Maverick Duane Roberts’ Birth Story

Birth Story:

Wednesday, July 11th, I went to my doctor’s appointment to have my membranes stripped at 3:00. I was dilated between 2cm and 3cm and it took a good minute for him to do the procedure. It hurt but I was ready to have the baby and I urged my doctor on.

I got home at 4:00 and felt crampy and there was quite a bit of blood. I had already lost my mucus plug a few days earlier, so if there was any left I was losing it all now. I was having contractions but they were irregular and we went down by the pool and hung out as a family until 5:00 when they began to slow down. At 6:00 they picked up again and felt like menstrual cramps but were still difficult to time and felt a lot like the braxton hicks I had been having for the past few weeks. By 8:00 they continued to hurt but I was convinced it was the aftermath of having my membranes stripped and I didn’t think I was in labor. Scott didn’t think much of it and I honestly did not think that I would go into labor before my due date.

We all went to bed at 9:00 and I began to time my contractions. They were right around 3 minutes apart and were quite painful. They felt like awful menstrual cramps and lasted about a minute each. I walked around the house, changed positions, sat up, laid down and drank water but my contractions didn’t slow down and the pain didn’t stop. I timed them for an entire hour before moaning to Scott, “I hurt. I am pretty sure I am in labor” and I got up to take a bath to see if they would slow down. Scott thought I wasn’t really in labor and fell back asleep. The bath helped the pain but they didn’t slow down at all.

At 10:30 I crawled back in bed and my contractions were still going strong and were about 2 1/2 minutes apart and about a minute long. Everywhere online says to go to the hospital if they reach 7 minutes, but I was still worried I wasn’t in labor. Each contraction I would begin kicking my legs in the air and start laughing hysterically. Scott thought I was insane but laughing was the only way I could handle the pain! I was so afraid of going to the hospital and getting sent home and so I kept trying to relax. I thought if I waited long enough that they would stop. Scott still didn’t think I was in labor and was worried about missing work for false labor. 

“What do I do?!” I kept yelling at Scott.

“I don’t know” Scott was just laying there like I was totally messing up his sleep schedule!

“What do I do!?” I yelled again.

“I can’t miss work at a new job” he said. He has two sick days and has to wake up for work at 5:00am and I didn’t want him to miss work for false labor either. But it did really hurt!

“Well I don’t want to have a baby at home!” I was bending over the bed with my face in the blankets.

At 11:00 I called the hospital and the nurse told me the pain was probably just cramps from having my membranes stripped and if I decided to come in, then I shouldn’t bring the entire family until it was confirmed I was in labor. I hung up the phone more confused than ever. If I was in labor we would need someone to pick up Lincoln, but I didn’t want to tell anyone until it was a for sure thing. I was way too stressed about getting sent home for false labor.

I continued moaning to Scott that I didn’t know what to do and he kept saying he didn’t think I was in labor. After getting off the phone with the hospital I said, “Alright, I will time five more contractions and if they don’t slow down at all then we will go.”

“In 15 minutes!!!?” Scott was surprised that I would want to leave so soon.

I was cringing in pain, “Well yea, I hurt!”

Scott just stared at the ceiling and I timed one contraction before screaming, “I’m not timing them! They hurt! Get up, we are going now!”.

I was out of the bed and had my bags, that I had packed two days prior, and Scott was standing in his underwear looking bewildered.

“Get dressed!” I yelled.

“I don’t know what to wear!” he was rubbing his eyes and still wasn’t sure I was in labor.

“Hurry!” I yelled, and he moved a little faster as I began rolling on the ground in pain from another one.

“I don’t know what to do!” he said, “I’m not ready for this!”.

“Grab Lincoln and hurry before I have another one!” I was practically running to the car and got there just in time for another contraction.

The entire drive there, I shouted out how much I hated my doctor for putting me into labor, “I hate doctor Heshmati! I hate him! I don’t want to be in labor! I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I hate him!” it really helped the pain when I did this and made Scott laugh really hard. I was in pain, excited, nervous, scared and happy and all of this combined created one creepy laugh.

Scott mentioned that he hoped I was in labor or he would have to go to work on three hours of sleep. I mentioned that if this wasn’t real labor, than I never wanted to be in labor.

I am not sure what Lincoln was thinking through the entire ordeal. I kept telling him I was okay and we were on our way to get Maverick out of my stomach.

When we got to the hospital, at 11:30, no one was at the desk and I was dying from the pain and kept repeating, “Owie, owie, owie, owie” and “I’m dying, I’m dying, I’m dying” over and over. There was no doubt in my mind that I was in labor now because I would not leave that hospital without an epidural to take away the pain.

Scott finally said, “I think you are in labor because you’re not a wimp” he was also laughing at me.   Eventually a lady came and checked us in but we still had to go into a room and have them monitor me to see if I was in labor. The nurse was acting like I wasn’t in labor and kept saying that it was probably from getting my membranes stripped. I told her it HURT! But she said having your membranes stripped hurts and she hooked me up and left. Each contraction was unbelievably painful and the two minutes in between were a mix of relief and anxiety for the start of another one. After 20 minutes of pain and no nurse checking on me,  I started crying because I knew I was in labor and wanted an epidural, “I don’t understand why no one cares. They are acting like I am not in labor. How long do I have to lay here for?” I asked Scott through tears and he just said he didn’t know. He felt horrible that there was nothing he could do for me. I was worried the nurse would leave me for an hour of monitoring before checking on me. She still hadn’t checked my cervix. Scott was busy telling Lincoln everything was okay and Lincoln just sat there confused.

The nurse must have heard me crying because she came back in to check me at 12:00am. I was so relieved to see her! She told me I needed to breath through the contractions but it was so hard not to hold my breathe. She seemed a lot nicer and began checking my cervix.  As she was checking me she said, “oh…..oh…oh….” and I thought maybe she couldn’t find my cervix because I wasn’t dilated very far but it was because she could feel no cervix left around his head! She felt around a little more and determined I was 9cm dilated, ALMOST 10CM with a bulging bag of waters. She began rushing everyone and told me I was dilated to 6 or 7cm so I wouldn’t freak out. I thought it was weird how they were literally running me down the hall. I was seriously scared we might crash into the walls!

Once I got in my room I went to the bathroom and sat in the bed waiting for my epidural. Scott and Lincoln sat on the couch right next to me and each contraction I would repeat that I was dying. Finally they gave me the epidural! It was horrible and took forever. As I was sitting on the edge of the bed, I could feel the baby, it felt like he was going to fall out. The epidural, plus contractions was the worst pain I have ever felt in my life! I began crying again and Scott took Lincoln out of the room. By 12:45 the epidural had kicked in and I was soon smiling and joking around with everyone. The nurses told me how far dilated I was and we all laughed that Scott didn’t think I was in labor. They gave him a hard time and with the epidural strong I thought it was pretty funny too that I had made it to almost 10cm at home! They checked me shortly after receiving the epidural and I was 10cm dilated but my water was not breaking! By this time Scott’s Aunt, mom and cousin had come to take care of Lincoln and they left the hospital around 2:30am. The doctor was busy sleeping and so we all waited around hoping my water would break, but my water is made of steal!  The nurse decided to wake up the doctor at 3:30 and have him break my water. It took a strong poke for it to break and when it did, it literally shot out. I still can’t believe that I was sitting at 10cm for hours! How weird! After the doctor broke my water he told me to call the nurse when I felt the urge to push.

I immediately felt the “urge” to push and called the nurse. Everyone came in and calmly put my feet in the stirrups. No one seemed rushed at all and were talking pleasantly as they set up. The doctor looked down as he was putting on his gloves and said, “Well there is his head and he has hair!”. I thought they were joking but I could definitely feel his head. Although the epidural was working, I could still feel some pain and enough to know what was going on, but it was a dull pain.

The next twenty minutes were really calm. The doctor didn’t want me to tear so he told me not to push until he asked me to. Scott was sitting on the couch and leaning forward to watch just inches from me. No one was holding my legs. There was no one coaching me to breath. Everyone was standing there staring at Maverick’s head.

“Alright, push softly for three seconds” the doctor said, and I did. He got some gel and rubbed it around the area and left Maverick there to sit and stretch it out so I wouldn’t tear. He had me push gently again and then sat back and waited.

“This is so weird! I can’t believe I am having a baby” I said laying there all comfortable. Scott was leaned forward like he was watching a football game.

The doctor had me push softly again and then waited some more.We all sat around and talked until the doctor asked me to push softly for three more seconds. I could see his head and I leaned forward and couldn’t help pushing, “I’m sorry! I am not pushing on purpose, he is just coming on his own!” and sure enough Maverick was born! A total of 12 seconds of pushing!

It was absolutely beautiful and he immediately began crying. They laid him on me and Scott and I both exclaimed how cute and tiny he was. He was so purple but not swollen at all. I immediately was in love with him. Scott cut the cord and we both snuggled with him. It was perfect, calm and all the nurses were helpful. They gave me Maverick and I was able to feed him. He latched right on and we were able to hold him without interruption.

I feel so blessed to have a healthy, beautiful baby and that labor was safe and perfect. I can’t believe this little boy hasn’t been with us forever. We all love him so much!

Thanks Maverick Duane Roberts for making my life even more complete!

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Born July 12, 2012 at 4:05a.m

Weight: 6lbs 5oz

Length: 19 inches

We are excited about our new addition and can’t wait to share pictures with you!

 

Patiently waiting for someone to take him home so he wouldn’t have to witness mom in labor.

Pretending to smile but secretly dying from being dilated at 10 cm and still no epidural.

Delivered by doctor Heshmati at 4:05am Scott cutting the umbilical cord First time holding his purple little body

First time holding his son

Angry that he isn’t warm inside mom anymore Minutes after birth Completely in love A few hours old and not so swollen     First time Lincoln held Maverick and already best friends. His response “ What’s in there mom?” pointing to my belly, “Do we have two Mavericks?”. Love, love, love