An Interview with Lauren Hastings | model and actress
This interview first appeared on Your Zen Mama
Tell us a little bit about your journey and how you've come to arrive here.
I started modeling at 12 years old, and moved to la when I was 17. I'll skip everything else and move into getting pregnant and delivering my beautiful daughter Monroe at just 26 weeks. Spontaneous pre-term birth. My life forever changed that moment. She came out via C-section weighing two pounds two ounces and sent straight into the NICU on life support. The next four months and three days were a rollercoaster in the NICU. At just a few weeks old she had a PDA ligation surgery (Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) is a persistent opening between two major blood vessels leading from the heart). That surgery did not go as planned: the doctor nicked her left lung and paralyzed her left vocal chord, leaving her unable to breastfeed which left me shattered as my only way to bond with her and that was taken away from me. So, I pumped like a motherfucker for the next 4 months she was in there!
I'll spare you some of the sadder scarier parts and will cut to her next surgery. She was catching up on weight and we were getting close to busting outta the NICU but she wasn't eating a lot orally, so the only way to get her outta there was to have a G-Tube (A gastrostomy tube (also called a G-tube) is a tube inserted through the abdomen that delivers nutrition directly to the stomach) placed. I was more than open to it: I said yes!!! Anything to get her outta here and home where she belongs. We had the tube placed, her umbilical hernia fixed and four months and three days later we were outta there! It was so scary when I first took her home: learning how to use the oxygen and the feeding tube and just having a baby home that required constant observation. She came off oxygen a week or so before her first birthday and the g-tube came out just before her 2nd birthday! And here we are now 3 years later and she just started preschool! Couldn't be happier, and couldn't be more proud of how hard she fought to be here.
Who's in your family? Ages? Names?
Monroe Hastings Plumb and she's 3.
How did you choose your kids names?
Her daddy did! We thought we had a little more time.
Location?
Sunny Los Angeles
Occupation?
Model/Actress and now working on my real estate license.
What's on your manifest board?
Get through these real estate courses so I can start my 3-5 year plan. Put a down payment on a house with a backyard and a cool swing set for Roe.
What is your favorite book?
I just started The Untethered Soul. I have a feeling it's gonna be my new favorite. My favorite book to read Monroe is I love you stinky face.
How do you unwind?
A glass of Rose or Red and a good tv show or film.
Tell us some of your most loved ways to spend the day with your clan?
We like to lay around in bed in the morning and watch a tv show of her liking and cuddle. Then usually it's either the zoo, or Long Beach aquarium or meet up with friends for a play date and we go to Disneyland a lot!
What are some silly/fun things that the kids do or say?
Ha! Lots of things. Yesterday Monroe asked me for a cookie so I said, “kiss for a cookie” and she kissed me said, “I love you”, I said “I love you back,” and she said “now go get it”. Hahahaha!
When you were a teenager what did you dream of? Do things look different?
I dreamed of being a model/actress so I did what I wanted to do! Sort of. I wanted to be a famous actress but I'm happy where my career has taken me.
What are some things you really believe in?
I believe in please and thank you. Always being kind, putting positive thoughts out into the universe. I believe in loving hard.
Where do your passions lie?
In myself, to be the best version of myself so my daughter can soak it all up and in turn become a gracious young lady someday soon. I believe we lead by example.
Has your relationship with your other half changed since having kids? How do you stay connected?
We're not together but we have a great amount of respect for each other. We Co-Parent amazing. It took some time to get there like all things do, but now they couldn't be better. Monroe knows both mommy and daddy love her.
What are some of your favorite life lessons you've grown to love? (even if learning them at the time was hard)
I'd say having my daughter. That not everything is planned as I now know. That things are out of your control and you just have to hope and trust that things will be okay.
What do you wish you could've told yourself when you were a teenager?
To fucking relax. To not be so hard on myself or in such a rush to grow up. Slow down.
What do you find most challenging about being somebody's parent?
Their constant mood swings, their up's and down's and then learning to keep my temperature calm and cool throughout it. Takes a lot of work.
What do you want your kids to learn about the world?
That we need to take care of it. That the kinder and more loving we are the happier inside we will be.
What are 4 things you can't live without as a parent?
Planet Box lunchbox. A backpack for carrying their shit around (just got a backpack) changed my life! And an extra pair of underwear for her hahaha and wet wipes- always using them.
