The wonderful Lauren Mosier Weir, mother to Anastacia (8.5) and Rosalyn (2), and bonus mom to Christopher (6)
Lauren conceived her first daughter at 17 and gave birth to her at 18. Anastacia's biological father played no role but Lauren had the support of her parents. She saw an OBGYN and carried to 41 weeks when she was induced on New Years Eve. She labored and delivered in the hospital with an epidural and tried to breastfeed with supplementation for a few weeks, before switching to formula.
Lauren remained a single mom until she met her now husband. They clicked right away and their families blended together beautifully. Her husband is even in the process of adopting her oldest daughter after she brought up the topic.
Pregnancy the second time around was also unexpected but very different from her first. It had been seven years and Lauren felt like everything had changed and she needed to relearn everything. During her research, she decided she wanted a completely different experience and opted for midwife care at a freestanding birth center. The whole experience felt more empowering for Lauren as she realized she was playing a more active roll. She ended up going into labor at 42 weeks, though she didn't believe it was time. Her husband forced her to leave, and she delivered 45 minutes after arriving at the birth center, before they could even fill the tub. They were home in their own bed five hours after Rosalyn's birth and everything felt wonderful. Lauren was able to breastfeed for 18 months with is an experience she is grateful for.
"I love this movement and have enjoyed reading everyone's stories. It's really amazing to see the different journey's that have brought women to motherhood and I hope that maybe there's someone out there that can relate to mine."