Theo will be 1 year old next Monday. This all seems like it happened yesterday. We're expecting baby No. 2 in 5 months and can't wait to be part of this amazing miracle again!

Theo's birth was everything we had hoped for and, I will be honest, the most challenging thing we have ever done. My in-laws had taken this week off from work so they got to our house on Saturday night around 9 p.m. We all visited, made up some diaper wipe solution for the baby's wipes and just hung out for a few hours.

We finally went to bed at 12:30 a.m. Strangely, and completely unexpectedly, my water broke at 1 a.m. I told my husband and we decided to go back to sleep. I had hourly contractions until we got out of bed at 6 a.m. I was still having fairly regular contractions (10 minutes apart and lasting 30 to 45 seconds) so we called my mom and dad and told them to head to our house.

At 9 a.m. we finally called our midwife and told her what was happening. While we labored, we went to REI, went out for Thai food and picked up a few last things at Target. Then we went home and I labored in the shower and tub until about 4 p.m. It was time to get to the birth center. My contractions were coming every four minutes and lasting about two minutes. They weren't unmanageable, but they were very painful and long.

We walked to the birth center (much to the shock of our parents, especially my dad!), which is about one mile from our house. That really got things started. The contractions really picked up speed and I had to do all sorts of funny things like kneel down on the sidewalk and squat in peoples' yards. Luckily I was very focused on the labor and didn't notice if people saw us and really didn't care anyway!

We got to the birth center at 5:30 p.m. and the midwife checked my dilation. I was disappointed to find out that I was only 3 to 4 centimeters dilated, but I got in the tub and got back to work. For the next three hours I was almost completely silent in the tub. We took the Bradley Method childbirth class and my husband was completely prepared to coach me to relax during the contractions. I, strangely for a really talkative person like me, wanted everyone in the room to be as silent as possible. I did have a few "freak out" contractions when I kind of hollered out how much it hurt and how out of control I felt, but I realized those weren't any more productive and actually stressed me out a lot, so I went back to lying in the water and pretending to be asleep.

At about 9 p.m. I had a huge urge to push and did. It hurt. Our midwife said she needed to check me before I pushed again. I didn't want her to since it hurt and I had been so little dilated at 5:30, but she had to. Luckily she said, "There's nothing there! Do whatever you want to!" I was half thrilled and half terrified because that first push really felt out of control.

I pushed in the water for a few contractions, but they weren't very effective. They put a small, metal birth stool in the water with me and I pushed on it for a few contractions, but I couldn't get comfortable. The contractions at this point were shorter, but there still wasn't any length of time between them (maybe 30 to 45 seconds at the longest). Finally she suggested I move to the bed (about 10 feet away) and I practically ran there between contractions and got on my hands and knees.

A few pushes later they could see Theo's head and encouraged me to keep pushing. I pushed all I could and looked down between my hands and knees to see a huge person fly out of me and flop onto the bed with a huge gush of water and very loud crying. We didn't know what he was and the gigantic cord was in the way, so I scooped him up and we both looked and saw that we had a son!

He latched on right away and nursed for about 45 minutes straight. It was incredible. Our midwife and her assistant gave me an ice pack and pulled the covers up around the three of us and then let all of our families come in and meet Theodore. There were cameras flashing everywhere and it felt the most like being a celebrity as I can imagine.

After everyone left and we had some food to eat and lots of orange juice, they checked me out and saw that I had torn quite a bit when he was born because he had his left hand up over almost his entire face. Our midwife said she repairs first and second degree tears herself, but I had a very mild third degree tear and she wanted my body to heal the best it can, so would I mind going to the hospital for a quick stitch-up before we headed home. I said of course. I was just so happy that our baby was so healthy and perfect.

We all went to the hospital and a very sweet family practice doctor stitched me up and listened to the whole story of Theo's birth. Our midwife told them that I was the quietest woman she had ever witnessed in labor and that it was especially strange because, as she put it, "Sarah is really not a quiet person." That's the understatement of a lifetime!

The nurse commented that she hates it when women are quiet in labor because she loves to chat. I said a prayer of thanks to God that he led us to the right environment to have our baby in and to the right person to have attend our birth. I don't know how I would've survived the bright lights and beeping sounds of the hospital.

After the stitches were in, our midwife hugged us all and got us buckled into the car and we headed for home. We got home at 2:45 a.m. and after feeding the baby and brushing our teeth, we were all sleeping in our bed by 4 a.m.

He is a miracle and truly is a Gift of God. My stitches are still a little sore, but I feel better every day and I would do it all and more again for him if I had to. Can't wait to do it all again in a couple of years. My husband bought me a little daily flip calendar for baby's first year. Today's sentiment really rang true (as I had just spent a large part of the night constantly nursing Theo and sleeping with my head against the wall).

"When a baby first looks at you, when it laughs that deep, unselfconscious gurgle; or when it cries and you pick it up and it clings sobbing to you, then you are, happy is not the precise word, filled. ~ Marilyn French