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Faith-Centered Birth: Overcoming Challenges and Advocating for Yourself with Lauren Murdock, RN, IBCLC | 195
Episode 19515th August 2025 • The Birth Experience with Labor Nurse Mama • Trish Ware, RN
00:00:00 00:28:31

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1

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Speaker 2: Hey mama.

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Welcome back to the birth experience.

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Today I am joined by Labor Lauren, a labor and delivery nurse who's

passionate about helping moms choose faith over fear during birth.

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So if you're struggling with birth anxiety or you want

to create a faith centered birth plan, this episode is.

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For you.

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So let's get comfortable and dive into choosing faith over fear in birth.

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Trish: Hello, Lauren.

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I'm so excited to do this episode with you.

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How are you today?

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So good, Trish.

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How are you doing?

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I'm good.

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So what I want, I've already kind of given an introduction, but I would love you

to just tell everyone your story and how like even I am, I'm not even sure I've

heard your labor nurse story, but kind of tell like how you got to where you're at.

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Lauren: Yeah.

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And

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Trish: then

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Lauren: what you're doing now.

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Okay, perfect.

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Yeah, so I've been a labor and delivery nurse for 10 years.

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Growing up though I was never interested in medicine.

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I def I was hair, you know, just thinking What about birth?

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Anything with birth?

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Oh, no.

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Or

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no.

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Okay.

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Absolutely not.

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Okay.

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Trish: Because it's totally, I've been ex I've been obsessed with birth.

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Always.

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Lauren: Yeah.

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No, it's totally been like I am where I'm at for a reason

and, I feel like God's called me here for a purpose.

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But that was never my plan.

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Yeah.

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So when, that's always the best thing though, right?

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When it comes to God?

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Yeah, exactly.

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When I was in high school, my grandma, she

ended up having cancer and being put on hospice.

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And so when I was 16 I lived with her and I took care of her, in the hospice setting.

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Like So you

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Trish: moved out of your own home and stayed?

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Yeah.

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For three months.

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Okay.

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Just, just for you guys, because I know Lauren, because she's also in

my coaching mastermind, and this is just a definition of who you are.

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You're so sweet.

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You, you have such a spirit of servanthood, I feel.

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Thank you.

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That's insane.

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Most 16 year olds are sneaking out their window.

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Well, there is some of that.

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Okay.

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Okay,

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Lauren: good.

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Trish: I'm gonna get to

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Lauren: the

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Trish: juice, but,

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Lauren: okay.

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Yeah.

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But yeah, so I lived with her in the hospital, in the inpatient hospice side

for three months and, just took care of her and, you know, my naive 16-year-old

self, I saw what the nurses were doing and I was like, Ugh, I could do that.

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Yeah.

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Like, what are they even doing?

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You know, emptying the Foley.

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I could do that at 16.

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Yeah.

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I was like that.

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Like I, I would've been like, no, thank you.

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That's so funny.

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Yeah, I fed her, I bathed her.

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You know, I did, I did most of her cares and, slept on the couch

in her room with her, and it was such a, it was a hard season.

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But it was so beautiful because that's why I became a nurse.

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Trish: Were you already a Christian

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at that point?

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Lauren: No.

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Trish: Okay.

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Gosh, I feel like I'm, I feel like I'm just

getting to know you in a whole new level right now.

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Lauren: Yes.

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Yeah.

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So I was not raised a Christian at all.

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I really didn't.

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So that was when I was 16.

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I met Jesus when I was 18 at a young life camp.

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Okay.

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Okay.

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Back

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Trish: to back to changing grandma's bed pan and bathing her.

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Lauren: Yes.

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Yeah.

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So I take care

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Trish: is

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that, that's

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not easy.

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Lauren: No.

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No, but I just, I mean, I loved her.

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And this is like what you do, right?

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Yeah.

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Trish: Well, not everybody knows that.

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Yeah.

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But yes, yes.

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That is what we

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should do,

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Lauren: right?

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So, so yeah, I took care of her and then, she ended

up passing away, but it was still like beautiful.

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I was thankful for the experience that I had

with her and the closeness that we had together.

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And after all of that, I was like, you know what?

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I wanna be a nurse.

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And so I went to nursing school.

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I graduated when I was like 21, 22.

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Just went straight through and I started working in oncology and hospice, so, okay.

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Which is, it just happened,

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Trish: I started in school.

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I worked on an

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oncology floor.

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Lauren: Oh, cool.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I, it's such a beautiful place to work.

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I really disagreed with how the hospital.

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Ran it, I would have six to eight patients and giving chemo to half of them.

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And yeah.

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It was just really hard

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Trish: and, and no time to meet the other needs that they have.

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Yes.

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Which is so important.

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Lauren: Mm-hmm.

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Yes, I agree.

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I did have a lot of sweet experiences getting to pray over my

families though, in that, in that season of being a hospice, nurse.

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And so that was beautiful.

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But yeah, so I, in nursing school, every single labor

and delivery clinical that I did, I blacked out.

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Shut it.

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Yeah,

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Trish: shut

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Lauren: it.

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I, I was whole in an epidural.

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Like a legit Oh yeah.

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Like legit.

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Trish: Oh yeah.

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Hit the floor.

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So you, did you hear my story of my daughter stabbing herself with a comb?

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Yes.

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Yeah.

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I think for the first time in my entire life, I started to pass out.

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Oh, I've never had that happen before.

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Okay.

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But I think it was because I took a lot of medication.

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Mm-hmm.

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And then I woke up, she's also pregnant.

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I thought that she was having, I like, my brain was like, she's losing the baby.

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Oh.

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So I think all of that, the adrenaline.

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Yeah.

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And then.

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Seeing a comb sticking out of her leg.

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Yeah.

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Was shocking.

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Anyway, so that's a side note.

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So you blacked out.

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Yeah, blacked out.

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I can't even imagine.

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Wait, let's just talk about what the labor nurses were probably saying.

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Lauren: They probably thought I was so dumb.

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It was so embarrassing.

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I was holding a mom's hand.

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She was getting an epidural and all I was doing was holding her hand.

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I didn't even see the epidural and I blacked out.

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Trish: Okay.

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What's really funny is as a labor nurse.

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The majority of the times that I've had people

pass out it's the partner during the epidural.

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Yes.

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Yeah, exactly.

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It, it really is.

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It's not a student nurse.

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I've never had a student nurse pass out.

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Yeah.

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I've had, I've had them turn green, like I could tell

they're gonna be sick or something and I have them leave.

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I've never had one in 16 years.

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I never had a student pass out every single week.

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So you got that

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Lauren: award, Lauren?

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I did.

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The next week it was a C-section and I only ate

a banana before going 'cause I was so nervous.

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She's not enough food.

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And you passed out in the or?

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Oh yeah.

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Hit my head.

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Oh yeah.

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Fell back, hit my head.

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They took me to the emergency room and my clinical instructor

said, if you don't check yourself out of the er, I'm failing you.

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You need to go back to clinicals.

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And I was like, well, I'm not graduating late.

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Checked myself out.

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Went back to clinicals and sat at the nurse's station.

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Trish: Did you have to get stitches or anything or

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Lauren: No?

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No.

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Okay.

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Thankfully, like everything was fine.

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But yeah, so birth being a labor and delivery nurse was a hundred percent not on my radar.

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I was like, keep me away from that.

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Trish: I'm sure.

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I'm sure that the labor nurses were like.

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She can never be a labor nurse.

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Lauren: Oh, absolutely.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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And now it's sweet.

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'cause I tell students this story all the time.

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I'm like, Hey.

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Yeah, it's hard because you're just watching, you're not really participating.

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Yeah.

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And so, you know, don't lock your knees and

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Trish: don't know they.

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Yeah.

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Okay.

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Lauren: So yeah, so I was a oncology and hospice nurse for a year, and then one of

my good friends worked in labor and delivery and we would eat at the same hospital.

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We would eat lunch together.

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And she, so I know

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Trish: this part.

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I know this part.

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Yes.

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They don't, so keep going.

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Lauren: Yes.

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She would be like, oh, I only have 20 minutes to eat with you.

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I have to go do a C-section.

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And I was like, wow.

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That's really cool.

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Like, it just sounded cool, you know?

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Yeah.

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And I was really burnt out where I was at and she

was like, just come over and see how you, how you do.

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Yeah.

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And so I ended up getting to transfer to labor and delivery and I've

been there ever since and it is everything I could have hoped for.

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One of my biggest passions in life is just getting to be a part of birth.

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And I never would've gotten to do that if I

would have, you know, just stayed away from it.

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'cause I was afraid.

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Trish: Yeah.

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I, I love how that panned out because.

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You probably would've, like if someone would've told you, like

at some point you're gonna be obsessed with birth in Oregon.

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Like, you know, not this girl.

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You don't know.

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Mm-hmm.

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You dont know about that.

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I love exactly that so much.

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So now of course, now you are doing something else on top of that.

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So.

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Tell everybody that as well.

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Yeah.

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Lauren: Yeah.

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So I have been teaching childbirth classes for about the last eight years.

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But this year I started working with you, Trish, and Yes.

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It's been so amazing, and you've really helped me kind of really

listen to what God has put on my heart, and that is serving moms who.

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Love Jesus, but who also want to have, that spiritual side of birth and

to really be able to connect with the Lord and their birth experience.

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So yeah, I've created, yeah, my online course that,

really helps those moms bring Jesus into the birth room.

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I

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Trish: love that so much.

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So I have a couple questions for you.

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Yeah.

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I would love to know do you have like a go-to

like few scriptures that you love for birth or?

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Yes.

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Yay.

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Okay, good.

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Yes, I do.

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So I'd love to hear, and I'm interested if there are ones that like, I also

feel, 'cause I do have sort of a faith component to my, my birth courses.

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Okay.

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I have some prayers and scriptures, but it's.

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It's not infused into the whole course, although I am a Christian and my faith is,

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Lauren: yeah.

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So one of my favorite scriptures that helps you

prepare for birth is second Timothy one seven.

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It's God gave us a spirit, not a fear, but of power and love and self-control.

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And I really love tying that into a breath prayer,

which is simply just breathing in, and exhaling.

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And so to tie it in with that verse, I breathe in peace and I exhale fear.

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Love it.

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I think scripture memorization is really great.

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Like just for us in life.

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Yeah.

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And I have some memorized, I'm not the best at it, and so

sometimes I think it's easier if we just memorize, okay, we're

breathing in, like peace from the Lord and we're exhaling fear.

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Right.

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That makes it a little easier too, but ties it into that

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Trish: verse.

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I love that.

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I don't know if you know my, my story, but I went to

a private Christian school that Oh, my whole life.

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Did you know that?

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No.

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Yes.

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So I memorize scripture like a chance.

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Yeah.

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This girl knows them.

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I still, like, I don't, obviously, I don't now actively always memorize scripture.

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Yeah.

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But I can, out of nowhere, I'll hear a piece of a verse and I'm like.

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Bible drills, Bible verses all the things that was my life growing up.

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Oh, that's awesome.

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Lauren: Yeah.

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So, oh, go ahead.

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Go ahead.

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No, I just, I wasn't raised a Christian and so my husband was, and just.

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It's so interesting that like the more things that he knows

are just like the childhood things for our daughter too.

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Yeah.

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Trish: You know?

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Yeah.

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No, and I, I feel like there's a plus and a minus because

for a long time the Bible was a school book to me.

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Mm mm-hmm.

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Because we used it.

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I mean, I had Bible classes, my entire school career and Bible verse like by

memorizing bible verses and you know, when you're a little kid and you're like

trying to cheat on your Bible verse test, there's something really crazy about that.

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Right?

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Yeah.

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You know, like you're cheating on the Bible verse test.

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Yeah.

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But so for a long time it was like a. It was just a textbook to me.

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Mm-hmm.

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So there, you know, obviously that changed for me at a certain point.

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So I would love to also ask you, because as an a fellow

labor and delivery nurse, what do you think that.

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The common misconceptions about labor pain and going unmedicated or natural birth.

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What do you think, like I'd love to like kind of riff with you as a labor nurse.

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What do you think that some of the common misconceptions

of people think when it comes to labor pain.

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Yeah, because I have some thoughts on that.

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Yeah, I'd love to hear yours.

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Lauren: Absolutely.

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Well the first thing that came to mind I think is one of the biggest misconceptions

is that you don't have to prepare 'cause you're just planning on getting an epidural.

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Trish: Right.

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Lauren: And we both

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Trish: know that's

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Lauren: a

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Trish: joke.

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Yes.

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Yeah.

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What is epidural get?

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It is not guaranteed.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Lauren: It's not guaranteed if you can't get it or if it doesn't work.

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Trish: Yeah.

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Or there's a line of other moms ahead of you, which we know happens.

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Yes.

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And, and even if that's the case, maybe you end up

getting it, but you might have to wait two hours.

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Mm-hmm.

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Like what do you do in the meantime?

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Exactly.

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If, if you have no tools.

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Mm-hmm.

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Yeah.

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Lauren: Exactly.

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And I feel a lot of people don't understand that unless

they've taken a birth course and they're prepared.

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Yeah.

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Right.

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Yeah.

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And so it always breaks my heart when I'm the nurse

in triage saying, so it's gonna be a little bit Yeah.

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You know, or,

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Trish: or they get an epidural and it doesn't work for them.

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Lauren: Yes.

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That I think is the worst.

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That is.

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That really is because this is not what we prepared for.

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Trish: Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Or they have a hotspot, which for those of you guys listening,

a hotspot is like, you just have an area that's not covered.

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Mm-hmm.

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I have never had an epidural.

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I've had all of my unmedicated.

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So I can't say this with experience, but experience of watching it.

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I feel like the thought to me is, if you have all this coverage

but this one spot, I feel like that would be even more intense.

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Yeah.

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Lauren: Yeah.

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I think mentally too.

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'cause you weren't prepared for that to happen.

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Mm-hmm.

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I do wonder if it's like a little bit better than feeling everything everywhere.

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You know what I mean?

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Yeah.

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But still the expectation is it's not working, but

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Trish: pain is pain.

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So if it's there, yeah.

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Yeah.

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You know, I think another misconception that I personally really educate on is that.

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Because it's so painful.

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You have to be so scared and freaked out.

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Mm. Yeah.

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And that is not true.

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Yes.

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It's painful.

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And I don't know about you, but like this whole pain-free birth thing really ticks me off.

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Yeah.

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Like.

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Are we setting, we're setting people up for failure here.

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Yeah.

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When you say, oh, you can have a pain-free birth.

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Mm-hmm.

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You can have tell a birth you love.

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No.

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Lauren: Did I tell you when I was pregnant, I, I followed all the pain-free birth

stuff and then when I was in labor and I did Christian hypnobirthing, I was, yeah.

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I told all my coworkers, I'm not getting an epidural.

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I did all of that.

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Yeah.

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And when I was in labor and I was like, it hurts.

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And I felt like I wasn't close to God.

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Or like, it really messed with me, or you're doing something

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Trish: wrong because why is it hurting when she said it could be PainFREE.

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Yeah, exactly.

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Yeah.

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That's what I don't like at all.

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Mm-hmm.

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I agree.

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I feel the same thing in the coaching, the business coaching world with all these

people who are like, oh, you can create a CanBan and count and you'll make 10 KA month.

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And I'm like, I work my butt off.

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Like that is not right.

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And then I think in both cases you're setting people up for failure.

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Mm-hmm.

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I agree because.

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I tell my students it is gonna hurt.

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It is painful, but it's manageable.

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And if you have the right tools, you can actually, like I

loved my, now I did have one daughter who was straight op.

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Mm-hmm.

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She's the one, she's sitting out there right now pregnant.

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And that threw me for a loop.

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Yeah.

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Because of the back pain.

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Lauren: Mm-hmm.

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Trish: But other than that.

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I was very in control and it was very quick 'cause she was baby number five.

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So it wasn't like a long-term situation, but I feel

like they're really doing these women a disservice.

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And I would, I've had 16 years, I did have one, one patient who had

a disorder that she couldn't feel pain, she had a pain-free birth.

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I love that.

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And it was scary as hell.

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No, it was not.

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No, it was not good because she couldn't tell what was happening.

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Oh, and this is kind of a funny story.

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Mm-hmm.

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I, so we were super, super busy.

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I was on a travel assignment in Texas and I had taken a patient over to postpartum.

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They're like, you have a, you have another patient.

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In triage.

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She's like four to five centimeters.

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First baby, she's young.

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She was a younger girl.

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You need to take her to her labor room.

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So I go and get her and I always walk them to the labor room.

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Yeah, that's just my, my jam.

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And so I'm walking her and I am.

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I know you know how you know the assessment questions

and you're like, I'm gonna do 'em on the way.

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So I'm asking her and I get to, have you seen any

other specialists or have you had to see other doctors?

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she's like, oh yeah.

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Well, I have to go into the city, the big city because I have, and

she tells me the disorder, and she's like, and I can't feel pain.

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And I was like, oh, shoot.

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You know?

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'cause she's like, she also told me if she gets stressed out, she passes out.

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Gosh.

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So I'm like, oh gosh.

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Oh fun.

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So I'm like, okay.

449

::

So I get her in the room, I get her in bed and I check her.

450

::

She is complete plus one.

451

::

Oh my gosh.

452

::

I love it.

453

::

I'm like, but, but I don't wanna, I don't wanna

freak her out because I don't want her to pass out.

454

::

Yeah, of course.

455

::

So I. Okay.

456

::

I'm pushing the call light.

457

::

I'm like, Hey, can I get a birth, a delivery team in here like right now?

458

::

Yeah.

459

::

And her mom, so then she's telling me that her mom stresses

her out and she passes out because of her mom all the time.

460

::

Oh, her mom walks in.

461

::

At that point

462

::

I was like, could anything else happen right now?

463

::

So stressful.

464

::

But we did not have any pass out.

465

::

I did have to sit mom in the corner 'cause she was stressing me out too.

466

::

Uhhuh.

467

::

And we had a baby like.

468

::

Eight minutes later.

469

::

Oh, that's amazing.

470

::

I was like, okay.

471

::

Lovely.

472

::

Yeah.

473

::

So that was a pain-free birth.

474

::

That was, that was I went off on a tangent, but that was a pain-free birth.

475

::

Yeah.

476

::

Yeah.

477

::

But it wasn't actually like, she wasn't excited about it.

478

::

Oh yeah.

479

::

At least she was there.

480

::

Thank God.

481

::

Yeah, thank God.

482

::

Yeah.

483

::

That would've been a, a rough surprise at home.

484

::

Yeah.

485

::

It would've been.

486

::

Yes.

487

::

So anyway, that was a pain-free birth.

488

::

I do not like the whole concept mm-hmm.

489

::

Of people saying that because it is painful.

490

::

And for those of you guys listening, it's painful.

491

::

But our bodies are so incredible, like God made them so incredible

that at the same time our body also has what you need to handle it.

492

::

Yes.

493

::

Yeah.

494

::

So.

495

::

It's, it is painful, but if you have the tools and you lean

into what your body is doing, and I believe that's all mindset.

496

::

Lauren: Mm-hmm.

497

::

Yeah.

498

::

Absolutely.

499

::

Yeah.

500

::

But like even just the way that God made our hormones is so beautiful.

501

::

Right?

502

::

Like just the way that oxytocin and prostaglandins

work and how endorphins work, like mm-hmm.

503

::

It's just so cool that he knew that we needed this.

504

::

Yeah.

505

::

You know, and he gave it to us.

506

::

Trish: Yeah.

507

::

And that's what Lauren's talking about, I love this, that the hormone,

which we also call the love hormone, is the primary hormone for birth.

508

::

So the love hormone is entangled into this process.

509

::

Mm-hmm.

510

::

And then we have these natural, narcotics that flood our system.

511

::

When you are.

512

::

In labor.

513

::

Of course we have to work against adrenaline and other things that

combat that, but that's where education and preparation comes in.

514

::

Yeah, which is amazing.

515

::

Lauren: So good.

516

::

I

517

::

Trish: love it.

518

::

So I would love to hear what would you say to moms, because one of the big things

that I talk about and I stand on is speaking up and advocating for yourself mm-hmm.

519

::

In the hospital.

520

::

What is your stance on like, what are some of the ways

that these moms, obviously they need to be educated.

521

::

Yeah.

522

::

But.

523

::

What are some ways that you teach your students or you teach your patients to speak up?

524

::

When it comes to advocating, 'cause we know there's

some nurses and doctors that are hard to speak up to.

525

::

Lauren: I actually have a funny story about this.

526

::

Okay.

527

::

Yay.

528

::

So I had a patient come in for her scheduled induction, like

6:00 AM and her and her husband we're still friends to this day.

529

::

Like we were not friends.

530

::

I just, I'm their nurse.

531

::

We just met.

532

::

Yeah.

533

::

And they came in for their induction and they're just funny people.

534

::

Yeah.

535

::

Like you just get along right away.

536

::

And so the dad, I do all of the education for the induction

and they were like, yeah, we didn't take a birth class.

537

::

And I was like, well guys, I'm gonna give you one here in.

538

::

A 20 minute birth class, this is it for you.

539

::

Yeah.

540

::

You know?

541

::

Yeah.

542

::

So I just kind of went over all the important stuff and

one of them is how to advocate for yourself in labor.

543

::

I feel like that's one of the most important things.

544

::

It is the most important, and so especially if you

get pulled somewhere else or you leave and go home.

545

::

Exactly.

546

::

Yeah.

547

::

And so I really just go over the brain acronym, which I'm sure mm-hmm.

548

::

Sure you're familiar with.

549

::

Yeah.

550

::

And, we go over like, what, what are the benefits?

551

::

What are the risks?

552

::

Right.

553

::

Alternatives.

554

::

Yeah.

555

::

What's your intuition telling you?

556

::

So I went over all of that and then I, I always wanna explain

to the husband, like, Hey, you are that person to stand in and.

557

::

And stick up for her and say, if you know that they're, they're offering something

she doesn't want, you can say, Hey, that's actually not something we wanna do.

558

::

Or you can say, Hey, can you step out of the room so we

can have a moment to talk to each other so that mm-hmm.

559

::

There's no pressure on making your decision, right.

560

::

Yeah.

561

::

But I said start with asking like risks and benefits and I kid you.

562

::

Not five seconds later that I finished saying that the doctor came

into the room and sat down on the stool and started talking to them.

563

::

And I'm just standing there silent and the dad looks at him and

goes, can you tell me what the risks and benefits to that would be?

564

::

And I'm just dying in the corner of the room.

565

::

You're like, yes.

566

::

Yeah.

567

::

But it was so beautiful because dads don't know.

568

::

Yeah.

569

::

You know what I mean?

570

::

Mm-hmm.

571

::

And he was like, ready to jump in and a way to go, dad.

572

::

Yeah.

573

::

I'm so proud of him.

574

::

It was so cute.

575

::

Yeah.

576

::

But really, I feel like saying, you know, can I have a moment to think about this?

577

::

And not feeling rushed Yeah.

578

::

To make a decision.

579

::

Trish: And, and that's what like inside the courses, I teach them how to read the room.

580

::

Mm-hmm.

581

::

And there's.

582

::

You can tell when there's not time, but you still can have a pause.

583

::

Mm-hmm.

584

::

You know, so if your, if your team is rushing in, people

are like frantic and they're putting oxygen on you mm-hmm.

585

::

And they're flipping mom to her side and they're

telling you this, that that's not the time.

586

::

Can everyone step out please?

587

::

Not a good time for that.

588

::

Totally.

589

::

But re being able to read the room, he comes in, he sits down on the stool.

590

::

Yeah.

591

::

And he was like, we, we know the rollup on the stool.

592

::

Sitch.

593

::

Yes.

594

::

That happens a lot.

595

::

Like that's a, let me get down to your level and look you in the eye.

596

::

Yeah.

597

::

You know,

598

::

Lauren: Hey, I would prefer that over like standing in the corner.

599

::

Right.

600

::

No, I agree.

601

::

But we all know the rollup.

602

::

Trish: You've been at this for a long time.

603

::

Yeah, yeah.

604

::

You know, we don't wanna have an emergent situation here.

605

::

Yeah.

606

::

So I, I love that.

607

::

That's, that's great.

608

::

Yeah.

609

::

Okay.

610

::

So now I would love to hear from you, how do you feel that the hospitals

are starting to be more supportive of women who are educated and

making decisions, or do you feel like we're still fighting a battle?

611

::

You know,

612

::

Lauren: unfortunately I feel like we're still fighting a battle.

613

::

Yeah, I, Marco Polo, my, my friends on my way to work in the morning and

every morning I'm like, guys, another day I'm here to fight the good fight.

614

::

Yeah.

615

::

Nice.

616

::

And so I think it really is dependent on, your provider, of course.

617

::

Mm-hmm.

618

::

And the nurses that are taking care of you and why I advocate

so much for you to get a doula who is on your same page.

619

::

Right?

620

::

Yeah.

621

::

Who can help you advocate.

622

::

And then just being educated so that you can know, like you can say yes or no to anything.

623

::

Yeah.

624

::

And feeling confident in that.

625

::

Trish: Yeah.

626

::

Lauren: Right.

627

::

I will say though, the hospital that I work at, we are working on,

I'm on the team to work on building a home birth room in our hospital.

628

::

Trish: Ooh.

629

::

I love it.

630

::

Lauren: Yeah.

631

::

So I, oh my gosh.

632

::

I think progress is being made.

633

::

Yeah.

634

::

But it just takes a team of people who are willing to, you know, commit to do that.

635

::

Trish: Yeah.

636

::

And also for labor nurses and providers to expand their

knowledge base, like go out and take classes, learn more.

637

::

Mm-hmm.

638

::

Like evidence-based birth, like mm-hmm.

639

::

Do spinning babies do things that get you outside of what

we've just been taught from our policy and our handbook?

640

::

Lauren: Yeah, absolutely.

641

::

And I, being a travel

642

::

Trish: nurse.

643

::

Did that for me.

644

::

Oh yeah.

645

::

Like leaving and being able to go to other hospitals and be like,

okay, so in Tennessee it's really dangerous to eat in labor, but in

Washington it's not dangerous because bodies are different somehow.

646

::

Yeah, a hundred percent.

647

::

What?

648

::

You know?

649

::

Yeah.

650

::

Lauren: Yeah.

651

::

That's true.

652

::

I will say I'm thankful for, the place that I work because

I've been able to educate the providers I work with.

653

::

And the other day I was walking down the hallway and one of the

doctors was like, oh, labor Lauren, we need you in this room.

654

::

And I was like, oh.

655

::

Okay.

656

::

You know, and so I do feel honored that the more labor nurses are,

going out on a limb and like taking that time to educate the providers

that they work with in a loving and respectful way, you know?

657

::

Yeah.

658

::

I think that's where change is made, and so I'm thankful to get to be a part of that.

659

::

Well, let's just be real that there's some providers who are not open

660

::

Trish: or willing for that.

661

::

Lauren: That's true.

662

::

That's true.

663

::

You know?

664

::

Mm-hmm.

665

::

Because some providers are just not for that.

666

::

I had one provider that is that person.

667

::

I had her sit down and I said, feel your, your your pelvis.

668

::

I'm like, this is why we don't pull our legs back when we're pushing.

669

::

And she just looked at me like I was so stupid.

670

::

Trish: I can't even believe that

671

::

Lauren: you even did that with her.

672

::

Oh yeah.

673

::

I was like, here, sit down.

674

::

Put your hands on your bottom.

675

::

Yeah.

676

::

Let's, let's both of this together before we go in the room.

677

::

I just want you to feel what I'm trying to do.

678

::

Trish: I just have a newfound respect for you.

679

::

That's pretty amazing because I know those doctors

that are not receptive to that, that's hard to do.

680

::

It is.

681

::

Yeah.

682

::

Yeah.

683

::

But I think you're just so sweet and nice.

684

::

You probably can get away with it.

685

::

Lauren: Yeah, I think so too.

686

::

And I am, I am doing it like what's best for the patient.

687

::

That's my goal.

688

::

Yeah.

689

::

Right.

690

::

Yeah.

691

::

So,

692

::

Trish: well, do they always, is that always their goal?

693

::

I don't know exactly most of the time, but there

are some that it's not like it's very mm-hmm.

694

::

Especially those old school doctors.

695

::

Mm-hmm.

696

::

Like I had a doctor I worked with in Tennessee that I worked with him for years.

697

::

So I had a home-based hospital.

698

::

Mm-hmm.

699

::

And then I worked as a travel nurse.

700

::

Well, I had the most kush job 'cause I only had to do

like one shift every three months to stay on staff.

701

::

It was so perfect.

702

::

Mm-hmm.

703

::

And so when I would be in between travel assignments, I would work there.

704

::

And we had this one doctor who's super old.

705

::

Very tall guy, very strong.

706

::

Never laughed, never smile, and my goal was to get

this guy to smile and I finally got a little kick.

707

::

Little half smile out of him one time.

708

::

I love that.

709

::

I cannot tell the story on here.

710

::

It's definitely between a labor nurse type story, but mm-hmm.

711

::

I got him to smile.

712

::

I was so happy, but he would not have been receptive to any of that.

713

::

Yeah.

714

::

But in his defense, he also stayed out of the

room until the baby was literally sliding out.

715

::

Lauren: Mm-hmm.

716

::

Trish: Mm-hmm.

717

::

So as long as I just didn't bring them in, we were golden.

718

::

Yeah.

719

::

So, which I think is another surprise to most patients.

720

::

Oh yeah.

721

::

That they think their doctor is gonna be there.

722

::

Oh.

723

::

And I hate to break it to you.

724

::

Doctor likes to come in when your baby's about to come out.

725

::

Lauren: Yeah.

726

::

Period.

727

::

If we call 'em

728

::

Trish: too soon, they don't like it.

729

::

Lauren: Yeah.

730

::

They wanna see ears and maybe someone browse.

731

::

Yeah.

732

::

Yeah.

733

::

And then they will.

734

::

Trish: Okay.

735

::

So we are coming to a close.

736

::

Will you just tell, you've already said your username,

but tell everybody intentionally where they can find you.

737

::

Lauren: Yeah, yeah.

738

::

So I am Labor Lauren on Instagram and my website is labor lauren.com.

739

::

There you go.

740

::

Trish: Very, very easy.

741

::

Yeah.

742

::

So this is Labor Lauren, right here.

743

::

Yeah.

744

::

Well, thank you so much for listening to the Lord and following this path, and

I'm really glad you don't pass out in births anymore because we needed you.

745

::

Yeah, I think that's so funny.

746

::

I'm just in, I'm in awe of you that you would even be like,

yeah, let me go do that after I passed out both times.

747

::

Yeah.

748

::

Alright, well thank you for coming today, Lauren.

749

::

Yeah.

750

::

Thank you so much, Trish, for having me.

751

::

You're welcome.

752

::

Speaker 5: What an incredible conversation with Lauren.

753

::

I hope her wisdom about embracing faith over fear has left you

feeling empowered and excited about your own birth journey.

754

::

Remember, your body was made to do this, and with the right mindset, the right

support and preparation, you can approach your birth with confidence instead of fear.

755

::

If today's.

756

::

So it resonated with you.

757

::

Make sure you hit subscribe and please leave a review because it means the world to me.

758

::

As always, I will see you again next Friday.

759

::

Bye for now.

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