In this episode, host Michelle Browder sits down with Rose for a raw, generous conversation about the realities of pregnancy and early motherhood. Rose opens up about the anxiety that gripped her throughout her pregnancy — the fear of becoming another statistic — and the deliberate, careful process of finding an OB-GYN who would actually listen to her. That search carries extra weight given her own family history: her grandfather, Dr. Robert Williams, was one of the only Black OBs serving rural Alabama, delivering over 7,000 babies across Bullock and Macon Counties — a legacy strangers still stop Rose to talk about today.

Rose walks through her full birth story, from a long induction to an unplanned C-section, and doesn't shy away from the harder chapters that followed: the challenges of breastfeeding, the mental load of postpartum motherhood, and a terrifying medical emergency that sent her newborn son to Birmingham on a life flight. The conversation also turns to the state of maternal healthcare in Alabama today — hospital closures, the shrinking number of OB-GYNs in rural counties, and the growing case for midwifery and home birth as women search for care they can trust.

Honest, funny, and deeply human, this episode is a reminder that behind every statistic on maternal health is a real story — and a real family fighting to be heard.

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