Jaimee Lupton announced her pregnancy while on a Fiji getaway with her partner Nick Mowbray. Photo / Instagram
Monday Haircare co-founder Jaimee Lupton and Nick Mowbray have announced they are expecting a miracle child, more than a year on from losing their baby daughter “Gingernut” at 24 weeks and a miscarriage after that.
In an Instagram post, Lupton shared a video from Kokomo Island showing her glowing baby bump and a short ultrasound clip.
They were going to brainstorm baby names when he got home. In the meantime, the baby was nicknamed Gingernut after the biscuits Lupton ate during her pregnancy to help with overwhelming nausea, and because of Mowbray’s ginger hair which they thought their baby girl might inherit.
Auckland City Hospital was still under strict Covid restrictions so Lupton was allowed only one support person, her sister, and only one swap. Her mother had to stand aside to allow Mowbray to take that place when his flight landed.
The date is indelibly imprinted in her memory: March 25, 2022. A four-hour labour and, at the end, a tiny baby no longer than a mobile phone.
“I’m a massive control freak, a massive over-planner. This is one thing that’s out of my control and the most important thing to me.”
At first she thought she’d talk later on, “After I’ve got my baby and my happy ending”.
But she realised that would be pointless. How could she connect with couples trying unsuccessfully to have a child while she was bouncing a baby on her knee?
“I think that’s the worst thing I could do because I’m in the trenches now. I’d be doing others who have gone through the same thing a disservice if I didn’t speak about my experience,” she said then.