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Story by: Teresa in Bowbells,N.D.

I have a little girl named Shelby who was 6 years old in january. She has erb's palsy. We didn't know right away she did. They thought she had a broken collar bone. She weighed 10 pounds 6 oz. I had asked the dr. before I had her if the baby would be bigger than my first who weighed 8 pds.14 oz. and had to use forceps. he didn't think so. I was a couple days over and they induced me 5 hours later Shelby was born. I kept telling them it hurt. At the last minute the Dr. came in did a huge episotomy her shoulders were stuck my husband thought the Dr. was going to pull her head off. Needless to say we didn't know until hours later she wasn't moving her arm. so they asked if they could so an exray. Nothing was broken. they said she would bet better and i believed them! I guess I put it out of my mind. We took her home the next day. At 2 weeks they told us to start therapy. So she went once a week 70 miles away. I did rom at home every day. At a month old she still wasn't moving her left arm. The pediatrician had
uu take her to University hopital in Minn. to Dr. Lockman all he said was we have to be optimistic! When we got home she stared moving it. So to make a long story short she does very well. She holds her arm funny and her left shoulder slumps and she is weaker on that side. Most people don't notice it but I do. We just had her to another Dr. and he thought it was mostly cosmetic and to do any surgery she would have an ugly scar. But I worry when she gets older will she notice as much as I do. For years we didn't do any therapy but now the Dr. is saying it's lifelong and that's what i have been reading here on the internet. Why don't more Drs. know more about this! Sorry this is so long I guess I just needed to vent. I am still very angry! thanks

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