United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Our daughter was born 7 months ago with rbpi. She had absolutely no birth trauma but has a considerably impaired right arm. I guess I should qualify that statement. She had no pushing or pulling on her by the midwife but she may have had trauma in the birth canal during delivery from contractions or Mommy's pushing. She recently had surgery performed by Dr. Abbott in NY to free up the scar tissue that was pressing on her bp and also separate the upper and lower trunks. What I want to know is if there is anyone else who has a child with Erb's Palsy that did not result from a tugging physician/midwife? Our neurologist has a theory that babies with normal sized heads and big shoulders are more prone to Erb's Palsy than simply large babies. That description fits our daughter to a tee. Also, is anyone else in cenral Jersey who has a child with bpi? It would be good to have a support group.

Thanks!

-Tom Phalen

Hello Tom,

I too have a baby with a rbpi that appears to have had no birth trauma, ( no tugging or pulling ) due to the fact that I had an emergency c-section. The reason for that was because his cord was wrapped very tightly around his neck 2 times. I can not give a definitive answer, however, because I was under general anesthesia, and my husband was not allowed in the room with me, so I do not know what happened to my baby. He also had a blood clot in same area as the brachial plexus which is unexplained as well. I too have the same question. Why does my baby have this injury??? Although he is recovering very well, it has been very traumatic on all of us. I wish you luck in your search for answers.

Lisa

My son is 5 weeks old with a rbpi. He did not have any birth trauma either. He was 6 lbs 14 oz. I did not get any straight answers as to what the cause was. They said it could have been how he was lying in utero. He was breech up until 35 weeks. Not sure if that had anything to do with it. He is currently undergoing PT. According to the PT, we will not know if he needs surgery until about 4-6 months. This entire experience has been so wishy washy from the get go, that's what makes it so frustrating. I am located in Allentown, PA. I would love to ba part of a support group. Let me know if anything transpires.
take care,
Allison pxy-dust@webtv.net

Hello Tom,

I too have a baby with a RBPI, that appears to have had no birth trauma ( tugging or pulling ). I had an emergency c-section due to the fact that his cord was wrapped tightly around his neck 2 times. I can not give you a definitive answer as to whether he suffered any trauma because I was under general anesthesia, and my husband was not allowed in the room, so I do not know why my baby has this injury. He also had a blood clot in the same area as the brachial plexus which is unexplained as well, so I too am looking for answers. Although my baby is recovering very well, It has been very traumatic on all of us. I wish you luck in your search for answers.

Lisa

Traction and compression are two very different things and cause different types of injuries. Dr. Abbott should be able to tell you if your daughter's injuries were from traction or compression.... he was in there - he saw the damage. I'm curious to know what he says about this. If you do ask, please share ok?

-francine

Allison - there are some other families in your area - can you email me and I'll get you email addresses.

Also there is a PA Brachial Plexus Foundation - if you want information about that email Tom and Trish Cirino at brachial@aol.com. They have a picnic in September/October and there are usually a couple hundred people there.

I did try putting together a philly based support group but it took a lot of work and no one was willing to help out so I let it drop for a while - also my own daughter had many needs (surgery and all) that pretty much ate up my life.

There are some really good informational pages on this site that can be very helpful.

The first one is a button on the home page - Information for New Parents. Definitely read this one.

Then click on any of the other links there for awareness and it will bring you into the awareness area - from there go to birth injuries and there will be a lot more info in there.

There is a Dr. Rich Finkel at Children's Hospital in Philly that is getting good reviews for bedside manner. He is a pediatric neurologist. He does not do surgeries but refers out.

Let me know how else I can help you,
francine

My daughter did not have a traumatic birth and she was born with robpi. My son had a very traumatic birth and was robpi as well. I live in Eastern PA.
Cindy

anyone who tells you this injury is not due to pulling from birth is wrong!!! it takes a lot!!! of force to produce this kind of injury nothing that could be done through contraction

sorry can't help you with your question about birth trauma. where in central Jersey are you? there are several families from nj here.