Child's Birth Year
2023

State/Province/Territory
Wisconsin

NICU Hospital for my journey
Children's Hospital Of Wisconsin

My NICU Graduate's Journey
At 4:57 pm, our baby boy, Corbin Brooks Schultz was born not breathing. He was born with perinatal asphyxia, which is a lack of oxygen before and after birth. Immediately after he was born a breathing tube was inserted to get him breathing again and stabilized. He came out very white in color and not crying at all. The scary part was that they did not really know why this had happened, what caused it, or how long before birth he was without oxygen. The doctors at West Bend Hospital immediately called Children’s Hospital, as they felt it was necessary that he be transported down there. They were worried there could possibly be some brain damage due to the lack of oxygen. Children’s Hospital sent out a team of doctors, nurses, etc. and a specially equipped ambulance. After assessing him at Froedtert West Bend, before transport, they began a special kind of care called whole body cooling or therapeutic hypothermia. This treatment requires a baby to be cooled from the normal body temperature of 98.6F down to a temperature of 92.3F. During this 3 day cool-down the body slows down and uses less energy. It lets the body heal faster from a rough start at the time of birth. With this treatment a baby’s temperature will slowly be returned back to normal after three days (72 hours) of cooling. Corbin was transported down to Children’s around 7:30 pm. and I, mom, had to stay at the other hospital. My husband went with Corbin. Corbin had one seizure down at Children’s during the initial cool-down period on Wednesday night around 1 am, which doctors later determined to just be Corbin’s response to what had just happened, not a condition. It was his brains way of saying I didn’t like what just happened. This was an isolated incident as no other seizures were had after this point, thankfully.

What makes you proud of you NICU graduate?
Corbin was such a fighter. Day after day he surprised both us and the doctors with the strides he was making. After a week of around the clock care, Corbin had a MRI that came back normal and soon after we were discharged to go home. Ever since that day this boy was a strong willed, happy, smiley boy. He still amazing us every day. His smile and laugh is infectious. He has brought us so much joy and happiness that we never knew was possible. Despite a rough and scary start, it has all been worth it and we have the most handsome, happy baby boy!! We were truly blessed and our prayers were answered.

Weight at Birth (lbs. or Grams)
6 lb 15 oz

Weeks Gestation
38.5 Weeks

Time spent in the NICU (Specify Day, Month, or Year)
7 Days