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Dinky listeners have been flooding our inboxes lately pressuring us to watch Season 10 of Love Is Blind — because it featured not one, but TWO storylines about women choosing non-traditional paths when it comes to kids. One of those women was Emma Betsinger, who is our guest today!  Emma is a 28-year old who was adopted from China at age three, and raised in a white family in Ohio. Emma endured 10 surgeries before the age of 7 to remove high-risk birthmarks and expressed concerns about having biological kids as a result. She got engaged to Mike Gibney on the show, but their relationship ended at the altar. Today, we’ll be talking to Emma about her experience sharing her story on the show and where she stands on kids now.

TRIPS:
Christmas Markets 2026!!!
Lavender Dreams & Riviera Nights With Erika

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Erika and Kristen react to one of the most harrowing posts from the r/regretfulparents subreddit — a woman's decade-long battle with serious birth injury damage after a midwife failed to suture a second-degree tear, leaving her with permanent physical damage, no sensation during sex, and a medical system that keeps turning her away.

This one is NOT for the faint of heart. (You've been warned. 💀)

We get into it all: the midwife vs. hospital birth debate, how the medical system routinely dismisses women's pain, why this would be treated as an emergency if it happened to a man, and the absolutely devastating moment where this woman has to choose between fixing her body and buying her kid braces.

☕ Support the pod: patreon.com/DinkyPod (Help Kristen pay her 450-euro electricity bill in her Georgian-era icebox apartment. She deserves it.)

In this episode:
Reacting to a viral r/regretfulparents post about long-term birth injury
The midwife vs. hospital birth debate — what does the data actually say?
Prolapse, perineal tears, and why the medical system calls it "cosmetic"
Why women's pain and sexual dysfunction are chronically under-treated
"Braces or my vagina" — the impossible choices mothers are forced to make
Childfree commentary on why childbirth risks are still under-discussed
Chapters:

0:00 – Welcome & intro to the post 0:42 – The midwife who didn't suture the tear 1:34 – Midwife vs. hospital births: Erika's hot take 3:24 – The tear that went unrepaired for years 5:08 – "It was gaping open" 6:38 – The surgeon who refused to fix it 8:25 – A decade of rejections from the medical system 10:32 – Braces vs. surgery: the impossible choice 12:26 – Top comments + our final thoughts 15:12 – Wrap up & how to support Dinky

Don't get pregnant. 💅

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This week, Erika and Kristen take a brief detour from the usual Regretful Parents subreddit and dive into a viral post from the “Am I Overreacting?” corner of Reddit. The situation? A mom who hasn’t had a solo shower in four days after caring for two sick kids alone while her husband enjoyed a bachelor party weekend. She finally gets a moment to herself… only to have it interrupted.

When her husband returns home, things quickly spiral from mildly inconsiderate to fully infuriating. Instead of watching their one-year-old for five minutes while she showers, he places the baby in a playpen and leaves the house to run an errand. The result is a text exchange so ridiculous that Erika and Kristen perform a dramatic reenactment — and have plenty to say about communication, mental load, and weaponized cluelessness in parenting partnerships.

Is the original poster overreacting… or is this guy just the worst?

What We Talk About
The realities of parenting while your partner is away
Why moms so often feel like they need to “ask permission” for basic self-care
Whether the OP should have been more direct—or if the husband should have used common sense
A dramatic reading of the couple’s painfully awkward text exchange
The absolute audacity of leaving a baby alone during a shower
The difference between a partner and an extra child you have to manage
The fantasy revenge scenarios we’d personally consider in this situation
Reddit’s best comments roasting this guy
MORE FROM US

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Today we are chatting with Nicole Louie, a writer and translator originally from Brazil and now based in Ireland. She is the author of Others Like Me: The Lives of Women Without Children. Others Like Me chronicles her own journey towards embracing a life without children while weaving in stories from women around the world she found in her search for community and guidance. Nicole’s essays have appeared in Oh Reader Magazine, The Walrus, The Guardian, and Literary Hub. 

More info about the giveaway can be found on our Instagram!

Book Synopsis
Others Like Me: The Lives of Women Without Children by Nicole Louie (published by House of Anansi in North America)

In a world that expects all women to become mothers, what happens to those who circumvent motherhood?

Now and throughout history, women without children have been misunderstood and even vilified for not conforming to the prescriptive path of daughter, wife, mother, whether by choice, circumstance, or ambivalence. But with an increasing number of people choosing to forego children, Nicole Louie knew she was not alone. As she recounts her own journey toward embracing a life without children, Louie weaves in stories from the women around the world she found in her search for community and guidance, from their pasts to their presents to their hopes for the future.

TRIPS:
Christmas Markets 2026!!! 
Lavender Dreams & Riviera Nights With Erika

GET MORE FROM DINKY:
Treat yourself to new merch! Wanna get your finances in order?
Use our link to sign up for a FREE 34 day trial of YNAB (You Need A Budget) and support the show.

Wanna connect with us on social media? You can find us on Substack, Instagram, TikTok, and Threads at @dinkypod. Follow us on YouTube.

If you have a question or comment, email us at [email protected]

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/dinky--5953015/support.

Is Love Is Blind accidentally telling a regretful parents story?

In this solo episode of the Regretful Parents series, Erika dives into the viral Reddit discussion about Love Is Blind Season 6 and the controversial engagement between Emma and Mike — specifically their major disagreement about having children.From pronatalist pressure to “you’d make a great mother” propaganda, this episode breaks down:Why you should NEVER “convince yourself” to have a child
The red flags in Emma and Mike’s engagement
The moment when Emma’s sister admitted she regrets having kids (and why the internet shamed her for it)
Transracial adoption trauma and identity struggles
Medical concerns, genetic testing, and reproductive autonomy
Italian family expectations & cultural pressure to have grandchildren
Why marriage is about compromising paint colors — not parenthood
Have you been watching Love Is Blind this season? What did you think about Emma’s sister’s honesty? Can a relationship survive when partners disagree about kids? Drop your thoughts in the comments.

MORE FROM US
Website: https://www.dinkypod.com/
Patreon: https://patreon.com/dinkypod 

Keywords:
regretful parents, regretful motherhood, Love Is Blind season 6, Emma and Mike Love Is Blind, childfree by choice, motherhood regret, pro natalism, transracial adoptee, adoption trauma, reality TV analysis, parenting pressure, women and reproductive choice, childfree women, regretful mom story, Netflix Love Is Blind recap

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/dinky--5953015/support.