Our first son, Grey, was born in 2015 in a not-breathing condition. He was blue and floppy, and after the first thirty seconds or so I knew his brain was at risk. My wife had a completely uneventful pregnancy, which included an ultrasound 3 days before his birth that showed Grey rolling around and sucking his thumb. The first sign we were given of something amiss was his appearance the first time we saw him. It took almost 10 min and three epinephrine shots before his heart started. He needed to be intubated, and required a chest tube due to a collapsed lung. We were introduced to the idea of brain cooling, a treatment that we would have to be transferred for. We were moved to a higher-level neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), where they could begin the cooling process.
Grey was kept in the NICU for a month, then shifted to a rehab hospital next door for another 2 months. He was unconscious for his first ten days, at which point he received magnetic resonance imaging, which showed global brain damage. Over that admission, he needed lesser and lesser breathing support, but ended up having a trach placed due to a vocal cord paresis. He was given a g-tube as well. As parents, we were shown how to care for his special needs, and went through the process of setting up at-home nursing. We were told that he would never be able to walk, talk, or eat by mouth.
