United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

i have said it before and i will say it again. of course most doctors and hospitals know the causes of this injury however until the ama takes a position that the standard of care should be changed the mechanisms of delivery will not change because it is easier and faster to force the delivery, it is cheaper and faster to not do the necessary tests to accurately determine the actual size of the baby. and no one will implement the changes due to the fact that if they do more doctors will be held accountable for doing or not doing what they already know they should be doing. it all boils down to being held accountable. they don't think that they should be accountable for this (or probably any other) injury.

HI MOMS thank you for your in put and venting.Im glad to see so many moms replie to this. was it weight my mom was 5, 6in I weight was 11lbs 8ons I was 2 wks late in 1951.we all agree that ERBS has to stop!! and there is only one blame is education so a mother has a informed desition this has so many possibiltys I know but we need to find the way to stop it!! I was born in1951 with no help and today there is but what all bugs me because I come from the past that today you have to think about how you hold your child. ERBS is not like a china doll but I had no help I am only me you have read how I got over ERBS to a POINT. TOM

Trish
sorry for the late reply, I've been away for a few days.
Thanks for your questions, but I live in the Uk and am probably not in the best position to offer comments or advice other than to say, make sure that you have good lines of communication open with the therapists and specialists who are treating your daughter.
I can say that my son had a splint on his wrist when he was about 5 months old, which seemed to help quite a bit, but over here in the UK we really don't go in for splinting this injury that much.
Have you had a chance to meet with a specilaist in bpi yet? - what do they think about your daughters recovery so far?
Karen

My daughter weighed in at 9lb3oz. i am pregnant with my second child and of course have a new OB who will be doing a c-section. I also found out with this pregnancy that I do have gestational diabetes which I supposingly did not have with the first. Anyways, I spread a little bit of awareness by posting on my babycenter.com message board. I posted it to all the GD mothers who have no clue as to what could happen with a large baby. I gave this web site address as well as Francine's and pleaded to them to at least educate themselves about the "bad" things that could go wrong. I felt very postive after I sent that message. It is the least I can do! PS - Did anyone see Good Morning America this am? I only caught a little segment re: a mother giving birth to a 13 lb baby (and they celebrated like this was a good thing) and they showed a picture of this baby and what I saw briefly, was the mom holding onto one little hand and the other arm looked like a poster board for "waiters tip" But I dont know for sure. I was hoping someone saw the whole program. I dont know if she delivered vaginally or c-section. If you saw this program, please let me know. It just kinda made me sick if that was the case... because the mom doesn't understand what that little arm hanging there means. THanks for listening.