[KLL08]

So we have been given an adoption situation where the mother reports using marijuana, crack, and methamphetamine for the first couple months before she checked herself into a program and she continues to smoke cigarettes. I'm not worried about the cigarettes. I know several children who's mother smoked marijuana and I know several children who's mothers used crack the entire pregnancy are are still healthy children. My concern is the Meth...anyone know the effects of it? Our last match that disrupted was due to a child who was only born with less than 1/2 of his brain and our specialist believed it was due to use of drugs during pregnancy. My husband and I are ok with some special needs. Would it be wrong of me to ask for an MRI after the birth? THis was the only way they knew of the other child's special needs. We just want to be prepared. This baby isn't due until February so we have some time to prepare. Thanks for any info!

[Stormster]

Unfortunately there is not as much research on Meth as there has been on other drugs like Crack. We did a LOT of research and decided to walk away from a possible Meth situation because of the lack of research. The research that is out there shows most of the problems are behavioral and occur when the child enters the preschool environment.

In fact, young toddlers exposed to meth can actually be BETTER behaved.....I will look for that information for you. I also know people who know meth exposed toddlers and agree this is true. The problems (if there are any) come up during early socialization.

With many drugs early use affects the kids more physically (organ development etc.) and late term use more behaviorally.

I"m so sorry about the disrupted match that must have been a horrible experience. I would personally be encouraged that the use was limited and the Mom is in a safe, supportive environment during most of pregnancy. PM me if you want to chat as I have some more to add but prefer to do it privately.

[devildogwife]

Originally Posted by KLL08

Would it be wrong of me to ask for an MRI after the birth? THis was the only way they knew of the other child's special needs. We just want to be prepared.

If the child does have special needs, is that something you're prepared to deal with and parent? Or if the MRI shows special needss would you not adopt the child? Just trying to understand.

[Fran27]

I think, like all drug use situations, you need to be ready to prepare for the worst... and ask yourself if you can deal with it. If you can't, it's best for you and the child to refuse the situation. You just have to be totally honest with yourself.

There's nothing wrong with refusing a match because you think you can't handle the worst case scenario, IMO... but I'm not sure waiting until the birth to see if something shows up is very fair to the pbirthmom, especially as there might be issues that will only show up later.

[pechocha]

My DD was prenatally exposed to Meth and tested positive at birth. She didn't have any withdrawals symptoms other than sleeping a lot (4 to 5 hr. nap) for the first 6 months. She is developmentally on target at 3 yrs. old, and a delight to be around. There are positive stories on babies exposed to Meth, with love and a safe environment, they succeed. I just think you have to take the risk and be prepared for anything that may come up later in life.

[slugbug0930]

Our DD was exposed to both cigarettes (SP?) and meth during the first couple of months. I don't know the extent as her bmom hasn't always been totally upfront about everything before she ended up in jail. She was in jail for 6 months of her pregnancy so we know that once in jail she got prenatal care and was drug free. Before that she did admit to using both of the above mentioned items on her paperwork she filled out for the agency. Mind you we didn't get copies of the papers until we had DD home already.....the agency forgot to give them to us. But it didn't really matter we would have taken her however she came to us. She was meant to be our girl

But she has no issues what so ever......she is beyond healthy and growing normally according to the doctor.....she is in the 90 & 95 percentile for height and weight. She is on target development wise.

[powderpiggy]

Our DS was prenatally exposed to meth for most of the first trimester (was not born addicted and did not test for anything). Our match was super fast (he was born 1.5 weeks after meeting bmom for the first time) and we did not receive all the medical history until after he was born. Therefore we did not know his meth history until after we had first laid eyes on him. I do not know if it would have made a difference if we had known with enough time to make an informed rather than emotional decision.
He was born a healthy weight with great APGAR scores, he has had no problems, hits all his developmental milestones on target or early. Seems to have a killer immune system. He is 14 months old and has only had one minor cold. He is very social.

I do understand that when he enters preschool that other behavioral or learning disabilities could show up. But hey I had/have a learning disability and I wasn't exposed to anything in-utero (that I know of). So who knows.

But Stormster is right, it is very difficult to find information about meth effects during pregnancy.

[HappyHopefulMommy]

My youngest was born testing postive to meth and birhtmom had no prenatal care. We are adopting through foster care and I got her when she was 3 1/2. She is pretty much on target developmentally, but is a little behind socially (not bad at all though). She is very average when it comes to her size. I think you just don't know what "could" happen. Good luck with your decision.

[KLL08]

We are open to special needs... the other child as best as our doctor could tell with the records and his experience the child would be medically fragile, and that is more than we are prepared for. I'm concerned about that in this situation. There are definately things we are approved for and believe we can parent some special needs. Does that make more sense? I've worked with a beautiful little girl who is blind and autistic and I think we could definately handle similar children. But once things like 24/7 medical care needed, is more than we can handle right now.

[jalapeno]

My kiddos both had meth in their systems at birth (both are perfect and amazing kids!!!!). Since they were born healthy the main things we will watch for are leaning disabilities when they start school, behavioral issues, and addictions. I would agree that early exposure would be more likely to have physical consequences - it will affect whatever is being developed at the time so it might help you to review how an embryo/fetus develops.

[lmitch]

Hmm, is the birthmom claiming to be clean? This is a very addictive drug and it seems hard to believe that she quit but you never know. My son was exposed in utero and while he was a pretty sick kid the first year with respiratory ailments and needing to be on oxygen(because we lived at a high elevation) he now is just fine and healthy. We did a lot of work on him though. Ortho-Bionomy and supplements. He on target developmentally and a very happy kid.