Mini-Ep 479: From Teeth to Toes
Listeners call in with questions about how to handle teeth staining and IVF, and more recs from the community for comfy pants! Elise also shares an Oscar update, and Doree deals with a roof replacement.
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Transcript
This episode transcript is AI generated.
Doree Shafrir (00:10):
Hello and welcome to Forever35, a podcast about the things we do to take care of ourselves. I'm Doree Shafrir.
Elsie Hu (00:16):
And I'm Elise Hu. And we're just two friends who like to talk a lot about serums,
Doree Shafrir (00:20):
And this is a mini episode where we hear from you, we share your comments and your thoughts, and we answer your questions to the best of our ability. But please remember, we are not experts. We are podcast hosts. We always encourage you to seek support first and foremost from a medical and or mental health professional as needed. You
Elsie Hu (00:38):
Betcha.
Doree Shafrir (00:40):
You betcha. Elise, how's it going?
Elsie Hu (00:44):
It's going pretty well. I haven't been to the emergency vet today at all, so that's a good day. Wow. The bar's
Doree Shafrir (00:54):
On the floor.
Elsie Hu (00:57):
We got into this funny discussion about IQ last night.
Doree Shafrir (01:00):
Okay.
Elsie Hu (01:01):
There's been this running joke in my group chat about iq and then I brought this up with my running buddy this morning who is a neurologist neuroscientist, and she was saying to me, the creature in your house who's IQ I most want evaluated is Oscars. What do you think his IQ is like? Three, would you put it at three? And she said that there's actually these doggy IQ tests where you can have them perform certain tasks or see how long it takes for them to find something underneath a blanket.
Doree Shafrir (01:33):
Oh my god.
Elsie Hu (01:34):
And I was like, well, you know who I think is actually quite intelligent is Abe, my cat, my cat, cat that behaves like a dog, the one that can open doors, the one that comes when called, he can come when called if he's way back in the backyard and I call him from upstairs in the house, he will hear me and then come to me.
Doree Shafrir (01:51):
So
Elsie Hu (01:52):
He knows the come command better than the dog. And then Abe also plays fetch. I love that he plays fetch. And so I was like, is there a cat one where I can test the intelligence of my cat? And apparently, but what I think would be interesting is to have the dog take the cat one and the dog one and have the cat take the dog one and the cat one. And I think that what we're going to find, my hypothesis is that my cat is a very smart dog.
Doree Shafrir (02:18):
Wow. I love this. We're going to find out. I think your dog is not the smartest, very pretty preacher. What's
Elsie Hu (02:29):
Going on with you? Oh my goodness. What's going on on your side of
Doree Shafrir (02:32):
Town? I mean, our roof is being replaced.
Elsie Hu (02:38):
Oh, I didn't know there was a roof issue. Is it just because there
Doree Shafrir (02:42):
Is a roof issue? It was leaking during all the storms. So there is a roof issue. I mean we rent, so we are not paying for this roof replacement, but it's been quite disruptive. Our dog is not thrilled and we didn't feel like paying to send him to daycare just because we were getting our roof worked on. So he is very agitated, pretty much all day. Poor guy.
Elsie Hu (03:08):
How long is the project of roof replacement?
Doree Shafrir (03:11):
You know what? It's not clear to me, Elise. I don't totally, I also avoid all interaction with our landlord. I make Matt deal with it because I can't, I find him. Yeah,
Elsie Hu (03:27):
Meddlesome.
Doree Shafrir (03:28):
Yeah, we'll just leave it at that. So I try to have as few details as possible.
Elsie Hu (03:37):
Got it.
Doree Shafrir (03:38):
I'm willfully ignorant to anything. It's a need to know basis. Great. Awesome. This is something that I have fully divested. Mental load. Yes. Divested. Yes. The mental load and emotional labor of dealing with our landlord has been fully put on my husband. I do not engage. I do not. I'm like, this is your department?
Elsie Hu (04:07):
Yes. This is your department.
Doree Shafrir (04:09):
Exactly. Got it. I deal with a lot. This is what I know. You carry your load, right? Yeah. So that's kind of what's going on with me. We got a voicemail that I want to play because the first half of it is just a really lovely compliment to us. Great. So I feel we need a, and then there's an actual question.
Listener Voicemail (04:32):
Okay. Hi, Doree and Elise, longtime listener here, chiming in to say the pod recently has been in such a great groove. Thank you both for continuing it and sharing bits of your lives. Great. Rex Guests, good advice in cultivating an online community. I especially have loved the episodes with Megan Sullivan and recently with Maurene and Dory. An extra nod to you for showing such resilience when you have indicated some tough times personally. And the tennis hobby is quite inspiring unto a question. Tooth care, I have good oral hygiene with the exception of drinking and eating the beverages and foods that cause tooth staining, cause tea, berries, et cetera. My teeth throw staining by the time my sixth month appointment comes up. And then the hygienist gets them nice and white and then the pattern repeats. I've gotten tips from the dentist like drinking coffee through a straw or making sure to rinse with water after drinking acidic drinks. But it basically comes down to if I really wanted to avoid the staining completely, I would need to cut the beverages out, which sounds sad, but I'm self-conscious about the staining and I need to avoid aggressive whitening treatments because of enamel health. Is this something you deal with or the listeners? Thanks.
Elsie Hu (05:40):
I totally deal with it because I drink like a gallon of iced tea every day. So every time I go to my six month appointment they're like, what are you drinking? This is your usual staining. Can you please? And they say the exact same thing. They're like, after you drink your tea or your coffee, then definitely rinse with water. Water is much more useful after drinking these staining beverages than brushing your teeth because of whatever the chemical process is that happens. So I mean I get the exact same, some remarks, but I don't really get that. I don't mind. There was some advertiser that sent me, it's called like lumino or lumino. They have those pens, those whitening pens with a little brush on the end that you can keep in your purse and you can just paint the front of your teeth. This was in television news all the time.
(06:36)
There were all the anchors. There were two products like MVP products that showed up in TV newsrooms all the time. One is that lumify, those eyedrops, the LUMIFY eyedrops work instantly to take the red out of your eye. The other is are the whitening pens where you can just paint your teeth white and it just has the same gel stuff that comes in whitening kits. But I hear you on enamel health. I don't do a lot of that. I do have those, the mouth guard like molds that they do, they fit you for so that you can put whitening stuff in it, the whitening gel stuff inside them and just wear them for teeth whitening if you want. So dentists do do that if you want to do it. I don't know if it's that much different or more effective than strips.
Doree Shafrir (07:25):
Okay. I have no teeth whitening or enamel advice, so I'm going to defer to Elise on this one and our listeners.
Elsie Hu (07:36):
Yeah, I don't have that much. So yes, if there are listeners, I just kind of live with it. I don't think it's that big of a deal to have some staining on my teeth, but I think everybody's a sense of that is different. And then B, I don't know how much staining we're talking about. You know what I mean? I kind of have the regular staining, but it's not like a stripe across the middle of my two front teeth or something like that.
Doree Shafrir (07:59):
Right.
(08:01)
Okay. Well if you have thoughts on tooth staining or anything else, call or text us at (781) 591-0390. Email us at Forever35podcast@gmail.com. Visit our website forever35 podcast.com. We have links there to everything we mentioned on the show. We are on Instagram at Forever35 podcast and our Patreon is at patreon.com/forever three five. Just a quick rundown and reminder of all the things we have available on our Patreon. At the free tier, we have our newsletter. That is the only place you can get our newsletter. Now we have pot highlights, product reviews, exclusive discounts, giveaways, bonus content. It's a fun time over there. We also have a chat going in the Patreon app, or I guess you can get it on the Patreon website too. You can get access to the chat and that's also really fun. You also get our weekly casual chats. We get our monthly pop culture recommendations. And at the $10 level, you also get ad free episodes and a shout out on the podcast each and every month. So check that out. patreon.com/forever three five. And after the break we have more pants recommendations, which I'm really here for. Here for any comfy cozy recommendations.
Elsie Hu (09:20):
Yes. Okay, we'll talk about those after the break.
Doree Shafrir (09:23):
All we'll right back. All right, we are back and I am going to play a voicemail about pants.
Listener Voicemail (09:39):
Fantastic.
(09:41)
Hi Elise. Do, I am recording this in the daycare parking lot as I prepare to go in and pick up my two C-section babies. So I wanted to call in response to the listener who was asking about post C-section attire. I've had two C-sections, one with a horizontal incision and one with vertical. I assume this person had a horizontal incision, but in the four years since I've had that, it's been high waist everything just because of tenderness and scarring and all the fun stuff that comes along with that procedure. And I want to give a plug for Old Navy pants slash jeans because they do offer what I think is pretty inclusive sizing. I, I'm short, and they offer everything in a short, they offer it in a tall, and as Elise mentioned, they also include photos of various sizes of models on the website. Another perk is that it's fairly inexpensive, so you don't want to invest a lot of money as your body's continuously changing postpartum. So I have found Old Navy jeans to be very consistent in quality and sizing and they offer a lot of great high-waisted options. Thanks so much for the pod. I hope this helps. Great.
Elsie Hu (11:00):
I'm glad she brought up Old Navy because Do you see what I'm wearing?
Doree Shafrir (11:03):
Whoa.
Elsie Hu (11:04):
I'm wearing my new Old Navy Bounce fleece. I forgot to even mention this off the top. We were recording the show last week, and so then I looked up this Bounce fleece. It's supposedly a dupe for the
Doree Shafrir (11:17):
Spanx Air
Elsie Hu (11:18):
Essentials. Spanx, yes, the Spanx Air Essentials that don't have pockets, but Bounce Fleece does have pockets and it does sort of feel like that scuba type material. It's so comfy. The pants run a little big. So in fact, our nanny Lingling pointed out, she's like, your outfit looks so comfy, but you look like you're kind of drowning in the pants a little bit. So she wanted to know because she also wants to get a bounce fleece set and they were on sale, certain colors were on sale. I got this rose color, I think it was also on sale on you. Thank you. Thank you. I don't know if it's in my color wheel season or whatever my color season, but it was on sale. And then, yeah, ditto to the collar on how our bodies are always changing, so it's good to get some pants that can shift with you or that the brand can shift with you as our bodies change. So I like that I have already sung the praises of the Super Soft Denim from Gap, which is the same company. And yeah, generally the price points are pretty affordable. Totally.
Doree Shafrir (12:25):
Elise, do you want to read this next email?
Elsie Hu (12:29):
Sure. Dorian Elise, listener, since day one, first time writer, I had a pause the pod moment when you were discussing what to wear after a C-section on mini of 4 77. It must be different for every person postpartum because I disagreed with most of what you recommended. Dorie, I had a C-section one year ago and was so wildly uncomfortable for weeks after. I could not do compression pants or a belly band. Sleeping was awful and clothes were impossible. I couldn't have anything tight on my stomach actually. I couldn't really have anything on my stomach at all. Even comfy pants, a size too big were uncomfortable. Even the tie of a robe tied loosely was uncomfortable. I think I had trapped gas from the surgery maybe. Anyways, the pants I ended up liking the most were the offline by airy OTT fleece super wide leg pants. They are really roomy and look kind of silly on my short frame.
(13:27)
They were the only thing I could wear. I also liked wearing my maternity one piece slash bodysuit that was a little roomy but didn't have a waistband and wasn't at all tight on my belly. It had been summer, I would've worn dresses, but it was January. So wear dresses if you can. Love you guys, Sonny. Okay, so different, take different strokes for different folks. And I do like Airy. I do like the lounge wear from Airy as well. Airy is kind of like the youth brand from American Eagle I believe. And I got swimsuits. I got a few bikinis from there last year also probably because they were low priced juniors. And I love, it's one of the bathing suits I get complimented on the most is my airy two piece. So don't sleep on Airy, it's just sleepwear. Most of it is sleepwear, lounge wear, comfy stuff. So I'm sort of like, I mean, does it matter that it should be for my teenage daughter? I'm fine with it.
Doree Shafrir (14:31):
I mean, whatever works. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. It's lounge wear. Yeah, exactly. Okay, next text. Doen Elise wanted to reach out with a potentially polarizing airplane outfit option.
(14:48)
Over the past year. I made the transition to wearing a hundred percent cotton black maxi dress with a chunky or light sweater and a pair of tennis shoes. If the flight is more than two hours, I'll also add compression socks. This totally depends on where one is going, but for mild climates it's been great and I feel so free on the plane slash don't get butt sweat. With this method. I will note I like to wear loose fitting Spanx shorts underneath to help wick moisture to much love to y'all and the Forever35 community. I have also a couple of times done the maxi dress situation, although mine I don't think is a hundred percent cotton listener. I'm going to need a link to the maxi dress that you recommend. So I would like to see it. I also like to feel a little bit more held in underneath. So I like this idea of wearing the loose fitting SPANX shorts under the maxi dress. I do like that idea. I'm intrigued again. I would like a link. Please provide links. I'm desperate for links
Elsie Hu (15:54):
Back. So drop in on the Patreon chat, right?
Doree Shafrir (15:56):
Yeah, but this is interesting. This is helpful. This is helpful. All right. We are going to take another short break and we will be right back. Okay. We'll be right back. All right. We are back and we have a voicemail.
Listener Voicemail (16:25):
Hi, this is Adrian. I'm longtime listener. First time caller. I've listening for probably 10 years. I am just now 30, so maybe listen, before I was a Target demo. Anyhow, I'm calling because I am about to start the IVF process for the next couple months, and I'm super nervous about the hormonal craziness that's going to be, so I would just love advice about this process or just advice in general going into this. I don't know. I had a clear question before I called in and now I just feel like I'm kind of all over the place. Would just love encouragement and advice. Thanks. Bye.
Elsie Hu (17:06):
That's a very clear question. Can you offer advice and encouragement is a question. So that's a call out to the community, but also to Dory. What do you remember and what advice and encouragement can you
Doree Shafrir (17:16):
Offer? Well, I have a whole podcast about the IVF process called Matt and Dory's excellent adventure. In the first 20 ish episodes, 20 to 50 episodes was when we were really in the shit of IVF really in it. So those are probably going to be the episodes that are most applicable to your situation. But just quickly, I mean, I would say the thing that I wish I had known the most before I went into IVF was that the goalposts are always shifting and it most likely will not work right away. I wish someone had just told me that. I feel like they don't really tell you how the odds are not amazing, sorry to be. A lot of people have to do multiple rounds of IVF to
(18:13)
Get viable embryos and have them transferred. It can take a long time. So I don't mean to sound discouraging. I just mean to say if you do one round of IVF and it doesn't work, don't get discouraged. That is normal. No matter what people say or what doctors say or what you've seen in the media, that is totally normal. You might have to do multiple rounds of IVF. And that just happens. And when I say that, the goalposts are always shifting, we talk about this in great and gory detail on the podcast, but for us it was always like you would do a round of IVF or do an egg retrieval or whatever, and then it would be like, oh, we actually need to fix this other thing. Oh, we actually need to do this thing that you had never heard of that no one had ever mentioned, but now you need to have this procedure done and it'll take a month to recover from.
(19:11)
There's just always stuff, I can't even know how to describe it. It's just like there was always something else that we were like, what? No one ever told us about that. And then it was some other thing. And it really is, it is a science, but it is also an art. And the doctors are doing their best to try to figure out what everyone's unique issue is and what the right meds are and the timing. And it's trial and error. So a lot of times that first round, even though it is so expensive, I hope if you have insurance coverage or someone is covering it, great. But a lot of people we were paying out of pocket.
(19:57)
And so to feel like, oh, that first round is just a test run. You're like, but wait, I just paid all this money. And the doctor's like, well, we're going to tweak this and do that. And you're like, oh my God, you're just kind of figuring this out as we go. No guarantees. So I would just say, lean on your friends. Lean on your family. If you have a partner, lean on your partner. Be kind to yourself. Take personal days if you need them. Get cozy, binge watch a lot of tv. I weirdly binge watched a lot of, I remember I binge watched a lot of Call the Midwife, which didn't really, oh yeah, that's a great show on pdf. It's a great show. It didn't really make sense because I was doing IVF, so why was I watching a show about people getting pregnant babies? Yeah, delivering babies. But I really, I don't know. I really like, so find a show binge watch a show. You're going to want to do things that take your mind off of IVF because it is so easy to let it just take over your life.
Elsie Hu (21:01):
Rewatch, heated rivalry, my friend Meredith has watched it 14 times. Great binge, great binge, great rewatch, binge. I am starting to rewatch a little bit of heated rivalry because I really want Rob to get to the KIPP and Scott episodes, which everybody who knows the show will know. And it takes, I think, KIPP and Scott, which is a B plot and kind of a bottle episode. I think it's halfway through the season, and Rob just hasn't gotten there yet. So I'm like, can we watch another so you can get to my favorite couple. But then he's mad at me because I have yet to watch, or he's like, or is the most important show to watch in this time. How can you have not have watched you Would love it. And you love Tony. What's his name? Tony, the guy who wrote it or the guy who directs?
(21:49)
No, the guy who wrote it. Tony Gilroy. Because Michael Clayton is part of my letterbox five. Michael Clayton, I think is one of the best movies right up there with office space on my list. Good one. And Tony Gilroy's behind Michael Clayton too. And or I have yet to do and or so Rob kind of is doing the same thing to me as I do with him with heated rivalry where it's like, oh, well I'll watch it with you. I'll just watch it again so that you can enjoy it. But all this to say, there are so much great content to binge while you're taking good care of yourself and writing out those hormonal swings. And that's really great encouraging advice. Do.
Doree Shafrir (22:34):
Yeah, I don't mean to enjoy, and Matt have a whole podcast about it. We
(22:39)
Have a whole podcast about it. I would say in the last few years it has really been more of just a check-in with each other, with our listeners. And it's less about IVF, but if you go to the first year or so of the podcast before I got pregnant, that was really when we were in the shit. And I think a lot of people find it reassuring that people are having the same feelings that they're having and going through the same stuff. And also we heard from there's so many listeners who wrote or called in. So you're really getting the experience of all of our listeners as well. Something else that people have said about the podcast is we've had people reach out and say, I started listening to your show before I was even trying to get pregnant. And then when I was trying to get pregnant, it turned out I did have to do infertility treatments. And I was so much more informed from listening to your podcast about what to ask for and just all the things. So you might also learn some stuff about the process that you might not get from your doctor.
Elsie Hu (23:52):
Yeah, it's so good that that show is the anchor of a community because Oh, thank you. It's true that so many people have gone through it. And so many of my loved ones, so many of the kids I know are IVF babies and I'm so glad they're here. What a journey. What a
Doree Shafrir (24:11):
Journey.
Elsie Hu (24:12):
Yeah. Thank you for sharing that door. And before we go, I just have one quick Trader Joe's recommendation, because I know these come up sometimes and in honor of Valentine's Day, they have a hearts shaped macaroons in the frozen food section. So yeah, with the mochi and the ice cream bars and the vanilla ice cream that Dory so loves, there's also heart shaped macaroons, so they're pink and white. Take advantage of them. I think they're like raspberry. They alternate between raspberry and vanilla or something flavored. They're very adorable. Alright, great. One bite dessert.
Doree Shafrir (24:50):
Yeah, maybe we'll try them. Henry is always asking for new desserts or new snacks and it's very challenging because half the time I buy a new snack or new dessert and he's like, no, I don't like it. I'm like, dude. Alright, listeners, thank you so much Elise, great to see you, and we will talk to you soon.
Elsie Hu (25:11):
Okay. Talk to you next time.
Doree Shafrir (25:12):
Bye.