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Monday before Thanksgiving: OBGYN appointment. Everything was fine- no high blood pressure, urine test came out fine, and I wasn't dilated at all. Head was down.

Sunday: Drove 9 hours from California to Utah.

Monday: Normal day at school. Went to classes, did some studying. Looked up pre-natal birthing classes and considered signing up for the condensed eight hour version the following Saturday. Came home in the afternoon, took a nap, went grocery shopping, came home and continued to study.

About 11:45 PM: I was on the bed studying (maybe blogging :) on my laptop when my water broke. I didn't think it was my water since it was still four weeks from my due date, but thanks to our trusty "What to Expect When You're Expecting," we did as we were told and called my OBGYN.

12:00 AM: Dr. Baxter, my doctor, happened to be on call that night. Without any question or hesitation he told me to go to the hospital that I was planning to deliver at. I still didn't believe I was actually going to have the baby, but we packed for the hospital anyway. Looked again in "What to Expect When You're Expecting," for the list of what to bring to the hospital.

Around 1:00 AM: We were admitted into labor and delivery at the Orem Community Hospital. The nurse tested the fluid and confirmed that it was in fact amniotic fluid. I was dilated to a 3. She then took my blood pressure and it was very high- somewhere in the 160's and even got to the 170's at times. Thinking I had toxemia, the nurse had to take a urine sample to see if there was protein in it. There was only a tiny bit, but because of my swelling and blood pressure it was confirmed that I had toxemia.

A couple hours later: Moved into a delivery room (113). It was huge and very nice. There were two chairs, a rocking chair, and a pull out couch for David to sleep on. There was even a little entertainment center where the TV and linens were stored. It was very home-y for a hospital room. Got an IV for medication to lower my blood pressure. It was described by the nurse as "poison" for the body, but it was to do it's job and bring my BP down. Contractions started and I was dilated at a 5. The contractions didn't seem bad at all and the nurse even said I had a "high tolerance for pain." I was very proud of this! She suggested to bring in the anesthesiologist. I was nervous about the epidural, but it was a breeze. After the epidural set in I was completely comfortable and David and I were able to get some sleep.

Early morning: The BP medication slowed everything down, so they decided to give me pitocin to induce labor.

A couple hours later: Epidural was wearing off. I could feel each and every contraction. This time around I didn't feel like I had a high tolerance for pain at all. Another anesthesiologist came (are anesthesiologists all weird and anti- social?) to up the dosage, but said that the only way to get rid of the pain completely was to reposition the whole thing. I was fine with the extra dosage and didn't think that it was necessary to reposition the entire epidural.

9:10: Time to push. Debbie, the main nurse, was bossy and pushy but I am thankful for that. If she was too nice I wouldn't have been able to work so hard. Jessica, a BYU nursing student, was a huge help too. She and David were the ones on either side of my legs as I pushed. I don't know if it was the medication or that I hadn't had any rest, or maybe my body was just acting weird but I started dozing off and even dreaming between contractions. It was very odd.

10:00 something: The baby crowned. David was able to see his cute, dark hair! They set up for delivery in the room. Some older guy in street clothing (wranglers and a denim shirt) with shaggy white hair came in. Apparently he was there to check the baby's respiratory system since that is one thing they worry about with early babies. It was weird to me that he was wearing street clothing. It made everything seem even more dream-like. He and David talked about surfing at one point and I could have sworn I was dreaming. Was I really going into labor and was there really a random guy that looked like we picked him up from the street talking to my husband about surfing?

10:32: The head came out and I wanted to push some more to get the whole body out, but Dr. Baxter wouldn't let me. I was mad about this. The rest of the body kind of just fell out (or maybe the Dr. pulled him) and David cut the umbilical cord. They took the baby to the table to do the standard routine checks and David took tons of pictures. I was stitched up (could totally feel it, by the way) and eventually they handed me my baby. I cried. I couldn't believe that moments before he was in my belly and now I was holding him.

I had to stay on the BP IV for another twenty-four hours. It did some crazy things to my body. I fainted each time I got up and my vision seemed totally blurred.

Everything was perfect with the baby. His lungs worked great, passed the hearing test, didn't get jaundice, and I was able to feed him pretty well from the start.

They did find that his blood glucose levels were low, which is common in early babies. They had me supplement with formula every other feeding for a couple days to get the levels to normal. The poor thing had to have his little foot pricked several times a day to check the blood glucose levels. He had these tiny little bandaids on his tiny little feet for several days. The pediatrician said he might have had to stay at the hospital longer than me (they were going to release me on Thursday, two days after delivery because of the BP thing) and that made us sad.

For the rest of Tuesday we enjoyed our sweet little boy. Both of us skipped school (obviously) and we didn't decide on a name until that night. I swore I'd never be one of those parents that waits forever to name their child, but it really is hard to choose! We had several names on our list, but crossed off a few once we saw him. Some of them just didn't fit him whatsoever. After narrowing it down to a few and calling him by all of them, he started cooing and making baby noises when we called him Oliver. Oliver David Crandall is what we named this little boy and it fits him perfectly.

Wednesday: David had to go to school. This particular week, aside from finals, was probably the busiest of the semester. I was able to stay in the hospital and enjoy my little baby all day long. They took me off the BP medication in the morning and I felt tons better. David had to go to Salt Lake that night to take a physics test. He was missing Oliver all day. He picked up his mom from the airport and his sister, Ashlie, and brother, Chad, drove in around the same time. Caren, Ashlie, and David all came to the hospital with Cafe Rio and Krispy Kremes. Caren and Ashlie were in love with Oliver from the moment they saw him. It was so nice to have family there with me after being alone all day.

Thursday: Oliver and I were given the okay to be released at 10:30. David had school again and an organic chemistry test to take, plus his physics class in Salt Lake that evening. Because of the timing of everything and since we live halfway between Slat Lake and Provo, David was not going to be able to take us home. We were both really sad about this. He emailed his teacher to ask for an extension on the o-chem test, but didn't get a response. He helped me pack up the room and load the car. Chad, Ashlie, and Caren were there and we were all going to be split up. Caren and Ashlie were going to take David to school and stay in Provo until he finished his test and could go to Salt Lake for his physics class, and Chad was going to drive Oliver and I home. After we finished loading the car and said goodbyes and left on our way, David called and said that his teacher finally wrote back and extended the test until the next day. We were both so happy. Chad, Ashlie, and Caren stayed in Provo and David and I were able to drive home together with our baby boy. I felt like it was such a tender mercy that David was able to come home with us. It's something that you always dream of- coming back from the hospital with your first baby as a little family. I'm so thankful that an o-chem test didn't end up ruining that.

For the past few days we have been obsessed with this baby. He is absolutely perfect. He's even started to show his little personality already. About half of the time when I change his diaper he starts pooping and peeing right when I take off the old diaper to put on the new one. He also loves to have his hands near his face (maybe this was his favorite position in the womb or something) and will somehow get at least one hand and arm (usually left side) out of whatever he is wearing through the neck part so that he can have it right by his face. It's so funny. He is also a strong little boy and tries to lift his head to look around. Poor thing would jump back when you touched his feet at first and we think it was because he was pricked so many times. Luckily, he stopped doing this so maybe he's forgotten all of those traumatic blood drawings. One of my favorite things is to watch him sleep and watch all the little faces he makes. I think my favorite is when he puckers his lips really small and raises his eyebrows while his eyes are still closed. He also hates his bath and isn't fond of getting his diaper changed. Maybe that's why he always poops on me. One of the most wonderful things to me is when he is crying from changing his diaper and immediately when I'm done and if I put my face up to his where our cheeks are touching he will stop crying almost instantly. It's the best feeling.

Caren left yesterday and Ashlie and Chad are staying until Wednesday. It has been so nice having family here to help. We were definitely not prepared to have the baby so early. The nursery was not done, Oliver's clothing was not washed, diapers and wipes were not purchased, not to mention we never ended up taking the pre-natal classes. But, even though we weren't fully prepared we feel so blessed that he came early because now we can enjoy him for the month of December instead of me being a miserable, swollen, pregnant girl and David being worried about missing finals or something because I could have gone into labor then. It all worked out just right and now we have our little boy here to bless our lives more than we ever imagined.