Our birth story... Can't believe it's been a year!

A first birthday! I have heard lots of opinions on the subject... Everything from: don't have one, they won't remember, to: it's the biggest, most important birthday, you have to go all out! I think we have comfortably settled somewhere in the middle. We absolutely want to celebrate Carter's first birthday & ALSO celebrate that Juan & I have successfully completed a year of parenthood (which is crazy hard, and ridiculously rewarding)! We are having a backyard pool party/bbq (although based on our rsvps we are probably just going to boil the dogs to save time). Juan is currently doing yard work to make our pretty plain yard an enjoyable birthday party yard... we'll see! ;) I have been busy making Carter's Happy Birthday sign myself (to save money, but my my my, it sure is not saving time), hopefully it will turn out as great as I'm hoping! (I did, however leave out the "1st" in the sign so it just says: "Happy Birthday Carter!", which will allow us to reuse it and justify the massive amount of time it's taking...) We also did the food/drink/paper product shopping yesterday, and I think it's funny that people look at us like we're going to eat 125 hot dogs and 10 2 liters of soda... hello! We're having a party, don't judge Winco checker! Enough about that, here's our birth story as I remember it:

1. Monday, August 9, 2010 @ 2:05 pm: water breaks (when Juan finally got home about 30 minutes later, it took us over 2 hours to pack our bag, which we didn't use. At all!)
1. 5:00pm: arrive @ Saint Agnes Medical Center, check in, and are directed to sit in the hall way to wait to be checked (in a platic chair, while amniotic fluid is pouring out of me... we sat there for about 4 hours, I believe, meanwhile, they took in 3 women for non-stress tests who were NOT in labor, I wanted to kick someone in the face. Although, luckily I was only really feeling my contractions in my back, and it wasn't too painful. yet.)
2. FINALLY got "checked" to see if I had in fact ruptured (which made me mad, but I know they "have to" do that) around 9pm. My water had, in fact, broken, but I was only dilated to a 1, which put me as a low priority to get into a room, so I hung out in triage on a very hard, small gurney, the frustration builds...
3. I think I finally got into a room around 10pm, and was quickly checked, told I wasn't progressing, and was promptly hooked up to a pitocin (sp?) drip... THAT is when the real pain began for me... My contractions went from being several minutes apart and not too painful to about a minute or two apart and insanely painful! I also had to pee a lot, so I was back & forth to the restroom, with Juan "walking" me there, as I had several contractions on the way there & back. Although every time I got to the bathroom, it was such a relief to sit on the toilet that I didn't want to go back to the bed. Each time Juan had to convince me to get up and walk back. This continued w/ family & friends streaming in and out for a few hours, before it got REALLY intense.
4. Around 3am my nurse checked me again to find that I was only at a 2! Seriously? I had been in labor for 13 hours with little to no progression and I was in crazy pain! With each contraction I became more tense, and tired, and scared. And at this point I had had no drugs at all (which is what we wanted), but the nurse was beginning to suggest that I consider either some pain meds or an epidural. She explained that the clock was ticking (24 hours after water breaks, that baby needs to be out), and she didn't want to see me have a c-section. I told her I was fine, and she left the room. It was at this point that Juan told me: "you are going to get one of the two, so decide." He could see what I couldn't: I wasn't breathing through my contractions AT ALL, I was just tensing up and holding my breath, and not allowing my body to do what it was supposed to. We talked more to the nurse about the risks for the baby, and after hearing that the pain meds (which I was leaning towards) would transfer to Carter, I hesitantly decided to have an epidural (at about 4 am). It was AMAZING! I know some people probably think I "cheated", but it really saved our labor.
5. Within 30 minutes (after repeatedly thanking the Anesthesiologist and telling him he's amazing and whatever he's being paid, it isn't enough), I was asleep. (so was Juan) We got to sleep for a solid 3 hours. That 3 hours felt like 3 days; the BEST sleep I've ever had! My nurse came in to check me around 6:50 or so for the last time (as her shift ended at 7am). She wasn't expecting much, but was hoping I'd be around a 4 or 5 since I was able to relax for a few hours. To her surprise, I was at a 10! After all my hard work, all my body need was sleep to progress. She quickly left the room to call the dr.
6. She came back and explained that my Dr wanted me to "labor down" since it was my first delivery and she didn't want me to tear from trying to push too soon. She said the Dr was on her way, but there was no rush. Then, she opened the curtains to let the light of the sun in. Which, of course (if you are at all familiar w/ my pregnancy), prompted me to throw up, twice. She decided to check me one last time before leaving for the day, only to find that I was crowning. She said that the muscles used in vomiting are similar to those used to "push" during labor, well, yeah... that worked. She explained that her shift was over and that the new nurse was here and my Dr should be arriving shortly...
1. It was at this point that the family (my sis Sarah & my aunt Janie) came up as it was finally "morning", to see how we were doing, only to find out that it was "GO" time.
2. The new nurse came in (I didn't care for her much, but oh well...) She asked if everyone in the room was staying... I looked up at sarah & janie & I swear they both had: "please don't make us leave" looks on their faces, so I said they could stay, but that they'd have to stay up by my head. 
3. Suddenly the room turned into quite a busy place. Lots more equipment, nurses, lights, etc. Busily rushing around setting things up. Once everything was set, the new nurse decided we should try a couple "practice" pushes (this was around 7:30am). She pulled the bottom out of the bed, got my legs up in the stir-ups, Juan holding one leg, and I have no idea who was holding the other. and then she pulled the sheet all the way up and off my legs. I quickly grabbed that blanket and held it up over my knees (trying to be modest always), and she said: "honey, that can't stay there..." But I still held it there as long as I could... After practicing pushing once, she said I didn't need practice! And, that we better wait til the dr gets there to try again.
4. That must've been her cue, because in she walked. She took one look and got her "catching gear" on. My dr told me that I was ready to push, and wanted me to pace myself (as w/ first babies, women can be pushing for hours). We waited for my next contraction to begin, and then I pushed w/ everything I had. She said I did a good job, and we waited for the next contraction. I pushed one more time and she said I was going to need an episiotomy (those were the dreaded words...), she got set up for that, and I told her to please tell me before she does it because I don't want to be shocked by the pain. At that, she informed me she was already done. Ok, one more push, and we will have a baby! I pushed one more time w/ all that I had, and out came Carter's head, which she let me touch. I pushed a bit more and out came his shoulders, and then the rest of his body. Everyone was happy and crying, and Juan looked stunned. I kept asking: "is he a boy? he's a boy, right?" finally she turned him around so I could see all of him! then put him up on my chest; all bloody, and yucky. He was the most beautiful little mess I'd ever seen.
5. I got to hold him for awhile before they took him over to the sink to clean him up while I got stitched up. Then Juan brought him back over to me... He was SO tiny. Smaller than any baby I'd ever seen before... but SO long and he had the cutest little feet. He also had SO MUCH hair! he had hair all over his head, face, ears, back, etc... Juan said: "I've never seen a baby w/ side burns before"... The proud daddy quickly took video of Carter on the warmer and uploaded to FB to share our little guy w/ the world near and far! He was 5 lb. 14 oz. 19 3/4 in. long... And perfect in every way!

What a journey... and here we are a year later! Can't believe my tiny little baby boy is a giant nearly 1 year old now! Happy Labor day! ;) And tomorrow: Carter's first birthday!

more hospital pics below: