Labor & Delivery, floor 3, please!

Before it gets too far in the past and my memory totally fails me..here is HB's birth story. I just know he is going to cherish this when he gets older!
Carrie and I met my mom on I-35 in front of Cabelas on Friday, September 10th to drop off the girls with her for the weekend. Saturday morning I woke up earlier than I would prefer and went for a leisure walk. Then I came home and mowed the yard. I love to mow the yard..something about the quiet time you get while you mow and I call it a workout, not to mention the satisfaction you get when it is done and looks so pretty!
It was Game Day, so Daniel and I had big plans to head to Carrie's to cook dove and watch football all day. We took naps and finally got up, showered and ready to head to the party. It was around 2:30 pm, and as I was getting off the phone with Carrie in the driveway, Gauge was loaded up to go play with Marvin, I felt a warm gush of water. I hung up the phone with her and told Daniel, "OK, so I am pretty sure my water broke, be right back!"
I headed into the house and went to the bathroom. Now, I really had no question that is what happened but I did use the fun amnio swab Daniel got from his nurses at the hospital just to be sure! It turns dark blue if it is amniotic fluid and not urine! Yep, that is what happened..SHOWTIME!! I did get a little freaked because the swab turned black looking and I thought maybe their was meconium. Anyway, all was fine..I forgot my phone in the car and had to walk outside with a towel around me to get Daniel out of the car..he was just sitting waiting for me to come back..not sure if he didn't believe me or what?! We got everything loaded into the car and headed to the hospital. Of course, since we hadn't eaten yet, we stopped at Jimmy John's for Daniel while I made some phone calls. "Sorry Carrie, change of plans..my water broke!! YEA!!" Daniel was really adamant about delivering at the hospital he works at and runs and it worked out great. All of his coworkers were so wonderful and we got great care. We get to the hospital and hang out while getting registered because we hadn't done that yet. My pants were soaked and I just stood there while they asked me all kinds of fun questions like my weight, present and pre-baby!! Just what I want to think about!
We get settled in and turn on the tv so we don't miss a play of the games. Our nurse, Sam, was wonderful and fun and Daniel knows her, so that made it all the better. She was nice to talk to and answered all my questions..I am so fascinated by pregnancy related stuff so I had a question for everything..I finally got started on pitocin around 4:30 which did the job to speed up my contractions from about every 4-5 minutes to around every 2-3 minutes. I don't remember how much I was dilated at that point but when they checked me when I arrived I was 2 cm. They kept asking me by pain level and I would say, I guess a 2?? But I knew it would get worse and how fast that could happen so I wasn't about to take any chances..I got my epidural around 6:30 and was around 7 cm after that. My epidural was great..it worked! I couldn't feel anything except in one spot but it didn't really hurt..and it finally went away..my right leg was so numb I couldn't move it at all and couldn't feel it being moved. It took forever for that to wear off. I had a bracelet on that said "fall risk"! HA!
Finally, around 9:30, after Bama had beat Penn State, it was time to turn off the tv and push! Carrie had come up with dinner and got to stay in the room when he was born. She helped video him afterwards and it was fun to have her there. My dad had called at some point in the day and told me, "I love you, have fun!" - OK dad, I will have fun in labor! He was having fun at the Bama game!
While I was pushing, the nurse was telling me to keep pushing and wanted me to go to the 10 count, but my doctor was telling me to take a breath and relax..finally I said, "Um, I am kindof confused, who am I supposed to listen to?" I don't really know who won that argument..but he came out pretty soon after that regardless. I would say this delivery was easier than Emmalines but a little harder than Georgias, mainly because the labor & pushing took a little longer. At 9:49 pm, Saturday, September 11, 2010, Hayes Bryant was born! We had decided on his name earlier in the day. Daniel really loved Hayes, a family name from his maternal side. And Bryant was a given..it was coach Bear Bryant's birthday and it was on our list from the beginning, so we knew it was meant to be! Daniel gave me a kiss and went to take pictures of our son and Carrie said, "Oh, he's so adorable!" I was loving his blonde hair and just so happy he was there. Everyone was surprised at his size and the dr. & nurses said he was big for me to deliver. Maybe my doctor should have given me an ultrasound ahead of time! I do have to say my doctor was not on call and came up on the weekend and was there pretty much the whole time I was in labor. He even did the circumcision. He is a coworker of Daniel's and a really nice guy. After the clean-up we quickly got a picture with our son, then they wisked him away...to the NICU!