New Baby

You may have heard...Camille and I went to the hospital on Tuesday morning because Camille started going into labor, being only 33 weeks along.  After being in labor for 40.5 hours the actual delivery only took 16 minutes.

Our tiny baby boy was born at 6:48 pm yesterday (March 9th), actually bigger than what everyone was expecting.  He weighed in at 4lbs 8.5 ounces and was 17 inches long.  All initial tests were fairly consistent with the doctors expectations, however we are pleased to report that he has all 20 fingers and toes and appears to have all other body-parts intact and functioning, except for one.  As is common for a child born at his age, his lungs were not yet fully developed, causing him difficulty in breathing and distributing oxygen.  However we were able to get a couple doses of a steroid medicine in him in time, which seem to be helping him along.  He has already stopped wheezing and is starting to regulate the oxygen flow in his blood.

We have decided on the name: Riley Edward Tanner.  (you may know that my dad's and Camille's dad's middle name is also Edward)

Riley is currently in a Special Care Unit for at risk (pre-term) babies.  He has his own little room and a nurse watching over him 24 hours a day.  Unless something unexpected changes in either direction, he will stay here until his due date, which is the last week of April.  Luckily we live less than 2 miles from the hospital and have been offered some extended stay facilities so that Camille and I can stay close.  This will also give us some time to get things ready for him at home since we just moved 2 weeks ago and aren't completely settled in...we thought we still had a month or so.

Camille is also doing great.  She obviously has all of the standard soreness and pain, but our biggest concern, that she would more seriously and more permanently damage her body than she did with Cameron, does not appear to have occurred.  At this point last time she had completely lost her ability to walk and was in excruciating pain.  This time though, she is already up and moving on her own, even walking a little bit.  We're not sure why this time is so different, except that Riley was much smaller and we were much more careful during the delivery.

We are so happy that we really only have great news to share, considering the circumstances, and we are excited to welcome very new and beautiful little boy into our family.  Here are a couple pictures that were taken immediately after the delivery.  There will be more to come.

We hope you all are doing well and thank you for all of your thoughts, messages, and prayers.


Love,

Matt, Camille, Cameron, and Riley