The Dedeker Family

Declan was born May 30th 2024 at 37 weeks. He was taken to the NICU after delivery for critically low blood sugars that were not responding to feeds or sugar gel. He was put on a feeding tube and a very high concentration of what's called dextrose 20 through an umbilical central line where every 3 hours he had to have his blood sugars checked. He was then put on a high flow oxygen because he kept having oxygen desaturations. He was found to have a heart murmur, had an echo done, to find out he has thickened heart muscles. He is not currently taking anything by mouth as he has issues breathing on his own, has a thing called stridor where he gasps deeply periodically, and will have to learn how to feed properly before he can be discharged. There is no time frame or idea of when he will be released and this makes it very hard on us, not only emotionally... but financially because Declan is an hour away from home. Dad works 10 hour shifts; and Declan has an almost 2 year old little brother named Brysen at home. I also had to have a c section to have him so dad will be off work for a while to not only help with the care of our older son but also aid in the care of our youngest in the NICU. We currently only have one running vehicle that isn't in the best condition, that just so happens to also be a truck and the cost of gas is crippling, having to commute so often so far away. Both of our boys were NICU babies, so going through this a second time is really hard; but even harder this time as he is needing more help than his older brother did. We are so grateful for both of our boys though as we were told we couldn't have them! Whatever help we would be able to receive would help immensely!