TRAGEDY OF ADDICTION: PREGNANT MOMS CAN'T QUIT USING

Anne counted the number of pregnant women she has seen use
methamphetamine on two hands. The number was seven; including her,
it's eight.

"When I first started using, there was a girl who was using and was
very pregnant, and I thought that was appalling," Anne said.

A few years later, Anne was in the throes of addiction when she became
pregnant. During the first trimester of her pregnancy, she said she
used meth often -- intravenously.

"I found out I was pregnant and then I went and used," the Mason City
woman said. "So I really didn't deal with it until later."

Anne agreed to an interview by the Globe Gazette if her name was not
disclosed. "Anne" is a pseudonym.

"If you say you are going to quit for your baby or whoever, it doesn't
work," she said. "You have to want to."

Six weeks after the birth of her first baby, Anne returned to shooting
up methamphetamine. Eventually, the Iowa Department of Human Services
(DHS) terminated her parental rights. She was unable to provide a safe
home for more than two years.

"He would be playing on the floor and we would be doing a line on the
table," she said.

Anne's story is not uncommon, but the actual numbers of babies born
exposed to methamphetamine isn't available, said Patty Mowatt, a DHS
methamphetamine specialist.

Anecdotal evidence, however, suggests a significant
problem.

Jay Hansen, executive director of Prairie Ridge Addictions Treatment
Services in Mason City, said he continuously treats pregnant women
fighting a methamphetamine addiction.

"The vast majority want to stop, but it's just that they can't," he
said. "Most all women know that it's not good for them and their baby.
That's the tragedy of addiction."

A few years later, Anne was pregnant again. She again injected
methamphetamine while pregnant, often during her first trimester, she
said.

The doctor who delivered her baby ordered it to be tested for drugs at
birth. The test was negative, she said.

Dr. Rizwan Shah of Des Moines, an expert in prenatal methamphetamine
exposure, says meth use at any stage during pregnancy is harmful to
the baby.

"For mothers to think they can use once or twice is a very wrong
perception," she said. "Whatever part of the brain that is developing
at the time of use can be affected."

Currently, Shah is treating about 400 meth babies, a number she calls
unprecedented for Iowa.

In the 1980s, scores of babies were born to urban women who used crack
cocaine, but Iowa was insulated, Shah said.

Meth babies are commonly born prematurely, struggle with eating, are
depressed and ultra-sensitive to touch. Even wearing clothes can cause
them pain. Some newborns die from strokes, Shah said.

"Most problems occur because meth causes spasms of the blood vessels
which shuts off oxygen supply to the womb," she said.

Despite not having any hard data, Shah estimates methamphetamine was
the drug used in 80 percent of the incidents involving newborns who
test positive for illegal drugs.

Newborns whose mothers use meth aren't born addicted to the drug, Shah
said. However, they are born depleted of hormones, like dopamine.

At 6 months old, the symptoms recede for a while, she said. Learning
disabilities begin to appear when the child is 2.

Shah said most meth babies' IQs aren't diminished. However, they
suffer from short attention spans that can be troublesome in a classroom.

Anne said neither of her children appear to be harmed by her prenatal
methamphetamine use -- so far.

When Anne was interviewed for this story in August 2004, she said she
hadn't used methamphetamine for a year and a half.

"I prayed a lot that he would be OK," she said of her first pregnancy.
"He turned out perfect as far as anybody can tell. I was grateful with
both my pregnancies."