Meet Vander

• Baby Saves

• 07.20.26

“My sister had told me about using Count the Kicks because she did during her pregnancy so I downloaded it when I started the third trimester. Through this I discovered that my son seemed to be most active during the evenings and in the middle of the night when I got up for bathroom visits.

I have been in ultrasound school for the last two years. Because of this I was scanned frequently by my professors and by my classmates who wanted to practice. The Friday before my son’s due date we decided to take one last look at him and try to get some fun photos. 

On this scan we saw that he had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck twice. However, it didn’t appear to be tight. Of course this was anxiety-inducing to hear, but as someone in the field we know that babies are successfully delivered with nuchal cords all the time. I called my OB-GYN and asked them to note the nuchal cord on my chart. 

The evening before my due date, I did my son’s kick count. Usually he would complete all his kicks within 10-15 minutes. However this night it took over 30 minutes. This left me feeling unnerved. I had not yet had dinner that evening so I ate dinner and a while after that I felt like he became more active again. 

Later that night/the morning of my due date I woke up to use the restroom at 2 a.m. and when I went back to bed I didn’t feel him moving at all. This was very disconcerting as he would frequently keep me up for extended periods when I tried to go back to sleep. I got out of bed and tried drinking something cold and sugary to see if his movements would perk up.* They did not. When I pushed against his body parts, they would not return to their original spot as he would usually stubbornly do. I woke my husband and we rushed to the emergency room. 

We were checked in and went to the triage room where I was hooked up to the non-stress test (NST). From there everything seemed to be a whirlwind. His heart tones were not looking good and the testing revealed several decelerations. We were admitted to the hospital and there were many people in and out of our room instantly. The OB-GYN came into the room and attempted to make the baby uncomfortable to see if they could convince him to perk up. His demeanor remained unchanged. 

The doctor told me that they needed to get the baby out and said that since I was only 1 centimeter dilated an induction could take a long time, so he was recommending an emergency cesarean section. We were rushed into the operating room and my son was born at 7:40 a.m. I heard the doctor take him out and count out loud ‘1, 2, 3,  4 … 1, 2 …’ The one thing I didn’t hear was crying. 

My husband was telling me he could see him on the little table and he was beautiful. All I could do was keep asking if he was breathing. It felt like forever until they said he was OK. 

He had to be intubated and had a very low APGAR score. Upon his arrival his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck four times and around his abdomen two times. They told me that there was a possibility that he wasn’t getting oxygen to his brain due to the tight cord around his neck and said that he had to be taken to be evaluated. I asked if brain damage was a possibility and they told me it was. My husband went with our son and I was taken back to the room.

The doctors came and told me that they evaluated my son for Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE) and that his score required intervention. My son had to be flown to Iowa City children’s hospital for cooling treatment immediately. I had not yet been able to touch him, hear him cry, or see him except through a photo my husband had taken on his phone.

I was able to be transported to Iowa City to be with my son. He had to be on the cooling treatment for 72 hours and then be rewarmed before he could be held or fed. The doctors came and explained his condition to me once I arrived. They explained that the blood samples taken from his umbilical cord revealed that he had been deprived of oxygen, but that we had no way of knowing for how long or to what extent the damage would be. The cooling treatment would not heal any damage that was done but it could slow down the body to help prevent any damage from progressing. 

His stay in Iowa City involved countless tests and interventions. However, once we were there it seemed like every few hours brought more good news. On the sixth day he was able to get his MRI, which was the most reliable indicator of how much damage was sustained. We were very fortunate to hear that the MRI was unremarkable. How amazing! Of course there was the possibility of some lasting effects and we were told that checking in over the first year of his life would be important to track his progression and see if there were any lasting effects. 

I am happy to report that at 11 months old he is thriving and growing like a weed. He is an early bloomer despite his rough start and began crawling at the tail end of 5 months and walking at 9 months. He is incredibly social and has a few words already.

My advice to others would be to not skip the trip and don’t be afraid to go in to get checked out. As someone who works in a hospital, we are never upset when someone comes in and there is nothing wrong. It’s better to get checked out and nothing be wrong than the alternative. Thank you so much for your organization!” -Thomas & Lauren E., Vander’s Parents

*Editor’s Note: Research shows that fetal movement is best monitored without interventions like juice, candy or drinking ice water.