Bloom’s Month of Mothers Spotlight: Lauren Hasz
Lauren Hasz Shares Her Motherhood Journey
Bloom mama Lauren Hasz brought her third baby into the world just 4 weeks ago in May 2021. Already familiar with The Bloom Method through working with Brooke personally during her second pregnancy, Lauren immediately turned to Bloom once again when she became pregnant with her third baby.
Lauren’s incredible strength in growing and birthing her babies, raw honesty about her experience, and unique ability to stay positive are truly inspirational.
Read more about Lauren’s incredible story in her interview with Bloom, below.
When did you join Bloom?
My Bloom journey began during my second pregnancy when my work in Boulder, CO, as a birth doula helped me to cross paths with Brooke before the Studio Bloom platform was available. I worked with her one-on-one several times throughout my second pregnancy, which helped me support a fairly significant DR still lingering both from sports injuries and improper core recruitment in my first pregnancy. I emerged from my second birth, which ended up being incredibly traumatic, still stronger than I had been before.
Fast forward four years to my most recent third pregnancy, and I immediately knew that I wanted to join Studio Bloom and make a continuous and consistent effort to strengthen my core and pelvic floor and truly LISTEN to my body this pregnancy. Around 17 weeks pregnant, I stopped nearly all other forms of exercise and instead used the Bloom app nearly every day until I delivered. It was truly the most empowering experience.
Why did you join Bloom? What were your goals?
I joined Bloom this final pregnancy specifically because I have been on a long journey in my 20s and 30s to trust my own body, accept its limitations with love, and celebrate its different seasons with the gentleness that each season deserves. I knew that I had lingering birth trauma from my first birth, as well as a small DR plus anterior and posterior pelvic floor prolapses.
Although I am an extremely active person, I knew that this final pregnancy was going to require a completely different type of physical movement in order to heal and recover postpartum. Especially given the social limitations of Covid in 2020, I was so excited to be part of the Bloom online community of mamas and workout with the virtual class format that held my hand, so to speak, through pregnancy-safe yet challenging exercise sessions.
What has your experience been like working out with Bloom? Have you achieved some of the goals you came to the studio with?
I can't recommend Bloom strongly enough to all expectant and postpartum mamas. Thanks to the coaching offered during each class, I was encouraged to honor my body my entire pregnancy and to love it through my current postpartum period. I am currently four weeks postpartum, and I have never experienced such a strong sense of gratitude for my body - softer tummy and all. I have Bloom to thank for much of this.
Even during a high-risk, induced birth at 35 weeks (due to unexplained placenta issues), I was able to incorporate Bloom method breath and movement techniques. I used all of the birth positions that we practiced in the birth prep classes (lots of hands and knees and wide-legged sitting on a birth ball) although I was induced in a colder hospital setting.
Thanks to the attention that Brooke and the other coaches give to encouraging mamas throughout the classes to notice babies' positions and our own bodies, I was able to confidently move into the different positions my baby needed. My 10-hour labor was excruciating (not going to lie) and exhausting without many breaks between contractions. BUT, I listened to the mama meditations on the app to calm myself and continued to hear Brooke’s voice in my head from the birth prep videos that helped me ride the intense waves of contractions. At the end, I pushed in a squatting position and did not tear as I welcomed my baby into the world. Given the premature age of my precious little girl, she spent the first two weeks in NICU, and I missed those first days and weeks of resting and snuggling. But I would sit in the postpartum lounge and listen to a rehab video or use one of the on-the-go audio recordings while I drove back and forth between NICU and home in order to reconnect with my core. I am still on this healing journey. But, I feel fierce. I feel soft. I feel assured that my body will heal in its time.
What is something surprising/unexpected/above and beyond that Bloom has given you?
After years of struggling with body image issues, a college eating disorder, and then shame over my post-baby body's weaknesses after my first two pregnancies, I feel more in tune with my body, grateful for her and patient with the process of healing this third time around thanks to Bloom. I'm not rushing back into intense running workouts or high-intensity cardio. Instead, I feel like I've been given a gift. The gift of rehab. The gift of time. The gift of body acceptance. I'm so grateful.
What's the greatest gift that motherhood has given you?
Motherhood has given me the gift of fierceness. The ability to advocate for myself and for my children. One of my favorite poems is a simple two lines from Danielle Doby: "Open heart. With backbone." Prior to motherhood, I loved deeply. I gave of myself often and to anyone who needed me. But I also didn't prioritize my own needs. I didn't have the bravery to dive into my past trauma. I didn't analyze my own skewed beliefs about motherhood. I didn't understand what it meant to love deeply and yet have backbone. This is how I define fierceness: open-hearted strength. I still remember the moment in my first daughter's dark nursery, holding her and beginning to sob. Yes, I was filled with indescribably love for her, but also with sorrow for myself and my own past scars. I think that is the moment that motherhood began to give me the courage to advocate for myself and make sure that my children always understand the power of their own voices, bodies, and uniqueness. Now I defend myself and them fiercely.
What's your tip for finding balance when it comes to fitness and self-care?
Always. Wear. Leggings. But seriously, finding the balance between fitness and self-care and all that must happen during any given day can be an exhausting juggling act. I think I thrive the most when I accept each season for what it is and allow my pockets of time for fitness and self-care to be flexible with what the season requires. For instance, with a newborn right now, I have very small time periods when I can gently workout OR choose to nap OR splurge on a shower. I make daily choices as to what I need the most. When I just had two older kids at home, the season provided me with more energy plus the ability to workout for a dedicated period of time while my children entertained themselves. I know that season is coming again. I simply have to ride the waves of what each season looks like. Some days I am better at this than others. Some days I cry. Some days I soar. This part of motherhood is still messy for me.
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Lauren Hasz is a holistic IVF mama of three and is recently based in the outskirts of Houston, TX. By profession, she is both a teacher and a birth doula, but Lauren also loves writing, interior design, and everything about Friday nights with her family. Lauren would love for you to follow along with her motherhood journey over on Instagram @laurenhasz where she strives to make messes, love fiercely, and choose hope over and over again.