[Miss Kiwi]

Our little guy arrived 2.5wks early and he was a big baby weighing 4080. Unfortunately he got stuck as was trying to come out sideways and his shoulder was stuck on my pubic bone. The relatively calm birth turned into an emergency and instantly there was a room full of people trying to get my baby out.

One MW on top of me pushing hard on my stomach and two MWs on each leg pulling them back as far as possible. With another MW using vacuum and her hand inside me trying to turn and pull him out. I have never experienced such pain and terror. It was just horrific. Thankfully they got our baby out within 4min of pushing the emergency button. I am told that is a very good result had it been 8-9min things could have been very very different.

Bub needed to be resuscitated and was taken away to special care where he quickly improved.
The next day bub continued to do well however we were told due to the shoulder dyscotia he has erbs palsy on his right arm (neuropraxia) He has had to have his arm in a sling (singlet pinned up) since. We were told physio should correct things.

Since coming home from hospital 2wks ago we have notIced some movement which is reassuring. We had an appt with the physio earlier this week which we were disappointed with. We didn't feel like we really got the answers we were looking for. We also had the PAED appt today and again we came away unhappy.

Has anyone been through this? How long did your child take to completely heal? Should we get a 2nd opinion and pay the money to see a specialist that deals with erbs palsy? (we are in Sydney if anyone can recommend). Will erbs palsy slow development I.e. learning to crawl?

The answers we have been given from the physio and paed are 'we don't have a crystal ball it is a waiting game'. We had to force out of the PAED that if we don't see improvement in 3mths then the next step is seeing a neurologist. But we had to force that out of him!! We want to understand what the game plan is and what the average rehibilation time frame is but just get blank looks and 'we will just have to see'. Very very frustrating!!!!!

I would love to hear from anyone else that has been through this as we are scared first parents and have this awful vision of our child not being able to crawl or hold a ball.

Thanks so much.

[Deb99x]

Hi Miss Kiwi,

I have a 16 month old DD with a similar story.


Please PM me if you want to talk.

[Livsh]

Hey!

Firstly, congratulations on the birth of your son! Second, it sounds like such a stressful end to a birth, it must have been awful!

I have no experience with Shoulder Dystocia or Erbs Palsy, but I do have personal experience with neuralpraxia. You are probably not getting much out of the medical professionals because there is actually very little they can do at the moment. The nerves need to heal and that can take a short time or a very long time!


My sciatic nerve got crushed during labour and I had complete paralysis of my lower leg for about a week followed by the most excrutiating neuropathic pain afterwards...for like 6 months, it was hell on a stick! Anyway, I couldn't get a straight answer out of any medical professional because the real answer was 'we don't know if/when your leg will get better'. Don't be afraid to ask more questions, but sometimes there just aren't satisfactory answers!

I hope you start seeing some improvements soon! Has the physio given you any exercises to do with your son?

[suline]

How scary for you! One of my friends has a 2year old boy with Erbs' palsy from birth, he still has ongoing weakness, and his affected arm isn't growing at the same rate. I gather this is more of a worse case scenario. (she is in the UK) he had physio from about 2 months when it was apparent the arm wasn't recovering. (there was not even finger tip movement to start off with) and they still see a physio regularly now.

Personally I would pay for a private physio appointment, and find out one that specialises in paediatrics/erbs palsy.

My other concern would be A) why was a midwife using a vacuum- they aren't legally allowed to do so
B) i don't believe vacuum is the safest or recommended way of dislodging a stuck shoulder.
However I wasn't there so I don't know the details or what the correct method of delivery would be.

Maybe its something you could follow up on, just in case that down the track your baby's arm needs lots of physic, it could become quite expensive.

Best wishes.

[Miss Kiwi]

How scary for you! One of my friends has a 2year old boy with Erbs' palsy from birth, he still has ongoing weakness, and his affected arm isn't growing at the same rate. I gather this is more of a worse case scenario. (she is in the UK) he had physio from about 2 months when it was apparent the arm wasn't recovering. (there was not even finger tip movement to start off with) and they still see a physio regularly now.

Personally I would pay for a private physio appointment, and find out one that specialises in paediatrics/erbs palsy.

My other concern would be A) why was a midwife using a vacuum- they aren't legally allowed to do so
B) i don't believe vacuum is the safest or recommended way of dislodging a stuck shoulder.
However I wasn't there so I don't know the details or what the correct method of delivery would be.

Maybe its something you could follow up on, just in case that down the track your baby's arm needs lots of physic, it could become quite expensive.

Best wishes.

Thank you for your post.

DS has finger movement and is starting to have movement in his shoulder and elbow. Both arms are the same length. Physio has given us exercises to do at home and we see her again in two weeks.

I just spoke to my DH re the use of vacuum he thinks she stopped using vacuum and was only using her hands to turn him and pull him out. But to be honest this is not my concern, they did what they had to do in order to get him out as fast as possible.

[suline]

DS has finger movement and is starting to have movement in his shoulder and elbow. Both arms are the same length. Physio has given us exercises to do at home and we see her again in two weeks.

I believe that is a really positive sign, my friends son had nothing at all at 2 months.

[Miss Kiwi]

Bump

Really keen to hear from mums that have had a child with erbs palsy.

[MaggieL79]

There is a clinic at Westmead Children's Hospital for children with brachial plexus injuries, there you will have access to specialists from physiotherapy occupational therapy and paeds.

[Miss Kiwi]

There is a clinic at Westmead Children's Hospital for children with brachial plexus injuries, there you will have access to specialists from physiotherapy occupational therapy and paeds.

Thanks so much for that we will look into that.

[Deb99x]

After trying (and failing !) to send you a PM, I thought I'd just put our story up here.


My DD was pulled out by suction cup as she was too big at 4kg.
At birth she had no left arm function and very limited hand function.
We were given a referral by our paed to Westmead Children's to the arm/hand clinic (PM your email address and I will give you Dr names) and have been seeing them monthly since.

Now, at 16 months she has pretty much full function of her hand, but about 60% use of her arm. She can use it, but is unable to lift it above shoulder height.

This meant that she didn't crawl, she shuffled along on her bum...which was hell on her clothes :-)

This also meant that walking was probably a little delayed as her balance is not the best, and she also probably falls over a little more due to not having 2 arms to use for balance.

The doctors have just in the last month decided to operate on her arm to give her more function, so we're still at the wait and see stage for how this will affect her.



I understand from talking to her doctors that they see someone at the level maybe one a year, so I hope that your DS is not anywhere near this injured.


And if you end up at Westmead don't be too surprised to find yourself hugging your DS and being very very grateful that he is alive and not any more injured. I find myself doing it every time I'm out there....