#162 –Sky Tate - A Conversation about Self-Advocacy
Welcome to the #ShareYourHotness Podcast episode 162!
Sky Tate was born and raised in Miami, Florida. She was actively involved in the performing arts, particularly dance. Initially, Sky envisioned a career as a dancer and pursued it as one of two majors in college. However, balancing dance and architecture proved overwhelming due to the rigorous studio hours required for both disciplines. After several hospital visits due to exhaustion and stress, Sky focused solely on architecture.
After completing her education, Sky moved to Los Angeles, California, where she gained diverse work experience. She worked independently as a residential designer, contributed to a design-build firm, and held a position at an interior design firm. Eventually, Sky discovered a unique opportunity to run a maker-space program at a private K-12 school. During this time, she also volunteered with various organizations ranging from arts and engineering to homeless outreach. She enjoyed weekly contact improvisation meetups with fellow dancers. Life was fulfilling in Los Angeles, but then she met her future husband, who was living in Utah at the time. They married in L.A. and subsequently moved to South Jordan, Utah.
While on their honeymoon, Sky became pregnant with their first child. The pregnancy was challenging due to an overproduction of relaxin, leading to Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction (SPD), which severely impacted mobility. By the third month, simple tasks like walking became difficult, and there were instances where she was unable to get off the floor without assistance. She always hoped this would be the least of her concerns about her pregnancy. The assumption is that if a mother is very active before pregnancy, she'll have an easy pregnancy -- that was not her experience.
The delivery went as anticipated, but complications arose when the baby required care in the NICU. The hospital experience was fraught with inadequate support and a lack of professionalism in both Sky's and the baby's care. She was discharged without being seen by their attending physician, and concerns were dismissed until a follow-up with her ObGyn revealed that she had developed postpartum preeclampsia. This condition reappeared after the birth of her second child and necessitated medication for over a year.
This ordeal has motivated Sky to use every opportunity to educate other women about postpartum preeclampsia and the importance of self-advocacy in medical settings. Although doctors are bound by the Hippocratic Oath, biases can still impact patient care. Pregnancy and childbirth are the most vulnerable and challenging events that most women will face in their lifetime, but it's also one where we naturally hand all of the decisions to our doctors. She used the same ObGyn for both of her children, but the experience at the two hospitals was night and day. And the way she sees it, it's about advocating for oneself.
Six months after the birth of her second child, Sky and her family relocated to Southwest Florida, where they faced the loss of their home due to multiple evacuations over two and a half years. While simultaneously working toward homesteading goals and homeschooling her children, the family decided to leave Florida and embark on a new chapter --- embracing a life filled with renewed interest and beauty.
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