So here's how it all happened

Marjoke (my sister) arrived on the evening of the 6th of August. We had gotten an ultrasound that afternoon to make sure the baby was still doing alright in there as he was 5 days overdue at that point. The ultrasound showed that he was fine, the fluid levels were good so he was allowed to hang out a little longer. Over the weekend we tried getting things going with some black and blue cohosh, some herbal teas and caster oil. All these, especially the oil were disgusting and ended up doing nothing but giving me the runs =(
So because nothing happened we decided to wait a few more days and try again. I had a prenatal appointment on Wednesday (12th). They ordered another ultrasound which was done that same day. The nurse who did the ultrasound was not very nice in voicing her opinion that he had to be out before Saturday because it would be very irresponsible to go past 42 weeks. She was not at all happy about the midwifes letting me go this far, and decided I should come back for another ultrasound 2 days later. I decided I really didn't want to have to see this lady again, so we tried the caster oil again that afternoon when we got back. We also went on several walks trying to see if it would make a difference. Nothing happened that evening and we were very disappointed. I was really beginning to stress at this point because of how much pressure I felt from everyone to get this baby out already, like I had a say in the matter.
I woke up at 5:50 AM the next day because of a contraction. I laid in bed for the next hour feeling very mixed emotions as the contractions kept coming about every 4 minutes. They really didn't hurt very much at all but were definitely there, I was exited but at the same time afraid they might fade away again. I told Jason about it and after making sure I was okay he went back to sleep.
At 7 AM I decided to get up as it was too distracting to go back to sleep and I wanted to move around without waking up Jason. Around 7:30 Marjoke woke up and freaked out a little when she saw me sitting at the dining room table as I'm not usually up before her. We both got very exited thinking about how nice it was that labor started in the morning so I would be rested before he was born, presumably that same day. The contractions continued to come about 4-5 minutes apart but were still very mild and since my sister was there Jason left to get some work done but would be close enough to be back within 20 minutes. We played some games for distraction; went for walks when we felt things weren't moving along and hung out together that way until Jason came back at around 6 PM.
The contractions had gotten longer but were still very easily dealt with: just sit still for a minute and wait for it to pass. So much time had gone by and not much had happened (as far as we knew) so I started to worry again. Around 11 PM the contractions started picking up, they got longer and stronger so we called the midwife who asked me some questions and decided it was okay to wait a little longer. She advised me to take a hot shower to try to relax; if it was real labor it would not be stopped by the shower and if it did stop at least I could get some sleep and it would probably return in the morning. After hanging up I felt very discouraged because we were once again going to sleep with no baby. The shower made the contractions less while in it, but as soon as I got out they were back full strength... still manageable but not very fun.
Sleeping was out of the question for me but we decided to at least rest up some. Jason made me a throne of pillows and got me a heating pad to ease the back pains. This worked really well. We both dozed off between contractions but continued to time them on his laptop. By 4 AM they were really strong coming about every 4 minutes and lasting 90 seconds or more. At that point we called the midwife again and she agreed that it was time to come in.
We left a half hour later, as she still had to get there herself and get things ready, whatever that means, and we arrived at the birthing center around 5. She checked me out and I was about 6-7 cm dilated at this point, which was good but my blood pressure was too high. She told me to get into the jacuzzi to relax, which worked very well and it was quickly back to normal.
1.5 Hours later, it seemed much shorter to me, I started feeling the urge to push, not sure whether it was okay yet I tried to stop it which was very hard. She came in to check me and I was fully dilated and told I could push whenever I felt like it. Unlike the first part of labor when I felt in complete control I hated this stage. I hated that I wasn't in control of my own body and it scared me every time I had a pushing contraction. Despite how uncomfortable it was things were progressing smoothly. After about 1 hour he was almost born, fully crowning and everything.
That's when it went wrong.. for some reason his body fell into the birth canal behind his head, making a huge tear towards my rectum. At that point the midwife knew he wasn't going to be born normally any more and is life was now in danger. She quickly got her scissors out and made 3 big cuts to free him. He was completely purple when he pretty much fell out. His umbilical cord was wrapped twice around his neck and he had just passed his meconium (a sign of fetal distress). As soon as they unwrapped his cord from his neck they gave him oxygen. He was very responsive as he moved around and cried right away, his skin quickly changed back to normal. He was going to be just fine.. mommy on the other hand needed some work done still.
At the time I didn't fully realize what had happened but I knew it was bad because of the look on everyone's faces; I've never seen Jason that worried. Meanwhile I was just relieved that he was out. Jason still got to cut the cord after a minute and the placenta came out right after.
They moved me to the bed, were they continued to look really worried. I was just looking at Owen, glad he was finally out and completely exhausted I kept almost falling asleep every time I closed my eyes. They quickly decided that this repair was beyond them and called an ambulance. Owen was born at 8:15 and I was in the hospital before 9. Owen was left with my sister and Jason followed the ambulance over to the hospital. After poking holes all over my arms the nurse finally got all the blood she needed to run some tests and get an IV going. After that I got the pleasure of having a catheter inserted, but it did provide some much needed relief.
I was warned by several nurses that the surgeon who would be doing the surgery was not at all a nice friendly person but apparently he was the best and I was lucky to have him, kinda like Dr. House. He came in to get an idea of the damage down there and started poking around for about a minute. It was the most painful thing I've ever felt, it seemed like it went on forever and I was curling up from the pain. I'm sure he didn't get a very good overview of it all as I kept moving and he left to prepare for the surgery as I was left to talk to the anesthesiologist. This man was very nice, an older, very sociable skinny tall guy who explained my options to me and advised me to get a spinal block which I happily did. I was in surgery around 10:30 an it took them about an hour to put me back together, I didn't feel a thing, well nothing but itchiness from the drugs anyway.. it was kinda surreal but great!
Jason was not allowed in the room for the surgery so we decided he should go back to the birthing center where my sister and Owen were still waiting with my mother in law who had joined them shortly after we left for the hospital.
Throughout the surgery Megan (the midwife) and the anesthesiologist made small talk with me. About half way through they, the 2 surgeons who were working on me (not sure how there's enough space for that), started talking about how lucky I had been. At the time this comforted me some but I didn't realized until later that if he had torn even just a little further he would have severely damaged my colon, leaving me with a colostomy bag. It was probably better that I didn't know at the time that this was the reason they had all been so worried; I would have fallen apart for sure.
Jason returned while I was still in "recovery" (apparently that just takes an hour). Marjoke, Owen and Liz showed up an hour later when I was all settled into my room. We didn't even have to ask for Jason and Owen to be able to room in; it was assumed which was nice. I had to stay over night, but was able to go home the next day. Marjoke stayed with us longer then the 2 weeks she was originally going to. She was a great help to me especially that first week when I was unable to do a lot of things myself.

It's been 2 weeks now.. Marjoke went home earlier this week. Jason has worked as little as possible this week to be with me and has helped me as much as he was able. Due to braking the "rules" in the first week and allowing myself to be human, breastfeeding is going very well right now and I'm confident we'll make it just fine. Over the last 2 weeks I've gradually been able to do more and more things: when I first came home I could barely walk, but now I can do much more then that. I'm not all back to normal; certain things like bending and picking things up off the floor still require some special acrobatics, and I'm almost able to sit down without slowly lowering myself down with both arms to prevent any sudden pressure.
I know I got incredibly lucky considering what happened and I thank God that both Owen and myself are going to be okay. I had great people looking after me and apparently the best surgeons available, my sister and Jason have been awesome through the whole thing and I wouldn't have made it through the past 2 weeks without them.
As for the future.. I'm uncertain, on one hand I'm not afraid to have more children but at this point I'm leaning heavily toward an elective c-section. Though I got lucky this time the scar tissue is now there and the odds of tearing in the same place and possibly tearing worse are pretty bad. If this Owen had come out normally I would have done it all the same way again; labor went great, I did very well, and the second stage ... well it sucked but even that part I would do again if things were different. I'm not fully decided yet but at this point I don't see myself risking another vaginal birth because the outcome could be so much worse.
I talked to the midwife this week about everything and she told me they had never seen anything like this before. It was a freak accident.. Different people have suggested things would have been better if "fill in the blank" but there's no way of knowing that it would not have happened, or if it would still have happened and we wouldn't have noticed and then Owen wouldn't have made it. I'm trying not to think about it to much, it won't change anything. I'm just glad we're both okay and I don't think anyone was to blame; it was just a crappy twist in an otherwise great birth.