Updated iPhone 4 to iOS 6 stuck at connect to iTunes.

I was heading to bed and my iPhone alerts me to a Software update. So i tell it to update and it installs the iOS 6 update, after its done it goes to the apple icon and then tells me to connect my device to iTunes. I never did download the iTunes on my laptop, so i had to download it before i was able to connect my phone. After connecting my phone it tells me:

iTunes has detected an iPhone in recovery mode. You must restore this iPhone before it can be used with iTunes.

When i go to click the restore it tells me its going to reset my phone deleting all of my stuff to factory settings. I would rather not take this path, is thier a way to avoid having to do this? At this point and time i cant do anything on my phone power off or anything, its sitting at the "Connect to iTunes" screen showing the USB end of the cord pointing at the iTunes icon.

Having read a few other people having to Restore thier phones only to get a error msg im not to keen on Restoring, is thier any fix?