Re: Really stressed, need support, long

[Guest guest]

Hi I just wanted you to know that after the birth of my son two and a half

years ago I had the same problem here in Iowa. I was told though before birth

that my child would be tested. Just a random thing our hospital does. I had

changed Ob's durning my pregnancy but kept my regular doctor as the babies.

He did call me to tell me that I tested positive and that he had to turn me

in. Well they called, set up a time and Dhs came to my home. Inspected

everything. Wrote down the drugs I had been prescribed. Called my ob and lots

of

others who verified that the tylenol with codeine and the pain meds during

labor would give these results. After a few weeks I got a letter stating that

it was unfonded, case was closed and no problems since. I think once they

verify the information you should be ok. I understand that its a pain to those

of us our doctors knew were on meds.

Baby Girl #4

July 16th

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 4/27/2004 11:56:51 AM Eastern Daylight Time,

denise.axelrod@... writes:

Thanks in advance for all the prayers and positive vibes sent up in our name,

every little bit helps!

Axelrod

---------------------------------------

Wow ...

Truth has a way of surfacing to the top.

While I can't even imagine what it was like to have CPS and a Cop intrude on

your lives.. the fear must have been OVERWHELMING!

It sounds as if the CPS worker and the Cop were decent people.. just doing

thier job.. yet seeing into what is obviously a serious mistake and

misunderstanding.

On the flip side.. it looks like the system IS working.

Just think how many babies CPS may potentially save from actual addicts?

Just enjoy your little Hannah.. and give her extra hugs.

She is a lucky little girl to have 2 loving parents!

- Mommy to:

Noah - 10/14/02 - 31 weeker - 3lbs 11 oz

edd November 18th

http://www.love-my-kids.com

[Guest guest]

OMG, I do not blame you for being upset about this, I would be too and I know

it has to be scary while they are in your lives. It is good you went

willingly to do tests for them and now instead of later since the cocaine/heroin

and

all that other crap stays in the system awhile you can show yours is really

clean and there must of been a mixup. I think they will be out of your lives

soon

enough but even that isn't soon enough. I am sorry you all have to deal with

such crap right now. I will be praying that all is over speedy fast for you

all.

God Bless,

Robin, NorthEastern, NY

Age- 41

EDD- July 27th, 2004

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!

Mommy to:

&

(twin boys 7 1/2),

Madison, daughter, 5 years and

Wife to Pup 15 years (October 31, 1988)

Gastric Bypass Surgery-

October 18th 2002

Start-378, current- 246(pregnant)

goal 170 after baby

[Guest guest]

, our prayers are with you, Glenn & Hannah.

Please know we are all out here thinking about you and

hoping that everything will be okay.

[Guest guest]

Hi . So sorry about the upheaval. I'm new to the group (& to

mommyhood), hope you don't mind the advice. 1st, continue acting in

good faith, & 2nd I'd consult a lawyer. You don't want your rights

trampled or " forgotten " by administrators & other authorities. If you

call your state's bar assoc, they should have a referral program,

where you can see an attorney very inexpensively(in FL it's $25. for a

30 minute consult). Chin up! Sending prayers.

WlsMomma

[Guest guest]

,

Bless your heart I've been where you are (not to that extent, but

the ss and Ky State Police sure shocked me not once but twice in

similar situations).

First of all......I'm not exactly certain how much of the methadone

crosses over in your breast milk but even though you want to BF, if I

were you,... for Hannahs sake and the sake of any future drug testing

on her, I would stop breastfeeding.

Being a L&D nurse, I can tell you that even though you are on

Methadone for legit reasons, most people who see that you take it,

red flags raise up. Your OB may have told the main nurse he gave

orders to when you were in the hospital, but in report after report

after report to other nurses on L&D, then to nurses on Postpartum and

to the anesthesia people, the part where you are taking methadone for

legit reasons oftentimes gets forgotten, left out or omitted.

Unfortunately, it seems this has happened to you.

I cannot explian why all of that showed up positive if all you were

taking was methadone. They must take into consideration the other

medications you may have been given from the anesthetist and ask if

they could possibly be the reason for the positives.

Find out who did the drug test (hospital?) and request that another

independent lab do future screening (you will most likely be required

to pay for an independent lab.)

of course, you know that you didn't do any cocaine.

Amphetampines are simply ADHD meds or prescription diet pills.

Barbiturates are sometimes given for migraines and some other pain

meds.

benzodiazapines are nerve pills like valium.

It sounds like *someone* jumped to conclusions.....

Did Hannah go to NICU?

it may not have been told to NICU WHY you were on meds and the NICU

nurse ordered the mec drug screen.

If not, perhaps another nurse ordered the mec drug screen.

If Hannah went to the reg nursery- the nursery nurse or her ped at

the hospital could have ordered it on her meconium.

At my hospital anyway, we do not need parental consent to test

newborns if we feel like the parents have been abusing drugs. They

mom must consent to a drug screen for herself, but after the baby is

out, we can order what we choose in regards of patient safety.

I wish you all of the best and if I can be of any help, please email

me as I don't read here everyday,

Sheila

angel_of_mercy_911@... (can you tell I made this email addy

when I worked ER? lol)

[Guest guest]

also, offer hair samples from all three of you (or just you if they

think you are a user and are transmitting anything bad to Hannah thru

your breast milk).

Also, go tot he hospital and get copies of your records and Hannah's

records, including ALL lab reports. See who the nurse is/was that

wrote negative things and who it was that ordered the drug testing.

Make certain your OB is on YOUR side and that it wasn't HE who

ordered them. (in many cases youwon't be able to tell who did the

actual ordering though b/c it might have been a verbal order to the

unit secretary to put the order through).

I'm not sue happy, but if you can prove some wrongdoing, I think you

would have yourself a heck of a defamation of character lawsuit!

(right, Ferguson?)

Sheila

[Guest guest]

No legal advice! No Legal Advice!AND AGAIN THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE. But in

this case probably not -- no. Not if it was ordered at the hospital based on

probable cause for the safety of the patient. If had been arrested or

locked up due to the results of the test then she might have a case but

there was actually a case we had to read in Criminal Law in which a hospital

tested patients to turn their results over to the cops. The USSC said for

that they needed a warrant but if they were doing it for medical reasons

then they didn't. This sounds like a case for medical reasons -- they had

reason to suspect from the meconium that the baby had drugs in her system so

they ran a test to treat. The fact they called the police -- well that is

probably based on the fact that the medical community (and actually the

school community) MUST by virtue of law report any suspected abuse.

SUSPECTED. The fact that the baby was born and tested positive for drugs --

whatever the reason -- is enough to suspect abuse may take place or has

while the baby was in utero. It sucks that an innocent person gets caught up

with it but take the second test and find out as much as you can. Make sure

every drug you are taking by prescription is noted. And go from there.

It could be defamation if someone like a neighbor or ex called the police

stating that you were a drug user and abusing your kids and the police came

out and it was based on nothing but fabrication, ill will, an attempt to

cause trouble.

AGAIN THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE! NOT LEGAL ADVICE! NOT LEGAL ADVICE! Sorry

but I am a bit paranoid about that. I am very sorry you were caught

up in this due to the prescriptions you are taking but do know that it is

not personal. The doctors and police and everyone are actually looking out

for Hannah. They want to make sure that little girl is being properly taken

care of which I am sure she is. I have known you on these lists for a long

time and I know you want and love this little one very much. Try not to take

it personally. Chalk it up to overzealousness in the way the laws are

written. Do what Sheila suggests though -- she knows the medical system.

mailto: dferguson@...

BTC, Columbus, 10/7/98

Re: Really stressed, need support, long

> also, offer hair samples from all three of you (or just you if they

> think you are a user and are transmitting anything bad to Hannah thru

> your breast milk).

>

> Also, go tot he hospital and get copies of your records and Hannah's

> records, including ALL lab reports. See who the nurse is/was that

> wrote negative things and who it was that ordered the drug testing.

> Make certain your OB is on YOUR side and that it wasn't HE who

> ordered them. (in many cases youwon't be able to tell who did the

> actual ordering though b/c it might have been a verbal order to the

> unit secretary to put the order through).

>

> I'm not sue happy, but if you can prove some wrongdoing, I think you

> would have yourself a heck of a defamation of character lawsuit!

> (right, Ferguson?)

>

>

> Sheila

>

>

>

>

>

> Children are a blessing, and a gift from the Lord. -Psalm 127:3

>

[Guest guest]

,

I am so sorry that this is happening to you!!!! I know we talked about it

on the phone. My OB had me sent to a parinatologist (sp?) so it could be

documented what I was taking, and the hospital would have NO grounds to stand on

and could not call DSS. I made sure to tell them when I went in for pre-op what

I was taking, so luckily we had no problems. If you need to talk, just let me

know, I will pick up the phone and be right there for ya girl. I feel kind of

responsible because we did talk about this happening on the phone.

Niki

Really stressed, need support, long

Though this isn't really ossg-pregnancy related I'm coming to you guys because

I feel like you guys have gone through my pregnancy with Hannah with me,

especially all the ups and downs I have had with my arthritis and fibromyalgia,

and my quest to find a doctor that would support me breastfeeding her. Well, it

looks like my fights aren't over now that little Hannah Banana is here, in fact

it looks like I had not even scratched the surface when it comes to fighting for

what's best for me and my daughter, and my whole family.

Last Friday my husband was rocking Hannah in her nursery while I finished up

taking a shower and getting dressed so we could go buy her a couple of outfits

that actually fit her, LOL! Poor little peanut is so tiny even the so called

" newborn " outfits she drowns in. I was in our basement bedroom when I heard the

doorbell ring but I ignored it since I knew that my husband would get it. I

honestly didn't think anything of it because we don't know anyone here in

Minnesota so I thought it was the fed ex guy or something like that. It ends up

that the people who came to the door were a CPS WORKER AND A COP!!! My husband

and my brains were literally swimming we were such in shock at what these people

were saying to us. Keep in mind that my husband is a Captain in the Army and I

hold a degree in education so we both kinda have certain public status in the

community. The CPS worker said that Hannah's mercomium (sp?) poop was sent fo!

r testing while we were in the hospital and though he knows that I take

medications for pain control since I have arthritis so bad, that isn't what he

was there for, her test came back positive for all sorts of drugs including

cocaine, amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazapines, plus a bunch of other

drugs that none of us could pronounce or had heard of!!! At this point I'm

kinda freaking out but trying to keep it together telling these officials that I

am more than happy to show them the medications that I take and I am absolutely

willing to take any type of drug test they want me to because I don't have

anything to hide, but I certainly DID NOT take any illegal drugs ever, nor any

prescription drugs other than the ones that were prescribed to me. Though these

two legal officials can't say that they think there is a major mistake going on

here, they basically were saying that to my husband and I. They were really

nice to us, the CPS worker said he had al! ready tracked down my OB and spoke to

him about what was going on and my OB said that something was seriously wrong

because they could not be talking about my husband and I or our child. In fact

the CPS worker said that everyone he contacted about my husband and I seemed to

say " Not these people " . The CPS worker asked me to take myself and the baby to

our doctor to do another drug test as soon as possible and gave me a card

showing what he wanted them to test us for. I told him that we were getting

ready to leave the house anyway so we would just go to the doc's office instead.

You can't exactly show up to show up to your local lab asking them to drug

test you, let alone a 9 day old baby!!! I ended up calling Hannah's

pediatrician so they could help us out and they were nice enough to ask the CPS

worker if they could give us a urine test instead of a blood test so they

wouldn't have to stick the baby, though the alternative didn't end up being much

better in my opinion as we had to tape bags to her little pee pee to catch her

urine. The first time she peed it wasn't enough so we had to tape another bag

to her which all that tape irritated her skin a bit. Thankfully her skin

improved after I put some desitin on it and all is well now.

My husband and I are upset on so many different levels its hard to focus on

one thing. We are first upset with my OB because we brought up this very issue

with him months before Hannah was born. We told him we were concerned that when

other people looked at my chart and saw I took methadone they would jump to the

conclusion that I was a drug addict, not knowing that the medication is also

used for pain control, as in my case. My OB said he would make sure that

everyone would know what was going so we wouldn't have anything to worry about,

but in hindsight it seems he didn't let enough people know. If I had a medical

condition that made me take any other medication my daughter would have not been

drug tested, therefore there would have not been a drug test to screw up. I

even saw in our chart where they ordered the drug test on her 20 minutes after

she was born and some nurse notated that I was a " narcotics addict " , making

those assumpt! ions that we were so worried about. All this was going on while

my OB was right there an no one had the sense to ask him whether any of these

tests were necessary.

The CPS worker is very relaxed about the whole thing, assuring me that once

these other tests come back that he is going to close the case and he is our of

our lives. I had to explain to him that my test will still show positive for

opiods (sp?), though I'm not sure about Hannah anymore even though I am

breastfeeding her. He then assured me that he will call my OB and when my OB

tells him that its positive from my meds he is still closing the case and it

will be done. My husband and I are still freaking because we feel that since

they screwed up one drug test and got false positive's what is to stop them from

getting another false positive on stuff that has never been in my system nor my

daughter's. What makes this all worse is that my Mom and my twin sister were

both supposed to fly out here to be with me and meet my daughter, but my sister

had a major crisis in her family so she had to stay home and my mom had to go be

with here, so Glenn and I have! been going through this all alone, without

friends or family here to help us get through all this. We feel like these

precious first weeks will be forever tainted with all this awful stuff though we

are doing our best to focus on the fact that we finally have a beautiful,

healthy, much wanted child to share our lives with and that we have many

blessings to be thankful for.

Any of you medical people in our group who have some advice for me, or can

tell me how all these tests could have been run on Hannah without my permission

or a doctor ordering them I would really appreciate the information. Also, both

Glenn and I, and of course little Hannah would greatly appreciate any prayers

and positive vibes for us that this nightmare is over for our family soon and

that it really goes away and not come up and haunt us time and time again in the

future. Though I have never had problems with CPS before, I know how stuff like

this never really goes away like they claim it does. My husband has security

clearances with the Army that this could effect and this could hinder me getting

certified to teach in public schools, so this inaccurate drug test could really

mess up our lives. Needless to say with all this crap going on I have not been

resting like I should after a c-section with complications, especially since my

family couldn't ! come help us and Glenn had to go back to work, plus we are

worried about Hannah getting sick since we have had to take her out so much at a

young age. Thanks in advance for all the prayers and positive vibes sent up in

our name, every little bit helps!

Axelrod

[Guest guest]

,

I am really sorry that this is happening to you and hubby in a time that should

be filled with joy.

I know my hubby and I were treated wierdly at the hospital when I had my son

because at the time my hubby was a Jehovahs Witness....I was not but the

stigmata still got attatched to me. Thankfully hubby doesn't believe that crap

anymore......!!!

I know this will pass - I just wish your doctor had communicated with the nurses

better so you would not have to have gone through this whole thing!

Big hugs to you for being so courageous!

Chrystal

Wife to Jace - together 6 Years!

Happy Mommy to - 4 Years Old!

New Baby Boy Swenson Due July 28, 2004!

Zookeeper for 2 big dogs and 5 cats who let me feed them!

http://chrystallife.50megs.com/

http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/seeswensonauctions/

[Guest guest]

, I'm really sorry that you are going through this, what should

be some of the happiest times in your's and Glenn's and Hannah's

life. You're doing the right thing by offering to take the necessary

tests over to prove that you weren't/aren't abusing drugs. Just make

sure they write everything down that you've ingested! I have no

advice, but you have my prayers. (((HUGS))) -