 2004, anul în care statul român a cedat controlul politic asupra justiției Doamnele în justiție, domnii în politică Justiție cu diferențe Mărturiile oamenilor din investigația Recoder Finalizarea dosarelor Schimbările din timpul dnei Macovei și a lui Traian Băsescu Sportul s-a întors, parțial în comunism Reorganizare în rău Sunt probleme grave, sistemice România este o țară coruptă... de sute de ani Ne întoarcem la bază, educația! Ne reîntâlnim la anul. La mulți ani!

Aaron talks with Lee about his son Anakin and who the last couple of years has been since the passing of Anakin at 8 day old. Aaron talks about finding a good therapist who has help him to understand the emotions and the grief that he is feeling. Aaron also talks about the Sad Dads Club (https://saddadsclub.org/) and how they have helped him to feel not so isolated in his grief. DONATE $5 (aka "buy us a coffee/hot cocoa") to support the continued production of these stories. We appreciate all the help toward production and hosting costs.  Or if you want to purchase an "Always a Part of Us" Legacy Gift for $20, you'll be providing to one of these families that shares their story, full transcriptions, mp3s, and mp4s of the recordings of their baby's birth story and advice episodes for their family history records. You will also get a shout-out on an upcoming episode. Thank you! Donate: https://ko-fi.com/stillapartofus SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel for more birth stories from families who have experienced a stillbirth or infant loss. We're grateful that you're part of our community! https://www.youtube.com/stillapartofus SUBSCRIBE to our podcast Still A Part of Us, wherever you find podcasts. Links (some of these links are affiliate links, which means we may get a small commission off your purchase, at no extra cost to you): Website: http://stillapartofus.com/ Grief Support Groups: https://nationalshare.org/ #stillbirthstory #stillborn #stillbornstory #birthstory #infantloss #infantdeath #babydeath #stillmychild #podcast  #birthstories #babyloss #mybabydied #bereavedmother #bereavedfather #infantlossawareness #dadsgrievetoo #mamasgrief #pals #childloss #lifeafterloss #saytheirnames #babylossawareness #breakingthesilence #grievingmom #grievingdad #bereavedparents #pregnancyandinfantlossawarenessmonth

Send us a textEverlasting Father Dr. Jessica Fernandez December 14, 2025For many, the word “father” brings up wounds of absence, pain, abandonment, or unmet expectations. But Isaiah 9:6 calls Jesus our Everlasting Father, the Father-hearted Savior who came to heal every place where earthly fathers fell short. Join us as we discover how the child in the manger displays the heart of a Father who is constant, compassionate, and eternally present.DISSCUSION QUESTIONS 1. Take a moment to reflect on your own experience with the word father. How has your understanding — whether positive, painful, complicated, or absent — shaped the way you view God? In what ways has it helped you, and in what ways has it created barriers or misconceptions? Share how this message challenged, corrected, or deepened your perspective of God as your Everlasting Father.2. Out of all the ways Jesus revealed the Father's heart — His compassion, His mercy, His provision, His sacrifice, His desire to adopt you, or His protection — which one impacted you the most and why? Can you think of a time in your life when you personally experienced one of these aspects of God's heart? What did it teach you about who He truly is?3. In John 6, Jesus fed thousands with five loaves and two fish, showing that the Father provides abundantly and not sparingly. Where do you struggle to trust God's provision in your own life? What “small loaves and fish” — your time, resources, abilities, or obedience — are you holding onto tightly? What might it look like this week to place those things into His hands and trust Him to multiply them?4. The NICU illustration showed how fragility, instability, and weakness are met with a parent's steady presence. In your life right now, where do you feel most fragile, overwhelmed, or under pressure? What would it look like to stop “trying harder” and instead “draw near” to the Everlasting Father? Where do you sense God inviting you to rest, to breathe, and to let Him hold what you cannot regulate on your own?5. Scripture teaches that God didn't just forgive you — He adopted you (Galatians 4, Ephesians 1). What does it mean to you personally that the Everlasting Father claims you as His child with full belonging and full access? How does this identity shift the way you approach prayer, insecurity, or daily life? And what step can you take this week to grow in intimacy with your Father?

Season 12 is coming to a close, and it's been a season of big shifts. With Alyssa stepping in to host every episode and Madeline handling more behind-the-scenes projects, the podcast sounded a little different, but still hit all the same emotional notes. We also covered some especially heavy community topics, from family planning to marriage to familial rejection, which shaped the tone of the season in a really meaningful way.In this finale episode, we're sharing a quick look behind the scenes of what Season 12 was actually like for us, plus a full recap of the season through all the intro clips. We're also playing three listener takeaways, where Cary, Meghan, and Michelle share the episodes that resonated with them most this season.And finally, we're giving you a little peek at Season 13 on the topic of our children's disabilities, including long-requested topics like the NICU experience and how moms and dads are taken seriously (or not) in medical settings.Thank you for listening, supporting Sticker Club, and being part of this community. We can't wait to be back with you in January.Links:Join The Rare Life newsletter andnever miss an update!Fill out our contact form to joinupcoming discussion groups!Follow us on Instagram @the_rare_life!Donateto the podcast or Contactme about sponsoring an episode.Follow the Facebook page. Join the Facebook group Parents of Children with Rare Conditions.And if you love this podcast, please leave usa rating or review in your favorite podcast app! 

Send us a textThree third-year fellows present diverse research at Hot Topics. Dr. Tanima from Boston Children's demonstrates lung ultrasound's potential to predict respiratory support duration in 30+ week infants, with first six-hour exams showing strongest correlation—suggesting possible replacement for admission chest x-rays. Dr. Juhi from University of Illinois in Chicago applies large language models to extract IVH prognostic variables from AI literature, identifying critical gaps including absence of resolution prediction studies. Dr. Hailey conducts qualitative research on physician experiences with NICU mortality/morbidity, identifying three impactful loss categories: outcome-expectation mismatches, meaningful relationships, and weight of responsibilities. Their work exemplifies emerging neonatologist interests in point-of-care ultrasound, artificial intelligence applications, and clinician wellbeing. Support the showAs always, feel free to send us questions, comments, or suggestions to our email: nicupodcast@gmail.com. You can also contact the show through Instagram or Twitter, @nicupodcast. Or contact Ben and Daphna directly via their Twitter profiles: @drnicu and @doctordaphnamd. The papers discussed in today's episode are listed and timestamped on the webpage linked below. Enjoy!

This week on the Moms on Call Podcast, Jennifer and Laura speak with parents Mark and Elizabeth Messenger from Birmingham, Alabama. They share their experiences as a blended family with children ranging from 11 years to seven months old, including their journey with their youngest, James, who spent time in the NICU. They discuss the challenges and blessings of having a routine in the hospital and how it helped their son thrive once home. The episode also touches on the emotional and logistical aspects of parenting, including the balance of caring for multiple children and the support systems that help families navigate these challenges.

In this profoundly moving and honest conversation, we sit down with Jeff Loving, a NICU dad, husband, and now an author, who shares the intimate and often unspoken grief experienced by fathers after pregnancy loss. Jeff walks us through the heartbreaking loss of his two sons, Davian and Jadon, the struggle to find empathy and appropriate medical care, and how these experiences ultimately led him and his wife, Cassie, to become fierce advocates for their future family. This episode is a raw look at marriage under immense stress, the importance of empathetic medical staff, and the redemptive joy of welcoming their "double rainbow" daughter, Isla Grace. Jeff also discusses his mission to help other men through their grief by writing his book, Holding Onto the Light. Key Discussion Points & Timestamps Time Topic Key Takeaway 00:06 Meet Jeff Loving: Husband, NICU Dad, and Author Jeff introduces his family, including his dog, Sage, his wife, Cassie, and their NICU "double rainbow" baby girl, Isla Grace, reflecting on five years of marriage and three pregnancies. 01:08 The Loss of Davian (First Pregnancy) Jeff describes the initial shock and excitement of their first pregnancy, the sudden onset of symptoms at 19 weeks, and the devastating choice they faced in the hospital due to an infection: lose the baby, or risk losing both the baby and his wife. 04:55 The Cruel Disconnect of Grief Jeff recounts the soul-crushing moment of holding his son, Davian, as his heartbeat stopped. He shares the struggle of navigating intense grief while the world—and Thanksgiving—kept moving around them. 07:58 Finding Support: The Power of Presence The discussion turns to how his family supported them by simply being present, rather than offering platitudes like "it's God's plan." The importance of showing up for grieving parents is highlighted. 11:21 Empathetic vs. Detached Care Jeff praises the nurses who were a "calming presence in the chaos" and later attended Davian's service. Conversely, he shares a painful anecdote about a male doctor's detached and jovial demeanor, asking if he wanted to cut the cord after the loss. 15:51 What Compassion Looks Like in Care Jeff shares what he wished the doctor had said: "I know this is very hard... just know that my heart breaks for you, and I'm so sorry that you guys are going through this." This is a vital lesson for medical professionals. 16:55 Marriage Under Stress After moving to North Carolina for a fresh start, Jeff discusses how the loss put their marriage under extreme stress—it would either break them or bond them deeper. They emerged stronger. 23:13 The Loss of Jadon (The Second Pregnancy) The traumatic situation repeats almost day-for-day with their second son, Jadon. Jeff details the medical system's failure to provide a cerclage procedure, despite repeated requests, and the resulting emergency. 26:45 The Audacity of Poor Communication Jeff recounts being livid when the doctor who denied them the preventive cerclage entered the room without him present to tell his wife they were losing their baby, and then left without speaking to Jeff. 34:20 The Blessing of Angel the Bereavement Coordinator Jeff shares the incredible support they received from their bereavement coordinator, Angel, who handled every detail from handprints to selecting clothes, even providing a moment of much-needed humor when she accidentally gave Jadon a hilarious nickname. 36:02 Remembrance Toys: Dino Dave and Jucletus The significance of tangible remembrance items, like a weighted dinosaur (Dino Dave) and a heartbeat bear (Jucletus), that allow Isla to connect with her "big brothers." 39:18 "This is Our Double Rainbow Child" Jeff discusses the difficulty of answering "Is this your first?" as a parent of loss, and how he now confidently speaks of Isla as their "double rainbow child." 42:03 A Resource for Fathers of Loss Jeff explains his motivation for writing his book, Holding Onto the Light: A Father's Journey Through Loss and Healing. He notes the lack of resources for grieving men and how he encapsulated real stories into a fictional narrative to help them feel seen and heard. 46:05 The Defining Moment The most powerful feedback: a man who hadn't read a book in a decade finally read Jeff's book after losing his son. 48:52 Where to Find the Book and Connect Jeff shares his book title, where to buy it, and the dedicated email address to build a community of grieving fathers. Action Items & Connect with Jeff Read Jeff's Book: Title: Holding Onto the Light: A Father's Journey Through Loss and Healing Author: J. S. Loving Available: On Amazon (print and Kindle Unlimited). Connect & Share Your Story: Fathers of Loss Email: holdingontothelightbook@gmail.com (Jeff's goal is to connect with other fathers and collect stories for a future project). Instagram: @L-O-V-I-J-E-F (L-O-V-I-J-E-F)   When parents feel empowered, everyone wins – kids thrive and the care team excels! Links and Resources: SupportSpot Website Download SupportSpot iOS or Android 85% of users report high satisfaction, appreciating the SupportSpot app's comprehensive resources and user-friendly interface. 92%  of parent users say the SupportSpot app's helped them understand medical procedures and treatment better. 80% of parents believe the SupportSpot app's has contributed to better health outcomes for their child. 73% of parent users believe the SupportSpot app's has made them feel more empowered to advocate for their child in healthcare Learn more here. Meet the host:  Katie Taylor is the co-founder and CEO of Child Life On Call, a digital platform designed to provide parents, kids, and the care team with access to child life services tools and resources. She is a certified child life specialist with over 13 years of experience working in various pediatric healthcare settings. Katie is the author of the children's book, and has presented on the topics of child life and entrepreneurship, psychosocial care in the hospital, and supporting caregivers in the NICU setting both nationally and internationally. She is also the host of the Child Life On Call Podcast which features interviews with parents discussing their experiences throughout their child's medical journey. The podcast emphasizes the crucial role of child life services in enabling caregivers both at and beyond the bedside. Instagram.com/childlifeoncall   The Child Life On Call Podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. The content shared in each episode, including stories, discussions, and interviews, is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of something you heard on this podcast. The views and opinions expressed by guests on the Child Life On Call Podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Child Life On Call. Child Life On Call does not endorse any specific medical treatments, procedures, or opinions shared in the podcast. If you or your child are experiencing a medical emergency, call 911 or seek immediate medical attention. By listening to this podcast, you acknowledge that Child Life On Call and its affiliates are not responsible for any decisions made based on the information provided. Facebook.com/childlifeoncall linkedin.com/in/kfdonovan  

In this week's episode, Ashley and Aisha sit down for a cozy end-of-year conversation to close out the 2025 podcast season. Together, they reflect on the stories, experts, and full-circle moments that shaped this year's episodes, and share how the Dear NICU Mama sisterhood continues to impact their own healing journeys.They also introduce something brand new to the community: our Right On Time Holiday Book Drive. After receiving more than 130 nominations from NICU moms across the country, six hospitals were selected to receive donated copies of Right On Time. This is a meaningful way for NICU families to give back to the places that cared for their babies so well!During the episode, Ashley and Aisha walk through how the book drive works, why it matters, and how every donation helps sustain the mission of Dear NICU Mama—from this podcast, to our support groups, to the resources that meet NICU moms right where they are. $25 donates one book, and listeners can choose to gift a book to a specific selected NICU or to the general campaign.As we wrap up another year of stories and connection, we hope this conversation reminds you that you are not alone. Thank you, mamas, for being part of this sisterhood. We can't wait to be back in 2026 with more stories of hope!To donate to the Holiday Book Drive, head to: https://givebutter.com/dnmholidaybookdriveTo get connected with DNM:Website | Private Facebook Group | InstagramSupport the show

In this episode of Parenting Understood, we speak with Jodi, founder of Flrrish, about her journey as a NICU mom after her daughter was born at 28 weeks. Jodi shares the shock, fear, and identity shifts that followed her daughter's early arrival, as well as the loneliness many NICU parents experience. She explains how these challenges inspired her to support other preemie families through coaching, community, and guidance navigating early intervention services. Lastly, we discuss parental mental health, the stigma around seeking help, and the importance of meeting children—and parents—exactly where they are. Jodi can be found at the following:  Website Instagram Facebook TikTok LinkedIn  

Get homemaking coaching in 2026: https://simplyconvivial.com/coaching || Perfectionism keeps moms stuck in a boom-and-bust cycle. Lauren, a NICU nurse working night shifts while raising three young girls and beginning her homeschool journey, shares how this year inside Convivial Circle changed the way she approaches home, work, and rest.This is her first year in Simplified Organization Community Coaching, and her story is a clear picture of what iterative, grace-filled growth looks like in real life. She talks about letting go of perfect plans, learning to review her week honestly, coordinating with her husband, adjusting expectations, and taking her homemaking one small step at a time.Do coaching in 2026: https://simplyconvivial.com/coachingHer experience shows that overwhelm doesn't have to lead to giving up. When you learn how to iterate, evaluate, and make simple changes, progress becomes possible even in busy seasons.If you want to stop cycling through fresh starts and burnout, this conversation will help you see a sustainable path forward.Mystie Winckler encourages moms to organize their attitudes and get traction at home so we are no longer overwhelmed or frustrated with homemaking. We are a community of Christian women striving to be competent, cheerful homemakers so we are fruitful, faithful, and hospitable. Subscribe for regular encouragement!

Send us a textDr. Elaine Boyle, Professor of Neonatal Medicine at University of Leicester, presents the SURFON trial evaluating early surfactant versus expectant management in 34-38 week infants with respiratory distress. This pragmatic trial enrolled infants requiring 30-45% oxygen or non-invasive support. Primary outcomes showed no difference in hospital length of stay or progression to severe respiratory disease. Early surfactant reduced NICU duration and non-invasive support by less than one day each, with borderline pneumothorax increase requiring treatment of 80+ infants to prevent one case. Findings suggest watch-and-wait approaches remain safe and reasonable for this population, though this group requires continued research given their potential for severe illness. Support the showAs always, feel free to send us questions, comments, or suggestions to our email: nicupodcast@gmail.com. You can also contact the show through Instagram or Twitter, @nicupodcast. Or contact Ben and Daphna directly via their Twitter profiles: @drnicu and @doctordaphnamd. The papers discussed in today's episode are listed and timestamped on the webpage linked below. Enjoy!

Send us a textDr. Pankaj Agrawal, Division Chief of Neonatology at University of Miami, discusses rapid genomic advances—from six-month diagnostic timelines in 2000 to same-day sequencing today. While current practice targets phenotype-based testing for unexplained conditions or dysmorphic features, Agrawal advocates moving toward universal NICU sequencing to identify previously unrecognized conditions. Key barriers include administrative buy-in, cost concerns, consent processes, and result disclosure challenges. Even negative results provide value—offering families reassurance and contributing to research databases. With only 5,000 of 20,000 genes linked to human disease, ongoing gene discovery work continues. Agrawal emphasizes the NICU as ideal for genomic implementation given high genetic disease prevalence and intervention opportunities. Support the showAs always, feel free to send us questions, comments, or suggestions to our email: nicupodcast@gmail.com. You can also contact the show through Instagram or Twitter, @nicupodcast. Or contact Ben and Daphna directly via their Twitter profiles: @drnicu and @doctordaphnamd. The papers discussed in today's episode are listed and timestamped on the webpage linked below. Enjoy!

Send us a textDr. Michael Narvey, neonatologist and Vice President of Canadian Pediatric Society, challenges the validity of pre-discharge car seat testing. After leading Canadian work resulting in nationwide abandonment of the test in 2016, he argues the test doesn't represent real-world conditions (potholes, movement) and lacks evidence demonstrating it saves lives from apnea or desaturations. Based on 50 years of autopsy data, rare car seat-related deaths result from unsupervised asphyxiation when infants slide down onto straps—not from events in moving vehicles. Narvey distinguishes between eliminating the test versus maintaining essential car seat safety education, emphasizing proper positioning and avoiding unsupervised use outside vehicles. Some US centers are reconsidering this practice. Support the showAs always, feel free to send us questions, comments, or suggestions to our email: nicupodcast@gmail.com. You can also contact the show through Instagram or Twitter, @nicupodcast. Or contact Ben and Daphna directly via their Twitter profiles: @drnicu and @doctordaphnamd. The papers discussed in today's episode are listed and timestamped on the webpage linked below. Enjoy!

Send us a text In this episode of The Incubator Podcast, recorded live at Hot Topics in Neonatology in Washington, DC, we sit down with Dr. Daniele De Luca, Chief of Pediatric and Neonatal Critical Care at AP-HP Paris-Saclay University and leader of one of Europe's largest NICUs. Dr. De Luca discusses the groundbreaking Lancet Child & Adolescent Health Commission on the Future of Neonatology, a three-year initiative involving over 100 global key opinion leaders addressing the critical innovation gap in our specialty. He explores why neonatal medicine has experienced a slowdown in therapeutic advances since the 1990s, despite treating patients who will become citizens for decades ahead. The conversation covers the multifactorial barriers to innovation—from regulatory challenges to funding constraints—and the Commission's comprehensive recommendations for industry, regulators, academic centers, and patient representatives. Dr. De Luca emphasizes the urgent need to avoid treating babies in 20 years the same way we did 20 years ago, highlighting specific examples like the decades-long journey from drug development to registration and the paradox of FDA-approved equipment. He calls for a united approach to elevate neonatology's profile, establish formal specialty recognition, and accelerate the translation of research into bedside care.  Support the showAs always, feel free to send us questions, comments, or suggestions to our email: nicupodcast@gmail.com. You can also contact the show through Instagram or Twitter, @nicupodcast. Or contact Ben and Daphna directly via their Twitter profiles: @drnicu and @doctordaphnamd. The papers discussed in today's episode are listed and timestamped on the webpage linked below. Enjoy!

“Therefore see that you walk carefully [living life with honor, purpose, and courage; shunning those who tolerate and enable evil], not as the unwise, but as wise [sensible, intelligent, discerning people], making the very most of your time [on earth, recognizing and taking advantage of each opportunity and using it with wisdom and diligence], because the days are [filled with] evil.” Ephesians 5:15-16 AMP   *Transcription Below*   Questions and Topics We Discuss: How did God meet you in your experience of army life to reveal your choice of hope vs. fear? What have you learned about community, both before and after your experience of launching your husband into space? For all of us, how can we rediscover our fun side when we've been trapped in survival mode for too long?   Stacey Morgan is always ready with a funny or thoughtful story from her own life; whether it be holding down the home front during military deployments, working for the Smithsonian, skydiving, or blasting  her husband into outer space. Stacey is on staff with MOPS International, a nonprofit focused on the unique needs of mothers around the world. She and her husband, Army colonel and NASA astronaut Drew Morgan, have four children.   Connect with Stacey on Instagram or through her website.   Other Savvy Sauce Episodes Related to Friendship: Friendship with Drew Hunter Reflecting Jesus in Our Relationships with Rach Kincaid Nurturing Friendships with Jackie Coleman Art of Friendship with Kim Wier   Thank You to Our Sponsors: Chick-fil-A East Peoria and The Savvy Sauce Charities (and donate online here)   Please help us out by sharing this episode with a friend, leaving a 5-star rating and review, and subscribing to this podcast!   Connect with The Savvy Sauce on Facebook, Instagram or Our Website   Gospel Scripture: (all NIV)   Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”   Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”   Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”   Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”   Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”   Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”   John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”   Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”   Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”   Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.”   Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”   Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“   Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“   Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”   *Transcription*   Music: (0:00 – 0:09)   Laura Dugger: (0:09 - 2:54) Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here. I want to say a huge thank you to today's sponsors for this episode, Chick-fil-A East Peoria and Savvy Sauce Charities.   Are you interested in a free college education for you or someone you know? Stay tuned for details coming later in this episode from today's sponsor, Chick-fil-A East Peoria. You can also visit their website today at https://www.chick-fil-a.com/locations/il/east-peoria.   I'm so excited to share a special Patreon re-release episode. And if you've been with The Savvy Sauce for a while, you know that we used to make some money by having people sign up for Patreon and as a reward, they would get access to special episodes. Now we have done away with that as we've transitioned to becoming a nonprofit, and we want to make all of these episodes available to you, so we re-release a few every year.   What I'd love to ask is, as we're approaching the end of year because we've taken out that revenue stream, would you consider financially supporting Savvy Sauce Charities?   There are two simple ways. First, if you want to mail us a check, that saves us all of the processing fees, and you can make that out to Savvy Sauce Charities and mail it to P.O. Box 101, Roanoke, Illinois 61561. Also, if you want to go online, visit thesavvysauce.com and you can type in different words to the search button. You could type in “donate” or “support” and it should take you to the place where there's a button to click and put in your credit card information and give that way. We would be so grateful for any amount, and we love our partnership with you.   Here's our chat.   Stacey Morgan is my guest today, and you may have heard her name in the news over the past few years. She has documented her story in her debut book, The Astronaut's Wife: How Launching My Husband into Outer Space Changed the Way I Live on Earth. And now she's going to share more about that season and all the lessons God taught her about making the most of her one incredible life, and she's going to inspire each of us to do the same.   Here's our chat. Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Stacey.   Stacey Morgan: (2:55 - 2:58) I am so excited to be here. Thank you for having me.   Laura Dugger: (2:58 - 3:07) Well, it is truly my pleasure. And will you just start by giving us a little bit more context for our time together and just share a few things about yourself?   Stacey Morgan: (3:08 - 4:49) Sure. Well, hi, my name is Stacey. I currently live in Texas.   I have four kids. I'm married to a guy named Drew who has kind of an unusual job. I grew up in a small town just outside of Boston and was kind of a scholar-athlete growing up interested in a lot of different things but always involved in church and youth group. And that really served me well when I went off to college.   The first college I went to, West Point. And actually, I'll tell you in a minute, but that is where I eventually met my now husband, Drew.   We got married after I graduated from undergrad. He's a little bit older than me and he is an Army officer. And so, we have moved all over the country. We've lived on both coasts and had a number of kinds of unusual situations just, you know, kind of typical for a military family living all over the place.   I've had a lot of crazy jobs. I think mainly I have an unusual story because I'm really quick to say yes to things, which sometimes, you know, it's a double-edged sword. Sometimes you say yes and you realize, “I should have thought through that a little bit more.” But really it's been quite an adventure because we have had the opportunity to live in a lot of different places, experience a lot of different things.   And we ended up here in 2013. We can kind of get into that if you want, but we ended up down here in Texas with my husband, who is still an Army officer, but he became a NASA astronaut. And so, that totally changed the direction of our lives and kind of changing all the plans we had for what we were supposed to be doing in the military and ending up down here at Johnson Space Center. Then, him eventually launching into outer space.   Laura Dugger: (4:49 - 5:01) Wow, there are so many points to unpack, but let's back it up to what you had mentioned about West Point. So, will you just elaborate and tell us more about how you and Drew met and fell in love?   Stacey Morgan: (5:01 - 7:21) Sure. So, we were both cadets at West Point when we met. He was a little bit older than me, but we met through Officers' Christian Fellowship, which is a Christian club that is very popular on military bases, both at the academies but in big Army and other services as well when you get out.   It's a, you know, it's like small groups, typical for what most people would find comfortable in kind of church community. And so, we met there and we just kind of clicked, you know.   I would say it's funny looking back, we were not the type of people I think we would have thought we would marry. He was far more serious than I am. I'm a little bit more, I'm the one to more kind of like walk the fine line, but we work together really well.   We've always been a great team. That's always been a real theme in our marriage, you know, that we are a team. And, you know, when he proposed after I graduated from undergrad, he kind of said, “I promise you a life of adventure,” which at the time sounded wonderful and adorable.   Of course, it has come back to haunt me several times when he has been, you know, come up with some crazy plan and when I hesitate he's like, “I promised you adventure.” And I'm like, “Now that's unfair. I did not know when you said adventure back in 2000 that you meant all these crazy things like going to space or all these different deployments and all this kind of stuff like that.”   So, we now have four kids. We've been married this summer will be 22 years. And, you know, it hasn't been without its challenges like any marriage and certainly any marriage under stress because of stressful situations, whether that's military deployments, whether that's space travel or just kind of life and parenting. And as you kind of grow up together and get to know each other and the world changes around you, we've certainly had ups and downs, but we are a team.   And I think God has really honored that and it's been really helpful for us when we've had those sticky seasons where you just feel like, “Man, we are just not connecting or kind of jiving the way we would want,” to actually say to each other that we are on the same team and that has been really helpful.   Laura Dugger: (7:22 - 7:40) The part of your story that involves space travel is one that most of us will never be able to relate to experientially, but it's still extraordinary. So, can you walk us through the detailed events leading up to 9:28 p.m. on July 20th, 2019?   Stacey Morgan: (7:42 - 15:28) Sure. So, I should back it up one big step behind that just to give everybody a little context. So, in 2012, we were kind of living our lives. We had always been deep into the Army Special Operations community. We love that. In order to live and kind of thrive in that environment you have to be all in, and we were all in.   And one day my husband came home and he was uncharacteristically giddy and he said, “You're not gonna believe this huge news. NASA is opening up the application window for a new class of astronauts.”   And I thought, “Why are you telling me this? This has no bearing whatsoever on our lives. We are on this path and that is a completely different path.”   And he said, “Well, I want to apply.”   And I thought to myself, “Well, I wanted to be a ballerina at one point in life, but that ship sailed. Like who doesn't say they always wanted to be an astronaut? Like this seems like a childhood fantasy.”   But he said, “No, I just want to apply. Like don't worry, all of our plans are gonna stay the same. They've never selected an Army physician before. I just, you know, I want to...” You know, the joke was that you'll always be a NASA applicant, right? And that'll be great. We'll laugh about it at family Christmases and stuff.   Except he kept making it through every gate. And so, in 2013 we got the call that completely took our life off of one set of train tracks and put it on another. At that time, we were currently stationed just outside of Washington DC at Fort Belvoir. We were supposed to be literally the next week moving to Germany. And that's how close these changes kind of came up on themselves. And so, we had to unravel everything for Germany and move to Houston, Texas, because that's where Johnson Space Center is.   And so, he began his training in 2013. I started my journey in learning a whole new culture, a whole new way of doing life. I'd never lived in a place that was at least not near a military base or within a military community. Didn't quite recognize at the time how much that shared sense of community had made things easier in terms of connecting with people before that and when I didn't have it.   So, it was probably our rockiest transition for me personally that I'd ever had in terms of friendships and getting connected. That's a big part of my story because I think friendship struggles are so common for adult women. It's just something that nobody really teaches us how to do and so a lot of women are very lonely.   But fast forward, he trained for several years until it was eventually his turn to fly. And in 2019, the only way to get to the International Space Station was to fly on a Russian Soyuz rocket. So, some people are very confused because they think, “Well, every space movie I've ever watched is taking place in Florida, right? Whether that's Apollo 13 or Armageddon or whatever. Why didn't he launch from Florida?”   Well, between 2011 and 2020, the Space Shuttle program had ended. SpaceX Crew Dragon had not yet started launching from Florida again. So, for about a 10-year period, the only way to get to and from the International Space Station was to ride a Russian rocket.   So, that's what NASA did. They went into partnership with the Russians, which of course makes things very interesting given today's kind of current political climate and all the world events. But that meant when it was Drew's turn to launch, we as a family had to travel to Kazakhstan, which is a country that I could not spell before 2019.   And so, if you don't know where that is, don't feel bad. I didn't either. I had to look it up. It's a former Soviet Republic really kind of in between Russia and Afghanistan. So, it is in the middle of nowhere. And when the Soviets were building their space program in the 1950s and 60s, they built their secret space city there in Kazakhstan. That's where they started their space program and they have kind of kept it unchanged and they continue to launch their rockets from there today.   It was a whole kind of world travel and cultural experience to take my four kids to Kazakhstan, which is a completely different cultural experience for really what came down to a very stressful, very emotional moment really waiting for that launch. So, unlike Florida, which you know when you watch on television, it's colorful, there's a lot of people, a lot of spectators, big people remember from the shuttle days big countdown clock, a loudspeaker kind of telling everybody what's going on... that's not how it is in Kazakhstan.   So, about 30 minutes before the launch, the kids and I were brought to this viewing area. And by viewing area I would say big field. It's not... there was kind of some grandstands area far at the other end of the field, but that's where all the space tourists stand and the press and all that kind of stuff and we didn't want to be near them. So, our escort brought us down to the end, the other end of the field, and it's just dark and it's quiet and there's no announcements. There's no countdown clock. It's just looking at your watch or your phone there just kind of in the dark and you just know that that Russian ground crew is going to launch that rocket at exactly 9:28 p.m. Not a minute earlier, not a minute later.   And so, standing there in the dark holding my kids' hands, and we can see the rocket in the distance only about a mile away, which by rocket launch standards is very close. Knowing that in a minute or 30 seconds or 10 seconds as it gets closer, it's either going to be one of the best days of your life, super exciting, super proud moment, or it's going to be the worst day of your life, and you could become a widow.   And as much as it's easy to kind of get complacent because incidents are so rare, but we all can remember any number of space disasters that have happened. Columbia, Challenger, those are very real. And with my time down here at Johnson Space Center, you come to learn those names and you meet those families and you meet those widows and widowers and you realize that space travel is dangerous. You know, at the end of the day my husband was in a little tiny capsule on top of a rocket full of highly explosive fuel. So, it's very scary.   And in that moment standing there thinking, “In 10 seconds my life is going to change no matter what happens.” Even if this goes perfectly, what happens next? I don't really know. It's kind of like having a baby. You can read all about it and assume things will be the way they're going to be, but until you're in it and then it happens, you don't really know how it's gonna go.   And so, it was a really overwhelmingly emotional moment because you think this could go sideways. And also, by the way, the world is watching live with me. So, if something goes wrong, I'm not able to process this privately. I will be experiencing it in real time with the rest of the world.   But even if it goes perfectly, what happens next? Like what does it look like to live on earth with a spouse in space and single parent for nine plus months while their other parent is in space? And you really don't know and it's scary to think like, “Gosh, what if something happens?” You know, he can't like come home early. Can't just like a business trip jump on a plane or a train and get home early. There's no coming back early. So, whatever happens, I'm on my own for better or worse. I'm on my own and I hope I have the endurance and the support system and everything I'm gonna need in order to be successful in this nine months.   Laura Dugger: (15:28 - 15:47) And my heart is pounding a little bit faster just as I hear you describe this. And I'd love to get back to your story, but first just to pause and wonder with that mixture of this adventure right in front of you and then your experience of army life, how did God meet you in all of that to reveal your choice of you're able to choose hope or fear?   Stacey Morgan: (15:47 - 22:32) Right. So, you know, when you take the time to step back and think, sometimes you don't see these patterns in your life until you kind of start putting them down on paper. And it was interesting for me to see how God had prepared me for that moment with other moments, especially related to military deployments in the past. Because certainly experiencing a rocket launch and all that fear and kind of this moment of where is my hope found in this moment, that was a varsity level moment.   But I'm so thankful that about ten years earlier God really started to prepare me for that moment with some other big moments. Like when my husband deployed for the first time.   I'll never forget, it was the height of the War on Terror. So, we were living in a military community which was amazing and a lot of my friends' husbands were also serving in the same military units or similar military units and they were deploying. The tempo was high so that meant, you know, six months deployed or longer, coming home for short amounts of time and then deploying again. Lots of action specifically in Afghanistan and Iraq at the time.   And so, lots of fatalities, lots of injuries, lots of grief, and for spouses a lot of fear because we knew what they were doing was very dangerous. And so, for me and my friends we kind of had this unspoken rule which I think a lot of people can understand which was, “Let's just not talk about this scariest thing because somehow talking about it makes it seem more possible.”   And as crazy as that is to say, people get that. You know, there's a lot of things we don't talk about because it's just too scary to think about. And so, for us the scariest thing in our life at that time was the fear that our husbands would not come home, that they would be killed in action. And that felt very real because we were going to memorial services, we were visiting people in the hospital, we were turning on the news and seeing what was going on in the world. And there was often communication blackouts because we knew that they were doing things that were very dangerous, very secretive.   And so, at the time I happily did what everybody else was doing which was, “Let's just not talk about it. Let's just kind of live life managing.” We felt like we were managing this fear, I think that's what I would have said at the time.   But then one day my friend Lisa, who's an amazing friend and she's always like two steps ahead of me on the wisdom scale, we were having coffee on her front porch and she turned to me and she said, “I've been thinking a lot about what life would be like if our husbands were killed.”   And this was like a bomb drop. I mean because we just were not supposed to be talking about this. Like here the rest of us had been avoiding all morbid thoughts about what could possibly happen with our husband and instead she had like turned and looked it straight in the eye.   And I was shocked. And so, I kind of sat up straighter and I said, “What do you mean?”   And she said, “Well, I've been thinking about it and it's not that, you know, life would certainly be hard and doesn't mean we wouldn't need counseling or our kids wouldn't need support, but life would still go on even if that happened. Life would still go on. Life would still be full of good things and God would provide and bring people around us to support us and I've just been thinking about that.”   And I was stunned. I was absolutely stunned because while the rest of us were too afraid to face that fear, in looking at it she kind of exposed it for what it was, which was certainly real and an absolute possibility that that could happen. But when she started walking down the path of like, “Okay, if this happened then what would happen?” You have to decide, “Do I believe God would really be with me or not? Do I believe His promises are true that He will be with me on good days and bad days and that He will draw people to me who will love me and support me? And have I plugged myself into friends and a faith community that would be there for me if that happened?”   And it was a game changer. That was probably one of, at the time, the biggest life-changing conversations I'd ever had as an adult because it really did shift how I viewed feeling afraid about things like that. And so, I had several opportunities... Drew deployed several times and then certainly doesn't take combat deployments to feel afraid like that. I know I have felt it before when my daughter was in the NICU, you know, and I had to leave her in the NICU and go home at night. I know I have felt it during this pandemic several times. I know I'm gonna feel it when I drop my oldest off at college this summer. You know, this moment where it just life feels very scary mainly because of the unknowns that come next and the fact that you have no control over those.   And so, that rocket launch moment was, you know, I felt like God was really prompting me in that moment to say, “Hey, if this rocket explodes like what will you do with that? Do you still trust me that I'm here with you and that I will still bring people to you and love you? Like is your support, is your foundation and your hope truly found in me or is it found in this rocket launch going successfully? Because it might not, and then what does that mean for you?”   And so, it really was this choice of am I gonna choose to live a life of fear, which is our default because if you do not choose something else we will always live a life dictated by fear of something. It's exhausting to live like that because once you conquer one fear another one's gonna pop up. Then they come in bunches and they just start layering on top of each other. Honestly it can lead to despair because there's plenty of things in the world to be afraid of and new ones just pop up every day.   So instead, I felt like God was offering me a new way of living and it really felt tangible in that moment of that rocket launch which is, “Hey, I hope that you will choose to find your hope in me. Just me. The one unchanging thing in this world that will be unchanging regardless of what happens with this rocket launch in 10 seconds. But if it goes well or if it goes poorly I am unchanging. You can rely on me. I will be with you in the best and the worst of times. And even if the rocket launch goes successfully and whatever happens in the next nine months, I'm with you there as well. So, you don't need to be afraid because I'm here with you. You can have hope that I will enable you to do what must be done no matter what happens tomorrow.”   Laura Dugger: (22:32 - 22:49) I'm so grateful that you chose hope and you chose faith. And then after all of that excitement and that adrenaline experienced on launch day, what did your life look like in the months to follow?   Stacey Morgan: (22:49 - 26:47) Yeah, it wasn't easy. You know I joke that those nine months really were like it was like a master class in all these little lessons I've learned throughout the years, but I'd never had to put them into practice at this level and all at the same time.   So, things like being honest about that I needed help. That, you know, there are times in the past where I have certainly wanted people to know or think that I had it all together and that I could do it all by myself especially, you know, I think every mom feels that way.   Certainly, military spouses, we take a lot of pride and feel like I'm doing this on my own.   And I realize now that I had certain seasons I have made life a lot harder for myself because I somehow thought that there was like an extra trophy if I finish the race by myself. I said that it was like, spoiler, there's no trophy. And also, I was just making it harder for myself.   And so, this season I could not fake it. Like past seasons I could fake it. This one I could not fake it. I had two teenagers, two tweens, a lot of hormones and then prepubescent and puberty things flying around. Just a lot of scheduling, a lot of driving, like just life. And then just the stress of living with someone who, you know, a spouse who was living in space and the stress of what does that do to your marriage, to parenting and, you know, parent-child relationships. Just every single piece of running a house, of parenting all the things, was solely on my shoulders and that's a big weight. And it was tough. It was tough.   So, I could not fake it. I had to ask for help. I had to be willing to ask for it and receive it, which are two different skill sets I found. It's sometimes you get good at one and not the other. I had to get really willing to be vulnerable as my friends and say things like, “I'm really lonely.” Can you know, it's like being honest. Like everything's not just, “Oh, this is so exciting. Oh, isn't it so great? Aren't we just so proud of them?” Yes, but at the same time sometimes I'm lonely. Sometimes I'm struggling.   Sometimes in my stress I would overly focus on trying to control my home life or what was happening within my own house and become not as pleasant of a person to live with because I was just trying to kind of regain some control in what felt like a little bit of a chaotic world and then you become not your best self and you know that. And so, I had to learn how to kind of get out of that survival mode and still have fun even when life is hard. And really just kind of accept that life isn't one thing or the other. You can be in a hard season and it still have good things in it. Life can be full of opportunities and challenges and one does not negate the other. And when you try to live your life by one narrative or the other, not only are you faking it but you make life harder than it needs to be and you kind of block other people out of it.   So, there was a lot of learning going on in there but we really all came down to that first decision of how am I gonna live my life in this season? Am I gonna live it fearfully, reactionary, hair trigger, you know, just stress all the time because I'm afraid of what comes next. I'm not sure if I'm gonna be able to handle it? Or am I gonna live a life of hope, which is of course like not wishes and dreams but it is anticipation that God will be with me no matter what comes down the pipeline. And sometimes that's divine comfort that is hard to explain but you just feel it. Sometimes it's people he draws to your life who literally will sit on the couch with you and just like hold your hand or give you a hug that moment you need it. Sometimes it's someone offering to carpool or take your kid out driving because they're trying to get their driver's license, you know?   But that's really the biggest thing for me. I talked about it in chapter one of the book because that's the foundation that really all those other lessons were built on.   Laura Dugger: (26:47 - 27:26) And I think also with your book, it was helpful to hear little insights into what it looked like for your marriage. And it was even interesting when you said it's really important for astronauts to have forms of entertainment and that you were so committed to being involved in Drew's life and that you two still found ways to stay connected. I just think that has to be encouraging to any married couples listening right now because you clearly had a big barrier to overcome. But what were some of those ways that the two of you tried as best as you could in that season to stay intimately connected to one another's lives?   Stacey Morgan: (27:26 - 31:19) Yeah, it's not easy. And I think there's kind of this fallacy that is kind of dangerous for especially young married I think to believe which is like in every season of your life you're gonna feel amazingly connected to your spouse and you're gonna constantly be growing in your relationship. And sometimes that's not true. Like sometimes one person has a job that takes them away from home or someone is sick or there are other issues going on in your life where the connection is just not as strong not because you don't want it to be but because the circumstances you find yourself in don't allow for that.   And certainly, while my husband was in space that was a lot of challenges to feeling connected. I mean there's good communication but there's a difference between like quality and quantity, right? So, he could call me on the phone every day but because of the time differences and his schedule the only time he could call me was between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. my time, which as any person knows and with any kids, is like the worst time of the day. Like everything's happening, the wheels are coming off, homework, pickups, dinner prep, like all that kind of stuff was crazy.   So, needless to say, I was not able to sit down and have like a heartfelt drawn-out conversation. And then kids hate talking on the phone so he wasn't really talking to them during the day. I'm like, you know, my eight-year-old isn't gonna send him an email. So, you know, there wasn't like a lot of quality or quantity conversation with the kids which of course puts a little stress on your marriage too because you worry about that.   And then we have one video chat a month and you want it to be fun. You want it to kind of be good for the kids as well as him but it's a very, you know, it's one hour to share between five people and so that's not a lot of time. And so, the reality is that for that season there was a lot of, I would say, relationship treading water. And you're, you know, the goal is just not to let things go downhill, which you can easily do in life when you and your spouse are experiencing the same event but from different points of view. And that's what we were doing. You know, we were sharing the mission but from two vastly different points of view.   And so, you do your best. But the difference is I think you have to in order to kind of come out on the other end better, you have to have a kind of a mutual commitment that, “Hey, we're going to... we are eventually going to come back together on this. We can't change the circumstances. I can't make the time difference different. I can't give you more time on the phone. I can't... there's things I just cannot change. But we are committed as a team to doing the best we can right now and when this circumstance changes, in this case when he came home, we're gonna kind of back up again and do some story sharing and reconnect about some things that we just didn't have the opportunity to in the past.”   And so, it's a little bit kind of like two steps forward one step back but eventually you still come out ahead if you are committed to trying to come back together and share those experiences in one way or another. Where you run into kind of danger is if people start experiencing two different things and then they never come back together so the gap just kind of keeps widening and widening. And then you hear when people say like, “Yeah, I woke up and I felt like I was living a different life than the person who was sleeping next to me.”   And so, reminding us to ourselves that we are a team even though we were experiencing the same thing. I didn't know a lot about a lot of the things he was doing. He didn't know a lot of stories about how things were for me. And so, it's okay to tell them later if you don't have the ability to tell them in the moment as long as you both have the goodwill and you prioritize coming back together eventually.   Laura Dugger: (31:19 - 34:26) And now a brief message from our sponsor.   Did you know you can go to college tuition free just by being a team member at Chick-fil-A East Peoria? Yes, you heard that right. Free college education. All Chick-fil-A East Peoria team members in good standing are immediately eligible for a free college education through Point University.   Point University is a fully accredited private Christian college located in West Point, Georgia. This online self-paced program includes 13 associate's degrees, 17 bachelor's degrees, and two master's programs, including an MBA. College courses are fully transferable both in and out of this program. This could even be a great option to complete your general education courses and then transfer to the college of your choice and save money in the process. So, if you're looking for an affordable college option while simultaneously gaining valuable work experience and earning an income, Chick-fil-A East Peoria is the place for you. You don't have to go into debt to get a great education. To apply today, please go to https://www.chick-fil-a.com/locations/il/east-peoria  and click on the careers tab. You can also call the restaurant at 309-694-1044 to find out more. And if you aren't located near Chick-fil-A East Peoria, make sure you check with your local Chick-fil-A restaurant to see if they also participate in the Elevate program with Point University. Thanks for your sponsorship.   Did you know that this podcast is 100% listener supported? We love producing free content that's available to everyone around the world with our monthly newsletters when you sign up for our email list and with our weekly episodes. We pray that this has been a benefit to you. That if any episode has ever impacted you, what we ask is that you will partner with us now and generously and prayerfully give financially before the end of the year. There's multiple ways to do this. Online at thesavvysauce.com, you can donate through Stripe,  PayPal, or Venmo with just a simple click. Or you can send snail mail to us at Savvy Sauce Charities, P.O. Box 101 Roanoke, Illinois, 61561. We hope you choose to support us today and during this season especially.   It sounds like you really leaned into your friendships. So, what would you say you've learned about community both before and after your experience of launching Drew into space?   Stacey Morgan: (34:26 - 38:07) Well, I tell you what, I realized that as an adult often a lot of us don't really know how to do friendship well. And our culture is so, it so values independence that we often convince ourselves that if we tell our friends or our community that we need help or just kind of show our true heart for how important it is to us, that somehow that's gonna be kind of like devalued or we're gonna feel weak. And I realized like, “Man, I wasted a lot of years trying to be tougher than I really am.” And I wish I could go back and change that because in this season, mainly because I had no choice. And so, God really used this opportunity to show me like, “Hey, I'm gonna kind of like force you to open up your heart, be vulnerable with this small group of really trusted friends and like just trust me to see what happens next.”   And I did and it was a game-changer. I mean, I have a lot of deep feelings but I put a little bit of a tough exterior and I forced myself to be super honest and super vulnerable with my friends and say things like, “I'm lonely or I don't even know what I need but I'm just feeling exhausted or angry or this is really frustrating to me or I need help with this and I don't even know where to begin.” And just let those friends step into my life in a really intimate way.   And you know, I think we've all had a friend at some point who has asked for help and we have been so happy to help them and we've never thought less of them for it. But somehow when it comes to our own time we're like, “Oh, I don't want to trouble anybody. Oh, they're gonna think I can't handle it.” Or like, “Well, this is like I made this bed so I better lie in it. You chose to have all these kids, you chose this career, you chose this whatever, like this is your problem.” But we would never say that about another friend. And so, I don't know why we are harder on ourselves than we are on our friends because it's not right. Most of our friends are happy to help us. They love us helping us, being with us, comforting us, supporting us. That's how they show how important you are to them and we need to let them do that.   I've also gotten better about verbalizing the feelings that I had always felt inside but I felt awkward verbalizing. Like, “Thank you for being my friend.” Or like, “Thank you for just spending this time with me,” or, “You are an important person in my life.” Words that we say to our kids, that we often say to our spouses, but sometimes for me at least felt weird saying to friends and I'm really trying to get better about that. That was a great nine months of practice. It doesn't come easy or natural I think to anybody but it's a game changer. Like why not tell your friends how much they mean to you?   So, community is essential. Like don't try to lone wolf this life. I've certainly had some more extreme experiences than probably the average person, but the principles are the same. Get plugged into community and have multiple circles of community. Certainly, your faith community but also you know if you work, if you go to the gym, if you go to school, like your kids' friends, like there's so many circles of community and don't be afraid to just jump right in and get connected. And you've got to do it before you are in crisis. You've got to kind of invest in these friendships so that you know them and can trust these friends so that when those seasons come that are hard you have this small group of people who you can rely on. It will be a complete game changer in your life when you have a small, could be one person, can be two people, trusted people who can journey with you.   Laura Dugger: (38:07 - 38:34) I could not agree more. I really think that friendship is one of the most precious gifts were given in this life. And going back to your marriage we had discussed that time of separation but then there was a whole other season of transition as well. So, what was it like to come back together after being apart for nearly 10 months?   Stacey Morgan: (38:34 - 42:55) Yeah, so it's funny there's always these Hollywood romanticized versions of what reunions must look like whether that's a military deployment reunion or you know when an astronaut comes home. And I think people assume it's some kind of like hot sexy romantic can't keep hands off of you but the reality is far different, right? Because it's... I mean maybe it is, maybe that's how it is for some people. I will just say for us, you know, when you've been living an independent life for however long, whether that was you know a six-month or an eight-month deployment or a nine-month deployment to outer space, you know I was living my own life fully independent for that long where I made all the choices. I didn't have anybody looking over my shoulder or you know there's a little bit of independent freedom there when you're the only one kind of making the big decisions.   And so, when that person comes back into your life, which you want them to come back, you're happy they're home, but there is this awkward transition period. It's definitely an opportunity for some tension because now there's another opinion back in the mix, right?   Like I had to kind of adjust my way of doing life for another person who had a valid opinion, another decision maker. The kids had to adjust to having another parent back in the house. You're kind of getting to know each other so there is a little bit of a sniffing out period where you're like, “Hey, nice to meet you.” Because we all change. You know you could be gone from someone for a month, you know, you're not the same person you were today as you were last year or six months ago or maybe even a month ago. So, anytime someone comes back in your life they're different, you're a little different. You're like my friendships had shifted over those ten months, like my work had shifted, everything in my life had moved on and he had not been there in the house with me to experience that so there was... it was a whole new set of experiences and a new person to get to know again.   Now he came home and what made it a little bit more dramatic was that Drew came home in the startup of the pandemic. He came home in April of 2020 which at the time I think we weren't sure, “Are we going up? Are we coming down?” We know now looking back we realize things were just ramping up; the world was, we were all still very confused about what's the best thing to do can we all the things you know. So, NASA pretty much brought him home and then he came home to our house after just a few days in kind of the quarantine facility there on Johnson Space Center. But then he came back to our house and then it's like he never left because all of the normal stuff that would happen when you come home from space like travel and meetings and all these kind of things were all canceled or postponed.   And so, instead of kind of like getting to know each other slowly it was like zero to sixty. I mean he was home and he didn't go anywhere, none of us could go anywhere. So, we joke that the irony that he was in space with five professional crew mates in a small space and then he came home to live in our small space with five amateur crew mates who are certainly not nearly as gracious or accommodating or helpful as the professional astronaut and cosmonaut crew mates he had. The irony is not lost on us. So, he came home I don't think we've ever spent that amount of time together you know 24/7 in the same house with all four of our kids, no school, nowhere to go because everything's closed. And so yeah we're getting to know each other in this kind of Petri dish of new experiences as the world is also kind of like upside down and everything's unusual.   So, in the end it was okay. I joke like we did a lot of “I was like let me go do this puzzle I just need some alone time” or “I'm going for a walk around the neighborhood please don't text me. I'll be back when I'll be back I just need a few minutes to myself.” I think everybody has had that moment in the during the last two years where you're just like, “I just need a few minutes alone please,” you know in my if you've been trapped in your house with somebody who you're not normally with 24/7.   Laura Dugger: (42:56 - 43:17) Well sure and with your experience, mental health is very important for the family of the astronaut and the astronaut themselves. Wasn't it your psychologist who is saying typically when you come back and enter this time of reentry and reuniting you do little bit by little bit because that tends to be wiser?   Stacey Morgan: (43:17 - 45:22) Yes, that's right. They call it titrating a return. That's a principle they have in the military as well which is they would normally come back from a deployment for at least the first couple weeks back from a long trip away they would go to work every day for several hours because it's you know psychologically difficult for two people who have been living very independent lives to come back together just with like zero transition. The military has learned this over the last 20 years you know that you could go from a combat zone to mowing your lawn in 24 hours. That's stressful especially if you add in you know marriage baggage, kids you know nagging kids or issues like that, financial struggles, that's a kind of what can be a breeding ground for some really difficult situation. So, it's best to let people get to know each other again a little bit at a time.   Like you said the normal return from space was kind of the same thing. It would be come home and then you'd have some physical therapy, you'd have these different meetings and it would be a little bit like going to work for several weeks while they're getting their body and everything back to normal. Then, you kind of could have this kind of extended time at home but it gave both people the ability to kind of like reintroduce themselves to each other in bits and pieces and just kind of ease into it. But we did not have that luxury so we kind of had to create it ourselves. And I am glad again that we had those past experiences to know where the potential minefields were. If you were not prepared you could be very disappointed if you went into it thinking, “Oh, they're gonna come home, it's gonna be like romantic. We're gonna be like together and loving it all the time and just connecting so deeply. It's gonna be amazing.” And then the first time that your spouse is like, “Why are you emptying the dishwasher like that?” It's important to know like, “Yeah, if there is going to be tension it is going to be awkward. That's okay that is part of the normal cycle and it's gonna be okay.” But I'm glad that we had that knowledge beforehand because it could be tough.   Laura Dugger: (45:22 - 46:07) Well and Stacey another reason that I really appreciate you being willing to let us enter your story with you. When we have different careers or we have someone in the military and a civilian who's not involved, there's so much room for assumptions and maybe not always assuming the best. There's opportunity for miscommunication so I'm just wondering about the person who's hearing this and what if they're thinking, “Well that sounds irresponsible or even selfish of Drew to choose this path if he's a husband and father.” So, how would you offer that kind of person another perspective that they might be missing?   Stacey Morgan: (46:07 - 48:20) I mean I would say is when it comes to astronauts for sure, you know, these are not like hot-rodding thrill-seeking people. In fact, I would say I think a lot of people make the assumption that people who do some of these higher like physically higher risky jobs must be like thrill-seeking you know just thrown caution to the wind about everything in their life. Actually, nothing could be farther from the truth. I think you would find that we certainly and I would you know I think a lot of people in the same career field are similar and that we are good risk calculators. And that like policemen, like firemen, like military personnel you know it's an act of service to be in this job. These are not just like you know space tourists or billionaires getting on a rocket for fun. These are professionals who have chosen a career field of service and whether that is as a policeman, a fireman, a service to the nation, service to humanity, service to their community and they all play a part in that.   I think most people recognize that that it is you know there's something to be said for the person who chooses a career that has a level of risk because they feel called to it and because thank God for people who will take on risk and are willing to potentially sacrifice themselves for someone else. I mean I think it's kind of a higher calling which is why in general in our culture we honor them and rightfully so. It is risky, it's very risky. They certainly don't do it for the money. I don't think anybody in any kind of government service would say that they're doing it for the money, that's for sure. You know they're doing it because they feel called to something bigger than themselves and to serve their fellow man in some way. That's certainly I know how we feel as a family that his choosing to transition as an Army physician into being still in the Army but serving in this capacity was just the next level up. The way he could serve our community, our country, our nation and all of humanity and he really is its service first. It's the opposite of selfish; it is selfless service really.   Laura Dugger: (48:20 - 48:55) Mm-hmm thank you for that. I just say amen to everything you just said. Really it's service from your entire family that requires a sacrifice from each of you like you said for the greater good. And I think something else that you pointed out so well in your book was that having this value more so of security or not living into this calling that you said this calling was put upon your lives that could actually be idolatry if you're starting to place a higher value on security or anything else other than God and so I think you model that well.   Stacey Morgan: (48:55 - 51:13) Thank you. Yeah I think a lot of people you know sometimes these idols creep up on us we don't realize that we have put something on a pedestal until it gets threatened to be taken away from us and all of a sudden our reaction is over the top because we're you know you realize, “Gosh, I'm finding my security in this thing I'm finding my identity in this thing whether this thing is a job, another person, a political party, a scientific breakthrough whatever it is.” Right? Like and I think a lot of people, I certainly felt it you know in that launch moment like, “Am I finding my identity in being married to this person or him having this job or this launch being successful? Because if I am in about 10 seconds my world may crumble because if that could all be taken away from me.” And in that yeah I think we all kind of have probably had a moment especially in the last two years where for a lot of people something that they have built their life on has been either taken away from them or has it has been threatened to be taken away because of the pandemic a job a person in their life you know a relationship your kids going off to school every day I mean whatever it is that you've built in your life and you have put on this pedestal and you kind of made without even realizing it have started to place more hope in those things remaining unchanged than you have in God. And all of a sudden when those things are threatened you have this over-the-top emotionally fearful response that's kind of an indicator I think to all of us like when we have that is like, “Whoo my fear and my response should tell me that I seem to be very very afraid that this is going to be taken away from me because I am putting too much hope in it. Instead, I should be taking that and putting it back where it belongs. I should reprioritize where I am finding my hope and the only unchanging thing that we can build our foundation on is God. Everything else, every person, everything, every job, every whatever it is can and could possibly be taken away from you and on your deathbed will be.” So, you know you can't help but have a little bit of self-reflection there.   Laura Dugger: (51:13 - 51:23) Well and then for all of us how do you recommend that we all can rediscover our fun side when we've been trapped in survival mode for too long?   Stacey Morgan: (51:23 - 56:05) This is a great question because I think all of us have felt this definitely in the pandemic. You know this part in your life where everything in the world feels very chaotic and so you try to regain some control in your own life by maybe regimenting your kids a little more, cleaning your house a little more, you know, controlling things at work or whatever your environment is. And without really realizing it you become this just like survival mode like your day just becomes about making things easier for yourself, streamlining things, making things just go go go. And you wake up one day and you were like, “I'm exhausted. Like why am I so tired? Why am I why do I have like no joy? Why do I just feel unhappy?” And you realize that you have not done anything other than just be like surviving and cleaning and doing work or whatever it is like you have just been doing the basics with no fun whatsoever.   So I have been there I hit that a bunch of times in the pandemic, but I certainly hit it when Drew was in space because it's really hard being a single parent and managing all of the emotional burdens and the logistics of it. And I realized that I was cleaning a lot I was kind of getting a little bit more trigger angry with kids or people who you know were making me upset because when you're in survival mode it's all about just like “Get out of my way let me do what I want to do,” it's about getting things done quickly and other people become an annoyance instead of a joy in your life.   So it's all about going back to something that that fills you up and it can be something really frivolous it can be something like it's very it's 100% unique to you and so I can't tell you what that thing is but I would say the first step in kind of getting yourself out of survival mode and kind of getting back to your your whole self is asking yourself the question like, “What do I enjoy?” Not for its educational value, not for its good cardio exercise or and not what your kids enjoy, not what is Instagram worthy, or anything like in your soul what fills you up? Is it reading? Is it watching movies? Is it riding bikes? Is it roller skating? Is it you know eating Mexican food? Like what is it that you enjoy doing that when you do it you just feel like more of yourself?   And then just go do it tomorrow. Like it's gonna take prioritizing time probably some money but that is as much of a part of who you are how God created you. He didn't make you this like worker bot or like just a mom or just a wife or just a daughter or a sister like He made you a whole person and a huge part of who you are are these things that you enjoy. And you cannot continue to pour into other people or work or your community if you are never getting filled up yourself. You will just dry out, you will be burnt out, you'll be unhappy and you'll actually be worse in all these other areas where you were trying to work hard because you're just gonna be like a shell of yourself.   So, for me it was prioritizing time with friends. It was... I got this crazy flyer on my front door for roller skating lessons and I had this fantasy of being a really good roller skater that stemmed from like when I was eight and so I signed my girls and I up for roller skating lessons which was hilarious and very humbling but it was just silly. It took time, we had to prioritize the time on every Saturday it took money, but it was just fun. It had no educational value my kids will look back on it and be like, “What was that all about? I don't even know.” But it was great because even in the midst of a stressful season like that was a very stressful season, undeniable, but as part of that narrative it will not only be like, “Yeah it was really tough when my dad was away and you know my mom had to like single-parent us but that was also the season where my mom took us to roller skating lessons. Isn't that weird? That was so weird.” And we'll laugh about it.   And so, it's just about finding something that you want to do and then just unapologetically spend the money, spend the time, and invite a friend to do it with you again. Doing something with a friend is always more fun than doing something alone. Don't feel like you have to justify it or explain it to everyone you don't need to take pictures to post online you don't need to tell it just just go do it and have a good time. It's amazing how when you do that suddenly like those dust bunnies or that email that had a weird tone that you got don't annoy you as much as they used to because your kind of like finding your whole self again.   Laura Dugger: (56:05 - 56:27) That's helpful to remember to live life to the fullest and be ready for the next adventure that life's gonna throw at us. Yeah. And just as a bonus can we just ask what are some of the most common questions that you and Drew answer about space?   Stacey Morgan: (56:27 - 57:25) That's a good question. A lot of like personal hygiene questions about teeth brushing toilets how do you know take showers or whatever and of course the answer is they don't take showers. But and then of course a lot of people want to know, “Hey I've always been interested in becoming an astronaut how does somebody do that?”   And there are so many resources online people you know I say, “Look go online read all about it. There's amazing videos NASA puts out an incredible amount of resources that you can read up on but at the end of the day do what you are most passionate about because the likelihood that you, or your nephew, or your cousin, or your co-worker, your son, or, whoever it is that you know is convinced they want to be an astronaut the likelihood of them being an astronaut is very low. So you should do what just fills you up do a career and a life that you are passionate about and if God calls you to that path those doors will open but if He doesn't you'll still be living a life fully within God's purpose for you.”   Laura Dugger: (57:25 - 57:39) And Stacey you're such an incredible communicator both in this interview time together but also really enjoyed your book. And so, if people want to follow you to hear what you're up to next, where would you direct them online?   Stacey Morgan: (57:39 - 58:41) Sure well they can go to my website StaceyMorgan2000. That's like Stacey Morgan two zero zero zero dot com. That has my blog that has links to a different podcast like this that I've been on and they can check that out. They can find me on Instagram same handle StaceyMorgan2000.   And you know if people want to reach out, I love when people have been sending me messages lately after they've read the book it's been so awesome. You know I tell people like I certainly didn't write this book for the money I'm actually donating all my book proceeds to charities that support military families. So, I've been joking like, “Hey read the book if you don't like it the worst that happened is you donated to a military charity. If you do like it buy ten copies and give one to all your friends. But if you do like it I love it when people send me messages and just tell me kind of like what resonated and how it spoke to them.” That's just been one of the I would say the coolest aspect of completing this project was kind of putting it out there and then getting to see how God uses it in people's lives.   Laura Dugger: (58:41 - 59:02) There were so many things that resonated but off the top of my head if anybody has a copy of the book they'll have to turn to the part about baloney on sale friends. And Stacey you may know that we're called The Savvy Sauce because savvy is synonymous with practical knowledge and so as my final question for you today what is your savvy sauce?   Stacey Morgan: (59:02 - 1:01:08) Well I'll piggyback off your baloney is on sale friends' reference and that would be: pick up the phone and text your friend. We didn't need a study to show us this because I think most of us have just known this in our soul but there is an endemic of loneliness in the world right now as you know we've got all these ways to connect and yet people feel more disconnected. They feel more lonely especially women and what I learned through my own kind of relationship struggles over the years is that everyone's waiting for someone else to go first. That you in that moment you feel like you're the only person who's feeling lonely and alone and that everybody else is in these friend circles and you're just somehow on the outside. But the reality is that pretty much everybody feels the same way you do and everybody's sitting at home wishing someone would just text them and invite them to coffee.   So that's my practical tip is don't wait, go first be the bold friend or even acquaintance like it doesn't have to be someone that you are super besties with. But those baloney is on sale friends like I said you have to read the book and understand that that is like a special category of friendship that's the kind of friendship that our soul longs for but those things don't appear or like pop out of the ground. That kind of friend doesn't just show up it's developed over time it's invested in and cared for and loved and it starts with literally a text to go get coffee. That's how every great friendship story begins. So, if that's you, if you feel like yeah I don't have this close friend who I can do something with I'm lonely. Okay take that first step be the one who picks up the phone send that text message to the woman from church, or the woman from the gym, or that friend you haven't talked to in a while and just invite them over for coffee. Nothing fancy nothing crazy no agenda just come over for a couple hours for coffee. Every single person I know who does this no one ever regrets inviting a friend over for coffee. That's the first step that we can all take into just feeling more connected and having those kind of friends that we want.   Laura Dugger: (1:01:08 - 1:01:31) Love it. Well Stacy your book definitely changed my perspective on risk and I was so hooked on all the stories that you shared so I believe that your book is truly a gift to anyone who chooses to read it and your faith is very inspiring so thank you for sharing your journey with us and thank you for being my guest.   Stacey Morgan: (1:01:31 – 1:01:33) Well, thank you it's been great.   Laura Dugger: (1:01:33 – 1:05:16) One more thing before you go, have you heard the term gospel before? It simply means good news. And I want to share the best news with you, but it starts with the bad news.   Every single one of us were born sinners, but Christ desires to rescue us from our sin, which is something we cannot do for ourselves. This means there's absolutely no chance we can make it