- So when you were incarcerated, you were pregnant before- - I was.

- You served your time.

- Yeah.

- What was that like?

- Awful.

Typically, when you're pregnant, you have support of your family and your friends.

And I did have a sort of newfound family there because, you know, you do form relationships, but I was in labor, and I didn't have my mom, I didn't have my grandmother, I didn't have anyone who really knew me.

And when I did give birth, my daughter went straight to the NICU.

And so I wasn't able to be with her.

And then after about a day, I had to ask permission to go see her.

So I did.

And then the day after that, they finally let her stay in the room with me.

So I had a couple days with her, but then when it was time to give her to my family, which was the most horrible experience in itself, but the woman who was kind of facilitating this whole thing wouldn't give her to my uncle, who was the person there that I wanted my daughter to go with.

And so she said, "No, absolutely not.

There has to be a woman here."

Right.

And, you know, of course, they did that because I was labeled and looked at as a felon or whatever.

And so thank goodness my mom and my grandmother were there to come upstairs, so that they could all leave with my daughter.

- So you gave birth at a hospital?

- I did.

I was still detained in the county jail.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

And I gave birth to her in the hospital.

So they did transfer me to the hospital.

- Okay, so if you're in a county jail, what is healthcare like for you?

Because obviously, you need to be looked after before you even have the child.

So what was that like?

- I would say healthcare was minimal because... So while I was detained, I was still in the county jail, and they had their own little healthcare system there, but it, of course, is nothing in comparison to a hospital.

So I would go, I don't remember, this was 14 years ago, but I would go every once in a while to see the doctor, and then I would go out to the hospital, also every once in a while.

I knew for sure that I wasn't getting the nutrition that I needed.

I wasn't getting all of the healthcare that I needed.

- Right.

I mean, we talk about prenatal (chuckles) vitamins and eating right.

And of course, I mean, you've got plenty of stress, so forget being stress-free before your pregnancy.