New mom Raven Gates Gottschalk revealed she struggled to recover from the physical and emotional trauma of the birth of her son.
Bachelor in Paradise’s Raven opened up about feeling inadequate, painful breastfeeding, and fearing for the safety of her family in her newest YouTube video.
Raven Gates struggled with feeling inadequate after the birth of her son
Raven and Adam Gottschalk have been keeping fans updated about the birth of their first child, but Raven said there’s a couple of things they aren’t ready to talk about.
Adam previously posted that Raven was taken for an emergency C-Section after pushing for several hours. Raven added that the event was especially scary because baby Gates was visible but unable to fully emerge.
She struggled with feeling inadequate because of the birth and the need to supplement breastfeeding with formula.
“One, I had a C-Section, and two, I couldn’t produce the milk. Something in my head was like, ‘your body, had we not had modern medicine or all these other things like formula, your body would not be able to produce what it needed to or do what it needed to do to produce this human and keep him alive,’” Raven said in her video. “And that really got to me.”
The Bachelor in Paradise alum also experienced intense anxiety over the well-being of her husband and new child. She had Adam check baby Gates’s breathing several times while in the hospital, and found herself obsessing over thoughts of losing Adam.
She explained that there were times when she was so overwhelmed she just needed to cry and step away.
Raven Gates experienced intense physical pain following the birth
Raven was also in physical pain following the birth and had to heal from both the C-Section and the almost-birth. She developed sores and pulled her back out while breastfeeding.
Despite dealing with all of the difficult emotions and experiences, Raven was clearly smitten with her new son when he made an appearance on the video. She cooed and rocked him as he woke up.
“Seeing his little face just really got me through the weird thoughts I was having,” Raven said.
Raven ended her video with an emotional sentiment toward other moms.
“I’m here and I’m ready but God bless you all, because you don’t know until you know, and now I’m learning.”
Fans can also look forward to Raven’s upcoming videos, which she revealed will touch on some of her tips for mothers of newborns.
Bachelor in Paradise is currently on hiatus.