Baby Cason Calvin Romero was born prematurely at 29 weeks on Wednesday March 24, 2010 at his Uncle Eric's house and is the latest celebrity in the neighborhood and at the hospital.
Because Cason was born prematurely he is in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Rady's Children's Hospital in San Diego, CA [http://www.rchsd.org/]. We were lucky enough to stumble upon one of the best NICU's [Neonatal Intensive Care Unit] in the country, so he is in great hands. In the past week we have learned quite a bit about these little miracles, but still have much more to learn.
The first 72 hours of a preemie's life is the most critical, however, the whole experience is described as a rollercoaster ride. [which it definately has been] One of first worries was that when we was born we briefly stopped breathing and Calvin had to administer CPR [via the 911 operator's instructions] until the paramedics arrived. Calvin [being the calm one] did perfectly and kept him breathing. Since then Cason has been recieving breathing support.
Cason also had a small procedure on Monday [3/29/10] which closed a valve in his heart [all babies have this PDA valve open but it usually closes as soon as they are born. In premature babies the vavle has a harder time closing and sometimes doesn't close at all]. Initially, he recieved some medication to help it close. The first round of medication didn't work so the doctors decided to surgically close the valve. It was a very noninvasive and standard procedure. Cason did great and is recovering nicely.
Another hurdle we have encountered is on Saturday [3/27/10] we recieved some results from a head ultrasound that showed he had some slight bleeding in one of the ventricles in his head. The ventricles in his head are fluid filled sacks seperate from his brain. The concern is that the bleed doesn't continue and possibly go into his brain. Right now its looks like the small bleed has stopped and is clotting in this ventricle [the doctor described this like a bruise]. It will take a few weeks for the for the "bruise" to resolve naturally back into the body but that is the hope. Cason has been recieving head ultrasounds everyday since Saturday and so far they are looking stable. This has been our biggest concern and we continue to pray for him everyday.
The good news is that on Tuesday [3/30/10] I got to hold Cason for the first time. Medical studies have shown that "skin to skin" contact is very important for premature babies and helps them to develop. I have done skin to skin twice with Cason now and he is responding remarkably well.
As far as the rest of our family is concerned...
Austin and Lucas handled the situation amazingly. They are excited to have a new a little brother. Calvin has remained calm and collected throughout the whole experience and is no doubt the rock in our family. I am doing well [a little hormonal] but I guess that is to be expected. Healthwise, I lost a lot of blood but other than that I am in pretty good shape.
We have decided to start this blog to update Cason's status as well as our family's as often as possible. We are so very grateful to have so many wonderful people in our lives to share this with and we hope this blog will answer your questions and concerns as well as provide everyone with information about Cason. Since we are extremely busy with doctors, nurses, Cason, providing Austin with some sense of normalcy, maintaining some of our job responsiblities, supporting each other and taking care of general business while trying to keep our sanity we ask that you look here for information and updates instead of calling us directly. We appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers. Calvin and Austin will go back to Durango soon, but I will be here in San Diego for a while, supporting baby Cason throughout this time. We do not have definite dates for anything we are on "preemie time"
Please pray for our baby Cason and the rest of our family.We love you all.
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