United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi... I am Zoe's mom. She is a 2 yr old with a right injury due to shoulder dystocia during birth. I wondered if there where any other mothers here that were diagnosed with Pre-Eclampsia when their child was injured. Personally, they induced my labor, and every part of me was so swollen I am amazed they let me have Zoe natural. I probably shouldn't have...anyway, I am just wondering...Thank you
Melissa

I wasn't diagnosed...but there were lots of things that were ignored. I was really swollen - for days afterward. My ankles stung!!!

I was induced as well - and pushed with pictocin (sp??) even though we found out later that it certainly wasn't lack of contractions!

No, I had a perfectly normal pregnancy and delivery with almost no pain and I was not induced. :-/

You hit the nail right on the head! Not only was my overall body swollen with high blood pressure, but after so many attemtps to delivery my child, my vaginal canal became very, very swollen. I can hear those words so clearly that "Her canal is too swollen." In those multiple times that I was trying to deliver my daughter, she was just ripping and ripping through all of that tissue. When I was urgently sent to the OR for my daughter's delivery, EVERYONE knew that this tissue was horribly swollen, yet they persisted in a vaginal delivery.

Hi, I am a mom of a 7 yo with a bpi and also i am a l&d RN at a high risk center. Pre-E does cause swelling but the MD's will usually do a trial of labor before jumping right to a c/s. Absence of other risk factors. Of course we all know they do not always recognize and treat the way they should. I was not a nurse when my baby was delivered but i too look back and feel that everything went wrong. Good Luck,

so swollen i could hardly move, but undiagnosed, of course

Ready for the backlash here. I just have to say this about the pre-eclampsia and swelling topic.

Swelling does NOT definitely mean pre-eclampsia. Pre-eclampsia is a combination of symptoms, swelling being only one of them. There is also an increase in blood pressure and blood work lab values, along with the swelling.

As a L&D nurse and mother of Amber (ROBPI), I see swelling every day (especially with poor diet, poor fluid intake, hot weather, mothers not resting enough, and NORMAL end of pregnancy swelling due to increased blood volume that happens with all pregnancies) that is NOT pre-eclampsia. I just want to clarify that pre-eclampsia is more than just swelling so that other laymen who are reading this do not get only a partial picture.

And by the way, I did not experience pre-eclampsia with my daughter's pregnancy, but I was induced early to avoid another difficult delivery. See what that did for me and her?!

Please don't take offense to my posting; I'm just wanting to educate others to facts, rather than fiction, as I've experienced in many walks of life. I'm sure you've all experienced it when concerning your child's injury.

Tanya in NY

Thank you for clarifying that. I was actually diagnosed with Pre-Eclampsia. I had many test's done and I was induced because they were worried about my blood pressure and afraid I would start having seziures. I had magnizum sulfate during all of my labor and delivery to keep both of the above in check. I was so swollen I could hardly turn myself over in bed. I couldn't believe the doctor decided to let me go through labor.

No offence taken!
Melissa

what is pre eclclampsia - I was so terribly swollen after the delivery you could hardly recognize me and wasn't really swollen much before at all.

Hi Vanda, Pre Eclampsia is the condition prior to toxic shock, and kidney failure. It is common more so in first pregnancies but can be in any pregnancy. There are tests your doctor will do at each routine prenatal check up, they check your urine for protien ( one of the singns of pre eclampsia), your blood pressure would be high, pitted edema in the ankles, legs, arms all over . Blood work would be done to check the condition of your kidneys and a 24 hour urine test in hospital is also routine to determine Pre eclampsia. I had Pre Eclampsia and was hospitalized for 2 weeks prior to my delivery......it was terrilbe, scary , horrible. I was one step from kidney failure , you could see the protien in my urnine. Anyways.....sorry to babble on. Hope this answered your question.

Lenni