WEBVTT 00:00:00.039 --> 00:00:04.806 You have no idea. Oh yeah, talk just a little bit so we can hear you. The 00:00:04.839 --> 00:00:12.236 levels. Can you say where you're from? Uh, Phoenix, Arizona. Yeah, so 00:00:12.269 --> 00:00:17.706 little closer, yeah. My chair is not 00:00:17.739 --> 00:00:25.006 Oh, OK. All right, that's better. OK, so, 00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:31.625 Somehow? Oh, we got paused. OK, are we ready now? OK, so I'm gonna repeat 00:00:31.658 --> 00:00:34.945 myself. This is for us at least interviewing for Creative Push December 15 00:00:34.978 --> 00:00:41.487 , 2016 at 8:30 a.m. Can you say your name and your age again? Jennifer 00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:45.635 Tully, 39. OK, great. OK, so now tell me about your upbringing like you 00:00:45.668 --> 00:00:49.717 said. Oh, I was born and raised in Winslow, Arizona. I'm actually adopted 00:00:49.750 --> 00:00:53.987 child. My, I don't know who my middle parents are. So I was brought up by 00:00:54.020 --> 00:00:57.746 my grandparents and I have stepparents that still live on the reservation. 00:00:57.779 --> 00:01:02.906 Both my grandparents passed away, so we still have the reservation, but I 00:01:02.939 --> 00:01:08.105 grew up majority of my life in the city, so I'm not like I don't know the 00:01:08.138 --> 00:01:12.266 the native language as much as I should know it, but yeah, so I'm found 00:01:12.299 --> 00:01:16.626 out I'm half Native American and half Hispanic. Wow, that's interesting. 00:01:16.659 --> 00:01:20.717 So how did you, how much information were they able to tell you about your 00:01:20.750 --> 00:01:27.266 original family? They told me that my mother was really like alcoholic and 00:01:27.299 --> 00:01:30.415 I was brought up by different parts, different people, different aunts 00:01:30.448 --> 00:01:34.507 that I am not really familiar with to this day they try to contact me, but 00:01:34.540 --> 00:01:39.456 I just refuse to because I don't really want that connection with that so. 00:01:39.489 --> 00:01:42.947 So, um, can you take us back to the conception of your, your, do you how 00:01:42.980 --> 00:01:47.346 many children do you have? Just one of your first child then, and, um, you 00:01:47.379 --> 00:01:52.507 know, the circumstances. It was really hard. Like I, I mean my only have 00:01:52.540 --> 00:01:58.025 one kid because it was like difficult for me at giving him birth and had a 00:01:58.058 --> 00:02:05.186 hard labor. I had him two weeks late dealing with my due date and uh. It 00:02:05.219 --> 00:02:11.505 was a hard push, but growing up with that native culture in mind, we uh we 00:02:11.538 --> 00:02:16.186 brought him. I just had basic natural births, no medicine, nothing. It was 00:02:16.219 --> 00:02:20.346 really hard for me, so I I told myself no more kids after that one. So it 00:02:20.379 --> 00:02:24.225 was really hard. I was in the hospital for a while there. Did you feel 00:02:24.258 --> 00:02:28.960 pressured not to have any medicine? No, I just refused it. So I was like, 00:02:28.993 --> 00:02:31.561 natural birth. I'm like what was I thinking, you know, like, no, why, why 00:02:31.594 --> 00:02:36.281 did I do that? But yeah, I wish I had pictures cause um I had them in uh 00:02:36.314 --> 00:02:39.680 what it's the the Americans have them in cradle boards, so I had them 00:02:39.713 --> 00:02:44.136 nicely wrapped in that and that's how he grew up and that's like. That's 00:02:44.169 --> 00:02:47.896 part of the culture that we grew up with was that put them in a cradle 00:02:47.929 --> 00:02:50.737 board, wrap them up in a blanket, and they grew up strong and you know 00:02:50.770 --> 00:02:55.536 that was part of the thing. So, so can you tell me about um the father? 00:02:55.569 --> 00:02:59.495 Were you were the circumstances that. Um, at the time he was there and he 00:02:59.528 --> 00:03:04.305 was all stressed, so, um, to this day we're not together, but they live in 00:03:04.338 --> 00:03:08.835 Alaska right now. So I gave him full custody of my son who's 15 now, but 00:03:08.868 --> 00:03:13.066 um he lives up there with them, and I want him to learn that background of 00:03:13.099 --> 00:03:19.505 the culture, cause he's part uh Eskimo, Athabaskan, Inuit and part of me, 00:03:19.538 --> 00:03:25.717 so. So how did you meet a man who is in Alaska, in Arizona? His mom 00:03:25.750 --> 00:03:29.916 resided in Phoenix and we both met in a restaurant and I was actually 00:03:29.949 --> 00:03:34.116 bartending like I do to this day, but my boss said, Do you want to train 00:03:34.149 --> 00:03:38.475 some people today? I was like, it depends who they are. So I looked and I 00:03:38.508 --> 00:03:42.077 was like, I'll take the gentleman over there. We're going to wait until he 00:03:42.110 --> 00:03:46.566 passes. 00:03:46.599 --> 00:03:50.967 That's a really great story. You just knew he had a good face. Yeah, it's 00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:56.525 funny. I'll take the gentleman over there. Is that or the crazy lady, so I 00:03:56.558 --> 00:04:00.446 took, I said I'll train him and he said, I knew you would train him. So we 00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:04.166 were married for 10 years and then divorced. I've been divorced since 4 00:04:04.199 --> 00:04:09.487 for 4 years now. So and I gave my sons a goal or Alaska goal adventure 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:12.406 because you won't learn much here in New Mexico and they don't go home as 00:04:12.439 --> 00:04:15.886 often anyways so I'm always working here at the hotel. How was your 00:04:15.919 --> 00:04:21.116 pregnancy? It's crazy. I just wanted like I was like. I gained so much 00:04:21.149 --> 00:04:24.276 weight and it was just like, it was wonderful. I loved it, but it was just 00:04:24.309 --> 00:04:29.955 like at the end of the labor was like was really bad and I was like uh 00:04:29.988 --> 00:04:33.137 having a hard time with it, so I decided not to have any more kids after 00:04:33.170 --> 00:04:38.717 that. Were there any um customs or anything that were passed down to like 00:04:38.750 --> 00:04:43.596 help ease the pain? No, they, um, unfortunately that was not passed on 00:04:43.629 --> 00:04:49.575 like my grandparents weren't there actually, but My mom was there and my 00:04:49.608 --> 00:04:52.856 mother-in-law was there at the time and they just kind of like talked to 00:04:52.889 --> 00:04:56.976 me a little bit but not much really pressure and I know there's like 00:04:57.009 --> 00:05:00.495 different cultures have certain different ways of doing things, but mine 00:05:00.528 --> 00:05:02.895 was just like I'm in the city I'm gonna have this kid here, you know, kind 00:05:02.928 --> 00:05:08.187 of thing. So yeah. Did um a family member make the cradle board? Yes, my 00:05:08.220 --> 00:05:13.575 mom got it made from one of her friends that she knew out of actual a tree 00:05:13.608 --> 00:05:17.786 thing, that wood thing that was built personally just for me, for my son. 00:05:17.819 --> 00:05:21.145 Do you still have it? Um, no, once you have a kid and you don't want any 00:05:21.178 --> 00:05:24.856 more kids, you had to take it apart and then like put it away somewhere 00:05:24.889 --> 00:05:28.745 because if you keep it together, it's like you want more kids kind of 00:05:28.778 --> 00:05:31.825 thing. It's kind of weird, kind of odd to say. I was like, no, I don't 00:05:31.858 --> 00:05:35.046 want more kids, so I took it apart and I think I gave it to my mom. I 00:05:35.079 --> 00:05:39.656 don't know I don't remember what happened to it. I like that idea. You 00:05:39.689 --> 00:05:43.166 should take apart and make sure that crib is taken up. I definitely don't 00:05:43.199 --> 00:05:48.926 want more. So, um, how was the afterbirth part? Did you nurse or? Um, I 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:53.075 had difficulties. Um, I was having problems with that and basically just 00:05:53.108 --> 00:05:57.086 bottle fed my son. So I was like it was really like I really had hard 00:05:57.119 --> 00:06:04.286 labor. I surprised I survived it kind of thing. It's scary. Did you have 00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:09.336 them vaginally then too? Yeah, yeah. Is there, um, when you reflect back 00:06:09.369 --> 00:06:12.895 on your experience, is there any like word or phrasing of words that comes 00:06:12.928 --> 00:06:18.296 to mind to to kind of summarize it? Um, I can't remember. It's like a long 00:06:18.329 --> 00:06:21.776 time ago, so I was like it was really stressful experience for me because 00:06:21.809 --> 00:06:26.026 I stayed in the hospital a few days later after that. And they let me go 00:06:26.059 --> 00:06:31.265 finally afterwards, but yeah, it was scary for me, I should say. Was he a 00:06:31.298 --> 00:06:36.955 big boy? Yes, 9 pounds, 21 ounces. 00:06:36.988 --> 00:06:39.437 That's why I didn't want any more kids. I was like, I swear I thought he 00:06:39.470 --> 00:06:43.916 was one year old one time he got out of me. I was like, Oh my God, is he 00:06:43.949 --> 00:06:47.567 still in touch with you? Yeah, I talked to him and I'll be probably, I 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:51.276 call him, try to call him every day, and he's like taller than me, very 00:06:51.309 --> 00:06:58.145 intellectual, high gifted child, so he's really, really smart kid. It's 00:06:58.178 --> 00:07:01.666 wonderful. Yeah, and I I might just go eventually I'll come back 00:07:01.699 --> 00:07:06.317 eventually to me it's whenever you choose to come back. It's no pressure. 00:07:06.350 --> 00:07:11.616 Um, Have you told him his birth story? Um, a couple of times, but I don't 00:07:11.649 --> 00:07:14.937 think he's like ready to hear what actually happened at the time of birth 00:07:14.970 --> 00:07:19.217 , and there's a lot of doctors involved and nurses there, so I don't want 00:07:19.250 --> 00:07:22.726 to like. You know, like frighten him like what happened or anything like 00:07:22.759 --> 00:07:26.567 that. It's because it was really stressful for me. Seriously, I was like I 00:07:26.600 --> 00:07:30.286 thought I was gonna die, but I did not. I still find out of it so the pain 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:36.377 , yeah, from everything, it was horrible. Did um 00:07:36.410 --> 00:07:39.645 did your water break? Did you how did you know you were in labor? I didn't 00:07:39.678 --> 00:07:45.515 , I was just a lot of, uh, what do you call it, contractions, and I went 00:07:45.548 --> 00:07:48.166 to the hospital a few times like you're not ready, you're not ready, 00:07:48.199 --> 00:07:53.036 you're not ready. And then it kept putting me like um they call it water 00:07:53.069 --> 00:07:57.757 to do the water birth with me and then nothing happened and then Finally 00:07:57.790 --> 00:08:01.877 my water broke and I was at the hospital and I was like oh my God, it's 00:08:01.910 --> 00:08:04.887 going to happen and it was just like my heart was going up and down and 00:08:04.920 --> 00:08:08.877 they try to keep me not stressed so much about it because you could stress 00:08:08.910 --> 00:08:12.637 the child when you're inside of the womb and uh finally I had him, but 00:08:12.670 --> 00:08:17.116 they had to help me with him. It wasn't just like he just like didn't come 00:08:17.149 --> 00:08:20.836 out. It's just like the doctors had to pull him out. So it's like horror 00:08:20.869 --> 00:08:25.055 like bad with with his hands. 00:08:25.088 --> 00:08:28.697 Since his uh Bill Concord got stuck around his neck, so once they pull 00:08:28.730 --> 00:08:35.135 that out, put it over him, he just. Came out go football and like. Yeah, 00:08:35.168 --> 00:08:40.667 it was crazy. Was he bluish? Um, I don't remember. It was like all 00:08:40.700 --> 00:08:43.057 happened real quickly. I know he had jaundice, so they had to put him 00:08:43.090 --> 00:08:46.436 underneath the heat lamp for a little bit to get that color or whatever, 00:08:46.469 --> 00:08:49.486 but yeah. Did they know the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck 00:08:49.519 --> 00:08:53.736 before he came out? Not really. They they like went and did the little um 00:08:53.769 --> 00:08:56.265 the thing on the, I can't think what the thing is called, but, ultrasound 00:08:56.298 --> 00:09:00.895 , and then they like looked around and that's when they noticed that and 00:09:00.928 --> 00:09:04.706 they went in there and just pulled it around and he came right out. So you 00:09:04.739 --> 00:09:09.427 mean they undid the umbilical cord while he was in your stomach? 00:09:09.460 --> 00:09:13.775 Yeah, it's scary. I had a rough pregnancy. Like I said, I, I won't go back 00:09:13.808 --> 00:09:17.265 and do that again. I cannot believe I know the anguish of having a doctor 00:09:17.298 --> 00:09:22.265 put his hand inside of you, your cervix. It's scary, but yeah, they did a 00:09:22.298 --> 00:09:25.586 lot of different things to get him out because I was overdue. Can you name 00:09:25.619 --> 00:09:29.826 any of those things? I don't remember it was just like happened so quickly. 00:09:29.859 --> 00:09:34.226 It was just like, get this out of me kind of thing. I was so stressful. 00:09:34.259 --> 00:09:40.086 It doesn't sound like it. 00:09:40.119 --> 00:09:44.385 Yeah. Because I was 2 weeks late. I was just like, get him, let's just 00:09:44.418 --> 00:09:48.807 have this child now, you know, kind of thing, and he finally came out. So 00:09:48.840 --> 00:09:53.167 was he crying when he came out? Yeah, he was like crying and it was kind 00:09:53.200 --> 00:09:57.677 of crazy, gave them to me right away and everything, and they took him and 00:09:57.710 --> 00:10:01.696 weighed him and did all the stuff that they needed to do. OK, excellent. 00:10:01.729 --> 00:10:05.407 Is there, do you have any questions? I was just wondering if there was any 00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:08.976 anything um during the pregnancy or the birth or after with the child, um 00:10:09.009 --> 00:10:13.177 , that were traditions from the Inuit side from the father's side that 00:10:13.210 --> 00:10:16.706 anything. No, uh uh, it's kind of weird. I thought that would be more 00:10:16.739 --> 00:10:20.616 cause, you know, just is tradition, but nothing, it was just like, here I 00:10:20.649 --> 00:10:25.946 have this kid now, blah blah, his mom had left before I had him, so. After 00:10:25.979 --> 00:10:28.986 that it was like, she was, she was like, you had the baby and I wasn't 00:10:29.019 --> 00:10:32.986 even there. I was like, I'm sorry. It's not my choice. It just comes out 00:10:33.019 --> 00:10:39.157 natural. So were there any, um, did you, had you had a name picked out? No. 00:10:39.190 --> 00:10:42.846 I had a girl's name picked out. I was like, I know I'm gonna name a girl 00:10:42.879 --> 00:10:44.836 if I didn't know it was gonna be a boy because I didn't want to know the 00:10:44.869 --> 00:10:49.057 the gender. And at the labor they're like, Oh, it's I see her coming, I 00:10:49.090 --> 00:10:51.976 see her coming. It comes out like it's a boy. I'm like, I don't have a 00:10:52.009 --> 00:10:55.736 boy's name. And then like as soon as they were carrying taking him out to 00:10:55.769 --> 00:10:58.895 with the all of the other babies, I came up with his name right then and 00:10:58.928 --> 00:11:04.456 there. But can you tell me his name? Yeah, Gregory Allen Jacobson. So yeah 00:11:04.489 --> 00:11:07.856 , I had a Madeline Rose Jacobson. That was my ex-husband's last name was 00:11:07.889 --> 00:11:12.427 Jacobson, so I had him keep his dad's name. So it's Gregory Allen says. So 00:11:12.460 --> 00:11:15.456 when I if I yell at him, I'm like, Gregory Allen Jacobson, and he knows 00:11:15.489 --> 00:11:20.037 he's in trouble kind of thing. No, that's great. I think we're good. Are 00:11:20.070 --> 00:11:24.668 we good? OK, everything was recording.