Update #1 • Update #2 • Update #3 • Update #4

At 3:03 pm on October 22, 2013, Simeon Michael Vandercar was born at Woodwinds Hospital in Woodbury, Minnesota. Weighing 8 lbs 11.8 oz and measuring 20 ¾”, he is a handsome young man.

It was a beautiful day for a birth. For all you woman-folk, Adrienne might later give a more extensive run-down on the labor and delivery. In short, 4 hours.

We’re a happy clan! Continued prayers are most welcome. We’ll be sure to post more of this little new life.

For recent updates, click on the page numbers below.

UPDATE 10.25.13 (1:10 am)

We thought we were headed home today. Unfortunately, other things were at hand.

During some of the standard screening tests, they had a few small concerns about the oxygen level in Simeon’s blood. He has also had labored breathing when he gets himself worked up. After consultation with several special care nurses, it was decided that Simeon should get additional observation and should be transferred to Children’s Hospital in St. Paul for precautionary respiratory evaluation. Before departing from Woodwinds Health Campus, he was put on oxygen, as his levels had dropped. They also placed an IV (and a second after the first leaked), so that they could get his blood sugar up, as it was also quite low. He was transported to Children’s in an ambulance and admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

All his numbers are stable and relatively good. He continues to have a muffled, weak cry, when he gets worked up, has quite a squawk when he needs to sneeze, and whimpers now and then when he sleeps depending on his position. They refer to his symptom as stridor (a wheezing-like noise). Several folks have mentioned the possibility of him having laryngomalacia (something that is healed with time). He has had an x-ray of his chest … all looked great. We have a test scheduled tomorrow (Friday) to check the structure of his passageways. Depending on the results, he may need additional testing.

We’ll be here at least 48 hours, but could be here through the weekend or beyond. Thank you for sharing in the joy of his birth and thank you for joining us in praying for his health and homecoming. We will try to periodically post an update here on the blog … long days and a tired mommy and daddy, but we want to keep you in the loop, so we’ll do our best.

On the homefront, Aelah has been enjoying time with Nana & Papa and we are very thankful for that. So good to have them here. We’ll be swapping time with Simeon in order to get home and spend time with Aelah.

Again, thank you! We’ll keep you updated.

UPDATE 10.25.13 (6:16 pm)

Simeon has continued to be well throughout today.

Last night, they gave him another chest x-ray and found that he does still have a bit of fluid in his right lung that must not have worked its way out during birth, so, to err on the side of safety, they want to treat him as if he had pneumonia, as the fluid could potentially become infectious. Thus, he will have a bit longer treatment of antibiotics and he’ll need to remain here for a total of at least 5 days (through Monday).

This morning we took him down to radiology for a fluoroscopy (moving image x-ray) in order to check some of his tubes. He drank barium which they were able to track. All appeared healthy, but for a small flap on his lower esophagus, just above his stomach. The gastro-intestinal doc said it is nothing about which he is concerned, as it has not been affecting him in any way.

The ENT doc has mentioned the possibility of a bronchoscopy to check out Simeon’s airways, but will first use a soft probe to check out what might be causing Simeon’s hoarseness. I took some video of him when worked-up and the doctors that were able to hear it, both agreed that his hoarseness might be more related to his vocal chords not quite working well together. We’ll see what they find. Pretty rough when we gets worked-up. Thankfully, he is almost always calm and peaceful and has been quite easy to settle when he does become restless.

Nana, Papa, and Aelah were able to stop by today. Aelah had to hang in the lobby due to visitor restrictions during the flu season. It was great to have them here for a while. Adrienne has joined them at home for the early evening (which I was able to do last night) and can hopefully get a bit of a rest and a nice soak in the bath.

Though Simeon’s ambulance transport may have been a bit alarming or shocking for us yesterday, it truly does not seem there is too much to worry about. He is in great care here at the hospital and it still seems most all of his monitoring and tests are simply precautionary measures. Thank you for your continued prayers! We are thankful for a healthy delivery and confident Simeon will be coming home soon.

UPDATE: 10.27.13 (12:41 am)

It’s been a long weekend thus far. It is the weekend, yes?

I’ll try to give you the key events over the past day or so, though I’m tired, in need of sleep and probably will forget something or several things. If you’re still following our journey here, I want to at least allow you that and give you some things for which you can be praying. I’ll spare you all the what-ifs and possibilities and try to give you the facts.

Adrienne went home last night with Nana, Papa, and Aelah after their visit, so that she could get a shower, spend some time with Aelah putting her to bed, gather some clothes and such, and get some sleep (i think that was plan). She called me near midnight having found herself with a temp of 103.5. Papa brought her into the ER at United Hospital (connected to Children’s). After evaluation, it was found she has a UTI and probably bladder infection … a fierce one. She’s under observation for the time being. Her temp has been up and down all day. Most recently, she was sitting at 99.7. She continues to pump some milk for Simeon, which I have been transporting back to the ICU for him to enjoy.

Last night, Simeon also lost his 4th (?) IV. They were unable to get it replaced, so he had to have one dose of his antibiotics through a simultaneous triple shot to the thighs. Ouch. Since then, they have been able to place an IV in his head for the remainder of his antibiotic treatment.

The ENT doc came for the soft scope procedure this morning. He quite readily found that there is paralysis of Simeon’s left vocal cord. It is possible (and maybe even likely) that his vocal chord would heal with time. They’ll be giving us some special instructions for sleeping, feeding, and such. For example, he will sleep using what they call a Danny Sling, allowing him an inclined bed, so that any acid reflux during sleeping would not end up in his lungs. Also, it will be best for him to be fed right-side down. We’ll have a visit with the speech folks on Monday to get some more education. If his condition remains, or doesn’t fully heal, he may be softer spoken than others (his father’s son, i suppose).

My parents did visit again this evening, so that Aelah could see us for a bit. Nice that there aren’t visitor restrictions where Adrienne is staying. Aelah continues to have a blast with Nana & Papa. She’s been about the town. I’m sure they have stories to share.

So, at least two more nights here. Simeon is now in a crib, which just looks more cozy that the giraffe warmer he’d been in. I’ll try an remember to post a pic of that tomorrow. There’s also some good pics of Aelah that I’ll have to get hold of. Hopefully, we’ll all be set to head home on Monday. Surely, we will be ready. Thank you again for your prayers. We are excited for Simeon to meet each of you someday down the road! For now … to bed.

UPDATE 10.28.13 11:27 pm

Home. Adrienne and Simeon were reunited today. Both were released from the hospital and we arrived home this evening. That’s all I got for now. Tired and still looking for some rest. Thank you for your prayers and support! We greatly appreciate you all!

• Joshua Vandercar
• October 23, 2013
• Family, Life
• birthday, pip II, simeon
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