Pennsylvania mother eats poppy seed bagel, newborn baby seized

[my3rdeye]

Glad to see the article using terms like kidnapping. In some jurisdictions the seizure of children and the paid foster care system that takes them in falls within the definition of human trafficking.
Fighting that system is a nightmare I hope none of you ever encounter. Media articles are rare too. If you go to the media with a horror story they often wont print it because the government agency can't respond due to privacy laws. If you contact your political representative they will not help because of the lack of media there is no political gain for them. When you go to family court you discover a system that will put your lifestyle on trial, and you are guilty until you prove yourself innocent. I totally see why so many children of poor people end up adopted.
Avoid the child protection agencies at all costs, even if you just smoke a little pot.

 

[NotaCaterpillar]

Glad to hear ahe won, that is just horrible.

I was pregnant on methadone and was tested throughout my pregnancy and in the third trimester was tested 1x week by my clinic and 1x week by my OB. She was put in the NICU when she was born, stayed for six weeks and it wasnt a definite thing that she would be released to me. Thankfully she was and I never got a dcs case, but still I was testing clean and in compliance, good prenatal care n everything.

Most of the staff were nice to me but I remember one nurse commenting that she had to go get my daughter "her fix." She was being tapered and it really broke my heart. Dont you think I already felt awful watching my daughters first experience in the world be withdrawal? Still, I was on prescribed medication, fuck her for judging!

 

[Deinonychus]

...Im on methadone , prescribed, NOT for addiction but as pain management, and i was told by a few people that dyfs might take my baby away when i had him becuz i had methadone in my system. that the hospital automatically notifies them anytime there is a positive test for drugs, even if they are prescribed. Which is bullshit, becuz i guarantee that if a doctor had gave me percocet for a wisdom tooth or something a few weeks before my delivery, they wouldnt say shit to nobody, but being on methadone, even tho it AINT for addiction treatment, is such a stigma that they automatically want to treat me like a fuckin drug addict and get up in my life...

...fortunately the hospital im goin to dont follow that policy and they already talked to me about that and said they dont see no reason to report it so there aint gonna be a problem when i do have my little son but the fact that anybody would even have to deal with that in the first place is so fucked up...

Hey LK, I have a question about methadone and pregnancy if you have a spare moment. Do you happen to know what the process is like for tapering a baby down from methadone? I would assume a pregnant woman on methadone would mean that the baby is born addicted, so I would reason that tapering is probably in order, though I'm not sure 100% if there's some other method I don't know about.

Specifically, I wonder how fast the taper is performed, and whether or not it is inpatient (I would assume since newborns / very young babies are known to be sensitive to possible overdoses of methadone, so I would doubt that the mother would be administering it personally). Inpatient or not, is this the province of the hospital or a methadone clinic? I ask because one of my friends has recently (like in the last two or three days) found out she is pregnant, and she is on a moderate dose of methadone, albeit for addiction treatment instead of pain management, and she hasn't seen a doctor yet on such short notice, so any information you might share with regards to infants and methadone would be very much appreciated.

As a last note, it's downright disgusting that supposedly well-intentioned so-called 'medical professionals' would dare to consider referring you to the local DCFS-type organization due to methadone. It goes beyond disgusting into the realm of the outright obscene though when you're using the methadone as part of a medically-mandated pain control treatment. The depths of apathy and casually-practiced evil to which our species all too often sinks never ceases to amaze me, cynic though I may be...

Congratulations are in order as well, as while I am certainly not ready at this moment in my life, I too hope someday to be able to experience the joy of having brought a brand new person, a veritable mass of wonderful human potential and an object of love to boot, into this world! I wish you all of the best in what is no less than the most astounding adventure known to mankind...

 

[NotaCaterpillar]

Hey, it depends on where your friend is at so she should still check with her dr.s but read my post above for some of my experience having my daughter on methadone. Also, not all babies go through withdrawal after birth, and it is not related to your dose either. You can be on 50mgs and it happens, or 250 mg and it doesnt. My daughter was in the NICU for six weeks. Usually, from what ive seen, the nurses are the ones that administer the taper if needed. When she has her baby if they know about the methadone theyll probably keep the baby in the NICU for two or three days and they have a scale to measure withdrawal, the name escapes me now, but if needed they will begin a taper, my daughter was on a dilute morphine solution. They dont release the baby until theyre opiate free. At least in nyc.

It was awful to watch her go through it, knowing how horrible it feels, but shes two now and the brightest, liveliest, happiest baby ive ever seen. Dont let people make her feel bad, one social worker kept telling me that mmt isnt treatment and I needed to go inpatient even though I wasnt using etc. luckily the NICU social worker didnt feel that way. Best of luck though let me know if you have any other questions!