Dr. Lauren Davie-Cupido
7 Deer Ave L8T1G9 Hamilton, ON, Canada

Hi everyone. I hope you are all staying well during this challenging time. I just wanted to write a quick post because I’m getting a lot of questions. 1) PLEASE STAY AT HOME. Please practice social distancing. We don’t care if you don’t have symptoms, just stay at home! Symptoms for COVID-19 don’t make themselves apparent for over a week. If you leave the house and continue to spread this (unknowingly) you are defeating the purpose of all of the measures our government is ta...king. 2) wash your hands and stop touching your face. When washing your hands with soap and water, wash for 20 seconds at least. Hand sanitizer should be 70% alcohol, minimum 60%. 3) It doesn’t matter if you return from a trip and you feel fine. IT TAKES DAYS/OVER A WEEK for symptoms to make themselves apparent. Please stay at home and ride out the quarantine period. You could be spreading the virus to those you love. 4) Lastly and most importantly, we have to stop the spread (or at least significantly slow it down.) This virus is extremely dangerous and for the poor people who are seriously affected, there are not enough supplies or spots in the hospitals for our physicians to properly care for these people in LIFE AND DEATH situations. PLEASE JUST STAY AT HOME. My daughter, husband and I will be slowly making our way through 16 seasons of Hell’s Kitchen to pass the time!

COVID-19 update

And here we are, four months later and at the end of this story. I have obviously left out some of the more gore-y details but for those of you who have given birth before I’m sure you know what I’m talking about! This journey has been eye-opening, difficult, beautiful, messy and perfect. I have so enjoyed telling our story - thank you for following along with me! I find that with topics surrounding conception, pregnancy, birth and nursing, many people are afraid to talk, a...sk and learn. I truly mean it when I say I’m happy to answer ANY questions you may have. I had an above average knowledge of this whole process having gone through eight years of health science education and I STILL had a list of at least 10 questions every time I had a midwife appointment. The learning grew exponentially once Madelyn was here. I relied HEAVILY on my friends and family who had recently had children however, a very important lesson is that EVERY child is different. . IF YOU TAKE NOTHING ELSE FROM THIS STORY PLEASE READ THIS PART: For any of you struggling with conception, pregnancy aches and pains, birth anxiety, post partum depression, nursing questions... PLEASE reach out. If I can’t help you as a chiropractor, I can lend a caring ear and am happy to listen and discuss any topic you may have with love, compassion and absolutely no judgement. . . . #chiropractor #chiropractic #birthstory #fourmonthsold #midwife #doula See more

We were planning to stay for 24 hours post delivery but I quickly realized I wanted to get home ASAP. We had visitors throughout the day - some expected, some unexpected. I was able to shower, which felt amazing but I was sore and just wanted to be home. We had an amazing nurse who turns out was taught by both my mother and father-in-law! We asked for an early discharge - our midwives okayed it (they had been in earlier that morning) but we had to wait until Madelyn peed. Thi...s took forever. I was paranoid all of a sudden her kidneys weren’t working! In the mean time, she had her first bath, got dressed in her first clothes and had lots of amazing cuddles. We went home with my parents around 6:30pm after she peed! . I delivered at St. Joe’s hospital in Hamilton and it was truly the best experience I could’ve ever asked for. I walked away after a 38 hour labour with nothing but beautiful, peaceful feelings about the experience. I was educated, informed and respected through the whole process which is so key to avoiding birth trauma! . So many of you have messaged me - some of you calling me brave for sharing my story. Many of you saying how strong I was to get through the labour. It’s funny, I don’t view the labour as tough. I didn’t share this story to get praise! I shared this story to open the lines of communication for women who may need it! See more

My parents, Joeys parents and his siblings were waiting in the waiting room to meet Madelyn. They didn’t get in to meet her until around 1 am. It was such a blessing to have them there. Some people want privacy post delivery and I completely understand that, but we’re an extremely close-knit family and I wanted them there. My poor Dad (who was sick - hence the mask!) had been in the waiting room since leaving work at 11 am! They didn’t get to stay for long - we needed to esta...blish breast feeding and get me moved to my room. . I was up and walking around by 2 am I believe. My legs worked but I felt slightly shakey so I didn’t walk with Maddie. We chose to pay for a private room - THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS (not impressed about that considering I wasn’t even given food but I really did appreciate the privacy.) This was the point where my midwives and doula left and the nursing staff took over. They came in, checked Maddie, changed her diaper (she pooped already!) and then let us rest. Poor Joey had to sleep in this ridiculous chair thing so eventually we tried to squeeze in the single bed together! At this point we were instructed that Madelyn needed to feed every 3 hours, so we were up by 6 am. 3 hours (very broken) sleep in 48 hours is tough but there’s nothing like giving birth to keep you awake! . . . #chiropractic #chiropractor #birth #labour #family #midwife #doula See more

Our midwives came in, agreed it was go time and said they were going to go finish some paperwork before I started to push. I threw up again and needless to say they had to come back pretty darn quickly. They had me push a few times while I was on the stool and then they helped me lay down on my back. I did NOT want to deliver in my back because we were expecting Madelyn to be at least 9 lbs and anatomically, it’s extremely disadvantageous to deliver laying in your back (messa...ge me if you want to know more about this.) I remember looking over to Lara to see what she thought of this and she smiled at me and nodded. Alright cool, let’s do this. . I pushed her head out in one contraction, had to wait for what felt like 7 years for the next contraction and then at 11:14pm, Madelyn was born into her Daddy’s arms . . Side note: Lara somehow got some beautiful pictures of this moment - I didn’t even notice her doing it! I’m so grateful to be able to look back and see this beautiful moment! . . . #chiropractor #chiropractic #delivery #sheshere #birth #midwife #doula See more

The time frame here becomes a bit hazy for me. I was checked (I think) around 8 o’clock and I was 8 cm and Madelyn was at +2 station - that means she was still high. Finally, another anesthesiologist came in and gave me something wonderful and for the rest of my labour I had no pain (thank you, you sweet, kind man!) I was checked I think 2 hours after that - so roughly at 10 ish and I was fully dilated! Yay!.... but baby girl was still at +2. I knew what this meant. Doesn’t m...atter if you’re fully dilated if your baby doesn’t descend. I was heading down the path to a C-section. My amazing doula at that time suggested a birthing stool. Now that was a sight to see! I had to pull myself up on this stool (on top of the bed) with a hole in the middle because as I mentioned before, my legs weren’t working properly due to the epidural. I was so happy up here. I just felt good and I said to my doula, I think the pushing is going to go really well. Now this is where stuff starts to get funny. . I spent my pregnancy throwing up. It’s just what I did. I mostly threw up when I was hungry - feed me and I was fine. During labour, I didn’t eat. I couldn’t. So, that meant I threw up a lot. It didn’t phase me, I was so used to it! When I was on the birthing stool, the monitor that was checking Madelyn’s heart rate kept losing the connection so Joey was instructed to sit in front of me and hold it. While he was sitting there, I was sick. All I hear from him was...uhhhh Lara...you should come look at this. Lara came around to the front of my body, had a peak and immediately paged the midwives to come back! Baby girl had descended and was well on her way to coming out! Lara always said that a good throw up is equivalent to several good contractions. The birthing stool and throwing up had brought our baby girl so very close to coming into this world. . . . #chiropractor #chiropractic #labour #labouranddelivery #midwife #doula See more

The epidural was nothing short of incredible. It makes me so happy just thinking about it. I couldn’t have laboured any longer with the contractions the way they were and not be incredibly traumatized by the process. I became myself again - laughing, chatting and enjoying the process. The only downside of an epidural is you become chained to the bed. I could still move my legs but I had lost a good amount of motor power. I didn’t mind at all. . Fast forward to probably around... 7... I started to feel the contractions again. Now that really sucked. Going from not feeling anything to feeling them 100% on the right side of my body again was not good. The epidural was failing. My midwives gave me a bolus (an hours worth of epidural medicine)... nothing. We tried different positions... nothing. Eventually, one midwife gave me lidocaine through the epidural line. That was awesome! I was very numb at that point but the pain was finally gone again! Until it came back... we were told that I could have another dose of lidocaine but not yet. So I had to deal with the pain just like before - breathing and focusing. . . . . #chiropractic #chiropractor #labour #epidural #midwife #doula See more

This is the point where stuff really got moving. The staff were happy with my cervix progression ... I was still stuck on the fact that I was only 4 cm dilated. Madelyn wasn’t moving down that much and even though I had a slow leak, there was a bulge of water that was sitting between her head and my cervix. The more pressure she could put on the cervix, the better things would go. So after that check, they broke my water officially. Holy moly... that was odd. It was much loud...er than I expected. After that, they said I could go in the birthing tub! I was so excited. I love being in the water and I spent a good majority of my pregnancy in the tub! So, off we walk to the tub- me, Joey, Lara and my two midwives along with my IV pole. I finally got into the tub, maximum 15 minutes after they broke my water and things went seriously south. . When I was in the tub, the contractions became unbearable. The level of panic was something like I’ve never experienced. It was truly a fight or flight moment. I honestly can’t put that moment into words but I just felt that in order for me to survive (sounds so dramatic, I was not in danger!) I needed to get out of that tub and get pain relief IMMEDIATELY. I said to my midwives, get the anesthesiologist NOW... it was time for the epidural. Two anesthesiologists came - well a staff and a resident. I still don’t understand why, but in the middle of these Earth shattering contractions, the staff anesthesiologist decided to have a teaching moment. I was leaning over this enormous belly, holding on to Joey, basically hyperventilating and he was having a leisurely chat with the resident about land marking. How incredibly frustrating. He eventually made the comment that it was a bad moment to teach (ya... duh!) and they got on with it. It was nothing! Little pinch and I felt relief extremely quickly. To remove myself from that panicked state was once of the best feelings of my life. . . . #chiropractor #chiropractic #labour #epidural #midwife #doula #oxytocin See more

So after I got over the shock of dilating 1 cm in 24 hours, I signed the consent forms and I had an IV placed to start oxytocin. I dreaded having an IV... I hate them. Shannon placed it in my forearm so I could use my wrist and elbow but still, I carried it around like my arm was broken all day (LOL!) We were instructed to walk around to help progress things but to come back every half an hour (or maybe it was 15 mins, I can’t remember) to have Madelyn’s heart rate checked/ha...ve the oxytocin level increased. Apparently, they usually increase the oxytocin levels by 2 units, however, the OB who had ordered the medicine had chosen to have it increased by 4 units at a time. They would stop increasing the medication when I was in good, consistent, active labour. Well... that didn’t take long. That stuff works! For a while, we were a little panicked because I was contracting almost every minute but that stopped after a little while. We continued to walk around and labour with our doula. Thank God for her, honestly. Like I mentioned before, I wasn’t handling the contractions well the night before, but with her techniques I dealt with them well (@hypnobirthinghamilton.) Don’t get me wrong... they sucked but I could get through them with concentration. At this point, all four of Madelyn’s grandparents were at the hospital, eagerly waiting for their first grandchild to be born. . So I started the oxytocin around 1230. They only checked me every four hours to reduce the risk of infection, which was annoying because I am probably the most impatient human being you’ll ever meet. 430 came around and I was warned not to fixate in how many centimetres dilated I was. It was explained to me that many things need to happen to the cervix, not just dilate! It didn’t matter though, I was sure I had progressed a ton because these contractions were working! Yeah... I was 4 cms. I definitely said a few unpleasant words at that point. I had now been in labour for 31 hours... . . . . #chiropractic #chiropractor #labour #labouranddelivery #induction #oxytocin #midwife #doula See more

After a discussion, I agreed it was time to go to the hospital and get things moving at a quicker pace. It had now been 24 hours since my water had slowly started to leak... remember what I said about the chances of infection increasing!! . We checked into the hospital and I was excited. This was it. Let’s get this show on the road. I had not slept for 24 hours already, and I remember saying to Joey, after a night like that, I must be at least 5 cm (I was 2 when Daniella chec...ked me the day before!) I was hopefully half way there!! . A resident OB came in to chat with me as an MD has to prescribe the induction medication. She performed the same tests as Daniella to confirm my water had broken (slow leak) and agreed that it had. She also checked my cervix and said great! You’re 2.5-3cm! I literally almost cried. I had laboured for 24 hours and progressed a cm. You have GOT to be kidding me. . . . . #chiropractic #chiropractor #labour #delivery #oxytocin #midwife #doula See more

Fast forward to 7 pm. Things were getting going (or so I thought...) I was already exhausted but the contractions were not consistent at all. They would range from every 4 minutes to every 20-25 minutes. Our doula came over at that time and gave us some tips to try and get things going. She instructed Joey and I to go and lay down and relax because we needed to rest for when things got really going! We laid down from probably 730-830. We had been instructed to contact the on-...call midwife when my contractions were 4-1-1. That means, four minutes apart, lasting for a minute for a minimum of one hour. While we were laying in bed, I had contractions every 4 minutes, for one minute but it stopped after 45 mins. What the heck!!!!! When I think back, during that time I was handling the contractions completely wrong. I was squeezing Joeys hand, squeezing my eyes and holding my breath. Once I was labouring in the hospital with my doula right next to me, the way I handled each contraction changed considerably (more on that later.) . It had been a night from hell. I had contractions all night but again, they were super inconsistent. Little did I know, Joey was documenting the whole thing with pictures so here we have a great picture of me labouring in my ball leaning over one of my treatment tables! My mum left Baltimore at 5am to get to us for 7. I was miserable. We had called Shannon (midwife) and she told us to come into the office for 9 am. Lara, our doula, was going to meet us there (she left the night prior because I was not in active labour.) . . . #chiropractic #chiropractor #pregnancy #labour #midwife See more

So once I had chatted with Daniella a bit (Shannon, the on-call midwife, had updated her throughout the day... I had called QUITE a few times at that point,) she decided that she needed to conduct a test to see if the water that had been coming out was amniotic fluid. It was actually very cool. She performed two tests - one was using a piece of paper to test the basic/acidic nature of the fluid and the other was to take some of the fluid and look at it under the microscope. I...f it was amniotic fluid, it would look like a fern under the microscope! How cool is that! So Daniella came back after a few minutes and said, definitely fern-y! OMG my water had broken, this baby was coming imminently. . So, once your water has ruptured/starts leaking, the chances of infection increase if the baby has not been born within 24 hours. Daniella gave me the option of going home and labouring there (turns out those little pains WERE contractions) or go to the hospital and be induced with medication to really get things going. Joey and I had taken classes with @hypnobirthinghamilton and I was aware of the risks associated with both. I was also aware that typically, induced labours produce stronger, more painful contractions because they aren’t naturally coming from your body. At that point, my goal was to deliver our baby girl naturally, so I declined any medical intervention at that point. . . . . #chiropractor #pregnant #pregnancy #labour #rupturedmembranes #midwife See more

So Joey came home to find me laying in bed still. The cramps were weird. Not what I would expect contractions to be at all... extremely manageable and only slightly uncomfortable so I really wasn’t sure what was going on. I stood up to greet him and had another contraction and more liquid came out. Again, a VERY small amount... maybe 1/4 cup MAX. . At that time, we both agreed that it was time to call my midwife. The one who was on call also was not convinced my water had b...roken and told me to get on with my day. She said that in very late pregnancy, things can change down there and this was not uncommon. . Luckily, I had a midwife appointment later that day anyway. I was having my second stretch and sweep of the week (had one the day before my due date as well.) We went to the Midwife’s office around 1 pm and I looked at Daniella and said somethings happening... I don’t know what, but something has changed.

Happy Friday everyone! . A lot of patients have been curious about my pregnancy and birth story and I am more than happy to tell! . Over the next few days, I’m going to recount my 38 (yes... 38) hour labor! I am happy to answer any questions, so please feel free to PM me if you don’t want to post publicly!... . This picture is me at 40 weeks on the nose. Everything hurt. I remember walking around trying to carry my belly just to relieve some of the low back pain. On a side note, I should mention that my pain was eased CONSIDERABLY by going to see my wonderful chiropractor @jess.santos7 . I went to bed that night in our spare bedroom (our Endy bed was too hard at that point for me.) . I woke up around 8 am on October 10th, the day after my due date and a small amount of some sort of liquid came out when I stood up! It wasn’t at all like what the movies portray when a woman’s water breaks.... so I was a little confused. I was laying in bed after that, pondering what was going on when I started to get very mild cramping, roughly every 8 minutes. Joey was at the gym so I messaged him and said, it’s probably a good time to come home, something’s happening! . TO BE CONTINUED! See more

Ligaments are so important! Have you ever rolled your ankle and it became swollen and black and blue? Well, you most likely injured a ligament in that joint! Ligaments are fibrous structures that attach bone to bone - aka: holding all of your joints together! You have ligaments in every bony joint of your body - when you have damaged and torn those ligaments, the joints are at risk for instability and subluxation/dislocation. The photo above is a ligament called the ulnar collateral ligament of your elbow. Swipe left to see when my husband completely tore this ligament while playing football at McMaster. *Warning - severe bruising. #chiropractor #chiropractic #sportsmedicine #acupuncture #ligaments #bones #muscles #cupidochiropractic @ Hamilton, Ontario

If you’ve never been to a chiropractor, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were unaware of how to become one! It’s a very long process! All of us first, had to complete a bachelor degree, which is usually four years. Then, we would apply to the one and only English speaking Chiropractic school in Canada. Each class has roughly 200 people admitted to the Doctor of Chiropractic program. Upon graduation, we are then referred to as Dr. ________, a very special title that very few can use! In total, without supplementary courses, it takes 8 years to be a D.C. (I completed my Honours BSc in Kinesiology at McMaster and then my DC at CMCC!) #chiropractor #chiropractic #education #doctor #mcmaster #cmcc

Hi everyone! It’s been a while since I posted on here regularly (2020 goals!) so I thought I should start by reintroducing myself! I’m Dr. Lauren Cupido and I am a Hamilton-based chiropractor and acupuncture provider with a special interest in pre/post natal care. Here are a few facts about me to get started... I graduated from CMCC in 2017, I am married to a professional lacrosse player and I recently just gave birth to our first child, Madelyn Elena! I’m truly so excited to use this platform to educate and inform you about all aspects of chiropractic. My 2020 goal is to get to 10,000 followers... doable?! I think so!

Hello everyone! I hope you’re all well! This is just a quick message to let you know that I will be returning to work in the next couple of weeks - there will be VERY limited home/Cupido Chiropractic appointments available! Please message me directly to book. Ps. This is Madelyn today at 6.5 weeks!

Hello everyone! Someone would like to say hi to you all! This is Madelyn Elena, born October 11th weighing 8 lbs, 3 oz. Labour was long and tiring but incredibly beautiful and peaceful. . For those of you who have been following me for a while, you know that I’ve previously mentioned how inaccurate ultrasound predicted birth weights can be. At 40 weeks (she was born at 40+2) Maddie’s weight was estimated at well over 9 lbs. They also put her in the 95th percentile... Even with all of my education and research done in this area, it made me (and my husband) nervous that I was going to have to try and deliver a gargantuan baby... but she was 1 lb less than predicted! Mamas to be - keep this in mind when making decisions about inductions and C-sections!

Hi everyone! At 39 weeks, this is probably my last post before baby girl comes! I just created an album of photos depicting my chiropractic care while I've been pregnant - all of the pictures have descriptions under them. If you have any questions, please feel free to message me or Dr. Jess Santos! Dr. Santos practices at Acorn Family Health and Wellness Centre in Oakville - check her out! Talk to you all soon (I hope!)... Dr. L