Benjamin Burns Crosby: So worth the wait!! (my labor story)

Both of my previous labors have left me with something to be desired. I didn't start labor naturally with either one of them and I had gotten epidurals with both of them, which meant that while my body knew how to labor, I did not. I was able to feel when I needed to push, and thats about it. That really bothered me, so I decided on two things. 1) under very few circumstances would I allow the doctor to induce me (only if it was a real emergency) and 2) I would labor and give birth without out pain medication, which meant staying home as long as possible. Also, I knew that I would have a harder time going med free if I my water broke or if I was on pictocin. Mostly I knew that I could anything I wanted as long as I was prayerful and relied on the help of our Heavenly Father because I know that with Him we can do all things. It turns out that I was absolutely blessed in so many ways to have labor go exactly as I wanted (besides being a whole week overdue), and it turned out perfectly as planned. I couldn't be more happy or grateful for this.

The weeks leading up to labor, I had been feeling contractions (since I was 37 weeks or so), but they never turned into labor. I passed my due date having had contractions for many nights in a row, for them to end up stopping and I would wake up in the morning disappointed, with nothing. It turns out my body was slowly doing its job (which is better than all at once in my opinion). But i was learning that I really had little to no control over the situation and that I needed to just let "it" go and let it happen when it would happen, and just trust in my body and Heavenly Father's plan for me.

All though I was extremely large and miserably uncomfortable I had come to turns with being pregnant until 42 weeks, when they would force me to do an induction. I thought maybe my body didnt know how to labor. I did try everything possible to get this baby here, from chiropractic adjustments to acupuncture. Super spicy thai meals, cod liver oil, caster oil, jumping on the trampoline, evening primrose oil and everything else recommended to induce labor. I even had my membranes stripped the day before I went into labor.

I started having somewhat regular contractions on Friday evening after a day of trying everything get labor started. At about 11pm the contractions were five minutes apart but not super long. Since I had no regular contractions up to this poit I was pretty sure that this was the real thing, although it really wasn't super painful. I decided to go to bed and try to get sleep before they became painful, and fell asleep at about 11:30pm. I woke up at 2:30 from a painful contraction. That's the time when Chad went to sleep. I walked around and ate a piece of toast. At about 3 or 3:30 am I woke up Chad and asked him to time my contractions. He timed them and walked around getting everything that we needed  for the hospital.

At about 4 ish I was having definite contractions, they were pretty uncomfortable but not super painful and I wasn't completely convinced that this was THE elusive labor I had been waiting for for weeks. Contractions were 2 minutes apart but 60 seconds long instead of 90. I was preparing to be hanging around the house for a while. Suddenly I had a really intense contraction that brought me to the floor. As soon as that one was over I had another two just like that, right on top of each other. I knew it was definitely time to get to the hospital even thought my body was laboring differently then the text book version of labor.

At 4:30 we drove the 5 minutes to the hospital, which was not super comfortable. I was still having strong contractions but they were not on top of each other anymore (about 2 minutes apart again). They checked me and I was at a five, within about ten minutes we were in the delivery room. They knew my wishes so they didn't hook me up to anything but insisted that I SIT down to monitor the baby. Sit!? I just couldn't do that while I was in the middle of intense contractions. The nurse was totally annoyed and kept saying I really need you to sit down right now. Finally I was like "I'm in the middle of a contraction I am NOT going to sit down until it is over!" She rolled her eyes at me like I was being dramatic and waited for a minute I sat down they strapped the monitor on me, but  I was really uncomfortable and afraid I was going to be in there forever. So I asked them to check me again I wasn't sure if I could do this.
They checked me and I was at a eight, the lady was a bit nicer from then on, since she realized I wasn't being dramatic and I actually was progressing quickly. At this point we had been in the hospital 20 minutes tops and the midwife hadn't even made it to the hospital yet.

I was trying my best to make it gracefully through each contraction, but It was hard. I think I said mother f this hurts (I really said that, not the actually swear word haha). My body was working super fast and I was just so uncomfortable on my back laying down. I instinctively turned to stand on my knees and hold the back of my bed. I was clutching on to a poor nurses hand for dear life and Chad was holding my other hand and applying counter pressure to my back during contractions. I told them that it was time to push so they better go find another doctor, but they told me to "wait" because the midwife was 10 minutes away. Who can fight against a waging, laboring body to will it to stop contracting!? It's clearly not possible!! I can slow down while pushing, but not stop contractions all together.

They realized I was serious when they saw the baby's head and ran and got the other Doctor. By the time he ran into the room I was pushing and the baby was born maybe a minute later. I was so tired, and relieved! So happy that labor went exactly as I wanted it to and totally pooped. I still hadn't even turned around to see the baby. Everyone kept saying "turn around don't you want to see your baby!?" I was like "yeah I do but I need a minute!"
Chad announced that we had a boy, before I even saw him (which I was fine with--I just imagined seeing the gender as the baby was born). I turned around and held him then said to Chad, "I knew it was a boy!" The gender predictor calendar is almost always right!

He didn't have a first name for a few days, but we always knew that if it was a boy his middle name would be Burns after my Grandpa and Dad. His name ended up being named Benjamin Burns. Koren picked Benjamin and Chad has always liked the name. I never thought I would name a boy Benjamin, but it is his name, and My mom and Grandma liked it so that sealed the deal. I still wasn't sure about his name for a while, because it is such a common name. But I love it and it totally fits him.

 He was 9 pounds 1 oz and 20.5 inches long. He's the perfect addition to our family! We all adore him!

if you look at my han dyou will see the acupuncture needles in me. I was 5 days over due at this point