Corbin Arthur

Corbin Arthur was born on 11/06/2002 at 7:05 am. We had a scary birth—as soon as I started pushing his heart rate dropped into the 30s for no apparent reason (we had no idea Corbin was going to be born w/any CHDS—we didn't even know what CHDs were!!). He had to be taken out quickly and he was born not breathing- his Apgar score was a one.

The pediatrician found a heart murmur and transferred us to a children's hospital on November 8. There we found Corbin had a small-medium VSD and a mild coarctation of the aorta. They said he'd be fine and sent us home with monthly checkups.

On November 15 Corbin was being extremely fussy, wasn't sleeping well, and didn't seem to want to eat. I checked his respiratory rate and it was in the 70s. I immediately brought him to his pediatrician. By the time we had arrived his respiratory was in the 120s and he had started to turn blue. Corbin had gone into congestive heart failure. Since we live on an island we had to take a scary boat ride across the ocean and then go to the nearest hospital where they tried to stabilize him with a respiratory tube. A few hours later, after they thought he could handle it, he took the long ambulance ride back to the children's hospital we were first transferred to.

Corbin had to have a blood transfusion and kept in the respiratory tube for 24 hours. He was in the ICU for 48 hours and then transferred to the children's wing. At the hospital we found that his VSD was now classified as large and his coarctation had become worse. We were discharged a week later on digoxin, Lasix, spironalactone (sp?) and adding formula to my breast milk so he would start gaining weight.

Corbin seemed to do really well on his meds and after his first month of life he started gaining weight really well! On his checkup on December 18 they found that Corbin's coarctation had become even worse and they scheduled him for surgery on the 20th. Corbin did so well during surgery- he was off of his respiratory tube before he even left the operating room. He had some bladder problems and oozed more blood than he should of during the first 12 hours which led to a catheter and another blood transfusion. We were transferred out of the ICU about 30 hours after surgery back to the children's wing (just a little fun fact: all 3 times we were in the children's wing Corbin was the only boy with three girls--four babies occupy each room--he liked it a lot :-)). We were discharged from the hospital on December 23- just in time for us to enjoy our first Christmas as a family!

Corbin's latest checkup was on January 31, 2003. He is up to an unbelievable 11 lbs 8 oz (from 7 lbs 5 oz at birth- and not gaining any during his first month!) and it was the first time ever ECG came back normal! So now it's just a waiting game to see if his VSD becomes smaller on its own!

I feel so blessed that Corbin has been able to get through these first months of his life and thank God everyday. My heart goes out to the families who weren't as lucky.