162. Giving Birth with Type 1 Diabetes: What I Didn’t Expect (And No One Warned Me About)

Episode Summary: 

The Story Time You’ve All Been Waiting For: 42 hours of labor, 5 days in the NICU, and finally bringing home our healthy baby boy.  It’s taken me some time to sit down and record this one, but after welcoming my son Luka into the world on January 5th, I’m ready to open up about the experience. I spent the last nine months carefully managing my type 1 diabetes, and I had a vision for how labor and delivery would go—one that, let’s just say, didn’t quite play out the way I expected. From the moment my water broke, it felt like everything went wrong, and I needed time to process it all before sharing. In this episode, I’m sitting down with my doula, Corinne, to give you my unfiltered birth story. I hope this serves as a reminder to you that even when things don’t go according to plan, we’re strong enough to navigate it all.

Quick Takeaways:

• The play-by-play of my very unpredictable birth experience
• The transformative power of doulas & having a birth plan
• The experience of laboring naturally and then needing to pivot 
• The complications that can occur that are completely unrelated to type one diabetes risk factors
• Healing from a traumatic birth experience and how Lauren is processing it all

Timestamps:

• [XX:XX] Introduction to the episode & Lauren’s reflection 
• [XX:XX] Meet Corrine, Lauren’s doula 
• [XX:XX] Understanding the role of a doula 
• [XX:XX] The journey begins: "This is where it started."
• [XX:XX] Heading to the hospital 
• [XX:XX] The Start of Active Labor
• [XX:XX] Labor progression: Understanding back labor and its challenges 
• [XX:XX] “You've been up for over 24 hours now…and I don't typically say that to people. I think I said that to two other of my clients out of 60, they needed to get an epidural.”
• [XX:XX] Things take another turn…
• [XX:XX] “That's when I pulled Kris out into the hallway.”
• [XX:XX] Luka’s birth 
• [XX:XX] Overall reflections on T1D and birth: Processing the trauma, feelings of guilt & plans for next time 

Whether you're pregnant, planning for the future, or just curious about what this journey was like for me, I really hope that this story helps you feel more prepared, supported, and seen. 

What to do now: 

1. Follow me @lauren_bongiorno and @riselyhealth on Instagram to stay in the loop when new episodes drop.
2. Apply for coaching and talk to our team so you can reclaim the life you deserve. 
3. 5 Things You Won’t Hear From Your Endo About Pregnancy and T1D. 
4. Access Risely’s Pregnancy + T1D Workshop on demand HERE.