Roman Alexander

Ladies and gentlemen....the newest addition to our Blanco family has arrived. Roman Alexander arrived 4 weeks early on Saturday, March 13 at 3:22am measuring in at 6lb 2 oz and 18 1/2 inches. Little Peanut. Both mom and Roman are doing great and are looking forward to coming home soon (likely to be Wednesday). Roman's arrival was certainly not "as planned" and is somewhat of a long story so I figured I'd try to make it brief and post it here for those interested... I went to bed on Fri with some mild cramping/possible contractions and woke up around midnight with some pretty heavy bleeding that sent us to the hospital. Our neighbors stayed and sat for Vanessa until my mom could get there, which since Vanessa was sound asleep could not have gone any better. She woke up as normal around 7:30am and was delighted to find grandma there! Apparently I had what they call a placenta abruption where my placenta started to tear away from the uterus. A situation that can be very dangerous and in my case resulted in an emergency c-section. Why this happened...good question. No clear reason why since my pregnancy was normal and perfect and there was no known trauma. According to my doctor it's something that unfortunately can't be predicted nor can it always be explained. It was by far the scariest moment of my life for many reasons (including the oh so lovely anaesthesiologist who's not so great English sent both my and Juan's nerves in a tizzy when she tried to explain that due to my blood loss I was likely going to need a blood transfusion and sorry but she didn't have a matching blood so there would be side effects endured). A c-section was never part of my plan, in fact I skipped those sections of my book, nor was it ever the plan that I would be fully under and Juan not able to be there. I was sent into surgery at 3:10 and little Roman was born at 3:22. Daddy was there to greet and hold him and he was fine. Oh...and I never needed the blood transfusion (thankfully). The drama with Roman came a bit later when they decided he needed to be put on oxygen and an IV. Never was he considered to be in any sort of danger, but the concern was that given his age (36wks) his little lungs weren't able to fully expel the fluid in his chest so he needed a little help. Roman had what they call TTN (Transient Tachypnea of the Newborn) a pretty common concern with premature babies that is really nothing more than extra fluid in the lungs that remains and is cleared too slowly making the breathing a bit more challenging. It's something that usually clears itself within 48 hours and in his case was exactly what happened. The IV was needed because with extra fluid in his lungs he wasn't able to drink to get his nutrients. His condition dramatically improved after 12hrs and by Monday morning he was completely free of the oxygen and IV. He is nursing great and we should be able to be sent home tomorrow, the doctor wanted him to be off everything for a full 24hrs before being sent home. Chest x-rays and all vitals show nothing short of a strong healthy little boy and there are no concerns for any future complications! Phew! Long story made a little short and a very emotional weekend coming to a close with a very, very happy ending.