There’s a new Roman in town!
Michael Phillip Roman was born at 12:09pm Eastern at Howard County General Hospital in Columbia, MD.
He was born about 4 1/2 weeks early, but is of pretty good size and healthy. We’ll have more detailed stats after the NICU checks him out well.
Michael, Mom and I are doing well so far.
UPDATE 9/18 7:15pm: just got back from seeing Michael at the NICU. He is 6lbs 10oz and 20.5in long. Not to bad for 4.5 weeks early. Mom and baby still doing okay, Dad is a little frazzled but hanging in there.
UPDATE 9/21 10:00am: Michael was improving quite a bit, but blood was showing up in his stomach. He was transferred from the NICU at Howard County General in Columbia, MD to the NICU at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore late last night. He had surgery this morning to close up a perforation in his stomach, possibly an ulcer. He is stable and doing well, but will probably be there for a few weeks. Mom is still in the hospital and improving, but probably won’t be home for a few days still. I am running on about 8-10 hours of sleep for the past week, but still hanging in there.
I had to bring one of our dogs, Milo, to a specialty vet on the 18th as well. He was very anemic and had to have two blood transfusions while they treated him. He’s improving as well, hopefully he’ll be home in a few days.
UPDATE 9/22 9:15pm: Mom had to have surgery yesterday afternoon as well as there were a few things that just weren’t working the way that they should be. She came through it fine and is recovering nicely. The only issues I have are that I can’t stay with her like I could in the Maternal Child Unit and that I don’t get the impression that the nurses are giving her as much care as she received in the MCU (the MCU/NICU nurses and techs were all wonderful). She’ll be in the hospital for probably another 5-7 days. I visited Michael last night and this morning and he is recovering from his surgery nicely also. I understand why he needs to be at the NICU at Hopkins, but it is a fairly monumental pain to go out there, Howard County General is right around the corner from our house, which would have allowed us to easily go see him as many times a day as we would have liked. At least we know that he’s being cared for well, my only wish is that his mother could see him. I also went to go see our dog Milo yesterday, he wasn’t his usual happy self, but has stabilized and is improving, The vet said that he should be able to go home by tomorrow evening, I will probably let them keep him until Wednesday just in case. My in-laws arrived last night also, which has been great for Mom as my mother-in-law was able to stay with her tonight.
UPDATE 9/24 12:45pm: Our dog, Milo, came home today, he’s looking much better and happy to be home. Mom is still sore from surgery, but is feeling a lot better. Michael has had the breathing tube that was put in for surgery taken out and is doing well. We’ll be going out to see him and should have a picture or two up sometime this afternoon.
UPDATE 9/24 9:00pm: Mom is doing much better today, hopefully she’ll be home in a few days. Her nurse situation seems to have changed for the better, may have been someone having a bad night, everyone else over there has been great.
Michael is breathing on his own without any assistance or extra oxygen and is doing really well, he’s even off of his pain medication.
Poor kid’s been through so much, thank goodness he won’t remember any of it.
UPDATE 9/26: A lot of progress has been made in the past two days.
Mom has hit a major milestone in her recovery and can finally start taking liquids by mouth.
Michael is doing great, he’s even getting his first bit of formula today!
I visited him for about two hours and was able to hold him for the first time… what a wonderful feeling!
He just sat there looking up at me with a content face, it was certainly one of the best feelings that I’ve felt in my life.
Mom should be home in a few days and hopefully Michael won’t be too far behind.
Milo is doing great, he seems to be back to pretty much the way that he should be.
UPDATE 9/27 6:00pm: Mom is still improving, but we still don’t have any idea of when she’ll be home. Michael is doing very well, they have him up to 2.5cc of formula and hour now and his pipes seem to be working as they should.
UPDATE 9/28 6:30pm: Michael is now up to 3cc of formula an hour and tomorrow they’ll start feeding him in a normal feeding pattern verses the continuous feeding he’s getting now. The nurses tell us that he’s a very easy baby to deal with, not too fussy, hopefully he’ll still be that way when he gets home. Mom is still getting better but hasn’t been feeling too great today, she’s able to eat soup and juice, but tells me that the soup tastes like crap. We’re still hoping to get her home this week, it’s been twelve days in the hospital so far.
UPDATE 9/29 8:45pm: Well, Mom is finally home! She’s not feeling her best, but certainly better than before and hopefully is more comfortable now at home. Michael is doing very well, we didn’t get to see him today as Mom’s discharge took up quite a bit of time. His nurse says that he’ll be taking in 6cc of full-strength formula per hour at midnight and has a good chance of moving from the warmer to a regular crib soon. Two home, one more to go!
UPDATE 10/3 6:30pm: Mom is doing much better and finally got to visit and hold Michael for the first time! It was a great feeling watching her hold him, it kind of made things feel complete. Michael is doing well, he’s now out of the warmer and in a regular crib. Progress with feeding has been a little slower than the nurses would like, but he’s still making decent progress. Still don’t have a firm idea of when he’ll be able to come home.
UPDATE 10/10/2008 8:30pm: We just got a call from Johns Hopkins and were informed that Michael is being transferred out of the NICU into a step-down unit. He’ll be in his own room, so we’ll be able to stay with him. I have a feeling that he’ll be home really soon as his feeding is improving a lot and he’s doing really well overall.
I got to change the first of many diapers the day before yesterday, wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, even with all of those lines and wires attached to him.
Mom is doing much better also, she had her staples out the other day and is getting around pretty well.
UPDATE 10/16/2008 6:00pm: Michael was discharged from the hospital and is now home. He is still being fed mostly by tube, but doing great. Considering that today is our 4 year wedding anniversary, I don’t think we could have received a better gift. Now the fun begins…
Thank you to everyone that’s visited, called or contacted us in some way, I am so grateful that we have such a wonderful group of family and friends. This would have been much harder to deal with without all of you. Also a big thanks to all of the Johns Hopkins staff (Baltimore and Howard County) that were there to take care of us throughout all of this
More updates as they come.
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Hi Drew:
wow so much to have going on and I had no idea.
I will keep your dear loved ones in my thoughts and prayers.
Michael is beautiful and I know he will be just fine.
My best wishes for you and your wife. Just be patient and your rewards will come.
Debra
Hey Drew,
Congratulation,
We all miss you, Im sorry you have had to go through all of that.
Michael is adorable. I hope you bring him by the office to vist when everyone is better. Our prayers are with you and your new family.
take care
Terry
Hi Drew!!
Congratulations, Dad! It is very nice to hear from you and with such great news. I’m glad everyone is doing much better. You and the new Mommy are in my prayers and I wish you much happiness and blessings now and in the future.
Thank you very much for giving us the highs and lows.
Much happiness!
Darnita
Hi you two!!! Happy that everyone is fine and my Bro is still hanging in there. Michael is tooooo cuttttteeee!!!! We love you both very much!!!!!!
Welcome to the club pappi!
Sorry it took so long for me to get here.
(He looks like Daddy in at least one of the pics!)
Tell Mommy she done good!
Hope everyone gets home soon!
-R
Hey Drew,
I thought I would check back your site and see if you’ve put out newer pictures. Michael is sooooooo cute, even if he’s only 11 days old. He’s looking good!! I’m glad to hear that he and Cynthia are doing well. I’m sure they’ll be home before you know it. I saw your comments about how you felt when you were holding Michael in your arms. It is a WONDERFUL feeling, and this feeling will just get stronger and stronger as the days go by. I just wish his mommy could hold him and feel the love too, but then again I know they’ll be home very soon. God bless you all~~
Maggie
Hi Drew,
Thanks for letting us know the good news. What a cutie! Please bring him by the office when he gets bigger.
I will keep all of you in my prayers.
Sue
Hi Mommy and Daddy!
Congratulations!! I am soo glad to hear Cynthia is home and Michael is doing so great! Way to go Andrew for being such a great husband and father!
I can’t believe how big he is and he is so adorable!!
Lots of love and prayers,
Allysin, Jason and Parker
Hi Drew and Cynthia, Congratulations! What a trip for you all, I’m so glad it’s coming together for you and all are on their way to being well. Life is never as straightforward as we’d like it to be! Best wishes, and hope you can catch up on your sleep before Michael comes home – as I recall, sleep can be a precious commodity with a newborn in the house. Be well, all of you!
martin
HI YOU GUYS!!! BEEN CHECKING THE WEBSITE DAILY TO SEE IF ANY UPDATES AND NEW PICS OF MY HANDSOME NEPHEW
WE LOVE YOU ALL!!!!
WOOHOO! Congrats to one and all! I’m very happy to hear that everybody is doing well!
Leah thinks it is all pretty spiffy as well!
Now that I know where to find all this information I’ll be checking in!
Fenugreek is the thing that I mentioned – it can be picked up at any hippie/tree hugger store!
Its a good thing he looks like his mother. You all hang in there, my thoughts are with you.
All My Love
Dad
MORE PICS MORE PICS MORE PICS…:) LOVE U GUYS!!!!
Thank you guys for calling me to update us on your new bundle of joy. I will put
you in my prays.God has blessed you with a beautiful baby boy.We love you guys.kissed the baby for us!Drew I know you will continue to hold the fort
together.Call me at anytime if you guys have questons.
OMG!!!! LOL U TOO ARE SOOOO BAD BUT HE IS JUST TOOOOO CUTE!!!!!! I LOVE U ALL
Hi Drew, Cynthia & Little Michael. It was great seeing you all over the holidays along with Cynthia’s Mom. I know it must have been difficult for Cynthia’s parents to leave Michael (and you two as well!). You will learn in time that with Grandparents its all about the grandchildren! It was a special treat for us to get to hold little Michael and feed him. Truly the joy and comfort in this world rests with our children. He’s a cute little guy and we wish you all the best in the coming year. Happy New Year and take care.