Introducing the newest Fanning

Well folks, she's here!!!! Tom and Katie proudly introduce Miss Bethany Grace Fanning! Born Thursday, July 31, 2008 weighing in at a petite 6lbs. 12 oz and 19 inches long.

We went to the doctor on Wednesday and had another non stress test and ultrasound and Bethany looked great! But my blood pressure was pretty high so my doctor decided to send me to the hospital to be induced. We weren't too sure about that decision because my body still wasn't prepared enough for labor (still only 1cm dialated and 50-60% effaced). With that little progress, inductions are often unsuccessful. But the doctor said it was too risky to not induce so we headed on over to the hospital. Thank goodness I had already packed all of our stuff in the car so we were ready to go. Here's me at the entrance to the maternity wing.

We settled in for the day and they gave me medicine to try and help my body progress to be ready for the induction. So we just hung out on Wednesday- ate Olive Garden and Firehouse and played cards. As you can see below, Tom made himself comfortable as well!!

At 3:30am on Thursday morning they started me on Pitocin to induce labor. I handled the contractions pretty well and labored all morning with just a little bit of Tylenol. But things weren't progressing very fast so the doctor decided to break my water to try and move things along. Before they did that, I got my epidural which was way less scary than I thought it would be. The hardest part was that it made my blood pressure drop dramatically and caused me to get very sick until they gave me something to counteract it.

After that, I labored all afternoon and early evening without too much pain thanks to the wonderful epidural!! But I was definitely getting tired and my progression towards labor was very slow. In addition, Bethany was not reacting very well to the Pitocin and was started to become a little stressed in her heartrate pattern. So at 5:30 p.m. the decision was made to have a c-section. From there, things moved very quickly and at 6:20 p.m. she came into the world. It took her just a minute to start breathing so she was a little blue at first but still got an 8 and then 9 on the Apgar test. Here's our first family photo:

We were and continue to be absolutely amazed at our new little girl. Friday was a hard day. Bethany was diagnosed with a heart murmur and she also had fluid in her lungs which caused her to have two episodes of choking on spitup and turning blue (very scary for new parents!!). Thankfully, everyone took very good care of us and Bethany and tried their best to provide answers. We've since learned that the fluid on the lungs is very normal for c-section babies and it has already resolved itself from what we can tell. And the cardiologist has assured us that her heart murmur is very small and should not be a problem for her- it may even go away on it's own. But we will keep watching it over the next several years.

Once we got a little more information on the conditions Bethany was dealing with, we started feeling better and being able to enjoy everything a bit more. My recovery physically is going well. I am sore and tired but healing as expected. Bethany is doing well and learning how to eat. She is a good baby and spends most of the day sleeping. Tom is a huge support and an absolutely amazing daddy!! He is working this week while my parents and his parents hang out and help me. Then Tom will stay home for the next two weeks after that.

We came home on Sunday afternoon and are adjusting to our new life and enjoying this new adventure of parenthood. Here's a picture of us coming home from the hospital:

Thanks for all your love, support, and prayers!!! I will put the pictures on snapfish soon so that you can see the whole story through pictures. If you live in the area feel free to give us a call and stop by. We would love to have Bethany meet you!