Model Iskra Lawrence experienced a “redemption birth” when welcoming her daughter with Philip Payne last month.
“It’s just incredible looking back because you’re just in it. You’ve made the choice. You are at home, there is no pain medication,” Lawrence, 34, told Us Weekly exclusively about her home birth while promoting her partnership with Elvie’s Stride 2 breast pump. “It just does something chemically to you that you are like, ‘Wow, I’m doing this and the only way that this pain is going to be over is when I get to meet my daughter.’ It’s so heightened because you’re so relieved, you’re so excited, you’re so grateful, you feel so powerful.”
Lawrence did admit that it wasn’t a perfect labor, however. Her daughter got stuck in “the ring of fire” — a term the model used to describe the baby crowning.
“That was testing. I was almost falling asleep, mid-contraction just to try and like, ‘OK, let me just try and sleep through it so I can go crazy in the next contraction.’ It’s your most raw animalistic form,” she recalled, noting that Payne was “cheering me on” the entire time.
Lawrence and Payne are also the parents to 4-year-old son Alpha, whom they also welcomed during a home birth. Lawrence previously referred to Alpha as a “miracle” baby, revealing in a 2020 Instagram caption that he had to be resuscitated by their midwife.
Iskra Lawrence Rachpoot/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
“The second time, because he knew what to expect, [Payne] was also more in it too and less worried about everything else,” Lawrence also told Us. “My son got stuck, which again is very, very normal, especially if you have a quick labor. The same thing happened the second time, but the difference was my new midwife just let me trust my body and we just waited for the contraction. That’s what could have happened the first time, but it didn’t.”
This time around, Lawrence said she was “part of all of it” this time around.
“No one intervened, and even though she got a little bit stuck, we just pushed through and we did it,” she said. “I hope that so many more women get to experience those redemption births.”
Lawrence called it “everything that I wanted it to be.”
After welcoming baby No. 2, Lawrence teamed up with Elvie to promote their Stride 2 breast pump, which “impressed” the model — and made her life easier.
“I never expected pumping to be such a huge part of my life. I really assumed that breastfeeding was going to come easily,” she explained to Us. When Lawrence welcomed her son during Covid, she “felt so isolated and stressed” so the Elvie pump helped.
“The double pump enabled me to still have the confidence to go out and do the things I wanted to do,” she said. “Get on with things I needed to around the house, but still be able to commit to giving my son my milk, which felt like it felt important to me because the breastfeeding was such a struggle.”
Iskra Lawrence 305pics/2024 305pics
Lawrence kept all of her breast pumps ahead of her daughter’s birth, but didn’t know what to expect.
“Every baby is different,” she said, adding that it was a huge deal getting connected with the Elvie team. “I love what they stand for. I love that they’re empowering women with tech that’s for women. I heard about the Stride 2 and as soon as I used it, I was like, ‘OK wait. This is incredible.’”
The pump itself “can connect to whatever you are wearing” so that new moms are able to go out in public.
“It just really helped me build this incredibly strong supply, which makes me feel relieved, less stressed,” Lawrence added. “This time around, it’s just been wonderful to have the option for the double pump still that I’ve always used, and then this brand-new Stride 2 that’s my main pump. It’s kept my supply high.”
