I will start at the beginning.  I never expected to be pregnant.  In fact I thought I couldn’t have children.  I had just started a new and promising relationship.  We decided that we would make the best of this great news and bring our baby into a happy home.  This pregnancy was very special to me because I have always taken care of other children and never my own. This would be my first child and I looked forward to the big changes that were going to happen in my life but I also had some major concerns about my pregnancy. 

I was adamant about making sure that I received all the pre-natal care that went along with a high risk pregnancy.  I took every vitamin, controlled my blood sugar level to the best of my ability, and never missed an ultrasound.  I followed my doctor’s advice and from what I was told, everything was fine.  At a routine ultrasound visit three weeks before my due date, everything changed.  Little did I know that my life, my fiancé’s life and most importantly my son’s life would be forever altered by the decisions made by the professionals over the next 24 hours.  

The hospital that I was to give birth in was also the hospital were I received most of my ultrasounds.  This routine visit quickly turned into me staying at the hospital.  I was told that my child was very large and that he had grown a considerable amount since my previous visit. They could only detect one pocket of amniotic fluid that was located close to the area around his heart.  After speaking to all the doctors involved, it was agreed that my labor would be induced due to the size of the baby and the considerable risk this condition posed to the both of us. 

Call it intuition, but upon entering the hospital, I just felt that something was not right.  I could have been feeding into my own paranoia, but my experiences at the hospital did not help.  I was in a very uncomfortable room for over 12 hours before it was determined that I would receive another ultrasound to find out just how large my child was. The ultrasound showed that there was practically no amniotic fluid. The area that did have some was located too close to his heart and they did not want to take the risk of harming him.  My biggest question to the doctors concerned his safety and mine; due to his size would a C-section delivery be needed?  The response was no. They would try for a vaginal delivery and did not foresee any problems.  This left me with a very dreadful and uneasy feeling as everything that I had read about childbearing women with diabetes was that C-section deliveries were always one of the first options to be considered.

As my delivery started I continued to ask if there would be any chance of a C-section delivery.  I was still told no.  They claimed that everything seemed right for a vaginal birth despite my complaints about being able to feel everything except for the right side of my body.  I pushed for close to 30 minutes.  I looked to my fiancé and told him I didn’t think I had the strength to continue.  I told the doctors several times that it felt as if he were stuck against my pelvic bone but no one listened.  I was told I just wasn’t pushing hard enough.  Prior to my delivery, it felt as if I was on a birth assembly line, pushed from one area to another.  During delivery, I witnessed one doctor push another out from in front of me then direct him to apply pressure down on my stomach.  With that pressure, the force of my contraction, the hands placed on my baby and my final push, Victor’s entrance into this world was surrounded by uncertainty and wrapped in pain.

Everything seemed a blur after that.  I immediately saw my child’s arm fall limp as they carried him to the table that was waiting.  He never cried out.  I knew everything was wrong. No one, not even my fiancé could give me an answer as to how he was.  When he was finally breathing properly, I was only able to hold him for a few moments before he was whisked away.  Even as a new mother I knew that things did not go well. 

As I was prepared for my new room there was an eerie hush over the room.  I did not stay in my bed after giving birth to Victor.  I was up and looking for him no less than 45 minutes after leaving the delivery room.  I had to see him.  In the intensive care area I learned that he had not opened his left eye all the way, he had a club foot, and that his left arm was totally lifeless.  When he cried it was not the full robust yell of a new born infant, it was more like a cat’s whimper.  Compared to the other premature babies in that area, it didn’t seem right that such a sound would come from a child of his size.  Victor was nine pounds, five ounces and almost a month premature. 

The hospital rolled out the red carpet for me after that.  Victor became jaundice and had to stay in an incubator for a short period of time and I stayed in the hospital three days after my discharge date.  An x-ray was done on his arm to try to determine the extent of his injury but nothing could be determined based on an x-ray.  This was the first time that I heard the word Erb’s palsy.  A specialist told us that he should regain most of the function in his left arm in three months, but that never happened.  Victor’s first weeks at home were difficult, at best.  He was not happy, he cried constantly and could only sleep when he was placed on his stomach, which made me uncomfortable and I had to monitor him closely.  If not on his stomach he would be up for hours, mostly crying.  The club foot was relatively easy to deal with and casting over a four month period fixed this issue.  Around this time we had an MRI done which began to show us the extent of the damage his birth had done to his arm.  Victor suffered an avulsion of his brachial plexus nerves with at least one torn from his spine.

After a storm, the sky does clear and the sun does shine.  You can say it shined on us as well.  As time passed, as did Victor’s pain and he literally transformed before our eyes.   He became the happiest child you have ever seen.  He took his limitations in stride and defied every shortcoming we ever thought he would have.  He developed a three-legged crawl that we both hated, but he was able to get around like any other child.  With the strength he had in his right arm he was able to hold himself up on tables and chairs very early and was into everything long before a child of his age should have been.  It was a treat to see his smile every morning he woke up.  I am not saying this because he is my child, but out of all the children I have ever taken care of in my life, he has the most pleasant disposition and a great attitude.  He hates going to doctors and has endured the strain of an 8 hour operation in which nerves were taken from both his calves and grafted to the nerves in his shoulders.  As he began to walk it was noticed that his shoulder was tilting and he has since had arthroscopic surgery to help correct that problem as well.

I can honestly say that a whole new world of hope has opened up for us since Victor has been under the care of Dr. Scott Kozin at Shriners Hospital.  I was told about this web site by Victor’s therapist.  I sit for long periods reading other’s experiences while comparing them to our own.  As Victor grows he continues to progress and is running, jumping and rolling around as if nothing is wrong.  We have watched him turn the corner and use his left arm more than he ever had in the past.  Early on we prayed that one day he would use his hands together and clasp his fingers around objects. I can now report that he does exactly that and is improving with every therapy session.  Thank you Daniel for all the work you have done with him.  Dwight and I love you very much. 

Victor is well into his terrible twos and this precious time in his life has not been hindered by his injury.  Like any child his age, he wants everything his way, and if not then watch out!  As time passes we see him continuing to progress. Some progress has been slow-coming and we foresee one, possibly two, surgeries down the road for him.  We can only hope that he grows out of his fear of hospitals.  We have put our trust in God, Dr. Kozin and legal advisers to help secure the future that Victor was robbed of on March 9^th, 2007.  But I can’t help feeling that Victor will be securing his own future by not letting anything stand in the way of what he wants out of life, just as he does now.