United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi Barb,
I'm Cindy mom to Melanie (4) and Matthew (2) both rbpi. Melanie has recovered however Matthew has a permanent injury. He has had two surgeries at Texas Children's and he is having a third at Shriners in Phila next week. He also sees a neurologist who runs a bpi clinic. Matthew has had a great recovery. We have him involved in a variety of therapy and alternative treatments. One of the things that helped him gain function early on and gave him a recovery that his surgeons couldn't believe was acupuncture.

Good luck with your surgery.

Cindy

OK, I posted and obviously overstepped something and got deleted. Could you (the deleter) please email me privately and let me know--I assure you whatever "it" was it wasn't meant to be in such a manner as to get deleted.

Thanks

Christy

Barbara,
Please do not feel stupid! We ALL trusted our OB/GYNs. Hindsight is 20/20. Your child's injury is not your fault.
My son has a left BPI and was 11 lb., 14 oz., vaginal delivery. Everyone asked me before he was born if I was having twins or triplets, but my OB saw no cause for concern. I have spoken to several other moms at length about this injury, and the common denominator - among other emotions - is FALSE GUILT ... guilt that says "I should have known," "I should have done something," etc, etc. But hey, if I had been my own OB, I would have given me a C-section!!!!
Anyway, I have tried to take my false guilt and put that energy into facilitating my son's recovery. It's been a great strategy for me.
You are not alone. Keep chatting with everyone here. It will (hopefully) help you. I know it has helped me!
Blessings to you,
Janet

Hi Barbra,
I have a 2 1/2 year old with a right BPI. When I was 8 months pregnant, the doctor estimated that he'd be 7-8 pound. A week later I gained 32 pounds (in 6 days). This triggered nothing with him. To him, i was just tired ob being prego and needed to complain. They delivered my son 3 1/2 weeks early at 10 pounds 13 ounces. It hurts huh?
My pediatrician told me i was "an over obsesive mom." and that he'd recover in a few weeks. Well, two and a half years later... here I am.
We no longer see her or the OB. Every once in awhile I am tempted to look them up in the phone book and let them know whats going on. Yeah, still a little angry.
Good luck with all you encounter...
I'm sure we'll talk again.
Kara

Hi there: I know what you mean about finding this group. I couldn't find anything when my daughter was born almost 5 years ago...i felt so alone. Our ob didn't even come to visit me in my room or even try to explain to me what happened & guide us in the right direction...she delivered my baby & left. I'll never forget it. Ashley was 8 pds 11 ozs. I also gained quite a bit of weight. She will be having the caps surgery in less than a month & i'm feeling so overwhelmed cause we also have trial scheduled the beginning of november while my little girl is still in her cast. I don't know how i will handle these things all at once...i'm overwhelmed. My first daughter also had a SD during birth (different ob) at 7pds 11 oz so i made sure to sign a medical record release w/ my new ob so they could read up on my past delivery but they never got them (i didn't know that)& now they try to turn everything around to blame me the patient for not giving my ob Enough info...& that signing medical releases is just a standard procedure in their office but they never really get the records. That is completely unacceptable & it enrages me. I'm glad you found us. HOpe we can help more. melissa

A similer situation happened to me. My OB tried to tell me it was my fault for not telling her my father and my husbands father were both over 10lbs. Well, the converstion about birth weights never came up until after Jessica was born because she was so big. She did however ask me how much me and my husband weighed at birth (me 7lbs 3oz and my husband 7lbs 14oz)