JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The haunting, high-pitched cry of a drug-addicted baby is not easily forgotten.
Tremors in their tiny hands and feet, a constant restlessness, all signs of a baby in pain.
“I had no idea what it was going to be like,” said Stephanie.
She is a single mom of two children. She’s heard that painful cry and felt the guilt of knowing she caused it.
“Watching my baby go through that was horrible, and I knew I caused it. I put my baby through this pain. So there was a lot of guilt and it broke my heart,” said Stephanie.
Both of Stephanie’s children were born addicted to drugs. A car accident left the 29-year-old addicted to Loricet, a powerful prescription painkiller.
“I was abusing it and taking more than I should and when I found out I was pregnant, I let the doctor know and they put me on methadone. It made me really sick but I was worried about my baby and wanted to do the right thing.”
Karen Kinlaw is a nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit at Shands Jacksonville.
“I started 10 years ago and what we saw were crack and cocaine babies. Now, it’s methadone or poly drug use. We don’t see crack or cocaine anymore.”
Florida has become known as the pill mill capital of the nation. As a result, the number of babies born addicted to prescription narcotics has skyrocketed to 1,374 babies in 2010, with an average hospital stay of 22 days. To put that in perspective, healthy babies normally stay in the hospital for just two days.
Dr. Mark Hudak is the chief of Neonatology at Shands Jacksonville. “We can put them on medicine to control their symptoms, but then we have to wean them off of those drugs and that can take two, sometimes three weeks,” said Dr. Hudak.
He’s seen the number of drug-addicted babies triple in Duval County in just the last five years.
He also says the cost of treating these babies is astounding. $50 million dollars and doctors estimate more than half of that tab is being picked up by taxpayers.
The day I visited the NICU Step Down Program, five out of 11 babies were being treated for drug addiction. Once the babies are finally able to go home, the issues that led to the drug addiction are often still there. That’s why community-based programs are a lifeline for these mothers. These programs can mean the difference between a life of drugs or a life with their child.
Tracy Dupont of the Azalea Project was with Stephanie the day she gave birth to her daughter and she’s been there everyday since. “Along with substance abuse comes many other issues. We help them get a job, child care, get a social security card, it’s a step process.”
For Stephanie, each day is another baby step forward, another day without her addiction.
“It’s great and I’m glad it’s behind me. I’m 100% drug-free.”
