Dierk swimming

Dierk is practicing his strokes. He started swim team last week, and is trying to master freestyle and back stroke. They will be working on breast stroke and butterfly soon. It is so fun to watch!

Finn taking a sink bath

Finn really likes his baths. After his bath, he gets a full body massage. He is one lucky duck!

Dierk and his pillow pets

Ever since we brought Finn home from the hospital, Dierk has been interested in feeding and holding him. Dierk was not previously interested in playing with stuff animals. He now brings his stuffed animals downstairs and arranges them on the couch. They are usually taking a nap and we have to be quiet. He really likes his pillow pets. He received the dinosaur (Cheet) at Christmas, and his London cousins gave him the moose (Terry), and recently grammy gave him the elephant (Texy). The monkey is Finn!

A little angel

I'm growing bigger every day!

Dierker's Champs won their Saturday game 15-5. Dierk had one double and two singles.

Like a Little Bird

The way Finn attacks this paci reminds me of Maggie in The Simpsons. He usually acts like this at feeding time, too.

Dierk and Finn

Dierk is a sweet big brother. He likes to hold and feed Finn. He is very concerned when Finn cries. He will try to put the paci in his mouth or show him a toy. It is very sweet.

Finn is lucky to have such a cool big brother!

Hello World

Finley Richard Beddingfield was born on April 2, 2012 at 7:02 pm - YAY! He weighed 6 lb 10 oz and was 20 inches long.

It was with relief that we saw Finn emerge crying and perfect! Blake and I checked into the hospital at 6:00 am. An ultrasound was scheduled since he position was unstable - he was quite the swimmer. The ultrasound indicated that he was breach. Dr. Baker decided to do an inversion. He put mineral oil on my stomach and manipulated his body to a head down position. This was very painful. Dr. Baker is not a small man and he was shaking from the pressure he used to move the baby. Once that was out of the way, they started a Pitocin drip to induce contractions. After they started the drip, Dr. Baker put a small hole in my bag. He wanted to slowly leak my fluids. Being polyhydramnios can be dangerous for mommy and baby when the bag breaks on its own - imagine tsunami for baby Finn.

The start of labor was easy. I was not in very much pain and I was comfortable. As the day progressed the contractions got bigger and more painful. I was 1.5 cm and not making very much progress. The exams were extremely painful! Finn's heart rate began to drop after each contraction and the nurses were very concerned. We tried different positioning and we found he did best when i was laying on my right side at a particular angle. Staying in that position all day was torture. When the doctor came in to do the epidural, he had to administer it while I was in this favorable position. I was a little concerned that something would go wrong doing it this way. He was an excellent anesthesiologist and everything worked out great and my pain went away - RELIEF!

In the delivery room was Blake, mom, dad, Dr. Baker, the anesthesiologist and four nurses. It was a party in room 2212. Everyone was watching the monitor as Finn's heart rate dropped and slowly climbed back up. I could tell that the medical staff was concerned, and that a c-section was becoming more of a possibility. I made sure Dr. Baker knew that even though I didn't want a c-section, I was definitely willing if it was best for Finn. A little after 6:00 pm, he made the call and everyone started prepping for the surgery.

Since I already had an epidural, they used that for the surgery. The anesthesiologist was there every step of the way, even loaning us his iphone to take pictures. He was amazing and so was Dr. Baker. Blake stayed by me the whole time, he knew I was scared. Dr. Baker asked Blake to look at one point and he saw that the umbilical cord was wrapped around his head and shoulder. This was the reason his heart beat was unstable.

I only saw Finn for a moment and then he was whisked off to the nursery and I was taken to a recovery room. After laboring for 11 hours and a c-section, I was so tired. Ironically, I almost always do things the hard way in life.

It was all worth it! Finn is perfect...literally perfect. They gave him a 10 which I was told was rare. Babies usually get an 8 or 9.

We thank everyone for their support and prayers. We are so happy!