the baby has arrived...methadone withdrawing, but otherwise healthy
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Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Toronto, ON
Posts: 64
the baby has arrived...methadone withdrawing, but otherwise healthy
Well, my Asister had her baby two weeks ago, and it all went pretty smoothly. 9 months ago I was dreading this, but (knock on wood) things have really turned around since then.
She restarted methadone and counselling (for opiates) about the time she found out she was pregnant, and while the first couple of months weren't perfect (until they found a methadone level that worked), since January she's been clean. Still some recovering-addict drama, but when it came to the baby and her rehab she did really well. Made all her medical and rehab appointments, kept Children's Aid satisfied and dealt with the legal consequences of her prescription frauds.
When the baby was born Childrens Aid came and did their tests to confirm she and the baby were clean, and both passed.
The baby is still in the hospital while they oversee the methadone withdrawal, but aside from that he seems quite healthy. She and her bf are finding it frustrating that the withdrawal process has taken 2 weeks already, and may take another 10 days...but even with that stress she seems to be holding up. She is at the hospital about 4 times a day for feeding, changing, bathing etc.
I tell her to look on the bright side: at least she is getting a whole lot of baby care training and rest before she has to actually take him home!
So just thought I'd post a good news (so far) story. At one point I thought she was pretty much a lost cause, living the same awful addict life other people here know all about, with a lot of failed attempts to get cleaned up. But she's really made a lot of progress this time..and definitely turned out so much better than how I imagined this would all happen 9 months ago!
Fingers crossed she continues to keep her recovery going once she's got him home with all the newborn stress on her 24/7.
She restarted methadone and counselling (for opiates) about the time she found out she was pregnant, and while the first couple of months weren't perfect (until they found a methadone level that worked), since January she's been clean. Still some recovering-addict drama, but when it came to the baby and her rehab she did really well. Made all her medical and rehab appointments, kept Children's Aid satisfied and dealt with the legal consequences of her prescription frauds.
When the baby was born Childrens Aid came and did their tests to confirm she and the baby were clean, and both passed.
The baby is still in the hospital while they oversee the methadone withdrawal, but aside from that he seems quite healthy. She and her bf are finding it frustrating that the withdrawal process has taken 2 weeks already, and may take another 10 days...but even with that stress she seems to be holding up. She is at the hospital about 4 times a day for feeding, changing, bathing etc.
I tell her to look on the bright side: at least she is getting a whole lot of baby care training and rest before she has to actually take him home!
So just thought I'd post a good news (so far) story. At one point I thought she was pretty much a lost cause, living the same awful addict life other people here know all about, with a lot of failed attempts to get cleaned up. But she's really made a lot of progress this time..and definitely turned out so much better than how I imagined this would all happen 9 months ago!
Fingers crossed she continues to keep her recovery going once she's got him home with all the newborn stress on her 24/7.
To thine own self be true.
Join Date: May 2009
Location: U.S.A.
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I hope she doesn't breast-feed. My X sister-in-law did but she was still doing alcohol and drugs and that poor child cried the first three years of her life (the whole time she breastfed)! It was sickening. Imagine that child going thru withdrawal every day, several times a day. I had no idea then why this baby would not stop crying. The mother said it was colic or something. She wouldn't give up breastfeeding because she wanted to keep her breasts large.
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Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Toronto, ON
Posts: 64
No, she's formula feeding.
I think she had some guilt about not breastfeeding at first, but she quickly got over that.
There seems to be a lot of guesswork involved in weaning a baby off methadone. They have a scoresheet for things like "unusually high pitched crying", "no appetite", "tensing up", "not sleeping soundly" etc. But as the doctor said, sometimes those things are normal. They lower the dose, track the reactions, and eventually when he scores below a certain level for 24 hours consistently, they lower it again.
I think she had some guilt about not breastfeeding at first, but she quickly got over that.
There seems to be a lot of guesswork involved in weaning a baby off methadone. They have a scoresheet for things like "unusually high pitched crying", "no appetite", "tensing up", "not sleeping soundly" etc. But as the doctor said, sometimes those things are normal. They lower the dose, track the reactions, and eventually when he scores below a certain level for 24 hours consistently, they lower it again.
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