Owen, our first born, is a creative precocious 3 ½ year old who is full of life. We share our story of Owen’s birth and struggles with an Obstetrical Brachial Plexus injury in the hopes that it helps other families.

     Owen was born on April 19, 2005 weighing in at 8 lbs. 2 ozs., 21 inches long. Andrea's water broke at 4:30 pm on Monday, April 18th and contractions started about 6 pm. We labored at home until 5 am on April 19th and then headed to the hospital. Our dear friend, Jennifer was with us the entire time, providing doula support; her presence made a world of difference for both Jack and Andrea. We used a midwife group to deliver Owen and we were committed to the least amount of medical intervention possible. When we made it to the hospital, the midwife told us that Andrea was dilated to 3.5 cm. After a night of laboring we hoped for more, but were glad that we were making progress. The labor continued until 10 am when Andrea was checked again; she had only moved to 4 cm. The midwife told us that we could try for another hour, but after that we may want to consider pitocin. Well, the hour came and went with Andrea in the shower, on the birthing ball, hanging from the ceiling (you get the picture) and things did not progress. While Andrea did not want to augment the process, we knew that we still had a lot of work ahead of us, so pitocin was administered. Luckily the fetal monitor and IV were portable so we went back to the shower, birthing ball, and after a while made it into the birthing tub. The birthing tub was wonderfully soothing. At about 4:30 pm, Andrea started the pushing phase and we moved to the tub for what we hoped would be the last time. We didn't necessarily plan on a water birth, but were interested if the opportunity presented itself. She pushed there for a while. Andrea tried very hard to deliver in the tub, but due to Owen’s size the midwife thought it best to go to the bed. The midwife was concerned that if complications arose, the options would be limited in the water. Finally, after returning to the bed we were ready for Owen's entry into the world. Andrea pushed for about another hour. After about 3 hours of pushing, Owen came crying into the world. He was a little blue and the umbilical cord was around his neck, but after a rub down with a towel and a little heat his coloring returned to normal. After 24 hours of labor he was ours.        

     Right after the delivery, Jennifer, who happens to be a pediatric physical therapist, pulled Jack aside and told him that Owen appeared to have an arm injury. No one in the delivery room mentioned it to us. Jennifer had the difficult task of trying to explain the injury to Jack and then to Andrea. We had no idea what this meant and honestly were so drained from the labor that we were completely unable to process the information. All we knew was that Owen’s right arm was limp and presenting with the classic sign of a Brachial Plexus injury, a “waiter’s tip”. Overall, he was alert and otherwise was healthy and that is what we seemed to focus on for the first day or so. Our recount of the birth is that we had very little medical intervention and nothing stands out in the delivery as having “gone wrong”.

     The next morning, the pediatrician examined Owen and confirmed that he had a Brachial Plexus injury but she provided us little information. As the days went by, we began to comprehend the seriousness of the injury. Secondary to the BPI, Owen had torticollis. While no medical professional has confirmed this, we now believe that this caused him to have difficulty breast feeding, and consequently he did not gain the appropriate amount of weight during his first weeks of life.

     As you can imagine, we were on an emotional roller coaster. Looking back it is hard to separate the different issues. Between his BPI injury and lack of eating, we were always busy. We felt overwhelmed and confused. Since we did not have a point of reference we just thought this was a part of being new parents. We found ourselves second guessing our decisions and asking even more questions. Could we have done something differently? Could we have done more for Owen? Was this our fault? We were overwhelming with joy and deeply hurt by everything that happened. We turned to each other and our families for support and started the treatment process for Owen and the healing process for ourselves.  

    During Owen’s first few weeks of life, we took him to a pediatric neurologist, countless doctors’ appointments, and began the process of securing physical and occupational therapy for him. With the patience of our family practitioner, we set out on a path that helped Owen gain weight. We then had our first appointment with the pediatric neurologist. At the appointment, she provided us with some good news – Owen did not have any severed nerves and we could expect him to recover movement in his arm. In fact, he began to move his arm within several weeks of delivery. We saw the pediatric neurologist one more time and she felt Owen’s recovery was well under way and no further appointments were needed.

     Therapy has been immensely important in Owen’s recovery. Owen was evaluated by a physical and occupational therapist at about 1 ½ months of age. However, we struggled to find therapist who specialized in pediatrics. It took some doing, but with the help of Jennifer, the same friend present at Owen’s delivery, we finally connected with City Kids, Inc. in Chicago. At 3 months of age, he began OT and PT at City Kids and he continues to receive OT there to date.

     Another related issue was that Owen was delayed in his speech, likely due to the torticollis. He received, for a short time, speech therapy at City Kids. He caught up quickly and is very articulate and talkative.

     In addition to the therapy at City Kids, we did a lot of stretching and range of motion exercises from about 2 months to 6 months of age at home. As time has gone by, we continue to do a variety of exercises with him at home and we continue to encourage him to stretch his arm and work on proper arm positioning.

     Owen has not had surgical intervention. We sought the opinion of a surgeon specializing in OBPI when Owen was about 4 months old. The surgeon said that if Owen is able to lift his arm above his head by 3 months then he would not need surgery at that point; we remember the day he raised his arm above his head with great relief. We saw that same surgeon two additional times with the final recommendation being that Owen should have surgery by the age of 3 to correct the winging in his scapula. We sought a second opinion from another surgeon. This surgeon felt Owen had made remarkable progress and did not need surgery. We strongly considered having the surgery but after much thought, we decided not to do the surgery.

     Owen has full range of motion and has no functional delays; we are grateful for his recovery each and every day. Owen continues to receive OT each week and he wears a brace most days to keep his scapula in place. He also has to wear an arm immobilizer, at times, to encourage his arm to move to a completely straight position.

     Finding qualified pediatric therapy providers made all the difference for Owen and us. We are very grateful to the talented therapists at City Kids. We absolutely know that their talented treatment of Owen has helped him gain full range of motion in his arm and helped his speech progress.

      Owen’s first 3 ½ years of life have provided us with much joy and many laughs. However, we know that understanding the injury and selecting the treatment options for your child is an overwhelming and confusing process. It was for us and still is at times!

     We are happy to share the thoughts and insights we have learned along the way. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us.