STORIES

Lauren Nix

After 72 hours of labor, Lauren’s hope for a natural birth was turned upside down.

@lauren_nix_pinckard

"It is okay to grieve the birth story you thought you would have, while also honoring the birth story you have"


Her Story

My name is Lauren Nix and my daughter's name is Penelope, we call her Pip for short. Our journey together has been a blissful one during pregnancy and AFTER birth but our birth story was a wild ride to say the least.

I was seeing an OB for my first trimester and I started to get some red flags from her in terms of what I was getting out of the experience. I have a stepson but technically am a first time mom so I had tons of questions but didn’t really know how to ask them, I was not being empowered. I started doing more research and ultimately decided with my husband that I wanted an unmedicated, natural birth. I was in my second trimester and it was at this point that I switched to a midwife at a birthing center. We did all the things to prepare for the birth we wanted! Hypnobirthing classes, spinning babies, hired a doula, was drinking red raspberry leaf tea etc. etc. I waited to go into labor on my own which happened right at 40 weeks and 2 days on a Tuesday.

I started cramping and had early labor signs on a Tuesday evening. I was excited but knew I needed to manage the discomfort and get my mind off it since my body had never been through this before. I knew I needed to conserve my energy so I tried to get some sleep that night. I woke up with definite contractions, they were inconsistent but strong. So I labored all day on Wednesday and at that point my midwife wanted to check me so we went and met her at our birth center. My contractions were strong and getting closer together/more consistent, we checked my dilation that evening but I was only at a 3. My midwife gave me some sleep therapy and we went home. I was able to get SOME rest that night (I do not think my husband did though!).

Thursday came and my doula came over early in the morning to help me labor — we headed to the birth center and labored all day Thursday and only progressed to a 4 by that evening. We tried everything that day, walking, lunging, squatting, a warm bath, sitting on the toilet, castor oil, nipple stimulation etc. We were sent home AGAIN Thursday evening with some sleep therapy and sheer determination to have this baby vaginally.

I woke up Friday tired and a little discouraged but gained momentum again with the support of my husband. He encouraged me to walk, eat, drink, and kept my spirits high. We labored at home for a while that morning and then headed back to the birth center for the third time in three days. We checked my progress and I was still at a 4. After another day of laboring I looked at my midwife and my husband and told them I was tired and thought we should head to the hospital. I cried. I felt like a failure. I felt betrayed by my body, but we knew and talked about this as a possibility- especially because we had no idea what my body was going to do!

We got to the hospital Friday evening, my contractions were strong and coming every 1-2 minutes, but then I would stall for a while. We were hopeful that a Pitocin drip would help speed things along and the chance of a vaginal birth was still possible at this point! The hospital at that point then started to put me on everything I was originally trying to avoid but knew I needed some assistance to achieve the end goal - healthy mom and healthy baby. We were given an epidural, put on Pitocin, fetal heart rate monitor, contraction monitor, and IV fluids. We continued on! For another 12 hours! By 6am on Saturday morning the Pitocin wasn’t helping and I had only progressed to a 5, Pip’s heart rate started to dip with my contractions which became worrisome. We were tired, both of us. I had pushed us to a point where we couldn’t handle the journey together anymore. We needed a different kind of birth than the one we planned.

By 7 am Saturday morning my husband and I were being prepped for the OR. By 8 am I was laying cut wide open on an operating table hearing my sweet baby girls cry for the first time. I wasn’t put under so I did get to do skin on skin immediately after she was pulled from my body; it was in that moment of her being placed on my chest, safe and healthy, that she was the only thing that mattered to me in the world. I was able to let go of any expectation I had before I started my labor and birth journey.

My 9 pound baby girl with a head full of blonde hair was safe and sound in my arms. The hospital stay was rough and I was pumped so full of fluids it was hard to move around during the stay. It was not the recovery I had hoped for but I started to think about that C-section and that fresh scar of mine as a life saving measure for my girl and I. It was the furthest thing from what we wanted or expected but it’s our story, and it’s special/unique to us. We labored for 4 days and gave it hell!

She is now one month old and I am still healing, but the fourth trimester together has been blissful. I have realized that no matter how you birth you are still birthing the child you created and carried in you for almost 10 months. Nothing will change that. It’s all messy and beautiful and completely out of our control. The other thing I have learned from this experience is that it is okay to grieve the birth you thought you would have while also honoring the birth story you got. Our journey together as mother and child is not defined by our birth story, the story together that really matters begins after birth and it is beautiful.

Related Stories

Sadie Powell

"On the 8th day of Jack's life, he experienced complications and passed away. The heartbreak engulfed my body but my baby was at peace and not experiencing any discomfort or pain anymore. As difficult as this experience was, I am not the only mother to experience it, nor will I be the last."

Susanna Stanbury

"To all the mommas who give birth, adopt, foster, who love their babies in heaven, who yearn for pregnancy, who are now empty nesters, and those with a full house, you’re all super heroes"

Sahra Eldaly

"I just remind myself to take it day by day and whatever happens happens. But by far, the most interesting and confusing time of my life, was when I first found out I was pregnant."

Previous Article Next Article

10 comments

  • i just want to say a big thanks to Dr Oniha for what he has done for me, i contacted him at the point of my needs and he came through for me, he said he was gonna help me and he did, I played lottery for 20 years and couldn’t win a dime, at a point I was disappointed and almost gave up, but then another thought came to my mind why don’t I try a lotto spell since I have already heard about people doing it, and then i decided that i will give it a try, but there was a lot of spell casters online this got me confused that i didn’t know which to pick, I decided to follow my instinct and i picked Dr Oniha i sent him an email and waited for couple of hours no reply, at this point I was already anxious and eager to get a reply from him and then i sent him a test on his WhatsApp and immediately he responded i told him what I wanted and he gave me assurance that i must win after his spell, i did what was asked of me, behold i hit the jackpot. i am so so happy to share this here because i have never seen a miracle like this before, thank you so much Dr Oniha you are a life saver. Anyone out there can also talk to him if you need his assistance too, that is why I’m testifying about his good work so people in need can reach out to him.
    Call/Whatsapp number: +16692213962
    Website: http://onihaspells.com
    EMAIL: ONIHASPELLTEMPLE@GMAIL.COM
    https://www.facebook.com/Onihaspell?mibextid=ZbWKwL

    Bryan Robson
  • i just want to say a big thanks to Dr Oniha for what he has done for me, i contacted him at the point of my needs and he came through for me, he said he was gonna help me and he did, I played lottery for 20 years and couldn’t win a dime, at a point I was disappointed and almost gave up, but then another thought came to my mind why don’t I try a lotto spell since I have already heard about people doing it, and then i decided that i will give it a try, but there was a lot of spell casters online this got me confused that i didn’t know which to pick, I decided to follow my instinct and i picked Dr Oniha i sent him an email and waited for couple of hours no reply, at this point I was already anxious and eager to get a reply from him and then i sent him a test on his WhatsApp and immediately he responded i told him what I wanted and he gave me assurance that i must win after his spell, i did what was asked of me, behold i hit the jackpot. i am so so happy to share this here because i have never seen a miracle like this before, thank you so much Dr Oniha you are a life saver. Anyone out there can also talk to him if you need his assistance too, that is why I’m testifying about his good work so people in need can reach out to him.
    Call/Whatsapp number: +16692213962
    Website: http://onihaspells.com
    EMAIL: ONIHASPELLTEMPLE@GMAIL.COM
    https://www.facebook.com/Onihaspell?mibextid=ZbWKwL

    Bryan Robson
  • Good day everyone, I’m Asher Hannah from Jurong East, Singapore, my husband and I own a Furniture business, about two months ago we invested some part of our money into a cryptocurrency investment platform and made a total of $678,000 payment through bitcoins to this cryptocurrency platform not aware that it was all a scam, they kept asking us to make more payments into their platform and that was when we realized we have lost our investment. It was such a difficult time for us but while I was surfing the internet, I saw someone share a post about Mr. Albert Gonzalez Wizard, a reputable company that recovers stolen and lost funds, I didn’t hesitate to contact them and after providing all the information they needed to work with Mr. Albert Gonzalez was able to recover our money in 6 hours. We were shocked that such a thing could be possible but we are super excited we were able to recover our money all thanks to him and his team. We are recommending them to everyone out there who have been defrauded too by these fake cryptocurrency investment platform. You can reach out to them with the information below: Email: info@albertgonzalezwizard.online or albertgonzalezwizard@gmail.com WhatsApp: 31685248506 Telegram:  31685248506

    Asher Hannah
  • Good day everyone, I’m Asher Hannah from Jurong East, Singapore, my husband and I own a Furniture business, about two months ago we invested some part of our money into a cryptocurrency investment platform and made a total of $678,000 payment through bitcoins to this cryptocurrency platform not aware that it was all a scam, they kept asking us to make more payments into their platform and that was when we realized we have lost our investment. It was such a difficult time for us but while I was surfing the internet, I saw someone share a post about Mr. Albert Gonzalez Wizard, a reputable company that recovers stolen and lost funds, I didn’t hesitate to contact them and after providing all the information they needed to work with Mr. Albert Gonzalez was able to recover our money in 6 hours. We were shocked that such a thing could be possible but we are super excited we were able to recover our money all thanks to him and his team. We are recommending them to everyone out there who have been defrauded too by these fake cryptocurrency investment platform. You can reach out to them with the information below: Email: info@albertgonzalezwizard.online or albertgonzalezwizard@gmail.com WhatsApp: 31685248506 Telegram:  31685248506

    Asher Hannah
  • Hey everyone I bring to you good news.. Have been playing lottery for years now and unable to win I even came to conclusion that I won’t play lottery again, last Monday I came online and I saw a post about Dr dominion spell lottery number I doubted but decided to give a last try and I reach out to him, we chatted to my greatest surprise on Thursday he cast a spell and gave me a winning number and i tried the numbers, guess what guys I won the lottery, my retired mom has be playing too and I have asked her to reach Dr dominion and I know soon she is going to win, if you want to win this lottery I will advice u reach on Dr dominion he has all it requires to make u win
    Email: dominionlottospelltemple@gmail.com
    website: https://dominionlottospell.wixsite.com/dr-dominion
    WhatsApp: +16574277820
    Call: +12059642462

    Magret Soukaina

Leave a comment

Liquid error (sections/blog-product-feature line 1): Could not find asset snippets/spurit_po2_section_snippet.liquid