Love at last: The birth of Raven Marie

My husband and I have been together for almost four years now, and back when we started dating I was told I would never have kids. Well much to our surprise, a little over two years later we found out we were expecting.

My due date was set for July 30, 2012. We couldn’t have been happier. Fast-forward to July 24, 2012. I was going in for my weekly visit and my midwife had decided she was going to strip my membranes. Now for those who have never had this done—it is quite uncomfortable. So I had that done about 2 p.m. and was sent home having been told, “If you don’t have her by next Tuesday, come in and we will do it again.” By this time I was already 2 cm and 50 percent effaced. So I went home and went about my day as normal, and went to sleep. My husband woke me up around 5 p.m. to tell me he was leaving, and I went back to sleep. I woke up about 7 p.m. having some back cramps, but I normally see a chiropractor, so I thought I was just having problems with my back. About a half an hour later, my water broke. At first I thought I peed myself, but then it gushed again. Then I proceeded to call the last known location of my husband. They told me he had left 10 minutes earlier to come home (he later told me he just had this feeling he needed to come home) and asked what was wrong because I sounded panicked. I told them my water had broken, so they offered to give me a ride to the hospital.

My husband arrived at the apartment shortly after I got off the phone, and asked me why I was crying. “She’s on her way!” was all I could say. On the way to the hospital I called EVERYONE to let them know, “Here comes Raven!” both mothers said they would meet me there. His mother living 30 minutes away said she would stay at the hospital with us. When we got to the hospital they confirmed what I already knew, that my water had broken. They put me on constant monitoring and my labor really didn’t start picking up until about 9:30 p.m. Around 10 p.m. the hospital staff let me take a shower to try and relieve some of the pain. Oh, it worked wonders. About 12 a.m. they decided to give me something to help me sleep. It worked for the most part—I would sleep between contractions. At 4:30 a.m. I finally broke down and asked for an epidural, and all I could say after that is, “I want my mommy.”

I finally got some sleep. About 8:15 a.m. they checked me and I was stuck at 4 cm, so they decided to give me pitocin. I went back to sleep. About 9:45 a.m. I woke up and noticed my husband wasn’t in the room. I felt like I needed to go to the bathroom, so I called the nurse and my mom’s phone to tell her to send my husband back. The nurse checked me and said I was at 9 cm and my husband rushed out to get both of the mothers. That’s when I started to freak out. At 10 a.m. I was told it was time to push, and everyone told me I did great; I vaguely remember the pushing part. At one point it felt like I was pushing for 5 minutes and other times it felt like two hours, until I heard them say “Someone get Rita.” I was told to quit pushing at one point and I told them my body wasn’t going to allow that. I found out later the cord was around her head.

At 10:47 a.m. July 25, 2012 we welcomed Raven Marie Roberts into the world. She weighed 7.4 pounds, was 19.5 inches long and was born with a full head of hair. I love my wonderful husband—through it all he stayed by my side and was the best coach ever.